Alternate companions - baby animals

[Kahuna Burger]

This is a proposal to allow a druid to start out with, say, a bear, big cat or wolverine at 1st level without it being overpowering. The reasons for this are pure flavor. If I want a druid with a leopard, I envision her having had it for some time before starting to adventure, and going around for 4 levels with a wolf (or nothing) then trading in for a big cat feels horribly clunky.

If a player wants to start out with an animal from one of the advanced lists, that animal is presumed to be a baby (or juvenile) at the time. mechanically, it is created in the following ways:

For animal companions offered as 4th level alternatives:
1. Decrease size by 1 step. attack and AC, modifiers to hide, grapple etc are effected by this as normal, but changes in statistics are handled seperately.

2. decrease speed by 10 ft. If the animal normally has a climb or burrow speed, remove it. If the animal normally has a fly speed, decrease manuverability by one step as well as decreasing speed.

3. Apply the following stat adjustments: Str -5, Dex -3, Con -2.

4. Remove 2 hit dice. Adjust bab, hp, skills and feats appropriately.

5. Remove all but one special attacks (if any).

6. Reduce all natural attack damage dice by one step.

7. Reduce natural armor by 2 (minimum 0).

At 3rd druid level, the companion gains most of the normal enhancements (and returns to the standard of skills and feats), but instead of gaining evasion gets back one of its special attacks or movement modes, and does not gain a bonus trick. (If the animal normally had less than 2 points of natural armor bonus, it only returns to normal.)

At 4th druid level, the animal grows to its standard size and regains all of its normal abilities.

So our juvenile leopard looks like this:

Size/Type: Small Animal
Hit Dice: 1d8+1 (6 hp)
Initiative: +3
Speed: 30 ft (8 squares) (climb removed)
Armor Class: 14 (+3 Dex, +0 natural, +1 size), touch 14, flat-footed 11
Base Attack/Grapple: +0/-4
Attack: Bite +4 melee (1d4+0)
Full Attack: Bite +4 melee (1d4+0) and 2 claws -1 melee (1d2+0)
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: pounce
Special Qualities: Low-light vision, scent
Saves: Fort +3, Ref +5, Will +1
Abilities: Str 11, Dex 16, Con 13, Int 2, Wis 12, Cha 6
Skills: [brain can't do this right now, judges discretion]
Feats: Weapon Finesse


Compare to the standard 1st level companion, the wolf:

Size/Type: Medium Animal
Hit Dice: 2d8+4 (13 hp)
Initiative: +2
Speed: 50 ft. (10 squares)
Armor Class: 14 (+2 Dex, +2 natural), touch 12, flat-footed 12
Base Attack/Grapple: +1/+2
Attack: Bite +3 melee (1d6+1)
Full Attack: Bite +3 melee (1d6+1)
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Trip
Special Qualities: Low-light vision, scent
Saves: Fort +5, Ref +5, Will +1
Abilities: Str 13, Dex 15, Con 15, Int 2, Wis 12, Cha 6
Skills: Hide +2, Listen +3, Move Silently +3, Spot +3, Survival +1*
Feats: TrackB, Weapon Focus (bite)

and I think its pretty good.

If people like the idea in general, we can do adjustments for the higer level alternate animals too....

 

[Manzanita]

I think its a good idea, although it would take awhile to go through and check the balance of the stat adjustments. Are you pretty confident in your numbers, there KB?

 

[Kahuna Burger]

I think its a good idea, although it would take awhile to go through and check the balance of the stat adjustments. Are you pretty confident in your numbers, there KB?

Well, I'm taking the negitive effect of a size decrease, and rather than improving dex for lower size going with a lesser dex decrease (since young animals tend to be clumsy). Plus subtracting the first druid level boost worth of perks.

Most of the "advanced companions" I glanced at had 3 HD. Reducing that by 2 puts them below the riding dog and wolf in hp and BAB, and the decreased str and damage die seems to even things up in terms of damage output.... I haven't gone through and eyeballed everyone yet, but I like it for the kitty...

 

[Knight Otu]

Two powerful animals that I see on the list are the ape, which becomes about on par with the wolf after the adjustments - and the large shark, which would be a bit more powerful than a medium shark (better HD, worse ability scores).

I think this would be balanced, but I'll need to look at it more in depth...

 

[Kahuna Burger]

Two powerful animals that I see on the list are the ape, which becomes about on par with the wolf after the adjustments - and the large shark, which would be a bit more powerful than a medium shark (better HD, worse ability scores).

I think this would be balanced, but I'll need to look at it more in depth...

I just glanced through the list and didn't see anything that worried me too much...

note that the ape would lose its climb speed and drop to 20 ft normal speed - slowing down a medium sized druid at that point. The bison is still pretty big (3 hd) and a heavy hitter after adjustment, but is slow and only has a 10 AC.

For an animal like the shark where there is a version of it on each list, I don't see as much of a need for this "fix", since there's no reason not to say that the large shark you get at 4th level is the same medium shark which had a growth spurt and lost some agility (evasion) until it adjusts. (same with any of the dire animals when the "regular" one is available at a lower level.)

 

[Rae ArdGaoth]

This was a good idea, I've felt the same frustration with a druid I've played in the past. I think the numbers should be double checked, but I'd pass this.