Writing Credits

Advice Column

Adventures In Random Roleplay 1-15 - May 13, 2015 to Oct 11, 2015 - Your Nerd Is Showing


Journalism

Syndicated Reruns: A First Look At Assassin's Creed Syndicate - May 15, 2015 - Your Nerd Is Showing

It's The End of The End of The World - May 20, 2015 - Your Nerd Is Showing

Dreaming of a Rainbow I Can Follow - Aug 18, 2015   - Your Nerd Is Showing

High Noon: Feathers, Dice, and a Curious Yellow Kickstarter - Aug 20, 2015 - Your Nerd Is Showing republished at Graphite Universe here

Kicking Puppies: The Promise of Sci-Fi vs. Anti-Inclusivity Brigade - Aug 27, 1015  Your Nerd Is Showing republished at Graphite Universe here.

Putting Ourselves To Our Fullest Possible Use - Sep 10, 2015 - Your Nerd Is Showing

Serial Fiction

Chrysalis Falls: Five Ongoing Serials - Aug 2004 - Originally published at HTTP://www.chrysalisfalls.com, republished at Wattpad

E-Books

The Sons of Adam: A Boy Named Nod Collection - June 18, 2012 - Available through Amazon

The March Of The Pallbearer: A Rate of Decay Collection - June 18, 2012 - Available through Amazon

Red Letter Days: A Rue Collection - May 17, 2016 - Available through Amazon

High Noon: Feathers, Dice, and a Curious Yellow Kickstarter

(This is an archival writing sample from the now defunct YourNerdIsShowing.com)

As far as drugs go, storytelling is one of my favorites. Weaving a story for anyone listening, carving out a space for shared experience that is as deep as we care to make it. Layer by layer, off and falling down the rabbit hole, we all come to a vaguely consensus based reality. It should be no surprise then, that when I heard that Ravendesk Games had launched a Kickstarter to turn British author Jeff Noon's trippy Vurt series into a tabletop RPG, I wondered what color feather I'd idly had in mouth.

Vurt (the first book in the series, as opposed to the full series of interwoven stories) was the bonkers story of drug addict Scribble. The drug of choice is Vurt; color-coded feathers that whisk you into shared “vurtual” reality. Things get complicated when Scribble and his sister/lover Desdemona share a trip to English Voodoo, and Scribble comes back with an amorphous blob one of his gang members calls “The Thing From Outer Space”, instead. The whole affair has a very Orpheus into the Underworld feel to it, filtered through the lens of Neuromancer. Or possibly The Matrix, if The Matrix had been equal parts Jodorowsky and Aronofsky, with more jumping through realities and less nutrient gruel. Noon's Manchester is bizarre and surreal, a world where incest, bestiality, animal hybrids, and all sorts of other abnormalities are commonplace. Being a plain old human is boring and looked down upon. This is the world that still isn't enough for the addicts, and so they turn to their reality hopping Vurt.

Now, coming back to the beginning... Ravendesk Games has actually gone off the rails enough to put together a tabletop experience for Vurt. It apparently took a four year effort to convince Jeff Noon, but their persistence won out. Furthermore, they're going to be using the Cypher System currently found in Monte Cook's Numenera. The Cypher system is the wild, unkempt cousin of d20, in many ways. Monte Cook reinvented a great deal of RPG terminology in the current write-ups for Cypher, but you still roll a d20, still have levels, still have classes. The actual math for difficulty is based on multiples of three across ten steps of difficulty, which sounds odd but functions cleverly. Added bits like “Focuses” which function almost like a subclass are pretty interesting. On the negative, Cypher also dabbles with systems like “GM Intrusion” which (on top of being horribly named) forces a FATE-style “spend x or be subjected to badness” but gambles players' XP. I'm eager to see what the Ravendesk team does to tailor Cypher to Vurt.

