Natural Bond and Beastmaster

[Tovec]

Since no one said it I guess I will.. both are from Complete Adventurer as far as I can tell.

Natural Bond p. 111
Add 3 to effective druid level for purposes on the table in page 36 of the PHB. Bonuses can never exceed character level.

Beastmaster p. 26
Not going to write the full ability but its under Animal Companion:
Treat beastmaster's level as a druid 3 levels higher.
Lists an example of 5th level druid/2nd level beastmaster would count as a 10th level druid for purpose of animal companion.

As far as I'm reading it it looks like Yes they stack. Specifically the feat is usable for the Paladin levels. Druid + 3(max, pally HD) + beastmaster + 3(ability) As far as I'm showing. Both abilities are in the same book, I have a hard time believing that WotC wouldn't have seen that specific use and given a note to say it doesn't stack if they hadn't intended it to.
Ultimately I see nothing stopping it from stacking, but I would highly recommend passing it by the DM to make sure.

 

[Rakusia]

yes they can stack but it does specifically state that it can never let it go above character level. so at level ten with the feat you cant go above level ten for your edl. since he only has 5 lvls in non edl then the two threes would only stack up to five.

but your also right it all comes down to the resident dm. whatever he allows the op will just have to live with

 

[Empirate]

Where is that pulled from?

From the official FAQ (although I did misremember how Practiced Spellcaster and Wild Mage interact...):

Does the bonus to caster level from the Practiced
Spellcaster feat (from CAr and CD) 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).

And also:

How does Practiced Spellcaster interact with the wild
magic class feature of the wild mage (from Complete
Arcane)?

The –3 penalty and +1d6 bonus to the wild mage’s caster
level are applied as a single step in the process of determining
the wild mage’s caster level. Since Practiced Spellcaster’s
bonus is always applied when it is most beneficial to the
character (see previous answer), a wild mage with Practiced
Spellcaster would typically apply the wild magic class feature
first (subtracting 3 and adding 1d6 to her caster level) and then
add the Practiced Spellcaster benefit, up to a maximum value
equal to her character level.

For example, if a 5th-level wizard/4th-level wild mage with
Practiced Spellcaster rolled a 1 on the 1d6 bonus to her caster
level, her caster level for that spell would be 9th (base 9th, –3
from wild magic penalty, +1 from wild magic bonus, +4 from
Practiced Spellcaster up to a maximum equal to her character
level). If she rolled a 6, her caster level would be 12th (base
9th, –3 from wild magic penalty, +6 from wild magic bonus;
the Practiced Spellcaster bonus would not apply since it would
increase her caster level above her character level).
On the other hand, imagine a wild mage whose caster level
(before applying the effects of the wild magic class feature) is
less than her character level, such as a wild mage with levels of
rogue or other non-spellcasting class. She might well choose to
apply the Practiced Spellcaster bonus first, before applying the
wild magic modifiers. A rogue 4/wizard 5/wild mage 4 would
have a base caster level of 9th before any other modifiers are
applied. Adding Practiced Spellcaster’s bonus would increase
this to 13th, at which point the penalty and bonus from wild
magic would be applied. The Sage recommends that players
averse to frequently recalculating caster level avoid playing a
character with this combination, as it is likely to cause
headaches.

 

[Ahnehnois]

Bottom line, Natural Bond can't push your effective level over your character level. That being said, it's worth noting that if you take the Beastmaster prestige class, it seems your secondary animal companions (normally at reduced effective level) would increase in power.

 

[Incendax]

Natural Bond can do two interesting things:

1) If you lower your effective druid level by taking an advanced animal, Natural Bond can help make up the difference. For example, at 10th Level you could have a Polar Bear with Level -6 instead of Level -9 Modifiers.

2) If you take the Beastmaster Prestige Class, Natural Bond can benefit every single additional animal companion.

Don't forget to train them as a Warbeast, too.

 

[krupintupple]

Not to be a debby downer, but I seem to recall that Natural Bond would only work on the first companion, of a beastmaster's ranks. I...can't cite where I got that from, so feel free to either 1) ignore me, or 2) check the FAQ/Errata?

 

[Rakusia]

it says animal companion doesnt mention first or only one so you could use it for all them. imho.

 

[Noctos]

my smart ass reply for the day

it does what ever the DM sayes it does

 

[Dross]

it says animal companion doesnt mention first or only one so you could use it for all them. imho.

advocate: It says animal companion no plural so only one can be affected.

Main prob is that (PHB) initially you would only have one animal companion so no need to mention multiples.

The only vague reference I can find to levels is:
Extra Animal Companion: Other class levels in classes that offer an animal companion don’t stack for the purpose of determining the power of a beastmaster’s additional animal companions, nor do they allow her to choose additional animal companions from the alternative lists.

Which would not lead me to deny the use of NB for your extras.

After some gameplay I might have to revisit such a decision but it doesn't look overpowered at first glance.

 

[Joshua McKee]

From personal experience and what I can tell. Your companion numbers isn't exactly limited to 1 across the board. The way I see it is a companion unless otherwise stated is not the same as a druids companion.

Last I checked each companion is unique to each class and is each companion does not benefit from all classes that use druid progression.

It states with the animal companion ability the animal companion's level advances like a druid not as a druid and lvls in any other class that gives companions lvls stack.

The problem with this stacking is that these other classes have to be treated as their respective druid counterpart. I.E. ranger is 1/2 class lvl as a druid (4ranger is a 2 druid) so the beastmasters pet is treated as a druid of 6th lvl for purpose of their pet.

Any character can get multiple pets as long the companion is developed as the class along with respective stacks and non stacks.

The animal affinity feat under it's raw and rai is for 1 companion and 1 only and must be chosen upon taken. The feat is designed to boost a characters edl so as a ranger say 4th is a edl2 with feat making a rangers edl 5. I'm this case it's not allowed as written. In this case player only gets to utilize 2 of the 3 boost.

You can not get the 3rd lvl boost later sadly unless the DM says you can once you meet the requirements to benefit.