Post/Author/DateTime	Post
SmiloDan 10-14-04, 05:07 PM	My wardog just died, and I need to get a new animal companion. Any ideas? So far, I've gone through 2 wardogs, Gorsedd and Spike. Gorsedd had a lot of heart, and Spike was a veritable tank....AC in the mid 30's!!! We do a lot of dungeoneering, so I would need something medium-sized or smaller. Dang 5 foot corridors! Also, no dinosaurs. :( I'm considering another wardog, or possibly a dire weasel (gotta love Con Damage!). Also, can the DMG feat Improved Natural Attack increase the Con Damage of the Dire Weasel? Or just physical the physical damage? I tried to extrapolate from the Wraith and Dread Wraith, but there is also a size increase. Too bad Improved Natural Attack doesn't stack with itself.
SmiloDan 10-15-04, 10:38 AM	Any ideas? I got about a week to think of this...assuming my druid can get 24 hours to become one with nature in the next episode. Since the last episode ended with my druid in Dire Bat form, diving off an exploding tower, with a dead companion in my claws, a wounded one on my back, and the DMPC falling in mid-air to grapple us and teleport us to safety, I don't know what is going to happen!
Gnarl 10-15-04, 11:32 AM	What climat are you playing in ? I had a lot of fun with snakes, but the black mamba works better with an african druid. Rhinoceros are nice too :) I think you should stick to the dog. It's one of the only animal companions you can decently get into a town (not like a 10 foot rock python or a dinosaur). Eagles, hawks and other similar common human pets should do.
SmiloDan 10-15-04, 11:58 AM	We play in a temperate climate. We're currently based on a ship and are sailing along the southern coast of the continent. I think our next step of our quest is to go into a jungle kingdom of lizard folk. I like wardogs too. Animal companion Natural Armor + Barding = HUGE AC! :D
Ryoohki 10-15-04, 12:25 PM	Curious, by wardog you mean a riding dog trained for war, right? I don't see any "wardog" listed in the monster manual. I've been going through the same thing thinking of what animal companion to get next. I previously had an otter (modified badger to be an otter) who I awakened and have as a cohert with my leadership now. I was thinking riding dog trained for war, but I also liked the idea of the leopard or cheeta. Though it's been pointed out to me that a cheeta or leopard are a bit uncommon and might scare most people. So that's why the dog is the best probably. We're also traveling around on a ship going from island to island. Thus why otter was good for us as the otter can swim. I wish they had more animals to choose from. I know there's a lot already, but it would be nice to see some more of the exotic animals. Maybe a skunk :) The only benefit I saw of some of the more advanced animals were they did a bit more damage or had more attacks. The problem is their AC will be a LOT lower thus will get hurt a LOT more often. And if you do a comparison, the HD will be roughly the same, so it's probably best to use a basic animal and just give it the bonus HD. Kyle
Gnarl 10-15-04, 12:42 PM	You need a whale !!!
SmiloDan 10-15-04, 12:50 PM	Uh...we eat whales... :eek: I think I'll just stick to the wardog (riding dog trained for war). I just have to find barding somewhere...or get some made...and not cheap out and get it masterwork so it can be made magical. Or just get magic barding. I mean, I can't be the only one in the world using wardogs...can I?
Gnarl 10-15-04, 01:13 PM	Or just get magic barding. I mean, I can't be the only one in the world using wardogs...can I? Sure, everybody else is using a bear or some other big fat thing. I like the boar rider dwarf a lot :) By the way, why don't you get the barding off spike ?