What? You're still here? Go! Go on! Go read about Curious Yellow feathers, and shadowgirls; about mathemagick and cybernetics. While Ravendesk Games made their first goal and Vurt: The Roleplaying Game WILL be coming, there's no reason not to support them further as the stretch goals include pregen adventures, a sourcebook, and five language support for the core rulebook. In parting, I leave you with one my favorite lines from Vurt; “Expect to feel pleasure. Knowledge is sexy. Expect to feel pain. Knowledge is torture.”

Kicking Sad Puppies

(This is an archival repost from my work at Your Nerd Is Showing.)

Kicking Puppies: The Promise of Sci-Fi vs. Anti-Inclusivity Brigade

Warning: This article has some frank discussion about racism, sexism, homophobia, and transmisogyny.

I don't know if you know who the Sad (or Rabid) Puppies are. I don't even know if you're familiar with the Hugo Awards. You are reading a site about nerds by and for nerds, so I'm pretty certain you know of the genres Science Fiction and Fantasy, yes? The Hugos are an award given every year voted on by the attendees of WorldCon. Purchasing a membership to WorldCon grants you eligibility to vote for two years. You also take part in nominating those pieces of fiction, be they graphic format, dramatic presentation, novella, or other formats. This year, a voting bloc led ostensibly by author Vox Day, organized itself to push back against what they felt was a dearth of political correctness and diversity shoving straight, cis, white men out of eligibility. Since the Hugo voters are not usually very organized about their voting, this allowed the “Sad Puppies” to dominate the nomination process, filling multiple categories with their slate of nominees, and claiming almost all spots in many others. That's the situation as it stood Saturday August 22^nd as the Sci-Fi and Fantasy community watched and waited for the results.

In the months before, there had been a great deal of discussion as to how the voting would look. The Hugo Awards allow a vote of “No Award” if an eligible voter feels that none of the nominees deserve the award or if they feel the category should be abolished. Many voters spoke publicly of their plan to use votes of No Award to fight back against what they felt was bigotry and disingenuous behavior on the part of the puppies. In response, the puppies lashed out that people were just being bitter and not wanting to follow the rules.

I sat and watched the Hugos Saturday night, waiting to see how this struggle would pan out. You see, I'm a firm believer in the “Promise of Sci-Fi” and to a lesser degree, what I call the “Hope of Fantasy.” I'm not the world's best example of someone with nothing who found inspiration in Science Fiction and Fantasy. However, I have always been a believer in the idea that with rational thought and an open mind, humanity can reach incredible heights. Even cautionary Science Fiction, like that beginning with Mary Shelley, doesn't doubt the incredible things we can accomplish. Instead, it astutely asks us to evaluate whether or not we SHOULD take these actions. Even the grime of Cyberpunk has this promise at its heart. While humans may still retain their distinct flaws in the face of the future, the potential is there for many other hopes and dreams to be realized. This ties directly to my belief about Fantasy. Fantasy lets us hope for worlds where no matter how strange we may seem, we are normal. The same wonder we may achieve looking at the stars, we can also achieve imagining ourselves as boy shepherd who one day becomes an Archmage, speaking the tongue of creation. In these places, the marginalized can find purchase because in these fictional worlds, they are no longer marginalized.

So as the awards unfolded and the Twitter feeds rolled on, I watched with anticipation. Would the institution of the Hugos be shaken by No Awards? Or would wings go to authors like John C. Wright who have openly attacked equality of marriage activists asking why they don't support racism as both are “malfunctions” (for validation of these claims, http://www.thebacklot.com/orson-scott-card-isnt-the-only-homophobic-wackjob-sci-fi-writer-out-there/08/2009/, but again trigger warnings for all listed at the beginning of the article and general bigotry.)

When the awards began, they began innocently enough, with a touching tribute to Jay Lake. The next awards to be given are the Fan awards. Julian May and Ben Yallow received the first awards, both positive members of the fan community. Then, after much pomp and circumstance, the rest of the awards ceremony is underway. And I watched, eyes drooping from a deficit of sleep, as award after award was called and the Sad Puppies received no succor. John W. Campbell award? Wesley Chu. Then came Elizabeth Leggett and Laura J. Mixon in the fan categories. There was deference to the marginalized and the #BlackLivesMatter movement. Then came Galatic Suburbia Radio, Journey Planet, and Lightspeed Magazine's awards. These were prominent Feminist organizations. The words “I'd like to thank the patriarchy” were spoken by Christie Yant as she accepted for Lightspeed. By this point, Twitter began to stream with jokes asking if the Sad Puppies had intended this all along or if sad reports were being made to Vox Day about the crumbling of the war effort.

