Improving Animal Companions

[dreaded_beast]

Are there WotC feats out there that allow you to improve your animal companion?

If there are, could you point me to where I can find it and maybe a small description of what it does?

 

[Corsair]

If you are a ranger, there is a feat which gives you +3 to your druid level (negating the ranger -3) for purposes of animal companions.

 

[shilsen]

The feats listed in the MM (Improved Natural Attack, etc.) could benefit most animal companions.

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

If you are a ranger, there is a feat which gives you +3 to your druid level (negating the ranger -3) for purposes of animal companions.

What the feat actually does is pretty similar to the Practiced Spellcaster feat from ... Complete Arcane ... ?

It increases your effective Druid level for purposes of your animal companion up to your hit dice or +3 or 4 (I can't remember which), whichever is less.

It is thus effective for multiclass druids, as well.

 

[Ridley's Cohort]

Beastmaster PrC and Natural Bond feat from Complete Adventurer.

Natural Bond lets you boost your effective druid level for purposes of the Animal Companion by up to 3, but not more than your actual hit dice. (So it does nothing for a straight Druid.) This is excellent for the Ranger who wants to boost his Animal Companion to a useful power level for the lowish to middling levels.

The Beastmaster PrC lets you get a straight +3 with no limitation added to your effective Druid level. Theorectically a Druid could take this PrC but it is not really worth the prereqs (8 ranks Handle Animal + Sill Focus Handle Animal) except for roleplaying considerations.

The Beastmaster is an excellent choice for a Ranger.

Go 5 levels of Ranger, picking up Skill Focus at level 3. At level 6, pick up your first level of Beastmaster and Natural Bond. Your effective druid level for AC is now 9, giving you, say, an 8 HD Wolf (with piles of bonus abilities). You will probably trade up to a Dire Wolf or Lion, but that still keeps you in the ballpark of 7 or 8 HD and the beast probably is better in a straight fight than you are.

Beastmaster class: +1 BAB per level, d10, good Fort & Reflex, 4 skill points per level.

Oh, and you get additional animal companions if you stick with Beastmaster, although these will tend to be pretty weak because your "effective druid level" is going to be character level -8 in the best case. They are "free". So you can have that eagle or cute monkey on your arm without feeling like you are wasting your Animal Companion ability. These secondary animals are more for fun and flavor. OTOH even a normal 2 HD Wolf could be trained to open flanks and Aid Other...

 

[Klaus]

There is also the Wild Plains Outrider (CAdv), whose levels stack with ranger/druid levels for companion purposes is the companion is large enough to serve as a mount. Plus it's only 3 levels.

 

[dreaded_beast]

Is there a feat that increases the base stats of your animal companion, like improving Str, Con, HP, etc.?

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

Kind of like an Improved Familiar feat? Hrm. Can't think of any off the top of my head.

EDIT:

There are all kinds of spells, however, that do these things. Consider crafting (either on your own or with the help of your friendly neighborhood wizard / artificer) some magic items for your beast to wear.

Note that any animal trained for war has armor proficiency, and can wear barding, which can be enhanced just like normal armor.

 

[kenobi65]

Is there a feat that increases the base stats of your animal companion, like improving Str, Con, HP, etc.?

It's called "going up in level as a druid."

 

[Jack Simth]

Well, let's see... there's Permanency and Greater Magic Fang, if you could put a Helm of Comprehend Languages and Read Magic on the Animal Companion and get it to read the various stat-boosting Tomes, you could raise it's stats that way (could also do so with straight, consecutive castings of Wish). You could Gate in Noble Dijinn and force them to use the three wishes they can grant to the same effect. You could note that an Animal Companion gets feats from advancing HD, and some of the feats under Monster Feats do real nifty stuff, you get your Animal Companion Polymorphed (by Polymorph Any Object) into something with different base stats (hmmm.... would it use the net Hit Dice (critter HD + Bonus Hit Dice), or just the base HD? And would the Animal Companion still get bonus HD, stat boosts, armor increases, and other special abilities from you advancing as a Druid?). Why burn your feats?