Post/Author/DateTime	Post
WyldMooN 03-22-07, 07:30 PM	In my campaing, Druids will have animal companions but they will be mmuch less powerful, while Rangers will have strong animal companion to aid them in combat. Basicaly, I am trying to switch between the 2 classes so that the Ranger gets a full hit dice worth of animal companion, while the Druid would have one that's only half its level. What should I do to make this change the most favorable for those two classes? I had in mind removing the choice of melee-oriented feat for the Ranger but I am not sure that would suffice, and removing the style feats altogether doesnt fit the idea I have in mind... Suggestions?
Nephlite 03-22-07, 08:29 PM	In my campaing, Druids will have animal companions but they will be mmuch less powerful, while Rangers will have strong animal companion to aid them in combat. Basicaly, I am trying to switch between the 2 classes so that the Ranger gets a full hit dice worth of animal companion, while the Druid would have one that's only half its level. What should I do to make this change the most favorable for those two classes? I had in mind removing the choice of melee-oriented feat for the Ranger but I am not sure that would suffice, and removing the style feats altogether doesnt fit the idea I have in mind... Suggestions? Spells for full HD Animal Companion seems fair. Improve Druid HD to d12 is equal I think for AC. After all, AC's are usually meatshields.
FrostWolf 03-22-07, 08:35 PM	So, loose the utility spells to gain a pet. I don't see it being a fair trade. Pets aren't worth loosing access to magic. I know I'd opt for the alternate UA ranger abilities over a full pet, or stick with the half pet, no question. But if it was a third option against TWF and Archery, I'd gobble it up any day of the week. Didn't rangers have a Druid level =to theirs ranger levels-3 back in the day?
Chimaera2000 03-22-07, 08:38 PM	I had a similar idea in mind, though I've found the half-level animal companion to make the animal companion useless in combat (it's just too fragile). I think that it would be quite balanced to simply have the animal companion gaining abilities based on the druid's effective ranger level -3 and explicitly allow the Natural Bond feat (Complete Adventurer) to eliminate this penalty if the druid so chose. The only other changes that I can think of would be the ranger possibly getting the animal companion at 1st and the druid at 4th (possibly 3rd with a -2 penalty instead of -3 to allow Natural Bond to be taken with the 3rd-level feat; I personally like this option). This allows rangers to have a full-powered animal companion at no cost, while a druid can still have a full-powered animal companion if it makes sense for their character concept and are willing to spend a feat. No real trade-off needs to be made for the ranger. In the opinion of many board members (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=369436), druids are ranked as one of the most powerful classes overall while rangers are on the "balanced-to-slightly-weak" side. The main criticism I can see of this method are that it makes the ranger quite potent at low levels and makes the druid a fair bit weaker, as they don't have an animal companion or wild shape to compensate for their weaker proficiencies and spellcasting at low levels.
The_Shaman 03-22-07, 09:09 PM	I'm not sure a ranger would be particularly broken with a full-HD animal companion anyway... some friends played it with rangers getting a druid level of their ranger level - 3 (and then you can take Natural Bond), and told me it plays okay.
Kratch 03-22-07, 09:12 PM	Didn't rangers have a Druid level =to theirs ranger levels-3 back in the day? I always figured the Rangers AC should be like this, in the same way a paladins turn undead is level-3.
danielinthewolvesden 03-22-07, 10:44 PM	The Druid really needs his wolf at lower levels. At higher levels, it's simple, just cut back/delay the progression by 2 levels after the second "level up". In other words, delay the higher HD or better companion which the Druid would get @9th to 11th and so forth. Ranger- make it one level lower and make it half the HD+1.
WyldMooN 03-23-07, 06:15 AM	I like those ideas, anyone has other options?
deadman1204 03-23-07, 12:56 PM	why do you want to? It makes more sense for druids to have companions. If this is just for a ranger player - make him a special feat.
PhaedrusXY 03-23-07, 03:06 PM	Just swap them. The druid is overpowered, anyway.
WyldMooN 03-23-07, 03:36 PM	why do you want to? It makes more sense for druids to have companions. If this is just for a ranger player - make him a special feat. I am making my own Wolrd of Warcraft RPG because I hate the books they made. In WoW Hunters (rangers) are very pet oriented while druids dont have pets at all. That's the reason. I keep looking at the books myself and I wonder why it wasnt done like that in the first place. Druids has tons of ways to dish out damage, scout, tank and so on, ranger seem so underpowered in comparison...
NineInchNall 03-23-07, 03:40 PM	Just swap them. The druid is overpowered, anyway. I beg to differ about the overpoweredness, but that's a discussion for another day. :) That said, if it's the flavor that one wants in one's campaign, there's certainly nothing wrong with simply swapping the animal companion strengths.
The_Shaman 03-23-07, 03:56 PM	why do you want to? It makes more sense for druids to have companions. If this is just for a ranger player - make him a special feat. I dunno about sense. I think rangers are the guys dealing with plants and animals while druids are into the deeper mysteries and usually can't be bothered. Maybe Druids get an elemental or magical beast companion (like leadership, but only for some creatures) while rangers get animals.