A Ranger (level 3 Neutral Good Human) in my 5e campaign commanded his panther companion to follow him into a city. I was surprised that the player made this choice since I had assumed the companion would stay in the wilds and be reunited once again. While the panther was reluctant to do so, it nervously followed. A bribe was needed at the city gate. The companion was acquired in the last session, and the session ended as the party entered the city. The party has not decided what plot leads to follow next, but their adventures so far have been contained to urban adventures and dungeons discovered within the city.
In the next session, there are a few options that I can use with regards to this companion, such as the Ranger becoming highly conspicuous while travelling along city streets and attracting a following of street urchins and also becoming the focus of unwanted attention from undesirable NPCs.
How are Ranger companions usually handled within city / urban environments? Are Ranger companions usually allowed within cities? What situations have arisen in your campaign when companions are brought into cities? What situations have arisen and what rules have been applied in these situations?
Best Answer
There is no RAW
As far as actual published rules, there aren't any. There may be setting-specific help in some of the packaged modules -- but don't recall seeing it.
What I do
I play it differently for each city based on how I think the city would react. A city near a large forest inhabited by rangers and/or druids might be more apt to allow animals in. In places like a coastal city where large animals are a rarity, the guards and townsfolk might react less welcoming.
I've had my party's ranger have to bribe the guard at a gate to get the animal in, and sneak it around, which resulted in less hilarity that I thought it would. I think it still added a bit of realism to add things like "Hey, that wolf, you don't think I'm going to let in stay in my Inn, do you? It's a dangerous beast."
Considerations
It is a delicate balance. To exclude the animal from places with potential battles means stripping the subclass of its primary feature. To let a bear, wolf, tiger, or panther prowl around on the streets without anyone in town saying anything about it is unrealistic.
Critical Role
To mitigate things like that on the show Critical Role, the DM Mathew Mercer gave the party Ranger Vex'ahlia (played by Laura Bailey) a necklace that is kinda like a Poké Ball to put her companion bear in when it is inconvenient to have a bear waltzing about.