TigerWolfe 10-15-04, 01:27 PM	the end of your last episode was awesome what about a wolf haven't looked at the stats are wardogs better
Inkubus 10-15-04, 01:35 PM	How about a dire wolf or a dire bear with reduce animal? Especially the dire bear animal companion is a killing machine. And if you have to go dungeon crawling just reduce him to medium size. My druid (level 13) has a dire bear animal companion and he's really effective. Cheers, Inkubus
Ryoohki 10-15-04, 02:43 PM	Well, for a 13th level druid, a riding dog trained for war would have these stats: Riding Dog: (from SRD) HD 10 BAB +7 STR 21 DEX 19 CON 15 (assuming you increase STR at lvl 4 and 8) AC 26 2 Attacks (1d6+7) Free trip as wolf Medium, Reach 5, Move 40 Fortitude and Reflex saves are "good" 3 Feats to choose from (or 4 if your DM lets you not choose alertness) Link, Share Spells, 5 bonus tricks, Evasion, Devotion, Multiattack A Dire Bear would have: (from SRD) HD 12 BAB +9 STR 31, DEX 13, CON 19 AC 17 2 Claw attacks (2d4+10) and 1 bite attack (2d8+5) Improved Grab Large, Reach 5, Move 40 All saves are "good" no feats to choose from Link, Share Spells, 1 bonus trick So comparing the two, the Dire Bear has 2 more HD which translates into more HP, better BAB, and better saves. The Dire Bear also has a "good" will save compared to the dog. It has 3 attacks instead of just 2, and the damage is better. It also has improved grab instead of a free trip attempt. The pros of the riding dog trained for war are its superior AC (26 vs 17), its feats you can choose for it (3 of them), its ease of bringing with you into areas where people won't run away in terror or look at you funny, and its extra abilities from a high level druid (evasion, devotion to help with will saves, and more bonus tricks). Also, since the dog has just one primary weapon, it gets str*1.5 for damage instead of just str. And if it power attacks (assuming you choose that for a feat), it gets *2 instead of a straight 1-1. Since you have 3 feats to choose for it, you can configure it how you want. IMHO, both could serve as a tank, one would just dish out more damage than the other, and one would stay alive longer by not being hit. Plus, a dog is less obviously a threat than a dire bear, so it will probably be ignored more often. It'll also be able to survive those fireballs and other evasion-based saves more often than not. Give it a collar of resistance and you're set. Personally, my druid has Craft Wonderous Item, and I plan on taking Craft Arms and Armor, so I'll be able to create magic items for my animal companion. But if not, I'm sure you can get someone to make one for you that works for the animal companion. Anyway, choose what you feel is best. But realize that the dog is on par with the dire bear in terms of combat ability. It's just going to be more of a finess fighter than a brute strength fighter. And its trip ability can be nasty, since it gets it for free. Granted, the bear's improved grab is also nasty with its big strength and large size. Kyle
SmiloDan 10-15-04, 03:38 PM	When my first dog died, my DM felt bad and let me roll the stats. Nothing like +4 Str +4 Dex +4 Con Int 2 +2 Wis -4 Cha. :-) (My original dog had negative hit points, so I cast Cure Light Wounds on it, but provoked an AoO from an orc with a great axe, that criticaled on me, so I went from 2 hp to -42 or something dreadful like that. I got raised, of course, but my dog didn't. ) (Spike died when my druid died, since his extra hit points were tied to me, somehow. Anyways, he used to have Dodge, Mobility, Spring Attack, and Power Attack. I didn't know about treating the bite like a 2-handed weapon for Power Attack. Is that core or house ruled? I knew about the Str and a half damage bonus, of course.)
Kabol 10-15-04, 05:48 PM	Dire Weasle - Easly one of the coolest Animal Compaions out there - Look em up in the MM for their Con Sucking ability - Plus its a lower lvl Animal < druid 4 can get > so that means it has more abilitys for being your companion then the higher lvl Animals would.
SmiloDan 10-15-04, 06:12 PM	I'm thinking of choosing a dire weasel just to mess with my DM. Con damage is fun! Hahaha!!! And I would train my animal companion to wear barding. I'm used to an animal companion with an AC in the mid 30s. Don't want to give that up. Now where can I get dragonhide plate barding sized for a dire weasel? The forces of darkness are really messing with civilization. We're almost self-sufficient now!
