Animal companion for druid in nautical campaign?

[Hiro Quester]

In an upcoming campaign, I'm considering playing a druid. DM has announced that books will only be core (PHB 1&2, DMG 1&2) plus Stormwrack.

The addition of stormwrack, plus starting the game in a port city, leads me to believe we'll spend some time in nautical environments.

What kind of animal companion would be most useful in that kind of situation, where we might spend a decent amount of time on ships, but also on land and probably not in the water?

[PraxisVetli]

A monkey.
Climb EVERYWHERE.

[snailgosh]

maybe a Medium Sea Snake from Stormwrack

[sleepyphoenixx]

The Dire Eagle (RoS, available at druid 4) makes a good scout and flying mount, has a decent attack routine and reach. The only sticking point for me is that it only has average maneuverability.
The Dire Bat (MM, also druid 4) trades reach, 2 attacks, 1 HD, and the eagles high spot for 40ft Blindsense and good maneuverability.

You can upgrade at level 7 to the Horrid Bat (ECS). Horrid Eagle is not listed in ECS but should be available at the same level - ask your DM.

There's a few more flying companions but they either suck for their level or are huge or bigger, which is usually not a good idea for a companion in most campaigns.
Or you could go for the Fleshraker. It's high jump skill should be enough for most cases of ship to ship combat and it's so awesome a lot of DMs ban it outright.

[PraxisVetli]

The Dire Eagle (RoS, available at druid 4) makes a good scout and flying mount, has a decent attack routine and reach. The only sticking point for me is that it only has average maneuverability.
The Dire Bat (MM, also druid 4) trades reach, 2 attacks, 1 HD, and the eagles high spot for 40ft Blindsense and good maneuverability.

You can upgrade at level 7 to the Horrid Bat (ECS). Horrid Eagle is not listed in ECS but should be available at the same level - ask your DM.

There's a few more flying companions but they either suck for their level or are huge or bigger, which is usually not a good idea for a companion in most campaigns.
Or you could go for the Fleshraker. It's high jump skill should be enough for most cases of ship to ship combat and it's so awesome a lot of DMs ban it outright.

I don't think you can take a Horrid creature. I remember Ur Priest explained once because it's not actually listed as a companion. Ape may be, but Horrid Ape is not.

[gomipile]

How about a sharknado?

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

I'm going to agree that a flying companion is going to be your best course of action. Dire Eagle in RoS is easily the strongest flying companion available, but in Core + Stormwrack you'll probably have to settle for the Dire Bat.

[Jurai]

With regards to Horrid creature template, Eberron Campaign Setting (an unavailable book) says that Druids of the Gatekeeper sect use them.

I would go with the Sea Snake myself.

[sleepyphoenixx]

I don't think you can take a Horrid creature. I remember Ur Priest explained once because it's not actually listed as a companion. Ape may be, but Horrid Ape is not.

There's a list of horrid animals that can be animal companions in ECS, p. 288. It has the core dire animals and those from FF and MM2 but not those from other books.
The Horrid Bat it the only flying mount on that list but it's pretty underwhelming imo.

On topic: yeah, overlooked the book restrictions. Dire Bat can be ok but it's really weak with its single bite attack. Otherwise just go for one of the big cats and invest in jump. If you start at level 1 the ever-trusty Riding Dog is probably still your best bet, combat-wise.

In general i try to go for a dire animal ASAP because they get all good saves and are generally fairly useful. The more attacks the better, especially if it comes with pounce.
A lockdown AC is possible but most large animals still have only 5ft reach so you have to pick carefully. I'm not sure if there's an animal that gets both 10ft reach and the Trip ability though.

[Hiro Quester]

The fleshraker would be fun and effective. But book selection limits that.

Dire eagle would be awesome. Limited by books again though. But flying would be good, I guess.

Dire bat: has potential, but only one attack is a limitation.

I'm probably going to be playing the druid plus CA plus summoned allies as tank-team for our party. So combat abilities matter a lot.

Riding dog. But I might have to play a halfling or gnome to ride it, right? I was planning on human for the extra feat and skills.

I'm trying to think of an animal that would be effective in combat (multi-attack, or grapple, or trip) and not totally in the way in a dungeon or on a ship.

I'd love a bear or big cat. But an animal that has a swim speed might be usefully versatile. Brown bear has racial bonus on swim checks, but no listed swim speed like a polar bear does. But in the tropical setting we'll be in, a polar bear seems impossible.

Perhaps this is a separate question, but how does a level 1 companion animal, with all its enhancements and tricks, compare at higher levels with the higher level CA options? (We will probably be going through levels 1-20 or beyond.)

I ask because getting one kind of animal at lower levels might be a good option if I plan to trade it for a dire lion or swimming dinosaur or whatever, once I get a sense of what environments the campaign takes at higher levels.

But if it's better to keep and upgrade the animal, then choosing right at the beginning matters more.

[sleepyphoenixx]

You don't need to be able to ride a riding dog. It's just better than a wolf, stat-wise, and pretty much the best 1st level companion for straight combat.
I wouldn't really choose for swim check. Any animal will be capable of staying on the surface unless you're in the middle of a storm or something like that, and you have spells to take care of swimming that you can share. Companion Spellbond is a good idea in general.

The higher level animals are generally superior to low level with boosts. It's simple math because they only get 2HD for every 3HD the druid gets, so they fall behind.
Also you can't really get any good large or flying companions at first level. In general a lower level companion will have higher AC but less HD and damage than a higher level one.

There's outliers of course. The Fleshraker is Just That Awesome. It can serve all the way to level 20, especially with Venomfire on the table.
The Magebred Ghosttiger is competitive with the next tier of companions.
The Dire Tortoise always gets to act in a surprise round. It's huge though so you may have problems depending on the campaign.

Dire animals get all good saves which is good because a normal animals low will save can easily lead to getting your face eaten by your own fully buffed melee monster - you'll want to avoid that.
Horrid animals are basically dire animals+. They get acid damage based on their HD, free Improved Natural Attack, immunity to acid and a Con boost.