What would be a fair ACF (or homebrew ACF) to replace a fleshraker animal companion?

[Dugong]

Hi everyone,

I'm currently playing a lvl 9 (almost 10) druid in a shackled city campaign and the DM wants me to consider trading the fleshraker for an ACF (he approved getting the fleshraker in the first place btw) because he's getting tired of RP'ing NPC's reactions to a dinosaur. Note I can't just change out the fleshraker for a different animal companion as the NPC's will have a similar reaction to a large wolf or bear etc.

The party consists of me and my fleshraker animal companion, a duskblade with a heavy focus on DPS (ie, spiked chain, knowledge devotion and was able to trade armored mage (shield) for arcane strike), a Ehlonna cleric focusing on heals and searing light / flame strikes, a factotum, an sorcerer going into nightmare spinner and a new character which appears to be some sort of homebrew version of dread necromancer.

My druid has extend spell, companion spellbound, craft wonderous item (probably going to be retrained as I've had it for 2 levels and we've had no opportunity for crafting), animal casting and persist spell (I don't know why I took it, I really should retrain it and get it back when I can actually cast lvl 6 and 7 spells). My combat style is mostly battlefield control/wildhsape, buff and attack.


The problem is all the ACF's that remove the animal companion are horrible, but the DM is willing to homebrew something more appealing.
According to the druid handbook, the ACF's that remove the animal companion are:

Druidic avenger, which removes animal companion and spontananeous casting to give fast movement and rage. Since I wear heavy dragonhide armor the speed bonus won't work until I wildshape and I can't cast spells if I rage which is a huge negative.

Shapechanger, which replaces wildshape with shapeshift which is worse is almost every way compared to wildshape.
Shifter druid, Shifters only (I think), otherwise get a bonus to Str, Dex or Con, and increase in natural attack at expense of wildshape, do get rapid summoning and more spells which is nice.


The problem with these ACF's is that most either replace or nerf wildshape while doing so on top of losing a powerhouse animal companion like a fleshraker.


So the question for the playground is, for a whildshape (bear, potentially dragon if the feat is approved)/spellcaster druid, could you help me figure out a fair ACF to remove the animal companion? Perhaps a class feature from a PrC or something?

TL;DR want to homebrew Druid ACF for removing animal companion that doesn't screw up spellcasting or wildshape, help?

[Snowbluff]

Urban Companion.

Get a tough familiar instead of an AnC.

[eggynack]

I'd go with the shifter druid substitution levels, if you can get it past the DM despite your non-shifter nature. It's definitely one of the best things you can trade an animal companion for, and you don't have to touch wild shape, and you don't just get a new animal to deal with. It's not necessarily better than the animal companion, but it's not necessarily worse either, and you're hitting the levels where the animal companion should be growing obsolete, and where shifter substitution levels are just getting better and better.

[JeminiZero]

Urban Companion.

Get a tough familiar instead of an AnC.

He is referring to this this ACF here (https://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/we/20070228a). Additionally, see if you can qualify for the Improved Familiar feat.

Instead of ditching the animal companion, you could try and hide him. See if you can disguise your Fleshraker as a human or something with a mundane diguise check, and maybe a hat of disguise to beef it up. It is *technically* only a -2 penalty for a different race :smallbiggrin: (although the GM may add other circumstance penalties).

On the homebrew side I have a few suggestions:
*The conjurer has an ACF that trades his familiar for the ability to cast Summon Monster as a standard action instead of 1 round. Maybe you can trade your animal companion for a similiar ability with Summon Nature's Ally
*Along the thoughts of hiding him when not needed: SpC has a spell called Familiar Pocket which stores a Familiar (of any size) in a dimensional pocket for hrs/lvl. See if you can research a Druidic equivalent for Animal Companion.

[deuxhero]

Guys who can manipulate fire with a thought, ressurect the dead, bring motion to the motionless, see what's happening on the otherside of the world and kill dragons are all fine and good, but if one of the has a DINOSAUR?! Count me out.

Seriously, if the PCs are level 10 and are neither actively hiding nor never stopping in the same place twice, they should be famous (at least locally) and instead of "Whhaaaa! A dinosaur!", NPCs should be "A dinosaur? You must be ____. I've heard a lot about you.".


But yeah, just get a hat of disguise. It's cheep and if someone has enough perception to beat it, they are powerful enough to not give a 2 sticks about your dinosaur.

[Andezzar]

Note I can't just change out the fleshraker for a different animal companion as the NPC's will have a similar reaction to a large wolf or bear etc.I doubt that. Can you really always tell the difference between between a wolf (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Grauwolf_P1130275.jpg) and a dog (http://www.dogbreedworld.com/czechoslovakian_wolfdog)? Just so you know, wolves that are animal companions never increase in size. Size is not among the things that change as the druid gains levels. If you want to be really circumspect, take a horse. If people gawk at that, it will be a really weird campaign world.

[sleepyphoenixx]

You could also get one of the stealthy animals as a companion. Give it a Collar of Umbral Metamorphosis for HiPS and have it stay hidden when you come near civilization.
There's no way some commoner or low level guard is going to make the spot check against a tiger (or other animal with a racial hide/MS bonus) with maxed out stealth and the dark template.
Anyone who can see it isn't going to be worried about someone's animal companion.

If that's not good enough i second the Shifter Druid sub levels from RoE. Free Con bonus, Slippery Mind, automatic Quicken of one spell/day and Rapid Summoning are a pretty good substitute for a meatshield.

The Urban Companion ACF can also be useful. A familiar may be less tough than your AC innately but it gets higher Int and shares your skill ranks, and you can still share spells with it to turn it into a combat monster. Out of Combat it can just be hidden in a Belt of Many Pockets or something similar.
It also doesn't have most of the downsides that normal familiars get while keeping all of the benefits.

