Favorite Animal Companion

[lukelightning]

Of course I picked dire shark.

Which should team up with a cello-playing bard...

 

[osarusan]

My vote goes to boar. When the DM kills it off, at least you can have a nice meal afterwards.

 

[Krypter]

BADGER! BADGER! BADGER! BADGER! BADGER!

Followed closely by SNAKE!

 

[StupidSmurf]

Awww you beat me to it!!

I was going to say "Badger, since they have really excellent rhythm".

 

[Hussar]

Again, any "apes using weapons" is a houserule. Animals have no weapon proficiencies, plus I doubt an ape's hands or intelligence would allow them to use a weapon. The animal type specifically states animals are proficient with natural weapons only. I interpret this to mean they can't get proficiency with weapons, as it further goes on to say they aren't proficient with armor unless they are trained.

True. You get the non-weapon prof penalties. That's fine.

On a realism point, apes and primates use sticks as weapons all the time without training. A PC with access to Speak with Animals and the time to do some training could certainly teach an ape to use a club. Granted, he's not going to weapon finesse a rapier, but, a big stick is not beyond the abilities of an Ape.

 

[Aidan mac Culloch]

I'm a huge fan of owls. They make excellent scouts with their silent flying and large racial Spot modifier. They also strike me as intelligent animals, which my characters generally value.

 

[Woas]

I VOTE LIGERS BECAUSE THEY ARE BRED FOR THEIR MAGICAL POWERS!

Hehe, actually I like bird (I picked hawk, but would easily have picked eagle, owl or any other bird allowed) animal companions because firstly, they make great scouts. They are pretty normal and thus do not bring much attention so they can fly around and gather info... then I can speak with animals and find out what it saw, etc. Secondly, again like before, birds don't bring much attention so I can actually use them in an urban setting too. Cause yea know it's real annoying when I gotta go park my T-Rex outside the city walls... you'd think people would be more understanding. And have you seen the valet parking prices for one of them?!

Wolves and horses are probably second place.

 

[Rostek]

You know I was gonna spear that Dire Penguin idea, then I saw the Guinness avatar! Cheers on the penguin mate!

As you may or may not have guessed, that particular product had something to do with the creation of that particular penguin and druid
I was on my third when I shouted "Waddle to freedom, little friend!" and cast wall of stone to allow James (as in 'James Bond') and the rest of the party to flee from pack of rabid gnolls. What a great game :sigh:

 

[Sejs]

Riding Dog.

It's decent and you can take it into civilized areas without having everybody freak out.

 

[Klaus]

True. You get the non-weapon prof penalties. That's fine.

On a realism point, apes and primates use sticks as weapons all the time without training. A PC with access to Speak with Animals and the time to do some training could certainly teach an ape to use a club. Granted, he's not going to weapon finesse a rapier, but, a big stick is not beyond the abilities of an Ape.

Plus, as the animal companion can select Simple Weapon Proficiency with one of the feats it gets with the increased HD. It's just a matter of the DM ruling if the animal can actually wield the weapon (which primates can, as seen by chimpanzees that bash a makeshift club around to scare off rival apes).