Yakalopoli
First Post
Hey guys! I'm currently participating in a Pathfinder game where one of the other players is playing a druid. He has an Ape as his animal companion, and wants to focus more on the fact that he himself is not nearly as powerful as his animal companion (even though technically he is - one of the things he want's to change). We looked around for a prestige class that focuses on making his companion more powerful, but didn't really fine anything that fit the bill completely. Sure there is animal lord (and as a matter of fact, this structure is based on the animal lord), but that's you getting advantages of your animal, and not the other way around. So we came up with this PrC that focuses on the druid sacrificing/transferring it's own power in order to make the companion better.
I think some of it MAY be unbalanced, and we're working with the DM at the moment to find an adequately balanced array, so any and all input from you guys would be much appreciated ^_^ Thanks in advance!!
Accretus Master
Description: Some adventures form a bond with their animal companion that is so strong, that it borders on co-dependency. Some adventures choose to harness this bond oftentimes foregoing their own personal development or, in some cases, sacrificing their own body and mind in order to push their companions well beyond its normal limits.
Prerequisites:
Special: Animal Companion class feature
Skills: Handle Animal 5 ranks, Knowledge (Nature) 5 ranks
Feats: Mounted Combat
Spells: Ability to cast 2nd level divine spells
Class Skills: The nature warden’s class skills are Climb (Str), Handle Animal (Cha), Fly (Dex), Heal (Wis), Knowledge (geography) (Int), Knowledge (nature) (Int), Perception (Wis), Ride (Dex), Survival (Wis), and Swim (Str).
Limited Casting: Being completely absorbed in the growth and health of their companion, the Accretus Master sacrifices significant amounts of personal magical ability. They may only prepare spells from the Transmutation and Conjuration schools of magic. An Accretus Master can still cast spells of any school from scrolls.
Animal bond (ex): When taking your first level in Accretus Master, you must select one animal companion to bond to, this decision is permanent and may not change. All Accretus Master abilities only work with the companion of which he is bonded to.
An Accretus Master's class levels stack with that of the animal companion class ability for determining the advancement of their chosen animal companion. In addition the Accretus Master gets a bonus of +4 to both handle animal and ride checks when dealing with that chosen animal companion.
Totemic Channeling (su): Starting at 2nd level, the Accretus master gains the ability to channel raw divine magic into their animal companion through sheer willpower and devotion. Though, before the Accretus Master can do so, he must tattoo or brand the companion in some way (magical, mundane or otherwise) with a symbol that is meaningful to both the master and companion. This symbol acts as a conduit for the energy channeled from the Accretus master. Doing so requires an hour long ritual in which the bond is made.
Once the bond is made, the Accretus master can, by spending 1 temporary point of Wisdom, cause his animal companion to transform into a large and more ferocious version of itself. For each round the Accretus Master wants to sustain the change he must spend an additional point of willpower. Initially activating the ability is a full round action for the master, and sustaining the ability each round is a move-equivalent action. The change to the animal companion is immediate but disorients the companion, making it unable to act until its next turn. If the Accretus master does not or is unable to take the action to sustain the companions change, the companion instantly changes back to its normal self.
At levels 6 and 10, the Accretus master’s ability to change their companions gets more potent. Using Tier 3 requires an expenditure of 2 points of wisdom per round, instead of the normal 1.
Tier 1: The companion gains a +1 size increase (all following abilities stack with the modifiers gained from the size increase). The companion also gains +1 HD, +10 ft increase in speed and a natural armor increase of +2. The companions’ changed saves are all good, the base value changing to (1/2 HD) + 2, or the original value, whichever is greater. The companions’ abilities also increase as followed: +4 Str, +2 Dex, +2 Con. It receives additional skill points equal to (2 + Int mod[minimum 1]) x HD + 3. If the increase in HD gives the companion additional feats (as per advancement rules), then the companion also gets that many additional feats. All natural abilities subject to normal advancement rules (such as poison) are also increased with the HD increase, if applicable.
Tier 2: The companion gains a +2 size increase (all following abilities stack with the modifiers gained from the size increase).. The companion also gains +4 HD, +10 ft increase in all forms of movement and a natural armor increase of +6. The companions’ changed saves are all good, the base value changing to (1/2 HD) + 2, or the original value, whichever is greater. The companions’ abilities also increase as followed: +10 Str, +6 Dex, +6 Con. It receives additional skill points equal to (2 + Int mod[minimum 1]) x HD + 3. If the increase in HD gives the companion new feats (as per advancement rules), then the companion also gets that many additional feats. All natural abilities subject to normal advancement rules (such as poison) are also increased with the HD increase, if applicable.
