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Pathfinder 1E New GM in need of help with an animal...

sa9097

First Post
Hello En World, been lurking for a while and finally decided to post. I've been gaming for a couple years now, and recently took over GM duties from my main group. Anyways, I only have two players who can regularly make our sessions these days (with work and college and whatnot), and to give them a fighting chance I've been proxying for some of the absent players. I feel like I'm treading on thin ice playing someone else's character, and to remedy this, I've introduced a couple new allied NPCs/GMPCs.

To get to the point, for next week's session, they've been lent a halfling crime boss's pitbull. I'm not satisfied with the existing stats for a riding dog; I want it to be able to fight alongside the party without fear of being taken out in one or two hits. Would simply adding the advanced template toughen it up enough? If not, what further changes would you recommend?
 

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Well, its a bit of a lower magic game right now, and the average party level is 4. They're going after a band of gnoll slavers (and their hyenas of course), and I'll be giving their ringleaders some class levels to boot. For now, I've given a riding dog the advanced template and added an additional hit die. I'll try it out in a test battle tonight; I suspect I may have to nerf it a bit, given its trip ability. Thoughts?
 



At level 4, a riding dog with the advanced template should be good enough. I'd grant it an additional HD per level beyond 4... it won't overshadow the party but it will remain pretty tough.

Another option is to treat it as a druid animal companion of the party's average level (instead of the advanced template and extra HD). That will leave it a bit weaker than the typical PC, but not be a "blow-through" like the typical summoned monster.
 

A third option is to just call it a "Warrior 3" and put dog clothes on it.

Meaning, of course, use stats for a NPC 3rd level Warrior and call it even.
 



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