And then the No Awards began. This article is not a definite list of the winners. The Hugos have that themselves as well as many far more respected journalistic establishments. I'm only going to tell you the sweeping emotion that began to take me as I started sending messages to friends, colleagues, and acquaintances to tell them the results. I was taken by the solidarity of the thing. There were many tolerable candidates on the Sad Puppies slate, but still, the voters hold firm. They would not negotiate with what they felt were bigots or terrorists. They would not put up with the kind of people who would leave a stack of vile papers on the freebies table, hoping to insult as many groups as possible while referring to the SFWA as the “Socialist Fiction Writer's of America.” Overall, five No Awards were announced that night, bringing the total of No Awards given in the history of the Hugos to five. The Sad Puppies were almost entirely shut out, with the singular exception of “Guardians of the Galaxy” winning long form presentation. It was a category completely full of Puppy nominees and yet, enough voters had intended to vote for it regardless, that it still won. It struck me, sitting there, as the Sad Puppies' greatest loss. It was the one that proved that voting weren't just there to spite them. They were protesting the Puppies' methods and tactics, certainly. But they weren't beyond voting for a option that they agreed with.

Now, in the days after, I've watched social media ignite with spin from the Sad Puppies camp as to how this was a victory for them as it shook the validity of the awards. After all, what point is an awards assembly that doesn't give out awards? To this nerd, it validated the Hugos all over again. I have never been prouder of the Science Fiction and Fantasy communities as I was watching the awards happen. The community came to together in way that, sadly, my gamer community hasn't dreamed of yet, and told the bigots that they would not be argued or reasoned with. They would simply be shown the door.

The Sad Puppies have already vowed to try the same stunt again next year. We can only wait and see if they wear folks down by attrition, or if they'll be more Sad Puppies sent to the shelter again next year.

The Secrets of Heroes: Campaign Hook #2

And here is Campaign hook #2 for the IRL game crowd.


The Secrets of Heroes

“Over two hundred years ago, on the plains of The Greenfields, a great battle was fought.  The Prince of Beasts, Baphomet, carved open a gateway between planes.  His forces erected a metropolis in their dark master's honor and from it, their terror spread.  Until, that is, the great Archmage Ardath Krell came and felled the forces of Hell.  Legend has it, he fought Baphomet atop the great brass tower in the center of the labyrinthine city and threw down the Demon Lord.  Once the stain of darkness had been purged from the land, Ardath himself lay down on a small island in the heart of The Greenfields.  As his life flickered out, the Archmage simply... faded away.  A memorial was erected on the spot.  In time, a small town grew where Ardath left this world.  Ardath's Rest, they call it.

And I believe I've found something; a secret Ardath went to his grave keeping.  If I'm right, I'm going to need some... specialists... to assist me.  Whatever we find, we'll split evenly as partners.

Are you in?”  -  Sage Setra Blackhands

An expedition with the promise of ancient treasure becomes a race to uncover the source of a festering evil in the heart of The Greenfields.

Campaign Hook #1 - The Province of the Damned

Posting the Campaign hooks for a pair of games I'll be running soon.  Here's the first.

The Specialists: The Province of the Damned

“Guards, why don't you give us a little privacy? Eh? Thank you.

All right, I'm just going to lay it out for you rotter. The Emperor has promoted me, ME, to Duke of Hulder, Warder of the High Pass. You know that means? It means he wants me dead and doesn't have enough evidence to have me hanged me instead. Hulder's a shitpot that's seen its ten last Dukes all die or vanish within seven years. I'm not about to be the next one.

