Catch ’em all as a Tamer – the Yokai Realm’s monster raising class
The Tamer class doesn’t do much to hide its influences, it is clearly an homage to the Pokemon game series.
Rather than dealing damage personally, Tamers rely on monster companions and enhance them as they level up through magic and careful preparation. Catching a team of creatures and raising them to fight alongside you is the class’ main goal, but the class also emphasises the bond between the Tamer and its companions as key to success
This guide breaks down how the class works, where it excels, and how to build one effectively.
At a glance
Strengths
- Companions scale cleanly using the Tamer’s proficiency bonus
- Strong battlefield control through positioning, debuffs, and reactions
- Flexible encounter pacing with summoning, dismissal, and healing tools
- Companion survivability is well supported compared to similar pet classes
Weaknesses
- Limited personal combat impact without companions
- Action economy can feel tight, especially at low levels
- Companion variety is at the mercy of the DM
How the Tamer plays
The Tamer plays as coordinator rather than a direct threat. Most turns involve commanding a companion, adjusting positioning, or responding defensively through reactions and movement manipulation. Damage output is steadily paced rather than explosive, with a bigger emphasis on imposing control states on enemies like prone or disadvantage.
Companions are designed to be active pieces on the battlefield rather than disposable summons. Losing access to a companion, even temporarily, is a really meaningful setback. As a result, the class rewards cautious play rather than being aggressive and treating the companion as something to fire and forget.
On a roleplay note, the class is intended to emulate the feel of the Pokemon games and anime. As such,there is a lot of roleplay material to mine in the bond between both parties. As the Tamer and their growing team draws together, this could be rewarded by the DM, who would probably treat companions like extra characters in the party. Even if this is not explicitly stated in the source material through a gameplay mechanic, the flavour heavily emphases the bond between Tamer and companion as the core of the class.
How good is the Tamer?
The Tamer is a highly variable class. It has lots of roleplaying potential as a player assembles their team of companions and the party accepts them into the group.
It may not always be consistent mechanically due to the sheer number of variables left to the player. The choice of companions can even depend on what creatures the DM places into the party’s path. Then there’s the choices the player makes in what to capture, whether to equip creatures (which is an investment in itself) and which martial techniques to teach the companions.
That being said, it could be a steady secondary attacker in the party. Companions might not have big damage potential compared to a Fighter or Barbarian, but it does scale a bit over the Tamers levels and that player is able to catch bigger, meaner creatures over time too.
Overall, it’s a varied, interesting class, even if it does occupy an odd spot in party dynamics.
3/5
Creating an optimised Tamer build
Ability scores
Recommended options
- Wisdom/Intelligence/Charisma – Any of these can be selected at character creation as the Tamer’s spell casting stat. This means it should ideally be given priority as the highest possible stat. Whichever you choose, the other two will remain important, as the Tamer is far more valuable to the party for its non-combat input. Generally, I would recommend Charisma or Wisdom as these tend to be checks that are made when exploring or in social situations, over intelligence.
- Constitution: Important for concentration and survivability, especially given the Tamer’s reliance on staying actively involved with the companion. Will also play a part in calculating the Tamers health.
- Dexterity: Needed for establishing a decent armour class and making the odd hit with a ranged weapon when needed.
| Ability score | Point Buy | Standard Array |
|---|---|---|
| Strength | 8 | 8 |
| Dexterity | 15 | 13 |
| Constitution | 10 | 14 |
| Intelligence | 14 | 12 |
| Wisdom | 15 | 15 |
| Charisma | 8 | 10 |
Options to avoid
Strength: Rarely relevant as the Tamer doesn’t hit stuff very much and probably won’t be relied on in the party for lifting and carrying.
Skills
Recommended options
- Animal Handling – This is likely to be used often when interacting with your companions, but given the Tamer’s skillset, the party will probably rely on them to deal with problems related to wildlife.
- Insight – Generally useful for being aware of people around you and what their behaviour might signal.
- Perception – Valuable for noticing subtle values in your environment
- Sleight of hand – Decent option if you lack a rogue. Your dexterity should be good enough to make this worthwhile but I’d avoid if you already have a rogue in the party.
- Survival – Can be utilised for tracking and surviving in the wild, again the Tamer could be relied upon in these situations as a character used to outlander living.
- Nature – Useful for similar reasons to survival
Lower priority
- Athletics – You are unlikely to build around strength if being optimal
- Religion – This is not an area your character will be relied upon to know about and its more niche than some of the general survival skills
Species
When choosing a species, prioritise survivability and passive utility rather than combat features that won’t scale through companions.
Strong options
- Human: Extra feat and skill are valuable in a feature-dense class.
- Hill Dwarf: Extra hit points help maintain concentration and presence.
- Elf: Grab some innate utility spells and an extra skill
- Half Orc: A useful buff to constitution and the ability to dodge a KO remaining on 1 hp.
- Goliath: Able to selectively reduce damage based on constitution modified.
There are few bad options but it’s worth avoiding species features that overlap heavily with companion utility. For instance an Aarocka’s flight might go to waste if you have a flying companion.
