Natural Bond....some questions. [Archive] - Wizards Community

Natural Bond....some questions. [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Threefists
06-01-07, 12:06 PM Great feat, Natural Bond....goes well with Multi-Class Druids, Rangers who like their animal friends to have a bit more grunt, people who have taken the Animal Companion Feat...but I have some questions about the feat and would appreciate the more intelligent members of these boards (most of you, that is), to guide me through them.

Please Note that Natural Bond appears in the Complete Adventurer, as does the Beastmaster PrC, but the Animal Companion feat is found on this site.

1) Natural Bond may be taken once, or many times? Since it lacks any text on the matter, I am assuming that that means it may be taken only once, like Iron Will, Dash and Improved Toughness may only be taken once.

2) For classes such as the Beastmaster, which grants up to 4 animal companions, each 'weaker' than the former, does Natural Bond only work for the first/primary/main Animal Companion? It reads as adding three to your effective Druid level for the purpose of determining the bonus Hit Dice, extra tricks, special abilities and other bonuses that your animal companion recieves, but cannot make your effective Druid level exceed your character level. The way I read this, it boosts your Effective Druid Level, so if you had all the Animal Companions that the Beastmaster PrC could give you, this would increase all their HD, Tricks etc by +3, or would it only affect the primary Animal Companion?

3) Why the hell do Druids and Rangers get a feat like that actually makes a good class ability even better, but Wizards, Sorcerers and everyone with a Familiar doesn't? If there is a reason for this, I'd like to know because otherwise I'm utterly stumped!
Apupunchau
06-01-07, 04:23 PM 1) Generally unless a feat says otherwise you can only take it once.

2) Yes since it boosts your effective druid level it would mean that anything that states based off level of animal companion would be based off that modified druid level. This of course is only if it does not increase your druid level higher than your actual level.

3) This is mainly for multiclass druids who multi class into non-companion classes and rangers or multiclass rangers. Why they wouldn't have a boost Familiar feat for multiclass Wizards or Sorcerers I couldn't say, although Wizards and Soccers can get the improved Familiar feat which will give them a more powerful familiar.

As a side note I find this workers really well for Rangers that PrC into Animal lord. At level 6 with the natural bond feat your ranger will be an effective 6th level druid for animal companion and then Animal lord doesn't say raises your base class for determining animal companion it says adds to effective druid levels so with a 10 level progression you can have a Ranger 6/Animal Lord 10 with an effective 16 Druid levels for determining Animal companion. Depending on which animal you choose this can make you a pretty combat effective fighter and Animal Lords have a HD of d10 which is even better than Rangers.
Ovistavin
06-01-07, 04:26 PM Great feat, Natural Bond....goes well with Multi-Class Druids, Rangers who like their animal friends to have a bit more grunt, people who have taken the Animal Companion Feat...but I have some questions about the feat and would appreciate the more intelligent members of these boards (most of you, that is), to guide me through them.

Please Note that Natural Bond appears in the Complete Adventurer, as does the Beastmaster PrC, but the Animal Companion feat is found on this site.

1) Natural Bond may be taken once, or many times? Since it lacks any text on the matter, I am assuming that that means it may be taken only once, like Iron Will, Dash and Improved Toughness may only be taken once.
It can only be taken once.

2) For classes such as the Beastmaster, which grants up to 4 animal companions, each 'weaker' than the former, does Natural Bond only work for the first/primary/main Animal Companion? It reads as adding three to your effective Druid level for the purpose of determining the bonus Hit Dice, extra tricks, special abilities and other bonuses that your animal companion recieves, but cannot make your effective Druid level exceed your character level. The way I read this, it boosts your Effective Druid Level, so if you had all the Animal Companions that the Beastmaster PrC could give you, this would increase all their HD, Tricks etc by +3, or would it only affect the primary Animal Companion?
Check the errata for Complete Adventurer. It only applies to one Animal Companion, but it doesn't say which one.

3) Why the hell do Druids and Rangers get a feat like that actually makes a good class ability even better, but Wizards, Sorcerers and everyone with a Familiar doesn't? If there is a reason for this, I'd like to know because otherwise I'm utterly stumped!
I think Rangers need this feat to keep their Animal Companions alive at higher levels
Threefists
06-01-07, 08:16 PM It can only be taken once. Check the errata for Complete Adventurer. It only applies to one Animal Companion, but it doesn't say which one.

