Best Animal Companion Choice

[Hypersmurf]

But I think mine makes perfect sense as well. Add +4 up to your hit die to your druid level before anything else. Then figure out your animal companion. Short, simple, sweet, and IMO balanced.

The FAQ answer on Practiced Spellcaster would suggest that there's no fixed point at which the bonus must be applied - it applies 'whenever it would be most beneficial'.

Does the bonus to caster level from the Practiced
Spellcaster feat (from Complete Arcane and Complete
Divine) apply before or after other caster level bonuses
(such as those from the Good or Healing domains)?

The bonus from Practiced Spellcaster applies whenever it
would be most beneficial to the caster. A 4th-level cleric/4thlevel
fighter with the Healing domain and Practiced Spellcaster
would cast Conjuration (Healing) spells as a 9th-level caster
(base caster level 4th, +4 from Practiced Spellcaster, +1 from
the Healing domain). A 4th-level cleric/4th-level rogue with
Practiced Spellcaster who activates a bead of karma (from a
strand of prayer beads) would cast her spells as a 12th-level
caster (base 4, +4 from Practiced Spellcaster, +4 from bead of
karma).

If we apply Natural Bond 'whenever it would be most beneficial', following the same logic, then there's no particular step in the process at which we must make the calculation. After the -3 adjustment for an alternative animal companion is applied, therefore, is valid by the logic used in the FAQ.

... for however much that's worth

-Hyp.

 

[Abraxas]

If your DM allows go with a Fleshraker dinosaur from MMIII pg40.

 

[Thanee]

The FAQ answer on Practiced Spellcaster would suggest that there's no fixed point at which the bonus must be applied - it applies 'whenever it would be most beneficial'.

Yep, though, if they were to write an FAQ entry like that for Natural Bond, I'm quite sure, that it would differ there.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Hypersmurf]

Yep, though, if they were to write an FAQ entry like that for Natural Bond, I'm quite sure, that it would differ there.

Why?

-Hyp.

 

[Pickaxe]

Thanks for the comments so far. Lots of dog fans, it seems. I did forget to mention the advantages of evasion, etc. for sticking with a tier 1 companion. A few other questions, some of the Devil's Advocate nature:

1) Our campaign is core only, so Natural Bond is not an issue.

2) Regarding staying power: Dogs have lower hit points compared to the others (due to lower Con). Especially I've seen comments elsewhere to the effect that HP overshadow AC in importance as you get beyond ~6th level, are dogs really more likely to stick around than the others?

3) Regarding mounts: Is there any reason that the other two (particularly the dire wolf) cannot be used as mounts?

4) Regarding wolves, tripping, and Spring Attack: I did realize that the dog trips, but tripping is a function of Strength, so the dire wolf (not surprisingly) would be a superior tripper. I'm also curious as to why the wolf would be better than the dog with regards to achieving the Spring Attack chain, except perhaps that the wolf has greater movement. Neither has any of the prereq feats from the beginning. Furthermore, the dog is stronger than the wolf, so it will fare better with the trip check that presumably is part of this strategy.

5) Is there any reason that a druid could not switch animal companions as often as he/she can spend the 24 hours in prayer? Could a 9th level druid, for instance, dismiss his riding dog companion and pray for another one, perhaps with different feats and even better hit points?

--Axe

 

[Thanee]

Because the higher level animal companion choices already account for the loss in effective druid level. If it were meant to help, why should it not help the default animal companions the same way? It's obviously not supposed to grant a benefit greater than what a full-level druid can get, and that's either a default animal companion at full effective level or a better one at an appropriately reduced level.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Thanee]

About the original question...

I think right now it's better to stick with the riding dog, but later (7th+), the advanced choices are probably better than an enhanced default choice.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Scion]

1) Our campaign is core only, so Natural Bond is not an issue.

That is too bad

2) Regarding staying power: Dogs have lower hit points compared to the others (due to lower Con). Especially I've seen comments elsewhere to the effect that HP overshadow AC in importance as you get beyond ~6th level, are dogs really more likely to stick around than the others?

I think when you hit level 7 you should definately grab one of the Druid level -3 choices. Whichever best fits with what you want to go to at the time. You wont lose much, if anything really (devotion, woo) and will gain a few nice perks.

If you want to stick with riding, which is a good plan, I would definately go with the dire bat Make sure to equip your buddy up!

3) Regarding mounts: Is there any reason that the other two (particularly the dire wolf) cannot be used as mounts?

Maybe someone can answer this. I am not sure what it takes to be a 'mount' other than being at least one size category larger than the 'rider'.

I once saw a halfling who had taken leadership and used his 'pet' minotaur as a mount

 

[Hypersmurf]

Because the higher level animal companion choices already account for the loss in effective druid level.

By lowering your effective druid level below your hit dice.

If it were meant to help, why should it not help the default animal companions the same way?

Because they don't lower your effective druid level below your hit dice.

-Hyp.

 

[Lord Pendragon]

If we apply Natural Bond 'whenever it would be most beneficial', following the same logic, then there's no particular step in the process at which we must make the calculation. After the -3 adjustment for an alternative animal companion is applied, therefore, is valid by the logic used in the FAQ.

I tend to draw a different conclusion from Practiced Spellcaster. After all, Practiced Spellcaster offers nothing to the full-HD spellcaster. If we assume that Natural Bond is meant to fill the same function (bring a class feature from a multiclassed character up to full-HD level,) then why should it provide benefit to the full spellcaster? After all, Practiced Spellcaster, the first precedent-setting feat in this vein, doesn't.

I believe that a FAQ entry for Natural Bond would be different. Caster Level interacts with spellcasting differently than class level interacts with the druid's companion, so simply porting over a ruling isn't going to necessarily be accurate.