Dm allowing Elven Hound as animal companion How do i do this????

[P3nguini]

So title only begins to start the question. I am a 4th lvl ranger with 1 lvl in duskblade and 1 lvl in fighter. My dm is allowing me to choose the Elven Hound as my animal companion. I have no idea how any of the animal companion stats work, all i know is that it has an increased hit dice of 2. my current feats are natural bond, weapons focus (longbow) precise shot and point blank shot. Could someone explain how the animal has its stats changed due to having an increase of 2 in its hit dice? Right now i believe the ability scores are 17 strength, 17 dex, 13 con, 2 int, 12 wis, 8 cha. Its saving throws should be 5 fort, 7 reflex, and 2 will. What feats should i put on this animal companion, and what is the armor class of this magical beast, and im allowed to buy it armor at the standard price for animal armor which i believe is x4? Please im so lost any help would be greatly appreciated.[/SIZE]

[Boggartbae]

First, your effective druid level is equal to ½ your ranger level, which means you just divide your ranger level by 2 and then find the result on the animal companion table under druid (note: I think rangers deserve full strength animal companions, but thats not RAW)

So you get the bonuses for being a 2nd level druid, which are 1 bonus trick, and share spells. For simplicities sake, lets ignore the tricks, since the handle animal skill is overly complicated. If you want to use it though, just pick 7 tricks (found in the description of the handle animal skill) that your hound can do, and that's it.

Next level, your Hound will get better stats. The strength and natural armour bonus is simple enough, just add the listed bonus to the base stats of the elven hound. So next level it will have 18 strength, 18 dexterity, and +6 natural armour.

As for hit dice, the elven hound is a magical beast, so it gets magical beast hit dice. This is done just like leveling up, except that it doesn't get any special abilities that most classes do, so it's even easier.

Magical Beasts get D10 hit dice, and maximum base attack bonus, so just like a fighter. For saves, they get high fortitude and reflex saves, so fortitude like a fighter, and reflex like a rogue.

As for feats, it gets them every 3 hit dice as normal. if you want it to wear armour then you'll need to pay a feat for proficiency, but other than that just build like you would a fighter.

And that's basically it. any other questions?

Edit: sorry I missed natural bond :smallredface: your effective druid level is 5

[DrKerosene]

I believe the effective druid level would be 5, which your DM seems to have mentioned. So, your Animal Companion should also get Evasion.

I don't have anything else to say that hasn't been covered already, though this handbook may help: http://minmaxforum.com/index.php?topic=1300.0

[KillianHawkeye]

The armor for your dog will only cost double the normal amount, because elven hounds are Medium size (not Large like a horse) so the only modifier is the x2 for nonhumanoid shape.

Since your effective Druid level is 5 (half your Ranger level + 3 from Natural Bond), you get all the bonuses from the second row of the Animal Companion table in the PHB. With an 18 Dex and +6 natural armor bonus (base of 4, +2 from being an Animal Companion) and no modifiers for size, your pet's AC should be three higher than normal, or 20, and have a touch AC of 14 and a flat-footed AC of 16 before adding any armor.

The elven hound's base Hit Dice are 2, so adding an extra 2 HD will get him both a new feat and an ability score increase (besides the ones he gets from your effective Druid level). If you're going to take more Ranger or Druid in the future, you might want to keep increasing Strength or Dexterity for the long term growth of your animal, but if you're planning on focusing more on Fighter or Duskblade (or something else) then you might consider putting it into Constitution to increase his hit points instead. At 18 Str/Dex, a single point won't make a difference, and your Animal Companion won't advance any more unless you increase his position on that table. Don't forget to add the increased Dex to your companion's Reflex save, and the Fortitude as well if you decide to increase its Con.

You should probably find out if you're supposed to be adding Magical Beast Hit Dice or following the rules as they're printed for an Animal Companion's "Bonus HD" benefit. The Elven Ranger substitution level doesn't explain this, nor can I think of anything else that elaborates on what happens when your Animal Companion isn't actually an Animal-type creature. Just make sure you and your DM are on the same page about whether or not "Bonus HD" are supposed to match the companion's racial HD. It won't make a difference for saving throws or skill points, but it matters for BAB and hit points.