Pack Lord Druid + Animal Companion buffing feats

[gr8artist]

I am DM'ing a campaign in which one of my players wants to take the Pack Lord (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/druid/archetypes/paizo---druid-archetypes/pack-lord) archetype for the Druid.
He's interested in a number of feats that enhance or boost his animal companions, and we're unsure how they all work.
Boon Companion (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/general-feats/boon-companion)
Evolved Companion (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/general-feats/evolved-companion)
Spirit's Gift (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/general-feats/spirit-s-gift)
Celestial Servant (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/racial-feats/celestial-servant-aasimar)

He's currently level 2, and possesses two companions (each at druid level 1).

Does he need to take Boon Companion once or twice to increase the effective druid level for both companions to 2?
Does Evolved Companion grant an evolution to only one companion, or to both?
Does Spirit's Gift apply the benefit to one companion or to both? If it applies only to one, can he repeat the (no time) process to apply it to the other as well?
Does Celestial Servant grant the template to only one companion, or to both?


CS seems to apply to the class feature, regardless of what you get from it. CS is, however, the strongest of the companion upgrades.
BC seems like he'd need it once per companion and that 75% of the benefits would be wasted right now (effective 5 on each, but capped at his actual level, 2), and that at level 8 he would reach maximum efficiency (druid level 8, each companion 4 + 4). After 8, he'll be losing efficiency, rather than gaining it (5+4 on each companion at 10th level, for 1 less effective level than his actual level)
EC seems to grant 1 evolution to 1 companion (possibly specifically his newest companion only) and must be taken a second time to give an evolution to his other companion (if that's even possible).
SG also seems to apply more to the feature as a whole, rather than the specific animal.

These assessments are based on the (slightly) different wording of each feat. Thoughts?

[grarrrg]

The main issue with your questions are that no one has ever designed any feat to really take into account multiple companions.
Mainly due to the default being one companion (I like to think that they realize many small companions is a very ineffective strategy that quickly falls apart).


Does he need to take Boon Companion once or twice to increase the effective druid level for both companions to 2?
I'm of the opinion that Boom+Pack Lord should do nothing, as your _total_ Druid level is already 2, and Boon Companion would increase/cap that at 2.

But if you want it to work, then he would need to take it once for each Companion.


Does Evolved Companion grant an evolution to only one companion, or to both?
Does Spirit's Gift apply the benefit to one companion or to both? If it applies only to one, can he repeat the (no time) process to apply it to the other as well?
Does Celestial Servant grant the template to only one companion, or to both?[/QUOTE]

I'd say once per feat per actual critter running around. This is mainly based on the fairly consistent wording of "your animal companion" as opposed to "all of your animal companions".
Spirit's Gift and Celestial can only be taken once each, so you'd be limited to one for each.
Evolve Companion can be taken multiple times, and you'd be able to spread the bonuses around however you want.

[Sønderjye]

He most definitely should take boon companion multiple times. The feat specifically states that it must be taken once for each animal.
Evolved Companion is debatable.
One could argue that quote 1 dictates that when the player gets another companion his old companion loses the benefit of the feat.
Or one could interprete quote 1 as saying "if you swap companion you don't lose the feat". It makes sense including this makes sense in context with the general idea of a mutation(that it's permanent):
I'm in favor of the first interpretation, although it does sound damn cool to have a bunch of mutated animals running around.


For the last two questions there is basicly two interpretations
Either Interprete "your animal companion" as your animal companion class feature or as your one animal companion.
The first would cause Spirit's Gift and Celestial Servant to apply to both companions but with the animal ability being the same.
The other would cause Celestial Servant to apply to only one companion but Spirit's Gift would still apply to both although the animal ability wouldn't have to be the same.
I'm in favor of the first interpretation because the text doesn't explicitely state that the "one" companion.


If you gain a new animal companion (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/druid/animal-companions), your old animal companion (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/druid/animal-companions) loses this evolution, and you can select a new 1-point evolution for the new animal companion (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/druid/animal-companions).

[grarrrg]

The first would cause Spirit's Gift and Celestial Servant to apply to both companions but with the animal ability being the same...

I'm in favor of the first interpretation because the text doesn't explicitely state that the "one" companion.
If you gain a new animal companion, your old animal companion loses this evolution, and you can select a new 1-point evolution for the new animal companion.

:smallconfused:
I get the complete opposite interpretation from your quoted section.
The only way to get a "new" companion is if you got rid of your "old" companion. This would refer to the specific animal you have beside you.
It would be utterly nonsensical for this to refer to the Comapanion-Class-Feature, as there is really no way to have an "old" class feature and a "new" class feature.

[Sønderjye]

The quotes ection is from evolved companion, not from SG or CS. I can move it if it makes my argument easier to understand?