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Man With Dog
2010-08-07, 08:45 AM
I am not totally sure what adding Beast Master does to my Druid character.
I am making a lvl 8 one at the moment (likely to play tonight or next week) and someone suggested taking a levle of BeastMaster to make the animal companion even more uber - which i like.

So with my character at Druid7 / Beastmaster1 and Natural Bond in play - i was told it effectively insreases my Companions level by 3 - so my -6 tiger now becomes equal to me?

The write up for beastmaster says:
Animal Companion (Ex) - See the druid class in core rulebook I for details about this ability. If the beast master has levels in another class that also possesses an animal companion (such as the druid or ranger) then those effective levels stack with the beast master's level.

Is this understood by me right or can someone shed some more light on it?

Jarveiyan
2010-08-07, 08:56 AM
Natural Bond won't work with this - it brings your effective druid level upto a maximum level of your hit die(your companion will already be effectively a 9th lvl druids companion by the beastmasters ability alone).

Biffoniacus_Furiou
2010-08-07, 09:01 AM
Natural Bond won't work with this - it brings your effective druid level upto a maximum level of your hit die(your companion will already be effectively a 9th lvl druids companion by the beastmasters ability alone).

You can apply your own bonuses and penalties in the most beneficial order. You add your Beastmaster level plus three to your Druid level, for an effective level of eleven. Apply the 'level -6' for the tiger first, for a total effective level of 5, and then add Natural Bond's +3 but no higher than your character level, which puts it back up to 8.

Man With Dog
2010-08-07, 09:14 AM
You can apply your own bonuses and penalties in the most beneficial order. You add your Beastmaster level plus three to your Druid level, for an effective level of eleven. Apply the 'level -6' for the tiger first, for a total effective level of 5, and then add Natural Bond's +3 but no higher than your character level, which puts it back up to 8.


How is it the Beastmaster lvl +3.
I know its probably staring me in the face but the description doesnt show me that clearly

Runeclaw
2010-08-07, 11:13 AM
The description says to treat the Beastmaster as a Druid whose level is equal to the Beastmaster's level +3. There's an example that makes it clear how Beastmaster and Druid levels stack.

Beastmaster is really only good for a one-level dip. The additional companions it would provide later are based on Beastmaster levels only and are therefore too weak to be of any real use. Even for the one level dip, optimizers will tell you its not worth it on a druid build due to the loss of a spellcaster level, but if having a cool companion is attractive to you, go for it (although a bit of an obnoxious Feat prereq).

Runeclaw
2010-08-07, 11:14 AM
You can apply your own bonuses and penalties in the most beneficial order. You add your Beastmaster level plus three to your Druid level, for an effective level of eleven. Apply the 'level -6' for the tiger first, for a total effective level of 5, and then add Natural Bond's +3 but no higher than your character level, which puts it back up to 8.

This is the standard RAW interpetation on these boards, but it seems likely to be counter to RAI - so you may want to confirm with your DM before relying on it.

Jarveiyan
2010-08-07, 11:39 AM
I just guess we play different games then, my group doesn't play the D&D 3.5 where the devs pandered to players(this is my honest opinion so don't get all bent out of shape). The way our group plays the feat wouldn't benefit you since beastmaster adds level +3 to your companion already maxing your hit die and adding extra. The way we play this feat would benefit the Ranger/Beastmaster. And you add up all your adds before accounting for the more powerful options.