Nuts...there goes that idea. Thanks Ovistavin and Apupunchau!

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Threefists 06-01-07, 12:06 PM	Great feat, Natural Bond....goes well with Multi-Class Druids, Rangers who like their animal friends to have a bit more grunt, people who have taken the Animal Companion Feat...but I have some questions about the feat and would appreciate the more intelligent members of these boards (most of you, that is), to guide me through them. Please Note that Natural Bond appears in the Complete Adventurer, as does the Beastmaster PrC, but the Animal Companion feat is found on this site. 1) Natural Bond may be taken once, or many times? Since it lacks any text on the matter, I am assuming that that means it may be taken only once, like Iron Will, Dash and Improved Toughness may only be taken once. 2) For classes such as the Beastmaster, which grants up to 4 animal companions, each 'weaker' than the former, does Natural Bond only work for the first/primary/main Animal Companion? It reads as adding three to your effective Druid level for the purpose of determining the bonus Hit Dice, extra tricks, special abilities and other bonuses that your animal companion recieves, but cannot make your effective Druid level exceed your character level. The way I read this, it boosts your Effective Druid Level, so if you had all the Animal Companions that the Beastmaster PrC could give you, this would increase all their HD, Tricks etc by +3, or would it only affect the primary Animal Companion? 3) Why the hell do Druids and Rangers get a feat like that actually makes a good class ability even better, but Wizards, Sorcerers and everyone with a Familiar doesn't? If there is a reason for this, I'd like to know because otherwise I'm utterly stumped!
Apupunchau 06-01-07, 04:23 PM	1) Generally unless a feat says otherwise you can only take it once. 2) Yes since it boosts your effective druid level it would mean that anything that states based off level of animal companion would be based off that modified druid level. This of course is only if it does not increase your druid level higher than your actual level. 3) This is mainly for multiclass druids who multi class into non-companion classes and rangers or multiclass rangers. Why they wouldn't have a boost Familiar feat for multiclass Wizards or Sorcerers I couldn't say, although Wizards and Soccers can get the improved Familiar feat which will give them a more powerful familiar. As a side note I find this workers really well for Rangers that PrC into Animal lord. At level 6 with the natural bond feat your ranger will be an effective 6th level druid for animal companion and then Animal lord doesn't say raises your base class for determining animal companion it says adds to effective druid levels so with a 10 level progression you can have a Ranger 6/Animal Lord 10 with an effective 16 Druid levels for determining Animal companion. Depending on which animal you choose this can make you a pretty combat effective fighter and Animal Lords have a HD of d10 which is even better than Rangers.
Ovistavin 06-01-07, 04:26 PM	Great feat, Natural Bond....goes well with Multi-Class Druids, Rangers who like their animal friends to have a bit more grunt, people who have taken the Animal Companion Feat...but I have some questions about the feat and would appreciate the more intelligent members of these boards (most of you, that is), to guide me through them. Please Note that Natural Bond appears in the Complete Adventurer, as does the Beastmaster PrC, but the Animal Companion feat is found on this site. 1) Natural Bond may be taken once, or many times? Since it lacks any text on the matter, I am assuming that that means it may be taken only once, like Iron Will, Dash and Improved Toughness may only be taken once. It can only be taken once. 2) For classes such as the Beastmaster, which grants up to 4 animal companions, each 'weaker' than the former, does Natural Bond only work for the first/primary/main Animal Companion? It reads as adding three to your effective Druid level for the purpose of determining the bonus Hit Dice, extra tricks, special abilities and other bonuses that your animal companion recieves, but cannot make your effective Druid level exceed your character level. The way I read this, it boosts your Effective Druid Level, so if you had all the Animal Companions that the Beastmaster PrC could give you, this would increase all their HD, Tricks etc by +3, or would it only affect the primary Animal Companion? Check the errata for Complete Adventurer. It only applies to one Animal Companion, but it doesn't say which one. 3) Why the hell do Druids and Rangers get a feat like that actually makes a good class ability even better, but Wizards, Sorcerers and everyone with a Familiar doesn't? If there is a reason for this, I'd like to know because otherwise I'm utterly stumped! I think Rangers need this feat to keep their Animal Companions alive at higher levels
Threefists 06-01-07, 08:16 PM	It can only be taken once. Check the errata for Complete Adventurer. It only applies to one Animal Companion, but it doesn't say which one. Nuts...there goes that idea. Thanks Ovistavin and Apupunchau!