Post/Author/DateTime	Post
LGMoses 01-08-07, 04:55 PM	I liked the way Eberron had alternate animal companions by region. Just wondering if anyone had looked at doing this with LG. What does everyone think? Regional animal companions: good idea or bad idea?
Mithreinmaethor 01-08-07, 06:43 PM	Some regions do have modified animal companion lists.
budleiser 01-08-07, 06:45 PM	I've had DM's who would let you switch to non-core animals depending on where you were at during the mod. (example bright lands) of course he also would not let you switch back until you left and you could not carry it over. Oh right the topic. Yes I think thats a great idea.
haferka 01-08-07, 09:10 PM	All of the regional animal companion lists that I have seen were "flavor".. they all consisted of standard animals which were available in ANY region.. the list just makes more RP sense for the region. I have only had 1 mod where the DM allowed us to change our animal companion to a region specific creature. It was a cold climate, and I chose to share endure elements with my mount rather than exchange it for a different animal... (I was trying to keep the same animal for the entireety of the characters career... 2 late for that now... (It has now died due to a lighting bolt.. so I am trying to get a SM to replace it with something cool and unique... WAR GOAT!!! (yes I am a halfling...) I would also love to see region specific animals added to the LGCS, but I think a better method of adding them would be to assign them to regional metaorgs...
Mystical_Tutor 01-10-07, 08:33 PM	What does everyone think? Regional animal companions: good idea or bad idea? Well if your really talking 'regional' as in LG regions I think it would be very intersting and could add a lot of flavor to adventures. I see several concerns--most of which are on the GM side of the screen. On the other hand, an easier to use option would be to simply add some of the animals already published in the 'extra' works, like Sandstorm, to the Druid/Ranger list of possible animal companions. Then Meta-orgs don't have to spend their limited volunteer time to create and administer something new. It does seem logical, though, that anytime a new environment is introduced to world wide play Druids should certainly be allowed to try and make friends of the animals he/she encounters.
Mortepierre 01-12-07, 10:08 AM	The main problem I see is making sure that each region offers a balanced choice of animals. Obviously, if living in a jungle give you enhanced access to stuff like crocodile and such but another character ends up only with dogs and rabbits due to the fact that his region has been "tamed" loooooong ago, you create a situation where druid (and, in a lesser measure, ranger) PC will actively avoid being native of the latter while pushing for the former just to get the better companion. In short, flavor yes but not at the cost of being efficient in the party.
haferka 01-12-07, 02:16 PM	I would stick to the current method of allowing all CORE animal companions, and "recomending" a subset of those creatures for a particular region. Allowing Regional Metaorgs to grant access to limited animals would be a nice addition. I know of at least 1 regional Metaorg that does exactly that.. The Highfolk Leatherwings from the County of Urnst grants access to Dire Bat with a slight modification to its stats. (lower Dex, Higher Con/Str). Special Note: The ORIGINAL "Leatherwing" bat (prior to errata) was INSANELY powerfull compared to a standard dire bat. +1 HD, much higher Str/Con (same -3 adj to druid lvl). I would also recomend that creatures be restricted to "Standard" versions... or at least based on a standard version. I had to compare the creature stats vs the std dire bat to see what was changed, I believe it would have been better to create a special "Template" to modify the attributes, and just say it was a dire bat with that template. Or use an existing template.. like Warbeast (MM2)... or course that would make it more powerfull, and require a -6 adjustment to Druid lvl (vs the normal -3 for dire bat).