I need specialists, not soldiers. People that aren't afraid to get their hands dirty. The last Duke to be appointed hasn't replied to any messages in over a month. I don't even know for certain that he is dead. That's why I've come to you. Sign up and I'll see that you're well paid and that you receive a full pardon for your crimes... whether or not you committed anyway. If not, well, I hope the hangman's noose isn't tied too tight.”

Earn your freedom in the service Duke Edvard Alexsander as he takes control of Hulder Province, the most lethal stretch of territory the Empire has ever seen.

Of Monsters and Encounter Design

For those wondering, this is a follow-up my earlier post on the subject of lethality in DnD Next.

This time I’m discussing how to bring a little more of 4E into in 5E for those who are still new DMs and not used to tweaking full encounters or wanting to ramp up the “badassness” of the PCs.

If, for instance, we take the entry for an NPC “Bandit” from the Basic DMG pdf.  A Bandit has an AC of 12, 11 HP (2d8+2), has a +3 To Hit, and deals either 4 damage (1d6+1) in close combat or 5 damage (1d8+1) in ranged. They have no skill proficiencies by default.

Experienced DMs will immediately notice that three of our five main stats have an average number to use while also giving us a range. Some simulationists will want to roll each bandit’s HP and their damage, while making sure they wisely use both of their weapons.

That method, however, isn’t the subject of our discussion.  Let’s instead take a moment to refresh our memories concerning the stat blocks of 4E.  Each monster was labeled with a role (Skirmisher, Lurker, Artillery, Brute, Soldier, et al), as well as a possible classification such as Minion, Elite, or Solo.  These roles help DMs organize and plan for the proper creatures for their encounters.

Now, with 5E, determining a monster’s role as Lurker, Artillery, etc. is a little trickier than previous.  Each monster, by default, will have a limited number of useful roles given its stat block.  For now, we’ll leave our HP at 11.  Our Bandit could fulfill a Skirmisher or Artillery role easiest. We could simply denote each Bandit (Sk) or (Ar) as we design our encounter. Think of this as programming instructions. Our (Sk) Bandits will choose to fire a volley at foes before engaging in melee combat. Meanwhile, our (Ar) Bandits will choose to only fire from a distance until directly engaged or out of ammo (if you’re playing that way.)  We can make a Bandit into a Soldier by swapping their crossbow out for a shield. This increases their AC by 2 and increases their lifespan a bit further.  To create a better Lurker, we’ll note that our Bandit has a +3 to Stealth (They come equipped with a +1 Dex bonus). Now, to make our Brute we have a couple options. We can give the (Br) Bandit a more dangerous weapon, increasing their damage to (1d8+1) or (1d10+1) while dropping their ranged weapon.  Or, rather than changing their inventory at all, we can simply adjust our (Br) Bandit’s damage average to 5 or 6 instead of 4.  This will depend on your style of play and whether you prefer to roll all damage or use fixed damage for monsters to speed up combat.

Now, we’ve covered the main basic roles that our Bandits can easily play. (Controller and Leader are both technically doable but sort reaching for a Challenge 1/8 NPC.)  Now to address Minionizing, Elitifying, and (gasp) turning a Bandit into a Solo Boss Monster.

Minionizing is the easiest by far. Our Minion Bandit has minimum HP and should only hit for the average damage.  If you care to have your minions roll damage, cap their damage at the average. They should weaken your PCs while letting your players feel like badasses. If your Minion Bandit can kill a PC by accident, you’re doing it wrong.  Now, that being said, if you want your players terrified by a neverending swarm of bandits or kobolds, by all means, Minions are great for that option.  Dropping a dozen enemies and still having countless eyes shining in the darkness can absolutely spook a player. (Note: This works even better when using full narrative play as opposed to grid play for these moments. If a player asks why they can’t use the grid, simply tell them that you don’t have enough minis for what’s coming. Works like a charm.)  So, to recap, minimum HP for Minions, cap damage at average.  (Optionally, you can drop their HP to 1 and make them take no damage on a miss. That’s 100% 4E for you. I prefer the first method to keep the 3E/5E feel but YMMV.)