Tier 3: Size changes to Gargantuan, unless the base creature is huge or gargantuan, in which case it changes to Colossal (all following abilities stack with the modifiers gained from the size increase). The companions’ HD increases by a value equal to the Accretus Masters’ HD. All the companions’ natural forms of movement increase by +20 ft. The natural armor increases by +15. The companions’ changed saves are all good, the base value changing to (1/2 HD) + 2, or the original value, whichever is greater. The companions’ abilities also increase as followed: +22 Str, +14 Dex, +14 Con. It receives additional skill points equal to (2 + Int mod[minimum 1]) x HD + 3. If the increase in HD gives the companion additional feats (as per advancement rules), then the companion also gets that many additional feats. Any area attack the base companion has is modified by a factor of x4. All natural abilities subject to normal advancement rules (such as poison) are also increased with the HD increase, if applicable.
Accretus Aspect (sp): At level 3, the Accretus Master gets the ability to modify their companions’ abilities to suit the situation they are in. When activating this ability, the Accretus Master chooses one of the following: Offensive, Defensive or Passive. The effect lasts 1 minute per class level, and the companion gets the following:
Offensive: +4 Str, +2 Con and Magic Fang
Defensive: +2 Dex, +2 Con, +10 Movement Speed and +2 natural armor
Passive: Fast Healing 1, +4 Perception and +4 Survival
At levels 6 the Accretus master can use this ability a total of 2 times a day, and at level 9 3 times a day.
Companion Speech (su): The Accretus Aspect can speak with his animal companion as if under a permanent Speak with Animals spell.
Recall Companion (sp): As a full round action, the Accretus Master may teleport his animal companion to his location. This functions in a similar way to the Word of Recall spell, except when noted as follows. This ability can only teleport the animal companion, no other being comes with it. There must be sufficient room for the companion to teleport to, and must occupy at least one square adjacent to the Accretus Master, if there is insufficient room the ability fails. This teleports only the companion and what it is wearing (garment, barding, etc), and not anything it is carrying. The Accretus Master can perform this action once per week.
Companion Synergy (su): Due to the strength of the bond between the Accretus Master and his companion, any spell the Accretus Master casts on his companion is boosted as if having applied the metamagic feat extend spell. This only affects spells cast directly from the caster, and not those that come from others, magic items, potions or scrolls.
Companion Telepathy (su): The Accretus Master and his companion can now communicate via telepathy at a range of 100ft. This functions exactly as the spell Telepathic Bond, except as noted above.
Proposed ideas to help balance out the class:
Make spellcasting progression every other level and not every level.
Having tier 1,2,3 cost 1,2,3 wisdom a round (in that order).
Originally we only had the Totemic Channeling increase JUST the size, and not actually "advance" the companion... there has been talk to change it back to that.
Any and all input is MUCH appreciated.
Thanks guys!!!
I think some of it MAY be unbalanced, and we're working with the DM at the moment to find an adequately balanced array, so any and all input from you guys would be much appreciated ^_^ Thanks in advance!!
Accretus Master
Description: Some adventures form a bond with their animal companion that is so strong, that it borders on co-dependency. Some adventures choose to harness this bond oftentimes foregoing their own personal development or, in some cases, sacrificing their own body and mind in order to push their companions well beyond its normal limits.
Prerequisites:
Special: Animal Companion class feature
Skills: Handle Animal 5 ranks, Knowledge (Nature) 5 ranks
Feats: Mounted Combat
Spells: Ability to cast 2nd level divine spells
Class Skills: The nature warden’s class skills are Climb (Str), Handle Animal (Cha), Fly (Dex), Heal (Wis), Knowledge (geography) (Int), Knowledge (nature) (Int), Perception (Wis), Ride (Dex), Survival (Wis), and Swim (Str).
Limited Casting: Being completely absorbed in the growth and health of their companion, the Accretus Master sacrifices significant amounts of personal magical ability. They may only prepare spells from the Transmutation and Conjuration schools of magic. An Accretus Master can still cast spells of any school from scrolls.
Animal bond (ex): When taking your first level in Accretus Master, you must select one animal companion to bond to, this decision is permanent and may not change. All Accretus Master abilities only work with the companion of which he is bonded to.
An Accretus Master's class levels stack with that of the animal companion class ability for determining the advancement of their chosen animal companion. In addition the Accretus Master gets a bonus of +4 to both handle animal and ride checks when dealing with that chosen animal companion.
Totemic Channeling (su): Starting at 2nd level, the Accretus master gains the ability to channel raw divine magic into their animal companion through sheer willpower and devotion. Though, before the Accretus Master can do so, he must tattoo or brand the companion in some way (magical, mundane or otherwise) with a symbol that is meaningful to both the master and companion. This symbol acts as a conduit for the energy channeled from the Accretus master. Doing so requires an hour long ritual in which the bond is made.
