[3.5] Need some hints on Animal Companions

[Firechanter]

Suppose you are a stealthy Ranged combat character (let's say Ranger with Archery style for simplicity's sake), with access to an Animal Companion like a druid. I.e. full class level, not some half-level or level-3 nonsense.

Further caveats: no flying mounts. Only mammals or birds. Also, you'll mostly be fighting in the woods.

Which type of pet would you recommend? Let's say for level range 4-15.

My idea for levels 11+ (Improved Precise Shot gained) would be something with good grapple checks. It could grapple the targets and you pepper them with arrows. For this, Lion or some other big cat seems like a good choice, but then I have read that smaller pets are preferrable.

Ideas?

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

Magebred Ghost Tiger in Five Nations is probably your strongest choice, and always use Handle Animal to give your companion the Warbeast template in MM2. Also don't forget Natural Bond to add +3 after the 'level -X' for a stronger companion.

[Firechanter]

That's three awesome pieces of advice in one! Thanks, that already helps a lot! =)

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

Somewhat questionable, but you could also get Wild Cohort (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/re/20031118a), dismiss the additional companion it grants, and name your current animal companion as the beneficiary of the feat.

[Firechanter]

You mean, to slap on the level-dependent benefits of the Wild Cohort table onto your existing Animal Companion?
I don't think that would be legal. The feat description says pretty clearly that the two things are different and must be tracked separately.

[Coidzor]

Further caveats: no flying mounts. Only mammals or birds. Also, you'll mostly be fighting in the woods.

Problem. Decent birds are going to be big enough to be used as mounts by RAW.

[Kenneth]

a wolf is a viable pet IMO, free trip when he successfully attacsk for prone goodness! also they have scent, which is under appreciated most times.

[Greenish]

a wolf is a viable pet IMO, free trip when he successfully attacsk for prone goodness! also they have scent, which is under appreciated most times.Riding dog is stronger, though. And both will be outdated in time.


Now, you know what else can trip? Fleshrakers. They're birds, too.

[Coidzor]

Now, you know what else can trip? Fleshrakers. They're birds, too.

:smallamused: Sometimes I just love you so much Greenish. Thanks for reminding me. :smallbiggrin:

[Firechanter]

*bump*

I've been thinking a while, and I guess I could as well expand on this idea.

So far we've been discussing "forest fighters" that fight as snipers / skirmishers, and I'd excluded flying mounts. But actually, why not also build an "air force"?

How do you make it work, how do you skill the "Air Hunters", and how do they fight? All other aforementioned constraints apply.

Basically, I'm unsure how to make the attack routine work. Ideally, I guess, the mount (let's say Dire Eagle) swoops in, the rider makes a full attack and the beast moves out again. Is there a way to accomplish this? Or what else do you recommend?

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

You can full attack while your mount is moving, I'd say just stay within sight of the opponent and the mount focuses on keeping you out of melee. If the mount is running, your attacks take a -8 (-4 with Mounted Archery). If the mount takes a double move, you take a -4 (-2). If the mount only needs to single-move every round to keep a nice distance, you don't take any penalties at all even without Mounted Archery. Use a composite longbow, and if you attack 200 ft. away from your target you're taking a -2 without investing two feats in Mounted Archery. The mount can act after you to move you further away, so if the opponent is trying to catch up to you it can position you to be within 200 ft. again after the enemy moves.

You'll probably want to be fighting above the treetops, and use Woodland Archer's Pierce the Foliage ability to ignore miss chance if the enemy is staying within the trees. Note that total concealment still counts as concealment and can get negated by the feat, and it still works regardless of whether both you or the opponent stays still or keeps moving. You'll have to be attacking into the right space, but it's quite fitting for this style of combat.

[Madwand99]

You don't want a companion that grapples unless you have Improved Precise Shot. You'll have a (greater than) 50% chance of hitting the companion.

You don't want a companion that trips. Prone targets get +4 to their armor class.

You DO want either a companion that just does damaging (normal) full attacks, or a good mount. Mounts are good because they let you take a move action (up to 60' in most cases) while still letting loose a full attack. That's awesome. From personal experience, dire wolves make great mounts if you are medium-sized.

[Firechanter]

Okay, thanks for the input. ^^

Is Mounted Combat even necessary/worthwhile?

[Coidzor]

Okay, thanks for the input. ^^

Is Mounted Combat even necessary/worthwhile?

In and of itself, no, and you can obtain it via an item anyway. The only real good thing about it for a ranged unit is that it counts against any hit, not just melee ones. Especially useful if you're able to use it against ranged touch attacks, such as from magical artillery.

Mounted Archery may be of interest to you if you're going to be doing hit and run things, since it halves the penalty for attacking as part of a double move or run on the mount's part, and requires mounted combat.

IIRC, tunnel riding, which allows your mount to occupy one size-category less in terms of space with no penalty, so a large mount would fit into a single square with no penalty, also requires mounted combat, but if you're not going into buildings/dungeons, then it's not really that much of a concern.