Moving on to Elites.  These foes are also quite easy to build.  Take your Bandit, give her maximum HP, a +2 to AC, and either raise her constant damage to 3/4 of the max damage or make the average her minimum damage if you roll damage. Now, your Bandit is hitting in a much more lethal range for many characters, is harder to hit, and takes more time to bring down.

Finally, the Solo.  Sounds easy right? Just keep pumping up the numbers, right? No. Absolutely not. Our real task here isn’t to just keep throwing higher numbers at the players. That increases the likelihood that someone will fall in combat, certainly. However, that does not help us create a more interesting opponent.  Instead, we’ll take the Elite template and do the following: increase HP to 1.5x normal maximum, and then find a monster (or monsters) of high enough Challenge and XP that it would be appropriate for your party. Steal two abilities from their stat block and graft onto your creature. In our instance, I’m stealing two abilities. One from the NPC Berserker (Reckless - Gain Melee Advantage for the turn, but all attacks against you have Advantage as well), and Multi-Attack (giving our Bandit two attacks per turn.) This raises our Bandit from being fairly dangerous to being downright lethal and hard to kill. Perfect for a Solo fight.

Now, the last question is concerning the quantity of XP to give for each enemy.  Our Bandits with roles will give standard 25 XP. Minions I recommend giving 1/2 XP for (13 XP in this case) because of their squishiness.  Elites should give x1.5 XP (38 XP) as they are significantly more potent than normal.  Solos should give 4x the normal XP rate (100 XP here) as they are intended with this method to challenges to parties of opponents.

Now, a word of warning.  Before you start trying to make Elite or Solo versions of creatures READ ALL THE MONSTER ENTRIES.  5E operates on “bounded accuracy” so that monsters that are Solos at level 2 will become Minion material at higher levels.  This doesn’t mean that you can’t make a pair of Solo Ogres (with a magical artifact or two even!) to teach your Level 6 or 8 PCs some humility, but these shenanigans will be harder to manage the higher in level you go.  Pay attention to abilities and how they interact with other monsters in your encounter. Few things are less fun than accidentally killing your PCs in an ambush meant to move the story along.

I hope this has been helpful. Good gaming, and remember, go have fun. That’s the point of a game.

