Buffing my Bear

[elvengunner69]

Just a question on this:

Share Spells (Ex)
At the druid’s option, she may have any spell (but not any spell-like ability) she casts upon herself also affect her animal companion. The animal companion must be within 5 feet of her at the time of casting to receive the benefit. If the spell or effect has a duration other than instantaneous, it stops affecting the animal companion if the companion moves farther than 5 feet away and will not affect the animal again, even if it returns to the druid before the duration expires.

Does it also include if I drank a potion of Barkskin for instance or any other potion? As long as I was 5' away when I did it?

[qwertyu63]

Just a question on this:

Share Spells (Ex)
At the druid’s option, she may have any spell (but not any spell-like ability) she casts upon herself also affect her animal companion. The animal companion must be within 5 feet of her at the time of casting to receive the benefit. If the spell or effect has a duration other than instantaneous, it stops affecting the animal companion if the companion moves farther than 5 feet away and will not affect the animal again, even if it returns to the druid before the duration expires.

Does it also include if I drank a potion of Barkskin for instance or any other potion? As long as I was 5' away when I did it?

Sadly no. It only works on spells that the druid is casting. Read the marked part well.

[elvengunner69]

Sadly no. It only works on spells that the druid is casting. Read the marked part well.

Ah gotcha --- should have read that more carefully lol!

So 2nd question -- If chose to turn into say X medium animal and in Monster Manual they have 14 hit points (or whatever) - is that how many hit points I have until I turn back to human or wildshape into something else?

thanks for the info!

[Private]

So 2nd question -- If chose to turn into say X medium animal and in Monster Manual they have 14 hit points (or whatever) - is that how many hit points I have until I turn back to human or wildshape into something else?

thanks for the info!

This (http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/19528526/updated_Master_of_Many_Forms_Bible__official_wild_ shape_rules) should help with all your questions on Wild Shape. About 1-2 Paragraphs down has all the WS rules broken down.

[Lord Il Palazzo]

Ah gotcha --- should have read that more carefully lol!

So 2nd question -- If chose to turn into say X medium animal and in Monster Manual they have 14 hit points (or whatever) - is that how many hit points I have until I turn back to human or wildshape into something else?

thanks for the info!On the SRD, Wild Shape (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/classes/druid.htm#wildShape) says "This ability functions like the alternate form special ability, except as noted here" and Alternate Form (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/specialAbilities.htm#alternateForm) says "The creature retains its hit points and save bonuses, although its save modifiers may change due to a change in ability scores."

[Unusual Muse]

Be sure to also check out the Companion Spellbond feat from PH2... it increases your Share Spell range to 30' and lets you cast touch spells on your companion at Close range.

[elvengunner69]

You guys are awesome! Thank you!

I was thinking at lvl 11 to prestige class to Master of Many Forms...we are pretty cleric/wizard heavy in the party so I might need to 'tank' a bit in Wildshape and lvl 7 MMF seems pretty handy but obviously that's a big investment in the class and I I don't gain the spell lvls a normal druid gets.

so Assuming I live that long...I'd be a Druid10/MMF7

I thought turning into a Giant might be a good way to 'tank' a bit for the group.

[Phelix-Mu]

Hmm, alright, if you don't mind a small critique.

Druid is probably the most versatile full caster, but a 10 level prestige class with no casting is pretty much a terrible idea for any spellcaster. Wild shape is a powerful mechanic, don't get me wrong, but magic, particularly the summoning that would be available to a ECL 17 druid with 9th level spells, is much better. Too bad, cause MMF has some incredible flavor (though maybe a little hardcore/weird...being able to waltz around as whatever you want is going to have unpredictable psychological effects).

With Rapid Spell, your summoning with summon nature's ally can arrive on first round of combat, and combined with Augment Summoning and other relevant feats, summoning eventually ends up being very powerful.

Also, MMF doesn't improve animal companion, does it? I can't recall, but animal companion is tank ++ if you have it up to your full ECL. In the first round of combat, provided you have Spell Compendium access, you will be able to nature's avatar and animal growth on it at 17th, which will result in quite the tank.

[elvengunner69]

Hmm, alright, if you don't mind a small critique.

Druid is probably the most versatile full caster, but a 10 level prestige class with no casting is pretty much a terrible idea for any spellcaster. Wild shape is a powerful mechanic, don't get me wrong, but magic, particularly the summoning that would be available to a ECL 17 druid with 9th level spells, is much better.

Also, MMF doesn't improve animal companion, does it? I can't recall, but animal companion is tank ++ if you have it up to your full ECL. In the first round of combat, provided you have Spell Compendium access, you will be able to nature's avatar and animal growth on it at 17th, which will result in quite the tank.

I have the alt companion I took at lvl 4 - black Bear who is my lvl -4 so he is currently lvl 3 (I'm lvl 7) and he can tank (a little light on AC but generally okay). He has like 40 hit points so he can't tank forever. Obviously I can buff him up and summon a small army of animals to help him (I like wolves with trip ability as they seem to screw with enemy casters pretty well, and now that I can cast lvl 4 spells 1d3 dire wolves sounds pretty awesome to me unless someone can recommend something else? Also Flame Strike seems pretty bad ass too) I don't think MMF does anything with animal companion other than he would still lvl up with me? So at lvl 17 he would be a lvl 13 Black Bear? Or would his lvling ability stop if I prestige classed? Of course I could spend 24 hours and get a dire wolverine and at -6 my lvl but my bear (named Taco - with apologies to Taco from the League - has become a bit of a party favorite) is pretty fun.

[Malroth]

Use a trick slot to teach your bear to wear barding and comission a set of armor for it. Also ask your DM if taking the "Natural Bond" feat can offset the -4 level penalty for a tier 2 animal companion. (strict RAW it works but many DM's can be iffy about advancing a class feature by 4 levels). I also reccomend grabbing the Summon elemental reserve feat so your furry tank will always have a flank buddy even if you're down to your last spell.

[Phelix-Mu]

If the party has wiz and clr around, just make sure they know to watch the animal companion to make sure it isn't dying, and buff it as a full party member.

Collar of healing (MIC) is a great item, affordable backup healing for animal companion. A Con item and Dex item are also great choices. As druid, I usually pass off any spare items that can plausibly be put on an animal onto the companion. Maybe try to buy old magic gear off other party members for 50% list price. If the bear is going to be doing tank duty, he deserves to be outfitted as such.

Barding is a very effective strategy, money-wise. Flavor-wise, I always prefer au natural, but that's just me. I also dislike armour that reduces movement speed, but there are lots of options among those that don't.

If you take a PrC, only class features from your base class that are noted as improving, or which are based on character level, continue to improve. Animal companion class feature is based upon druid level.

In practice, the higher level alternate animal companions are a double-edged sword. One from the basic list with the most bonus HD will gain more feats, making it more customizable in combat. I personally wouldn't take any higher than -3 effective druid level until you are very high level, and even then effectiveness of the exchange is iffy.