Animal Companion

[Morose]

Shifter is cool and all... but a straight Druid or Verdant Lord is probably more powerful overall. Their shifting isn't quite as strong (though it's close since they don't have to worry about the whole hit dice limitation) but they still get all the spells.

 

[Lord Pendragon]

Acutally this exact case is spoken to in MotW and says that the Awakened animal DOES NOT just wander off. Page 37 under Awakened Animals.

Also of note is the Tamer of Beasts who gains the special ability to grant their pets extra intelligence and changes their type into Magical Beast. It makes no mention of this breaking the companionship.

Don't have MoTW, so thanks for the heads-up! You know, this just cements my impression that the rules and PrCs, etc. in MoTW are quite...potent. I won't say overpowered, because that's a relative term, but if I were to allow the stuff in that book, I might have to "juice-up" the other classes to keep the party on a level playing field.

To address an issue brought up earlier, I have no problem with Animal Growth because it's a temporary spell and, like any other buffing spell, can be broken with a well-placed Dispel Magic or Greater Dispelling. Unfortunately, once you apply a template, or awaken a creature, that power boost is permanent (in a literal sense, not a game-mechanics sense). A druid is strong enough without allowing such a thing, and I think there's decent footing for me to rule against awakened, templated animal companions.

'course that footing is considerably weaker in light of the clarifications in MoTW you mentioned. I suppose I'll just have to boost the other classes a bit, if the druid's new toys begin to overwhelm everyone else.

 

[Tetsubo]

I agree with the poster that suggested the dire apes. Two dire apes would be very handy. As they have hands. They are also smaller and will fit into more places than a dire bear. They can also be passed off as some sort of humanoid rather than a monstorous bear. Your average person is not going to want a dire bear anywhere near them. The dire apes are going to be less of an issue in that respect. I like both dire animals. But the dire apes seem to be more versitle to me. There is also the chance of training them in the use of armour and weapons. Language skills might also be a possibility. Real world great apes have been trained in sign lanuage, why not dire apes?

 

[RogueJK]

I agree with the poster that suggested the dire apes. Two dire apes would be very handy. As they have hands. They are also smaller and will fit into more places than a dire bear. They can also be passed off as some sort of humanoid rather than a monstorous bear. Your average person is not going to want a dire bear anywhere near them. The dire apes are going to be less of an issue in that respect. I like both dire animals. But the dire apes seem to be more versitle to me. There is also the chance of training them in the use of armour and weapons. Language skills might also be a possibility. Real world great apes have been trained in sign lanuage, why not dire apes?

I've got a couple of reasons for sticking with a Celestial Dire Bear.

1) It has 12 HD rather than 2 animals with 6 HD each. Since a Celestial's bonuses (Smite Evil, DR, SR, Resistances) are based on HD, I would have 1 really powerful animal as opposed to 2 relatively weak ones.

2) The Celestial template raises the animal's Intelligence to 3, which, per the MM (page 10) allows it to understand one language without requiring special training.

3) A 12 HD Celestial animal has DR 10/+3. This allows his natural attacks to hit enemies with DR of +3 or lower. A 6 HD Celestial has DR 5/+1. Since we tend to fight a lot of monsters with DR, this is a major issue.

4) A Dire Bear has attack bonuses of +18/+18/+13. A Dire Ape has +8/+8/+3. Most of our opponents have high ACs, so the Dire Bear is the obvious choice in this respect.

5) A Dire Bear's damage is higher. (2d4+10/2d4+10/2d8+5 vs. 1d6+6/1d6+6/1d8+3). Plus, the Dire Bear has Improved Grab and a Strength of 31. This is bad news for enemy spellcasters.

6) A Dire Ape with 6 HD has around 36 HPs. Coupled with his low AC of 15, this could lead to some trouble. A Dire Bear has an AC of 17 and 102 HPs.

7) Planar Familiar has an XP cost of 500. With 2 animals, that cost would be 1000. With the Dire Ape's lower survivability, there's a greater chance of them dying, and having to find and train new ones, which would require casting Planar Familiar all over again, for another XP cost of 1000.

Okay, maybe more than a couple of reasons.
Besides... I'm sure 2 giant gorillas are just as conspicuous as a giant bear.