DnD Next Beast List and Recommendations

Name (size, armor class, hit points, movement modes, skills, senses (PP=Passive Perception), special abilities (if any), attacks (damage and damage type))
Baboon (Small, AC:12, HP:3, Spd 30 Climb 30, Skills: None, Senses: PP11, Pack Tactics, Bite +1 (1 prc))
Badger (Tiny, AC:10, HP:3, Spd 20 Burrow 5, Skills: None, Senses: Darkvision 30 PP11, Keen Smell, Bite +2 (1 prc))
Bat (Tiny, AC:12, HP:1, Spd 5 Fly 30, Skills: None, Senses: Blindsight 60ft. PP11, Echolocation, Keen Hearing, Bite +1 (1 prc))
Blood Hawk (Small, AC:12, HP:7, Spd 10 Fly 60, Skills: Perception +4, Senses: PP14, Keen Sight, Pack Tactics, Beak +4 (4 prc))
Boar (Medium, AC:11, HP:11, Spd 40, Skills: None, Senses: PP9, Charge, Relentless, Tusk +3 (4 slash))
Cat (Tiny, AC:12, HP:2, Spd 40 Climb 30, Skills: Perception +3 Stealth +4, Senses: PP13, Keen Smell, Claws +0 (1 prc))
Crab (Tiny, AC:11, HP:2, Spd 10 Swim 20, Skills: Stealth +2, Senses: Blindsight 30ft PP9, Amphibious, Claw +0 (1 bldgn))
Deer (Medium, AC:13, HP:4, Spd 50, Skills: None, Senses: PP12, Bite +2 (2 prc))
Eagle (Small, AC:12, HP:3, Spd 10 Fly 60, Skills: Perception +4, Senses: PP14, Talons +4 (4 slash))
Flying Snake(Tiny, AC:14, HP:5, Spd 30 Fly 60 Swim 30, Skills: None, Senses: Blindsight 10 PP11, Flyby, Bite +6 (1 prc + 7 poison))
Frog (Tiny, AC:11, HP:1, Spd 20 Swim 20, Skills: Perception +1 Stealth +3, Senses: Darkvision 30 PP11, Amphibious, Standing Leap, no attacks)
Giant Badger (Medium, AC:10, HP:13, Spd 30 Burrow 10, Skills: None, Senses: Darkvision 30 PP11, Keen Smell, Multiattack Bite +3 (4 prc) Claws +3 (6 slash))
Giant Centipede (Small, AC:13, HP:4, Spd 30 Climb 30, Skills: None, Senses: Blindsight 30 PP8, Bite +4 (4 prc + DC11 Constitution of 10 Poison + Special))
Giant Crab (Medium, AC:15, HP:13, Spd 30 Swim 30, Skills: Stealth +4, Senses: Blindsight 30 PP9, Amphibious, Claw +3 (4 bldgn + DC11 Grapple))
Giant Fire Beetle (Small, AC:13, HP:4, Spd 30, Skills: None, Senses: Blindsight 30 PP8, Illumination, Bite +1 (2 slash))
Giant Frog (Medium, AC:11, HP:18, Spd 30 Swim 30, Skills: Perception +2 Stealth +3, Senses: Darkvision 30 PP12, Amphibious, Standing Leap, Bite +3 (4 prc + DC11 Grapple, Swallow Attack))
Giant Poisonous Snake (Medium, AC:14, HP:11, Spd 30 Swim 30, Skills: Perception +2, Senses: Blindsight 10 PP12, Bite +6 (6 prc + DC 11 Constitution or 10 poison))
Giant Rat (Small, AC:12, HP:7, Spd 30, Skills: None, Senses: Darkvision 30 PP10, Keen Smell, Pack Tactics, Bite +4 (4 prc))
Giant Weasel (Medium, AC:13, HP:9, Spd 40, Skills: Perception +3 Stealth +5, Senses: Darkvision PP13, Keen Hearing/Smell, Bite +5 (5 prc))
Giant Wolf Spider (Medium, AC:13, HP:11, Spd 40 Climb 40, Skills: Perception +3 Stealth +7, Senses: Blindsight 10 Darkvision 60 PP13, Spider Climb, Web Sense, Web Walker, Bite +3 (4 prc + DC11 Constitution or 7 Poison + Special))
Goat (Medium, AC:10, HP:4, Spd 40, Skills: None, Senses: PP10, Charge, Sure Footed, Ram +3 (3 bldgn))
Hawk (Tiny, AC:13, HP:1, Spd 10 Fly 60, Skills: Perception +4, Senses: PP14, Keen Sight, Talons +5 (1 slash))
Hyena (Medium, AC:11, HP: 5, Spd 50, Skills: Perception +3, Senses: PP13, Pack Tactics, Bite +2 (3 prc))
Jackal (Small, AC:12, HP:3, Spd 40, Skills: Perception +3, Senses: PP 13, Keen Hearing/Smell, Pack Tactics, Bite +1 (1 prc))
Lizard (Tiny, AC:10, HP:2, Spd 20 Climb 20, Skills: None, Senses: Darkvision 30 PP9, Bite +0 (1 prc))
Mastiff (Medium, AC:12, HP:5, Spd 40, Skills: Perception +3, Senses: PP13, Keen Hearing/Smell, Bite +3 (4 prc + DC11 Strength or Prone))
