TheStiegler
First Post
I'm playing a druid in my new game and we're running 3.5. I wanted to play an Animal Lord (Bearlord) but the Animal Lord was one of the most affected by the update. I really like the concept, so I decided to toss an update past my DM to see if he agrees. He's a pretty easy guy to convince, especially for me. He knows I know the rules, but I wanted to get your collective opinion.
First, let's start with what changes affected the Animal Lord. The requirements of skills in Animal Empathy and Wilderness Lore are right out, as those skills don't exist anymore. The Animal Control feat feels almost like the Wild Empathy ability that the druid now gets at first level. It seems redundant.
The Animal Bond ability doesn't work either. In 3.0 a Druid had a number of animal companions based on his level, and the Animal Lord just uped that number. But now in 3.5, the Druid has one animal that gets more powerful. So that ability has to change somehow. And the Summon Animal ability is now pretty redundant now that Druid's can spontaneously cast the spell.
So, here are my recomendations to alter the Animal Lord to 3.5:
As MotW except:
Reqs:
Skills:
Handle Animal 6
Survival 8
Intimidate 2 (Bearlord)
Feats:
Augmented Summoning (which itself requires spell focus (conjuration) (which is a TOTALLY useless feat))
Animal Affinity
Power Attack (Bearlord)
Spells: +1 effective caster level at levels 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 10
Animal Bond ability: no extra animal companions, instead one individual (like the Druid now) gets powers as a companion with a druid master three (3) levels higher. Druid and Animal Lord levels stack. This also includes the Druid's Wild Empathy ability. For example, a Druid 6/Wolflord 3 would have a companion wolf with the same abilities as one belonging to a level 12 Druid. A Druid 6/Bearlord 6 would have a companion brown bear with the same abilities as one belonging to a level 9 Druid.
Summon Animal Ability: may use Augmented Summoning for free (and on spontaneously cast spells) 1/day at 4th level, 2/day at 6th level, 3/day at 8th level.
On consideration, I don't know if increasing the power of the one animal is more in theme, or if it should just allow a second animal to gain the powers. That might be a bit more powerful, at least with a bigger animal like a bear.
I like the synergy of the requirements and the new Summon Animal. It's similar to some other prestige classes I've seen, that they get to use a required metamagic feat for free, like the Thaumaturgist from the DMG 3.5.
As for the spells....that's an unwarranted change, but I really dislike the seperate spell lists, especially when a class is so obviously based on a spellcasting class. I did slow down the progression. At level 20 a 10/10 character wouldn't have 9th level spells. I'm not so much concerned with the debate over that particular feature. I just want to know if you think this is balanced and/or a good translation and if you have any suggestions on how to make it better/more balanced.
Thank you
First, let's start with what changes affected the Animal Lord. The requirements of skills in Animal Empathy and Wilderness Lore are right out, as those skills don't exist anymore. The Animal Control feat feels almost like the Wild Empathy ability that the druid now gets at first level. It seems redundant.
The Animal Bond ability doesn't work either. In 3.0 a Druid had a number of animal companions based on his level, and the Animal Lord just uped that number. But now in 3.5, the Druid has one animal that gets more powerful. So that ability has to change somehow. And the Summon Animal ability is now pretty redundant now that Druid's can spontaneously cast the spell.
So, here are my recomendations to alter the Animal Lord to 3.5:
As MotW except:
Reqs:
Skills:
Handle Animal 6
Survival 8
Intimidate 2 (Bearlord)
Feats:
Augmented Summoning (which itself requires spell focus (conjuration) (which is a TOTALLY useless feat))
Animal Affinity
Power Attack (Bearlord)
Spells: +1 effective caster level at levels 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 10
Animal Bond ability: no extra animal companions, instead one individual (like the Druid now) gets powers as a companion with a druid master three (3) levels higher. Druid and Animal Lord levels stack. This also includes the Druid's Wild Empathy ability. For example, a Druid 6/Wolflord 3 would have a companion wolf with the same abilities as one belonging to a level 12 Druid. A Druid 6/Bearlord 6 would have a companion brown bear with the same abilities as one belonging to a level 9 Druid.
Summon Animal Ability: may use Augmented Summoning for free (and on spontaneously cast spells) 1/day at 4th level, 2/day at 6th level, 3/day at 8th level.
On consideration, I don't know if increasing the power of the one animal is more in theme, or if it should just allow a second animal to gain the powers. That might be a bit more powerful, at least with a bigger animal like a bear.
I like the synergy of the requirements and the new Summon Animal. It's similar to some other prestige classes I've seen, that they get to use a required metamagic feat for free, like the Thaumaturgist from the DMG 3.5.
As for the spells....that's an unwarranted change, but I really dislike the seperate spell lists, especially when a class is so obviously based on a spellcasting class. I did slow down the progression. At level 20 a 10/10 character wouldn't have 9th level spells. I'm not so much concerned with the debate over that particular feature. I just want to know if you think this is balanced and/or a good translation and if you have any suggestions on how to make it better/more balanced.
Thank you
Last edited:
