natural bond (complete adventurer)

[evilbob]

As written, this feat seems like a straight-up "give rangers a viable pet" feat.

Can it not also be used to offset the level penalty for a druid choosing a stronger pet from the alternative animal companion table? In other words, if a level 7 druid picked a dire wolf as his animal companion and had this feat, would not the dire wolf be treated as if he were a druid level 4 (instead of 1) for purposes of advancement, meaning it would gain the +2 HD and natural armor, etc.?

 

[Klaus]

The most common interpretation is that you apply the bonus to your Effective Druid Level after it's been reduced by taking a stronger animal. So, in your dire wolf example, yes.

 

[iceifur]

Yep. And pick of a level of the Beastmaster PrC from Complete Adventurer to completely off-set the penalty for your Dire Wolf (when combined with Natural Bond). Thus, a 6th level Druid/1st level Beastmaster could have a Dire Wolf with the benefits of being a 7th level animal companion (and no penalties).

Add in the Halfling Druid 1st level racial substitution, and you have a nice mounted combo pre-built for you.

 

[Thanee]

No.

It adds a bonus to the 'effective druid level', and thus has no effect on druids, since they have no effective druid level (they have druid levels), only rangers do.

I would allow it to offset multiclass penalties for a druid, though.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Legildur]

It adds a bonus to the 'effective druid level', and thus has no effect on druids, since they have no effective druid level (they have druid levels), only rangers do.

I saw the wink, but just in case, I thought I'd throw in the following:

From the Wild Plains Outrider PrC description on p93 of Complete Adventurer:

Animal Companion/Special Mount: A wild plains outrider adds his outrider class levels to his effective druid level (his actual druid level or one-half his ranger level) to determine the capabilities of his animal companion. <blah, blah, blah about paladin special mounts>.

So they seem to consider 'actual druid level' = 'effective druid level'.

 

[Egres]

No.

It adds a bonus to the 'effective druid level', and thus has no effect on druids, since they have no effective druid level (they have druid levels), only rangers do.

From the SRD:

A druid of 4th level or higher may select from alternative lists of animals. Should she select an animal companion from one of these alternative lists, the creature gains abilities as if the character’s druid level were lower than it actually is. Subtract the value indicated in the appropriate list header from the character’s druid level and compare the result with the druid level entry on the table to determine the animal companion’s powers. (If this adjustment would reduce the druid’s effective level to 0 or lower, she can’t have that animal as a companion.)

 

[Thanee]

@Legildur: Guess that doesn't work as an explanation then...

The central point of my opinion (which is 'no, doesn't work') is similar to the above, though. I do not think that the effective druid level (from Natural Bond) and the druid's effective level (from the animal companion ability) are one and the same thing, the first is the total class level (or effective class level for non-druids), while the latter is the first modified by the appropriate value taken from the table for advanced animal companions (-3, -6, etc).

And, I usually try to go by what I think the intent is, and I really, really doubt, that the intent was to allow to surpass the character level (effectively) with this cheat, because if it was, there would be no point in limiting it to the character level in the first place (if this limit only affects animal companions that can be chosen at 1st level... so arguably the weakest of the choices already). It's not like such an ability (w/o limit, that is) wasn't in the very same book (Beastmaster).

And since the text isn't clear either way, I choose to read it that way (only works for rangers and multiclassed druids, and similar cases).

Bye
Thanee

 

[Thanee]

...druid’s effective level...

Yes, I'm aware of that... see above post.

Bye
Thane

 

[Arbiter of Wyrms]

Practiced Spellcaster Beastmaster.

I've got to go with Thanee and interpret according to what I believe the intent is, rather than the letter. I believe that effective druid level should never exceed total HD. For that matter, effective X level should never exceed total HD.

A first-level human ranger should not have the animal companion of a fourth-level druid any more than he should have caster level 4. It's just silly.

 

[Thanee]

The applied level (the one you check on the table for animal companion benefits) does never exceed the character level (Beastmaster is an exception here)... technically... which is the above-mentioned cheat as it works around the character level maximum limitation in the feat description.

The advanced animal companion already takes up some part of the level-dependant benefits by providing a better base creature, hence the (-3, -6, etc) modifier to the druid's level before checking the table; so effectively, if you allow the modifiers to cancel each other out, you do get more than you should for your level.

The intent should be clear enough.

Bye
Thanee