Mule (Medium, AC:10, HP:11, Spd 40, Skills: None, Senses: PP10, Beast of Burden, Sure Footed, Hooves +2 (4 bldgn))
Octopus (Small, AC:12, HP:3, Spd 5 Swim 30, Skills: Perception +2 Stealth +3, Senses: Darkvision 30 PP12, Hold Breath, Underwater Camouflage, Water Breathing, Tentacles +4 (1 bldgn + Grapple), Ink Cloud
Owl (Tiny, AC:11, HP:1, Spd 5 Fly 60, Skills: Perception +3 Stealth +3, Senses: Darkvision 120 PP13, Flyby, Keen Hearing/Sight, Talons +3 (1 slash))
Panther (Medium, AC:12, HP:13, Spd 50 Climb 40, Skills: Perception +4 Stealth +6, Senses: PP14, Keen Smell, Pounce, Bite +4 (5 prc) Claw +4 (4 slash))
Poisonous Snake (Tiny, AC:13, HP:2, Spd 30 Swim 30, Skills: None, Senses: Blindsight 10 PP10, Bite +5 (1 prc + DC10 Constitution or 5 poison))
Pony (Medium, AC:10, HP:11, Spd 40, Skills: None, Senses: PP10, Hooves +4 (7 bldgn))
Pteranodon (Medium, AC:13, HP:13, Spd 10 Fly 60, Skills: Perception +1, Senses: PP11, Flyby, Bite +3 (6 prc))
Quipper (Tiny, AC:13, HP:1, Spd 0 Swim 40, Skills: None, Senses: Darkvision 60 PP8, Blood Frenzy, Water Breathing, Bite +5 (1 prc))
Rat (Tiny, AC:10, HP:1, Spd 20, Skills: None, Senses: Darkvision 30 PP10, Keen Smell, Bite +0 (1 prc))
Raven (Tiny, AC:12, HP:1, Spd 10 Fly 50, Skills: Perception +3, Senses: PP13, Mimicry, Beak +4 (1 prc))
Scorpion (Tiny, AC:11, HP:1, Spd 10, Skills: None, Senses: Blindsight 10 PP9, Sting +2 (1 prc + DC9 Constitution or 4 poison))
Sea Horse (Tiny, AC:11, HP:1, Spd 0 Swim 20, Skills: None, Senses: PP10, Waterbreathing, no attacks)
Spider (Tiny, AC:12, HP:1, Spd 20 Climb 20, Skills: Stealth +4, Senses: Darkvision 30 PP10, Spider Climb, Web Sense, Web Walker, Bite +1 (1 prc + DC9 Constitution or 2 poison))
Stirge (Tiny, AC:14, HP:2, Spd 10 Fly 40, Skills: None, Senses: Darkvision 60 PP9, Blood Drain +5 (5 prc + blood drain)
Weasel (Tiny, AC:13, HP:1, Spd 30, Skills: Perception +3 Stealth +5, Senses: PP13, Keen Hearing/Smell, Bite +5 (1 prc))
Wolf (Medium, AC:13, HP:11, Spd 40, Skills: Perception +3 Stealth +4, Senses: PP13, Keen Hearing/Smell, Pack Tactics, Bite +4 (7 prc + DC11 Stength or prone))

Read more: http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?358676-Beast-Master-Ranger-List-of-Animal-Companions#ixzz3Dd8nvfEZ

This is an important list for anyone who likes to play a Ranger with an Animal Companion and all thanks should be given to Moorcrys on the ENWorld boards for compiling it.  The current rules for Ranger only allow Beasts that are Medium or smaller with a Challenge of 1/4 or less.  Now, as your Beast Master grows in levels, you gain better abilities to control your companion as well as having them grow in HP and gain the use of your proficiency bonus. I also recommend considering buying barding for your animal companion (if your DM allows it) as soon as you can afford it to extend the life of your companion.  Some, like the Giant Crab won’t need barding (Giant Crab is a nice option for the ability to Grapple two targets at once also) but you should always keep these sorts of things in mind.

Beast Masters are regarded as the “worst off” of the sub-classes and rightfully so.  All of their class bonuses are tied up in making their pet shine.  That said, understanding your Beast Master’s role in group is very important.  Your pet will dictate how you fight and what role you are capable of filling.  A Gnome riding the back of a giant badger that has multiattack and burrow will play very differently than a Drow stalking through the shadows waiting for their giant wolf spider to pounce.