SmiloDan 10-15-04, 06:14 PM	Oops! Wrong thread!
royalpred 10-15-04, 06:15 PM	Go for a gnome...those make great animal companions! :D
GRAOUH !!! 10-15-04, 07:00 PM	Dogs and wolves for dungeoneering… It must be fun in the slippy stairs and on ladders and ropes, lol. Go for the whale, if you can go in dungeon with dogs, you can do it with a whale !
SmiloDan 10-18-04, 11:59 AM	Well, my unbuffed dog had Str 22 and Dex 21, so he had good climb and balance checks. (My DM let me roll stats for my dog.) But he bought it when I did.
meabolex 10-18-04, 12:25 PM	I highly recommend the Wolverine. Check out the rage capability (which works in every combat), multiple attacks, high Constitution, multiple movement capabilities (burrowing can be very handy, as can climb), and low level trade-off (only 3 druid levels) for increased hit dice progression. As the equivalent companion for a druid 11, he'll have 9 hit dice (~95 hp), Multiattack as a free feat (which he needs), and 2 extra feats (I recommend Improved Natural Attack(claw) and perhaps Improved Natural Armor). With Animal Growth and Greater Magic Fang, he can be quite an effective combat ally, even at level 14.
Vrellum 10-18-04, 01:12 PM	Ryoohki STR 21 DEX 19 CON 15 (assuming you increase STR at lvl 4 and 8) I don't think you get to pick stat increases for your animal companions when they reach 4, 8, etc hd.
meabolex 10-18-04, 01:15 PM	I don't think you get to pick stat increases for your animal companions when they reach 4, 8, etc hd. From the SRD: Ability Score Improvement: Treat monster Hit Dice the same as character level for determining ability score increases. This only applies to Hit Dice increases, monsters do not gain ability score increases for levels they “already reached” with their racial Hit Dice, since these adjustments are included in their basic ability scores. And you have good reason for thinking that. . . several entries in the monster manual incorrectly do not add in the extra stat points at every multiple of four. It's extremely confusing.
Thorak 10-18-04, 02:54 PM	From the SRD: And you have good reason for thinking that. . . several entries in the monster manual incorrectly do not add in the extra stat points at every multiple of four. It's extremely confusing. This would be true if the critter were being Advanced. But it's not. It's gaining power as an animal companion. AC's only get the stat bonuses listed in the PHB, they do not gain anything else for their bonus HD. Not bonus ability scores, not size increases, nada. Because they're not being Advanced.
meabolex 10-18-04, 03:03 PM	This would be true if the critter were being Advanced. But it's not. It's gaining power as an animal companion. AC's only get the stat bonuses listed in the PHB, they do not gain anything else for their bonus HD. Not bonus ability scores, not size increases, nada. Because they're not being Advanced. The size increases thing is specifically covered by the Sage in the 3.5 FAQ: An animal companion doesn’t get bigger when it adds extra Hit Dice for the master’s levels. The advancement entries for creatures, and the rules for advancing monsters, refer to unusually powerful specimens that are simply tougher (and perhaps bigger) than normal for their kinds. The issue with adding stat points for each multiple of 4 hit dice/levels reached doesn't necessarily have anything to do with advancing the creatures. I can add character levels to almost anything intelligent. . . which adds hit dice and stat points for each 4 hit dice gained. When I have a 3 racial HD base creature and gain a level of fighter, I still get a stat boost. . . but I didn't advance the creature at all.
meabolex 10-18-04, 03:28 PM	Ahhh, the joys of being wrong (: I know this is technically off-topic, but Thorak is correct. You DO NOT get the stat boosts every 4 hit dice, even though the rules for getting them do not necessarily involve advancing monsters. I've seen several examples of druids on the WotC site that do not have extra stat points gained every 4 hit dice. This makes sense in retrospect because if this were true, you could pump Intelligence up to the point where the creatures have almost human cognition.