Backgrounds
Backgrounds that provide proficiency in stealth, nature, and other utility skills as needed to ensure you can be useful in as many situations as possible, to help your companions and the rest of the party in a variety of situations.
| Name | Skill proficiencies | Tool proficiency | Languages |
|---|---|---|---|
| Criminal | Deception, Stealth | One Gaming Set, Thieves Tools | None |
| Iron Route Bandit | Stealth, Animal Handling | One Gaming Set, Vehicles (land) | None |
| Urban Bounty Hunter | Deception, Insight, Persuasion, and Stealth | One Gaming Set, One Musical Instrument, and Thieves’ Tools | None |
| Urchin | Stealth, Sleight of Hand | Disguise Kit, Thieves’ Tools | None |
Companions
Companion selection
Companions are restricted by size and CR, scaling upward as you level. Early on, this keeps options grounded and manageable. As you progress, the class gains access to larger and more durable creatures.
Spellcasting, summoning traits, regeneration, legendary features, and similar mechanics are stripped from companions, so what we are looking for is a good starting block with an interesting feature that won’t be removed by the restrictions on companions. You gain more companions over time, so sporting a range features across them (like invisibility or flying) can be really useful in and of combat.
Durability and scaling
Companions:
- Use the Tamers proficiency bonus
- Gain Hit Dice as the Tamer levels up
- Make death saves and recover through rests like a player
- Benefit from dedicated healing pools and spell slot healing the Tamer can provide
They are sturdier than most familiars, but still require protection and management.
What are some good ideas for companions?
To begin with you can only work with small size creatures as companions, ½ CR or less, but this grows over time. You also can’t utliise Humanoid, Giant or Swarm creatures. Below are some suggestions.
Levels 1-3
- Owl (CR 0): Good for scouting due to flight, 120ft darkvision, and the “Flyby” trait, which avoids opportunity attacks
- Betobeto-San (C4 ½): Useful for stealth mission due to its temporary invisibility
- Giant Wolf Spider (CR 1/4): Great for climbing and blindsight
Levels 4 – 6
- Kasha (CR 1): Damages enemies on contact and able to frighten any creatures within 30ft (friendly or otherwise)
- Brown Bear (CR 1): An excellent early-game damage dealer with multiattack
- Giant Octopus (CR 1): Good to have a member of the team ideal for underwater combat with high grappling/restraining potential.
- Giant Eagle (CR 1): Fast, flying mount/scout.
Higher Levels
- Cave Bear (CR 2): High HP tank with great attacking capability
- Jorōgumo Husk (CR 2): Able to climb difficult surfaces, web foes and assimilate the visual features of dead enemies
- Owlbear (CR 3): An upgrade on the Cave Bear with all the same advantages
- Ebi’ishi (CR 4): A decent warrior stat block and the ability to blind foes
- Chuul (CR4): Able to grapple multiple creatures and poison them all in one multi attack
- Dodomeki (CR 5): Possesses the unique ability to sense valuable objects and consume them to heal itself
Equipment & Items
Companions can use armour, weapons, and items their body shape allows, but proficiency rules apply. So there are disadvantages to just equipping the best possible armour if the creature is not proficient, the same way a player character does.
Barding is the process of having a blacksmith make custom armour to fit the unorthodox body type of the creature. The costs scale quickly, especially for non-humanoid forms, making full equipment investment a bit pricey, but worth adding piece by piece if you can afford it
Subclasses
At level 3, Tamers choose a Training Paradigm. Currently, only one is provided in Ryokos Guide to the Yokai Realms. More subclasses are provided in Helianas Guide to Monster Hunting book (2nd Ed.), also produced by Loot Tavern Press.
Infuser
Skilled chemists who can enhance their companions with elemental infusions that boost thier battle prowess.
Leader
Keen strategists with battlefield mastery they can impart to their companions, to position them in the right place at the right time.
Necromancer
Specialists in training and commanding undead monsters as companions.
Sensei
Expert teachers of martial arts, able to help companions learn hand to hand fighting techniques.
Splicer
Biomancers who aren’t happy for evolution to take its course and enhance their companions through gene splicing.
Swarmkeeper
Tamer’s with special skills in using groups of small creatures as battlefield companions.
Martial Techniques overview
There are a wealth of options to pick and one can be chosen to give to your Companion, each time your Tamer levels up. Here are a few options could be useful:
- Block is one of the strongest options, offering a scalable reaction that can negate or reduce incoming physical damage.
- Charge adds extra mobility, bonus damage, and a knockdown attack. A great opening move.
- Grapple, Sweep, and Throw create ways to knock down or restrain foes
- People’s Elbow and Uppercut are situational finishers that trade a bit of setup for doubled damage dice and modified critical hit thresholds.
Overall, the list is compact and avoids unnecessary complexity, probably because you are managing a little crew of creatures, all of which could invest in different martial techniques. So while you can’t go wrong with most of them, trying to put together a diverse list is the key to making your companions as useful as possible.
Feats
I would recommend the following origin feats for a Tamer:
- Alert: Ensures your initiative rolls (and by extension, your companions to) are higher allowing you to go earlier in combat. Means you can close the gap on enemies quickly, disable them if possible or even kill them outright before they can take their turn.
- Lucky: Great on any class to gain advantage on some rolls.
- Tough: Really valuable extra hit points that will keep you in the game to guide your companion
- Mobile: Generally speaking the Tamer wants to be out of melee combat, so additonal movement speed can keep you one step ahead of enemies
Spellcasting considerations
The Tamer’s spellcasting is primarily supportive. Healing, buffs, and positioning tools tend to outperform direct damage spells. Spells that enhance survivability or control pair best with companion-focused turns.
Avoid building as a primary blaster. The class doesn’t support it well. Consider the kinds of spells a Bard might go for and you are on the right track.
Other class guides
Not sure a Tamer is for you? Not to worry. Why not check out one of our other class and subclass guides.
