Animal lord... Any good? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Animal lord... Any good? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Ralvuimego
02-21-07, 12:30 AM I plan on making an Ranger/Barbarian/Ape Lord for the next adventure I'm in. I'm kinda starting to consider that the ape lord isn't all that good though. Anyone got any actual play experience with an animal lord? Is it actually playable?
FrostHammer
02-21-07, 02:56 AM What book is it from?
DEMONisbest
02-21-07, 04:19 AM Its in Complete adventurer
and btw Bearlord is imo more suited for Brb/Rgr.
The_Shaman
02-21-07, 07:08 AM Or wolflord, imo.

I think if you can't make full use of the ranger spells (12- wisdom) it could be quite good. Do try to make use of the animal companion, though - I'm partial to dire wolves in this case, but any critter would come in handy if you can get 4+ levels of ranger.

Overall imo it's not very powerful, but in its own stuff it's good. I wish there was the ability to speak at will with animals from your favoured group... It's what, a cut-down lvl 1 spell.
Willie the Duck
02-21-07, 11:24 AM It is not one of the maximized PrCs that give you some amazing power at the end. It does allow you to generally keep going with your barbarian skills, and grants you as many feats as it took to get into the class (although they are preselected and thus hard to optimize). Given that each additional level of barbarian only gives incremental improvement over the previous (unlike say spellcasters), you will be roughly on par with what you give up (a barbarian10/Apelord10 is not to different from a barbarian 20). Given that warrior builds are generally considered weak after about 10th level unless they are heavily twinked out, this character will eventually become outclassed.

So I guess it depends on your campaign. If everyone is playing warblades with shocktrooper and karmic strike, this is a bad idea. If someone picked up a ranger/rogue/Order of the Bow Initiate because they like the idea, then this certainly is comperable.
Ralvuimego
02-21-07, 03:18 PM Thanks for the input, guys. I honestly don't want to go bearlord because grapple-focused bulids get blown away in later levels where either everything is impossibly big or has freedom of movement on, but I might do it anyawy. Maybe find a way to get around those. Admittedly though, the wild-aspect natural attacks are usully outclassed by normal weapons. I might do an animal focused bearlord, using the free endurance feat from being a ranger to slip past the prerequisite. Apelord brachiation just doesn't sound that good either, even with the attribute bonus at the end of the PrC.

At this point, the party I'm in has no tough melee guy. (We have a cleric, a monk, a psion, and two wizards.) I might go Barb 2/Ranger 4 before hitting animal lord, pick up the natural bond feat to buff my animal companion so I might be able to have a brown bear when I enter the PrC, then have me and the bear do double tanking duty. I'll probably use the UA variant ranger that drops combat style for wild-shape and fast movement for more uses of wild aspect and a higher land speed.
thepuregamer
02-21-07, 03:22 PM Forget the 3.5 animal lord. Look up the old animal lord from masters of the wild. It was alot cooler. It gave you wildshape all day independent of HD ending in being able to turn into a legendary version of your animal group. Only needs a few updates. IE, it should say it requires animal companion now along with saying it just continues animal companion progression. Legendary tiger is pretty cool to be turning into at lvl 14 or 15.
The_Shaman
02-21-07, 03:36 PM Thanks for the input, guys. I honestly don't want to go bearlord because grapple-focused bulids get blown away in later levels where either everything is impossibly big or has freedom of movement on, but I might do it anyawy. Maybe find a way to get around those. Admittedly though, the wild-aspect natural attacks are usully outclassed by normal weapons. I might do an animal focused bearlord, using the free endurance feat from being a ranger to slip past the prerequisite. Apelord brachiation just doesn't sound that good either, even with the attribute bonus at the end of the PrC.

At this point, the party I'm in has no tough melee guy. (We have a cleric, a monk, a psion, and two wizards.) I might go Barb 2/Ranger 4 before hitting animal lord, pick up the natural bond feat to buff my animal companion so I might be able to have a brown bear when I enter the PrC, then have me and the bear do double tanking duty. I'll probably use the UA variant ranger that drops combat style for wild-shape and fast movement for more uses of wild aspect and a higher land speed.

Don't forget, animal lord can get you a very decent mount. Especially if you're a dwarf or another slow-ish character - being on the back of an advanced brown bear helps if you need to get somewhere faster, and is way cooler than riding on some stinkin' horse. Still, that +1 elevation bonus helps, and you can cap it off with some wild plains outrider for a full mounted attack. CHAAAARGE! :P
crimsonwolf
02-21-07, 04:34 PM take a level in beast master.. that boost in +4 level for companino is worth it
Ralvuimego
02-21-07, 04:53 PM Heh... Why do I get the feeling I'm going to have to keep a ring of reduce animal for when I'm dungeon crawling? It's kind of hard to fit a bear through a door. The idea of riding a bear is pretty cool though, it's too bad that as a barbarian I won't be able to benefit from my fast movement as much unless I dismount.

Animal Growth as a SLA for the animal lord is a plus though. Having a huge animal at will is just too awesome to pass up.
Pyl Caryc
02-21-07, 07:54 PM Forget the 3.5 animal lord. Look up the old animal lord from masters of the wild. It was alot cooler. It gave you wildshape all day independent of HD ending in being able to turn into a legendary version of your animal group. Only needs a few updates. IE, it should say it requires animal companion now along with saying it just continues animal companion progression. Legendary tiger is pretty cool to be turning into at lvl 14 or 15.