Ryoohki 10-18-04, 06:15 PM	Well, regardless, 18 STR is still quite good. My DM is letting me do stat increases, but obviously it's not specified. I think of it as a gray area. But anyway, it doesn't affect things that much. Anyway, my problem with a dire weasel or wolverine is that you can't go into a populous area without lots of strange stares or whatnot. A dire weasel is up to 10 ft long, up to 700 lb. That's really heavy and big. That'll draw a ton of attention. And a wolverine is quite fearse-looking and will likely scare anyway away who isn't normally used to seeing and dealing with those kinds of creatures. That's why the dog is a much nicer option than those others. I kinda like the wolverine, too, but doesn't it also have the problem that it can't run away in combat? Once it gets hurt, it goes into a frenzy and attacks till its target is dead or it is dead? That's not good in case you need to run away. Oh yeah...and about the time and a half when power-attacking, I guess that's a leap on my part. From the SRD on Power Attack, it says: "If you attack with a two-handed weapon, or with a one-handed weapon wielded in two hands, instead add twice the number subtraced from your attack rolls. You can't add the bonus from Power Attack to the damage dealt with a light weapon (except with unarmed strikes or natural attacks), even though the penalty on attack rolls still applies." Also from the SRD, "A creature's primary attack damage includes its full strength (1-1/2 times its Strength bonus if the attack is with the creature's sole natural weapon) and is given first." Upon reading those, I think it seems to imply that's not the case, but it's hard to tell. Natural weapons aren't one-handed, two-handed, or any-handed. And Power attack only mentions the 2*damage when using two hands. I was making a logical step that when a creature gets 1.5 * strength for a natural weapon, it'd also be able to get 2*damage for power attack, since that's how the patter works with weapons. However, the rules don't say that, so I guess it may not be that way. In fact, natural weapons are only mentioned in power attack to say that you can use power attack with them. And I believe that all natural weapons are considered "light", but I may be wrong about that. Kyle
SmiloDan 10-18-04, 06:45 PM	You can't increase the Int of an animal above 2. 3 or more, and it's a magical beast, and no longer eligible to be an animal companion. I guess if you want to get technical, you don't get twice your Str when using a light weapon two-handed, so you wouldn't get it with a single natural weapon either. Oh, well. Would have been nice.
Ryoohki 10-19-04, 11:40 AM	Well, I'm not positive is natural weapons are considered light. They're natural weapons which are kind of their own beasts. The feats kind of ignore them for the most part. Like I've always wondered if having natural weapons qualifies you for feats which require improved unarmed attack. Kyle
meabolex 10-19-04, 03:29 PM	You can't increase the Int of an animal above 2. 3 or more, and it's a magical beast, and no longer eligible to be an animal companion. So, if I cast fox's cunning on your animal companion (or put a headband of intellect on him), the bond is broken and he no longer is your companion? I think not (:
Moon-Lancer 10-19-04, 06:07 PM	This is off topic, but when you were wild shaped, how did you carry 2 people and not go past light encumbered. Also I thought you could only fly if you were lightly encumbered
SmiloDan 10-19-04, 06:15 PM	When I said fly, I meant "controlled descent." And by controlled descent, I mean "we were gonna crash if we weren't teleported away at the nick of time." But the tower we were on was exploding, so we had to do SOMETHING...
Thorak 10-19-04, 07:24 PM	Well, I'm not positive is natural weapons are considered light. They're natural weapons which are kind of their own beasts. The feats kind of ignore them for the most part. Like I've always wondered if having natural weapons qualifies you for feats which require improved unarmed attack. Kyle Edited, needed to correct something. Apologies to those correcting me as I correct myself. Natural weapons are Light. But the term has little meaning for them. For instance; a creature gets it's full Str bonus to damage on a natural attack (unless it's an explicit exception; rule on page 299 of the MM), unless it's the only natural weapon, in which case it's 1 1/2 times the Str bonus. But as far as Weapon Finesse goes, they're Light. Just not for Str bonus purposes, and obviously not for TWFing. As for feats; no. If you want Improved Grapple, you need Improved Unarmed Strike. Unless you get it as a bonus feat, which many grabby monsters do.
