[RPG] What to do as a player when ranger animal companion dies

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I recently found myself in a situation where my PHB Beastmaster's animal companion was killed. There were no suitable beasts in the vicinity. As we were partway through a dungeon the party was unwilling to take a several day detour to replace the beast.

After a long rest the rest of the party was full health and ready to continue on but I had no new animal companion. My spells and equipment were optimized around the beast companion so without it over half my damage output was gone.

I ended up spending the rest of the dungeon casting cure wounds as there was little more I could do besides a single hand crossbow shot a turn.

Is there realistically anything I could have done or do Beastmaster rangers have to accept that if their beast companion dies they will be sitting on the sidelines until they can replace it?

DM flatly refused death saves on the animal companion stating it was not a PC.
RAW only; no UA or hand waving.

Best Answer

The Beastmaster Ranger's Ranger's Companion feature states:

[...] If the beast dies, you can obtain another one by spending 8 hours magically bonding with another beast that isn't hostile to you, either the same type of beast as before or a different one...

This is the only way mentioned of acquiring a new companion, so unfortunately if that is not an option, you will not have a way of getting a new companion. That said, you do have a few options available:

Finding a new companion

There is the locate animals or plants spell:

Describe or name a specific kind of beast or plant. Concentrating on the voice of nature in your surroundings, you learn the direction and distance to the closest creature or plant of that kind within 5 miles, if any are present.

Preventing the companion from dying:

Suggest to your GM that they allow your animal companions to make death saving throws. This would also give you more time to react once your companion begins to "die", potentially saving them. And it expressly mentioned in the following section:

Most DMs have a monster die the instant it drops to 0 hit points, rather than having it fall unconscious and make death saving throws. Mighty villains and special nonplayer characters are common exceptions; the DM might have them fall unconscious and follow the same rules as player characters.

You could also use the death ward spell:

You touch a creature and grant it a measure of protection from death.

The first time the target would drop to 0 hit points as a result of taking damage, the target instead drops to 1 hit point, and the spell ends.

If the spell is still in effect when the target is subjected to an effect that would kill it instantaneously without dealing damage, that effect is instead negated against the target, and the spell ends.

This spell lasts for eight hours, and so a Cleric/Paladin in your party may cast it for you, otherwise perhaps there is a spell-selling service in your world.

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