I agree. I played the 3.0 Version of the Animal Lord and believe me, it was a lot better before the changes.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Ralvuimego 02-21-07, 12:30 AM	I plan on making an Ranger/Barbarian/Ape Lord for the next adventure I'm in. I'm kinda starting to consider that the ape lord isn't all that good though. Anyone got any actual play experience with an animal lord? Is it actually playable?
FrostHammer 02-21-07, 02:56 AM	What book is it from?
DEMONisbest 02-21-07, 04:19 AM	Its in Complete adventurer and btw Bearlord is imo more suited for Brb/Rgr.
The_Shaman 02-21-07, 07:08 AM	Or wolflord, imo. I think if you can't make full use of the ranger spells (12- wisdom) it could be quite good. Do try to make use of the animal companion, though - I'm partial to dire wolves in this case, but any critter would come in handy if you can get 4+ levels of ranger. Overall imo it's not very powerful, but in its own stuff it's good. I wish there was the ability to speak at will with animals from your favoured group... It's what, a cut-down lvl 1 spell.
Willie the Duck 02-21-07, 11:24 AM	It is not one of the maximized PrCs that give you some amazing power at the end. It does allow you to generally keep going with your barbarian skills, and grants you as many feats as it took to get into the class (although they are preselected and thus hard to optimize). Given that each additional level of barbarian only gives incremental improvement over the previous (unlike say spellcasters), you will be roughly on par with what you give up (a barbarian10/Apelord10 is not to different from a barbarian 20). Given that warrior builds are generally considered weak after about 10th level unless they are heavily twinked out, this character will eventually become outclassed. So I guess it depends on your campaign. If everyone is playing warblades with shocktrooper and karmic strike, this is a bad idea. If someone picked up a ranger/rogue/Order of the Bow Initiate because they like the idea, then this certainly is comperable.
Ralvuimego 02-21-07, 03:18 PM	Thanks for the input, guys. I honestly don't want to go bearlord because grapple-focused bulids get blown away in later levels where either everything is impossibly big or has freedom of movement on, but I might do it anyawy. Maybe find a way to get around those. Admittedly though, the wild-aspect natural attacks are usully outclassed by normal weapons. I might do an animal focused bearlord, using the free endurance feat from being a ranger to slip past the prerequisite. Apelord brachiation just doesn't sound that good either, even with the attribute bonus at the end of the PrC. At this point, the party I'm in has no tough melee guy. (We have a cleric, a monk, a psion, and two wizards.) I might go Barb 2/Ranger 4 before hitting animal lord, pick up the natural bond feat to buff my animal companion so I might be able to have a brown bear when I enter the PrC, then have me and the bear do double tanking duty. I'll probably use the UA variant ranger that drops combat style for wild-shape and fast movement for more uses of wild aspect and a higher land speed.
thepuregamer 02-21-07, 03:22 PM	Forget the 3.5 animal lord. Look up the old animal lord from masters of the wild. It was alot cooler. It gave you wildshape all day independent of HD ending in being able to turn into a legendary version of your animal group. Only needs a few updates. IE, it should say it requires animal companion now along with saying it just continues animal companion progression. Legendary tiger is pretty cool to be turning into at lvl 14 or 15.
The_Shaman 02-21-07, 03:36 PM	Thanks for the input, guys. I honestly don't want to go bearlord because grapple-focused bulids get blown away in later levels where either everything is impossibly big or has freedom of movement on, but I might do it anyawy. Maybe find a way to get around those. Admittedly though, the wild-aspect natural attacks are usully outclassed by normal weapons. I might do an animal focused bearlord, using the free endurance feat from being a ranger to slip past the prerequisite. Apelord brachiation just doesn't sound that good either, even with the attribute bonus at the end of the PrC. At this point, the party I'm in has no tough melee guy. (We have a cleric, a monk, a psion, and two wizards.) I might go Barb 2/Ranger 4 before hitting animal lord, pick up the natural bond feat to buff my animal companion so I might be able to have a brown bear when I enter the PrC, then have me and the bear do double tanking duty. I'll probably use the UA variant ranger that drops combat style for wild-shape and fast movement for more uses of wild aspect and a higher land speed. Don't forget, animal lord can get you a very decent mount. Especially if you're a dwarf or another slow-ish character - being on the back of an advanced brown bear helps if you need to get somewhere faster, and is way cooler than riding on some stinkin' horse. Still, that +1 elevation bonus helps, and you can cap it off with some wild plains outrider for a full mounted attack. CHAAAARGE! :P
crimsonwolf 02-21-07, 04:34 PM	take a level in beast master.. that boost in +4 level for companino is worth it
Ralvuimego 02-21-07, 04:53 PM	Heh... Why do I get the feeling I'm going to have to keep a ring of reduce animal for when I'm dungeon crawling? It's kind of hard to fit a bear through a door. The idea of riding a bear is pretty cool though, it's too bad that as a barbarian I won't be able to benefit from my fast movement as much unless I dismount. Animal Growth as a SLA for the animal lord is a plus though. Having a huge animal at will is just too awesome to pass up.
Pyl Caryc 02-21-07, 07:54 PM	Forget the 3.5 animal lord. Look up the old animal lord from masters of the wild. It was alot cooler. It gave you wildshape all day independent of HD ending in being able to turn into a legendary version of your animal group. Only needs a few updates. IE, it should say it requires animal companion now along with saying it just continues animal companion progression. Legendary tiger is pretty cool to be turning into at lvl 14 or 15. I agree. I played the 3.0 Version of the Animal Lord and believe me, it was a lot better before the changes.