Moon-Lancer 10-19-04, 07:57 PM	ah. thanks. I was confused. I wanted to know if thier was a way to fly while med incumberd. My tiger has wings and he can only carry small cats... poor tiger .
The_one_wit_a_reason 10-19-04, 08:27 PM	talk to your dm about taking a large monitor lizard i remember the druid of my party had one and it had a habit off following us into bars and starting fights but it was awesome it was somthingalike this hd5 ac26 stats strenghth 23 dex 26 con17 int9 wis 5 charisma3 it scared people but it can hide well so it was all good it liked goblin flesh which is all good
deusxmachina 10-20-04, 02:07 AM	My DM has a problem with allowing dire and dinosaur companions into towns, too, which is probably the way it should be. Normal animals seem to be just fine, especially if they can Perform for the town guards. I'm usually partial to a cheetah for a medium companion. They are allowed most everywhere, and you can carry them when climbing rope and things if you have a special harness made or whatever. Multiple trip attempts per round is always nice, too.
worldwidedvd 10-24-04, 02:04 PM	Riding Dog: (from SRD) HD 10 BAB +7 STR 21 DEX 19 CON 15 (assuming you increase STR at lvl 4 and 8) AC 26 2 Attacks (1d6+7) Free trip as wolf Medium, Reach 5, Move 40 Fortitude and Reflex saves are "good" 3 Feats to choose from (or 4 if your DM lets you not choose alertness) Link, Share Spells, 5 bonus tricks, Evasion, Devotion, Multiattack Forgive me for asking a possibly dumb question, but how does a Riding Dog get Feats? The two attacks I'm assuming are both Bite attacks. There is both a Druid and a Ranger in our group, and my character (Halfing Ranger) was looking into getting a Riding Dog. I didn't even think about it as an Animal Companion so I'm quite curious. The Druid in the group. She had a Wolf when she started and it was killed off when she was Level 3. She summoned another Wolf, and has managed to keep it until now (Level 7). So, when she summoned the other Wolf at Level 3 does it automatically get the Class Level 3-5 Benefits?
Thorak 10-24-04, 02:16 PM	Forgive me for asking a possibly dumb question, but how does a Riding Dog get Feats? The two attacks I'm assuming are both Bite attacks. The two attacks are indeed bites, and due to the special Animal Companion multiattack rules for critters with only one natural weapon. The Riding Dog, like every other creature used as an animal companion, gains feats (and skill points, incidentally) the same as an Advanced creature of the same extra HD would; 1 feat, plus 1 for every 3 hit dice they have. A Riding Dog, starting at 2 hit dice, has 1 feat to start. But gains 3 more by the time it reaches 10 hit dice, at 3, 6, and 9 hit dice. Though Animal Companions don't gain any of the other advantages of Advancement, they do get feats and skill points by those rules. The Druid in the group. She had a Wolf when she started and it was killed off when she was Level 3. She summoned another Wolf, and has managed to keep it until now (Level 7). So, when she summoned the other Wolf at Level 3 does it automatically get the Class Level 3-5 Benefits? Yep. Animal Companion benefits have absolutely nothing to do with the animal, inherently; they're a bonus while they serve as the character's Animal Companion. If you keep the same wolf with you from level 1 to 20, and then dismiss it as an Animal Companion, it loses all those benefits, and returns to being an absolutely normal wolf. And any new Animal Companion gains the benefits, because the bonuses are based on the druid, not the critter.
worldwidedvd 10-24-04, 02:29 PM	Thanks for the reply Thorak, that helped a lot. :)