[Andezzar]

You could also get one of the stealthy animals as a companion. Give it a Collar of Umbral Metamorphosis for HiPS and have it stay hidden when you come near civilization.
There's no way some commoner or low level guard is going to make the spot check against a tiger (or other animal with a racial hide/MS bonus) with maxed out stealth and the dark template.
Anyone who can see it isn't going to be worried about someone's animal companion.HiPS from the dark creature Template (which the collar grants) has up to two problems: It does not work in sunlight. Additionally the ToM version of the Dark creature template only waives the requirement to be unobserved, it does not waive the requirement to have concealment. The version form Cormyr Tearing of the Weave also grants concealment.

[Darrin]

This may help with some NPC reactions. Buy the fleshraker a fez (1 SP) and brocade vest (8 GP). Buy yourself a harmonica (5 GP, +4 circumstance bonus when performing for common folk). Teach the fleshraker the Perform trick, and next level up, put a couple of points into Perform (harmonica).

See, it's not a predatory murder machine dripping with claws and fangs, it's entertainment.

[HammeredWharf]

If you're good, you can replace Persist with Exalted Companion. You'll have a smart (int 3), beautiful and regal dinosaur. Additionally, according to their description celestial creatures often come in metallic colors, so you could train it to pretend to be a golden statue.

[Andezzar]

@OP: Doesn't your campaign world have things like Aglarondan Griffonriders, Knights of the Hunt or Moonsea Skysentinels? All three have pretty intimidating and unusual creatures.

[Urpriest]

@OP: Doesn't your campaign world have things like Aglarondan Griffonriders, Knights of the Hunt or Moonsea Skysentinels? All three have pretty intimidating and unusual creatures.

Maybe, maybe not. But this is Shackled City, there's all sorts of exotic stuff wandering around all over the place. Heck, I think the illustrations show one of the members of the party with an animal companion.

That said, I'd just ask your DM to let you use the Shifter ACF, since it doesn't remove Wildshape and is reasonably powerful. Just trade any bit of it that has to do with Shifting for something else.

[eggynack]

That said, I'd just ask your DM to let you use the Shifter ACF, since it doesn't remove Wildshape and is reasonably powerful. Just trade any bit of it that has to do with Shifting for something else.
Oh yeah, I forgot about shifter specific stuff. Fortunately, there are only two shifter specific abilities, and they're both quite mediocre. Extra shifter trait just doesn't do anything by level 18, and extend shifting is mildly interesting, but also somewhat ineffectual.

[Dugong]

Hi everyone,

Thanks for all the input!! I'm surprised and impressed at all the good suggestions I've seen here, I definately would have thought of a hat of disguise. :smallsmile:

I've talked to my DM and all animal companions are ruled out, regardless of template or the creature itself. The reasoning is partly because of NPC reactions (ie, he keeps forgetting it's there despite the giant plush wombat I bring with me eash session to remind him) and partly because of dungeons. Shackled city has a lot of dungeon crawls and getting my animal companion to say climb a ladder or swim underwater is akin to pulling teeth as apparently handle animal won't cover this (I know about the 'push' but apparently that doesn't work).

Sadly shifter druid is also out :(, I had a look and that ACF (especially Moonspeaker) looked really appealing. But I guess I shouldn't be surprised the DM said no to changing race mid campaign. I suppose that extends to all non-human ACF's too, which leaves shapeshifter and Druidic avenger, which I've already stated are horrible. Thankfully my DM agrees that these are poor and has decided to come up with his own ACF, hopefully I get to contribute on this or better yet make a human version of shifter druid and get Moonspeaker somehow, but we'll see.

I'll let you know what happens and thanks for all the input! You guys are great :smallsmile::smallsmile:

[Andezzar]

Balance the homebrew ACF against simply releasing the Animal Companion. If the DM wants you to trade in more than the animal companion, that most likely won't be a good trade.

[Dugong]

Balance the homebrew ACF against simply releasing the Animal Companion. If the DM wants you to trade in more than the animal companion, that most likely won't be a good trade.

So long as it doesn't hinder Wildshape or spellcasting I should be ok (since my main strategy for attack is spells for buff/battlefield control and wildshape for BEARS!!) so things like trackless step, nature sense, woodland stride, etc is on the table.

Having said that, what do you think would be worth losing a fleshraker animal companion (which is a considerable asset in combat)?

[Andezzar]

Having said that, what do you think would be worth losing a fleshraker animal companion (which is a considerable asset in combat)?How about some summoning SLA or something similar to the Paladin's Special Mount. Yes, the latter is similar to the Animal Companion, but it can be parked on some other plane when not needed. Depending on size and shape dungeons won't be a problem either.

You may also want to look at the Divine Companion (RAW for Sorcerers) and Underdark Knight (for Paladins) from Complete Champion.

[Person_Man]

Consider using the Spirit Shaman or Urban Druid (Dragon Compendium) instead of Druid.

Spirit Shaman gets an invisible Spirit Companion (which grants a variety of benefits), and has the best spellcasting mechanic in the game (spontaneous + pick new spells every day from the Druid spell list), but lacks Wildshape entirely.

Urban Druid can get familiar-ish creatures or animated objects as a companion (so you can finally have that sentient car or weapon you've always wanted), and has one of my favorite spell lists in the game (think Druid/Bard), but has more limited Wild Shape (using the same list that your Companion can be drawn from).

Either class is strictly weaker then the regular Druid, but both are still Tier 2, it solves your companion problem, and they're both fun to play.