Animal Companions with...Style Feats?! [PF]

[The Oni]

...Strange as it sounds, there doesn't actually seem to be anything against this. An animal companion with Int 3 can take any feat it qualifies for and this apparently includes learning advanced martial arts! Dragon Style, Tiger Style and Snake Style become available at 7th Level (since you can't hit Int 3 until 4th level, and Improved Unarmed Strike would need to be taken @ 5th to qualify for any of them). Thoughts on this?

[Hruken]

Well, human druids with the Eye for Talent Racial Trait can start with 4 int animal companions. Might be worth while if you want to do this.

As for actually doing it, I've heard of people having their mounts use Crane Wing to great success (pre-nerf anyway).

[Coidzor]

...Strange as it sounds, there doesn't actually seem to be anything against this. An animal companion with Int 3 can take any feat it qualifies for and this apparently includes learning advanced martial arts! Dragon Style, Tiger Style and Snake Style become available at 7th Level (since you can't hit Int 3 until 4th level, and Improved Unarmed Strike would need to be taken @ 5th to qualify for any of them). Thoughts on this?

No stranger than what happened in 3.5 with kung fu pandas. The same people who threw hissy fits then will throw hissy fits about it now. The same people who used it then will use it now.

[grarrrg]

...Strange as it sounds, there doesn't actually seem to be anything against this. An animal companion with Int 3 can take any feat it qualifies for and this apparently includes learning advanced martial arts! Dragon Style, Tiger Style and Snake Style become available at 7th Level (since you can't hit Int 3 until 4th level, and Improved Unarmed Strike would need to be taken @ 5th to qualify for any of them). Thoughts on this?

Quick note: Companions (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/druid/animal-companions) do not advance at the same rate as you do.
They only gain 3HD for every 4 levels you gain. So while they do get a feat at 5th, they don't get the next one until you are level 8.

Animal Companions are (relatively) free to take any/all Style feats. Meeting requirements may be an issue though.

Also note that a fair number of Style Feats require Improved Unarmed Strike, and that Unarmed Strikes function as Manufactured Weapons.

So while Dragon Style may seem pretty sweet what with the extra STR damage to attacks, to actually use it you need to make an Unarmed Strike. This either means making ALL of your Natural Attacks into Secondaries (with to-hit penalties and only 1/2 STR to damage), OR another feat tax in the form of Feral Combat Training (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/combat-feats/feral-combat-training-combat).


Well, human druids with the Eye for Talent Racial Trait can start with 4 int animal companions. Might be worth while if you want to do this.

Paladin Mounts always have INT 6 or better, likewise with Nature Oracles.

[Vanitas]

Dragon Style bears *shivers*

[The Oni]

@ grarrrg - that's why you go with the styles that are more defensive. Apparently, my whale companion qualifies for Snake Style. :smallcool:

[Hangwind]

@ grarrrg - that's why you go with the styles that are more defensive. Apparently, my whale companion qualifies for Snake Style. :smallcool:

What in the world would that look like?

[zephyrkinetic]

I had a character (LG Minotaur monk, named Lackwit) who (because handwave) had a baboon animal companion. No one was exactly sure how he got said baboon (called Grandfather), but the little guy could fence. Really well. He often did more damage with his Small rapier than Lackwit did in battle, and he wore Aristocrat's clothes and held doors open for pretty ladies, to boot.

[grarrrg]

@ grarrrg - that's why you go with the styles that are more defensive. Apparently, my whale companion qualifies for Snake Style. :smallcool:

Just making sure people are aware that "Companion Style" has quite a bit of Feat Tax to it. What with ALL of the Styles requiring Improved Unarmed Strike (whether by straight requirement, or needing it for Stunning/Elemental Fist).
And since you must have Improved Unarmed Strike, you may be tempted to actually use it, which due to how Unarmed works, might be a bad decision.

[The Oni]

What in the world would that look like?

A deftly bobbing-and-weaving cetacean impaling boats with his fins of rigid iron, presumably.

[Urpriest]

...Strange as it sounds, there doesn't actually seem to be anything against this. An animal companion with Int 3 can take any feat it qualifies for and this apparently includes learning advanced martial arts! Dragon Style, Tiger Style and Snake Style become available at 7th Level (since you can't hit Int 3 until 4th level, and Improved Unarmed Strike would need to be taken @ 5th to qualify for any of them). Thoughts on this?

Huh...did Pathfinder change the rules on Animal Intelligence scores to make this explicitly possible, or is this exploiting the same loophole as 3.5?

[The Oni]

By all accounts it looks like an animal companion whose Int is raised in the normal way is OK to stay as a companion, since it mentions Int 3 animal companions in a way that doesn't indicate that htey stop. However, the text for the Awaken spell says that the affected animal ceases to be an animal companions. I think this just means that Awakened animals can't be companions, not that normal Int 3+ animals can't.

[Urpriest]

By all accounts it looks like an animal companion whose Int is raised in the normal way is OK to stay as a companion, since it mentions Int 3 animal companions in a way that doesn't indicate that htey stop. However, the text for the Awaken spell says that the affected animal ceases to be an animal companions. I think this just means that Awakened animals can't be companions, not that normal Int 3+ animals can't.

Huh, interesting. They may have just been giving themselves design room for things like 3.5's Celestial Companion et al...but then again, when has Paizo ever thought about a concept as sophisticated as design room? So maybe it's intentional...weird.

[Vanitas]

Man, you can't get past page 1 without someone bashing Paizo around here.

[The Oni]

You know really, GITP isn't nearly as bad as some other sites. I've only heard a few cracks on them, but if you go places like TGDMB it's like you've walked onto a Stormfront board and Paizo is [insert least favorite minority here].

[Coidzor]

Huh...did Pathfinder change the rules on Animal Intelligence scores to make this explicitly possible, or is this exploiting the same loophole as 3.5?

As I recall, Animals with Int 3+ have their own rules, where they're still not as smart as any other Type of creature that has the same Int score, I believe in order to keep Druids and Cavaliers from being able to have an Int 3+ companion and never actually needing to use Handle Animal to get it to do things.

So they actually addressed the issue to some extent.

[Vanitas]

You know really, GITP isn't nearly as bad as some other sites. I've only heard a few cracks on them, but if you go places like TGDMB it's like you've walked onto a Stormfront board and Paizo is [insert least favorite minority here].

I think it happens with everything that's popular. A vocal minority always goes out of its way to bash it. It's probably a sign of success, even.

[Urpriest]

Man, you can't get past page 1 without someone bashing Paizo around here.

Eh, I'd say the same about 3.5 era WotC, really. In both cases it's abundantly clear that they designed every piece of the game with the assumption that they wouldn't be writing any more books.