Once the bond is made, the Accretus master can, by spending 1 temporary point of Wisdom, cause his animal companion to transform into a large and more ferocious version of itself. For each round the Accretus Master wants to sustain the change he must spend an additional point of willpower. Initially activating the ability is a full round action for the master, and sustaining the ability each round is a move-equivalent action. The change to the animal companion is immediate but disorients the companion, making it unable to act until its next turn. If the Accretus master does not or is unable to take the action to sustain the companions change, the companion instantly changes back to its normal self.
At levels 6 and 10, the Accretus master’s ability to change their companions gets more potent. Using Tier 3 requires an expenditure of 2 points of wisdom per round, instead of the normal 1.
Tier 1: The companion gains a +1 size increase (all following abilities stack with the modifiers gained from the size increase). The companion also gains +1 HD, +10 ft increase in speed and a natural armor increase of +2. The companions’ changed saves are all good, the base value changing to (1/2 HD) + 2, or the original value, whichever is greater. The companions’ abilities also increase as followed: +4 Str, +2 Dex, +2 Con. It receives additional skill points equal to (2 + Int mod[minimum 1]) x HD + 3. If the increase in HD gives the companion additional feats (as per advancement rules), then the companion also gets that many additional feats. All natural abilities subject to normal advancement rules (such as poison) are also increased with the HD increase, if applicable.
Tier 2: The companion gains a +2 size increase (all following abilities stack with the modifiers gained from the size increase).. The companion also gains +4 HD, +10 ft increase in all forms of movement and a natural armor increase of +6. The companions’ changed saves are all good, the base value changing to (1/2 HD) + 2, or the original value, whichever is greater. The companions’ abilities also increase as followed: +10 Str, +6 Dex, +6 Con. It receives additional skill points equal to (2 + Int mod[minimum 1]) x HD + 3. If the increase in HD gives the companion new feats (as per advancement rules), then the companion also gets that many additional feats. All natural abilities subject to normal advancement rules (such as poison) are also increased with the HD increase, if applicable.
Tier 3: Size changes to Gargantuan, unless the base creature is huge or gargantuan, in which case it changes to Colossal (all following abilities stack with the modifiers gained from the size increase). The companions’ HD increases by a value equal to the Accretus Masters’ HD. All the companions’ natural forms of movement increase by +20 ft. The natural armor increases by +15. The companions’ changed saves are all good, the base value changing to (1/2 HD) + 2, or the original value, whichever is greater. The companions’ abilities also increase as followed: +22 Str, +14 Dex, +14 Con. It receives additional skill points equal to (2 + Int mod[minimum 1]) x HD + 3. If the increase in HD gives the companion additional feats (as per advancement rules), then the companion also gets that many additional feats. Any area attack the base companion has is modified by a factor of x4. All natural abilities subject to normal advancement rules (such as poison) are also increased with the HD increase, if applicable.
Accretus Aspect (sp): At level 3, the Accretus Master gets the ability to modify their companions’ abilities to suit the situation they are in. When activating this ability, the Accretus Master chooses one of the following: Offensive, Defensive or Passive. The effect lasts 1 minute per class level, and the companion gets the following:
Offensive: +4 Str, +2 Con and Magic Fang
Defensive: +2 Dex, +2 Con, +10 Movement Speed and +2 natural armor
Passive: Fast Healing 1, +4 Perception and +4 Survival
At levels 6 the Accretus master can use this ability a total of 2 times a day, and at level 9 3 times a day.
Companion Speech (su): The Accretus Aspect can speak with his animal companion as if under a permanent Speak with Animals spell.
Recall Companion (sp): As a full round action, the Accretus Master may teleport his animal companion to his location. This functions in a similar way to the Word of Recall spell, except when noted as follows. This ability can only teleport the animal companion, no other being comes with it. There must be sufficient room for the companion to teleport to, and must occupy at least one square adjacent to the Accretus Master, if there is insufficient room the ability fails. This teleports only the companion and what it is wearing (garment, barding, etc), and not anything it is carrying. The Accretus Master can perform this action once per week.
Companion Synergy (su): Due to the strength of the bond between the Accretus Master and his companion, any spell the Accretus Master casts on his companion is boosted as if having applied the metamagic feat extend spell. This only affects spells cast directly from the caster, and not those that come from others, magic items, potions or scrolls.
Companion Telepathy (su): The Accretus Master and his companion can now communicate via telepathy at a range of 100ft. This functions exactly as the spell Telepathic Bond, except as noted above.
Proposed ideas to help balance out the class:
Make spellcasting progression every other level and not every level.
Having tier 1,2,3 cost 1,2,3 wisdom a round (in that order).
Originally we only had the Totemic Channeling increase JUST the size, and not actually "advance" the companion... there has been talk to change it back to that.
Any and all input is MUCH appreciated.
Thanks guys!!!
