[3.5] Swapping Feats on a Druidic Animal Companion

[Endarire]

Greetings, all!

I'm in a game and just hit Human Druid5 in a party that otherwise has level 4 characters. This campaign session summary (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?535864-Session-Summary-quot-Just-Add-Elevators-quot-One-of-my-best-action-tabletop-sequences!) explains the group. In short, we're in an Undead-heavy campaign with a strict time limit, we're expected to do a variety of combat and skill challenges (including social challenges), and we have significant amounts of indoor and overland/outdoor exploration. We're set in Faerun on the island of Nymm and can't escape it yet for plot reasons.

Our GM said I could swap the starting feats for my animal companion. This was wonderful news since I was considering swapping my riding dog for a Dire Eagle (Races of Stone 186) for flight and triple attack purposes. There are some (sensical?) limitations to swapping:

-The creature must meet all prerequisites.

-No swapping of racial bonus feats.

-Passive abilities only to avoid confusing animals. Flyby Attack and Improved Flight (Complete Adventurer) are OK, but Martial Stance and Martial Study are not. (An exception to this is Power Attack, but I don't want Power Attack to be always on.)

-All first party material including web material is allowed. Magazine material may also be allowed, but will likely be more highly scrutinized.

-The animal companion is TN in alignment. Thus, no Exalted tricks with it like Vow of Poverty.

And as an aside:

-No Natural Bond feat for Druids.

-This companion will be a Dire Eagle. No Fleshrakers nor other companions. (The GM warned me against using Fleshrakers.)

Thus, I was considering this small list of feats for a Dire Eagle. Remember, a default Dire Eagle only gets feats at 1HD and 3HD but gain another feat at 6HD, or when I would be level 6 or 7:

-Draconic Aura (Vigor): The GM has allowed this feat for the riding dog and the aura has been at least slightly helpful. All friends within 30' who can hear the unit with this feat gain fast healing 1 and can heal to a maximum of half their max HP+1. I like this feat since it saves healing resources out of combat and auto-stabilizes friends in-combat.

-Flyby Attack. It's on the default list of feats for Dire Eagles, but is still potentially handy. It would be handier if it avoided AoOs like Spring Attack, but I still may take it initially.

-Improved Flight (Complete Adventurer): Improve maneuverability from Average to Good. Hovering helps with things like casting.in midair.

[ATHATH]

If you can swing your companion being Exalted Good by your DM, Vow of Poverty is amazing on your animal companion. Not only will your companion get a bunch of passive bonuses with little downside, but you can make a ton of Raptor Jesus jokes (especially if you choose a fleshraker as your animal companion).

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

If you can also change its skills, consider giving it enough cross-class Spellcraft ranks to get Mage Slayer, which is a passive feat. That's basically just training it to recognize when a creature is casting a spell and how to effectively counter it.

If your character has a spare feat, pick up Exalted Companion (BoED) so you can get a Celestial version and give it Sacred Vow and Vow of Poverty, which most people consider to be too good for an animal companion to have.

[Endarire]

Updated the OP.

The companion's alignment is TN; thus, no Vow of Poverty, Exalted Companion, etc.

[ATHATH]

If you can also change its skills, consider giving it enough cross-class Spellcraft ranks to get Mage Slayer, which is a passive feat. That's basically just training it to recognize when a creature is casting a spell and how to effectively counter it.
Seconding Mage Slayer.

[Endarire]

I like the notion of Mage Slayer, but this requires Spellcraft 2 ranks and thus would likely require higher levels. What else do y'all advise initially?

[ATHATH]

I like the notion of Mage Slayer, but this requires Spellcraft 2 ranks and thus would likely require higher levels. What else do y'all advise initially?
[Host] feats and/or Hidden Talent might be pretty nice for utility purposes (if your DM will let you train your animal companion to use the abilities granted by them on command (at the cost of a trick slot, of course)).

[ATHATH]

The Improved Dragon Wings feat is also pretty nice.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

I like the notion of Mage Slayer, but this requires Spellcraft 2 ranks and thus would likely require higher levels. What else do y'all advise initially?

Two cross-class ranks is only four skill points. Animals typically only get one skill point per HD, but they still get four at their first HD, so a 1 HD animal can have the required Spellcraft 2 ranks to take Mage Slayer.


Improved Flight in Races of the Wild improves its maneuverability by one step, no strings attached.

Improved Natural Attack (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsterFeats.htm#improvedNaturalAttack) can be good, but it's not available until its 6th HD due to the BAB requirement.

Ability Focus if it has poison or anything else with a DC is pretty good, especially if you can also give it Virulent Poison in Savage Species for another +2 DC. Not really applicable for a Dire Eagle, but good to include in an animal companion advice thread.

Anything with Scent gets a huge bonus to Track, if it's not already a racial bonus feat.

Scorpion's Resolve in Sandstorm gives +4 to saves against mind-affecting spells and abilities, probably more useful than Iron Will. That's a prerequisite for Scorpion's Sense which gives tremorsense.