Animal companion question

[shadowseve]

When I first started my druid concept my goal was to go all bear all day long and consume face. Since in my dm's world druids are more like Native Americans who have a spiritual animal they connect to. I chose bear and she thus allows me to turn into a bear at will despite my wild shifts per day. (I was a bear tank in WOW so it seemed to fit) going dire polar bear, with vop adding 6 to str and bight of the wear bear a 61 str is nice. I had planned on having a dire bear companion at the end.

Now, after the many helpful hints and rules corrections, (thank you guys for those), I'm starting to see a bigger picture for my druid, still have a lot more to learn. Still debating on two feats.

Now even with nature's bond I'm wondering if a dire bear is a good choice considering the hit it takes as far as hd and stuff. I was denied a fleshraker, just like I was denied going planar shepherd. Even with the massive str bonus and grapple bonus is it worth the loss? Nature bond helps yes but even still is it worth it?

[eggynack]

If all else fails, the best option might be just directly writing it out. It can be pretty difficult to do big statistical comparisons when you're working with all of those factors, so putting together a pair of character sheets with the two options would help a lot. As is, what is the not dire bear companion you're working with, and what's your level? Really though, regardless of that factor, it seems unlikely that the dire bear would have significantly lower HD.

Assuming level 13, a brown bear would be running with an effective druid level of 7, putting it at +4 HD for a total of 10 HD. The dire bear, without any adjustments, has 12 HD. Natural bond, by its nature, will affect both creature's HD equally. You are missing out on most of feat selection, as well as animal companion abilities, but the dire bear's other advantages might just overwhelm that. Still, as above, it might be worth putting this stuff on paper.

[shadowseve]

If all else fails, the best option might be just directly writing it out. It can be pretty difficult to do big statistical comparisons when you're working with all of those factors, so putting together a pair of character sheets with the two options would help a lot. As is, what is the not dire bear companion you're working with, and what's your level? Really though, regardless of that factor, it seems unlikely that the dire bear would have significantly lower HD.

Assuming level 13, a brown bear would be running with an effective druid level of 7, putting it at +4 HD for a total of 10 HD. The dire bear, without any adjustments, has 12 HD. Natural bond, by its nature, will affect both creature's HD equally. You are missing out on most of feat selection, as well as animal companion abilities, but the dire bear's other advantages might just overwhelm that. Still, as above, it might be worth putting this stuff on paper.

I'm lv6 atm with a black bear. This is all just planning things out. One thing is true, there is a lot to keep up with and consider with this class. spells, companion, my own stat's, the stats for each animal I change into.... Etc... Much more to keep up with than I thought when I first rolled the character.

thanks again eggynack.

[eggynack]

I'm lv6 atm with a black bear. This is all just planning things out. One thing is true, there is a lot to keep up with and consider with this class. spells, companion, my own stat's, the stats for each animal I change into.... Etc... Much more to keep up with than I thought when I first rolled the character.
Yeah, druids are definitely one of the more complicated classes in play, particularly from a bookkeeping perspective.


thanks again eggynack.
No problem. Wherever there is a thread title with some vague reference to druidry, there I shall be.

[HammeredWharf]

It depends on what you want to do with the companion, especially feat selection wise. The dire bear "took" Alertness, Weapon Focus and Toughness in addition to the feats a black bear has, so it's very suboptimal. You may want your companion to take better feats, like Travel Devotion, Rapidstrike or Dragontouched. Your bonus HD will only give it a couple of feats, but they may be well worth it in some cases.

[shadowseve]

Yeah, druids are definitely one of the more complicated classes in play, particularly from a bookkeeping perspective.


No problem. Wherever there is a thread title with some vague reference to druidry, there I shall be.

You do not know how awesome you have been in helping me out. My green bound summons are sheeted out (mostly 3d crocs at this level is what I'm using), my spells are all typed out with book and page references, my forms have their own sheets. Sooo. I may just take the dire bear, if not for keeping the "bear" theme I started with alive. It was either a dire bear, a T-rex(for the cool factor of riding into town on one), or fleshraker. There are no Dino's in her world so..

Kinda bummer that the bear is my "spiritual animal".. With a crusader, and a dm persisted cleric, there is not as much of incentive for me to melee. I think hanging in the air and using spells to control the battle while letting my summons and animals help on ground are a far better use of my time now. I shoulda picked the hunting bat or other flying animal lol.

What I find interesting though, and this is just me rambling at five in the morning is, she wanted balanced yet she is giving my character the blink dogs ability for free when I take exalted shape as a free vop feat. I don't have to wild shape into one. That is op. But I will abuse it.

[shadowseve]

It depends on what you want to do with the companion, especially feat selection wise. The dire bear "took" Alertness, Weapon Focus and Toughness in addition to the feats a black bear has, so it's very suboptimal. You may want your companion to take better feats, like Travel Devotion, Rapidstrike or Dragontouched. Your bonus HD will only give it a couple of feats, but they may be well worth it in some cases.


I never even considered given feats like that... hmmmmm.

Damn if only the dire bear stayed at my level instead of such a huge drop.