A mid-op animal companion for druid?

[King of Nowhere]

I'm planning a 16th level druid opponent for my party, and I'm trying to figure out its animal companion.

I know the best animal companion is the fleshraker, and that with venomfire it one-shots pretty much anything. But that's way higher op than my campaign. The party druid has a wolf whose uselessness has become a recurring joke at our table (the party druid doesn't bother to use buff spells).

So I was looking for some option that is less broken than a fleshraker, but still better than a wolf. Bonus point if it's not too reliant on buffs, the party has a staff of spell storing loaded with dusjunction so I believe buffs won't last long.

Thanks

[heavyfuel]

My current druid has a Dire Dog (same stats as a Dire Wolf, but a dog)

He's pretty useful in combat, slightly subpar compared to our Barbarian, but the dog's a class feature while the Barbarian is a full character.

Though we're still level 12 and not 16, I can totally see a tripper that does ok damage being useful for a long time.

[MaxiDuRaritry]

Bears are classic. Polar bears in particular. Especially if you train them to drop out of trees onto opponents' heads.

You could also try a t-rex. They are tyrrifying. (https://youtu.be/mUgwvClvgHI) Other dinos are also good.

Other than that, something very big, with pounce. Tigers are pretty good for this.

Or you could go urban druid and animate a building.

And take the Wild Cohort feat for multiples of the above.

[zfs]

Why mess with the classics? The ur-Druid is a bear riding a bear that summons more bears and shoots lighting out of its eyes. A 16th level Druid with Natural Bond can have a pretty powerful Brown Bear even without buffs - your effective Druid level is 13 so that's +8 HD, +8 NA, and +4 Str/Dex, plus whatever feats you pick for it. Have it trained as a warbeast for one more HD, +10ft to speed, an additional +3 to Str, +3 to Con and +2 to Wis.

Also remember that it's perfectly kosher to have your enemy Druid use its WBL to buy equipment for its companion - good owners buy their pets good swag.

A Tiger is also a decent pick, and you can at least buff it for an alpha strike since it has Pounce - after it gets dispelled it's less useful than a Brown Bear, though.

Edit: If your PC's only have one use of Disjunction, I'd probably give your enemy Druid Companion Spellbond, so that it's easier for it to share a quickened buff spell with its companion if it decides to wade into melee with Wild Shape. Also, if you go the warbeast route, a Dire Bear companion would hit 17 HD and advance to Huge size, which would make it a stronger choice than Brown Bear.

[PunBlake]

Dire Wolf and Dire Puma (Sandstorm) are pretty good for mid-op. They are what I used at around this level as a PC Druid.
Definitely buy your pet equipment, though. Collar of Healing (MIC) is worth it for starters.

[eggynack]

I'm kinda dubious that any animal companion would be all that OP, or even especially pertinent, at level 16. Fleshraker with venomfire might do something, but without venomfire it's just a halfway decent beatstick by that point. If you want to use one of those, I'd say go ahead. Dire tortoise is cool also. I've always been a fan of the fhorge, if ya wanna go weird.

[King of Nowhere]

I should have mentioned that I'm running a high-loot campaign. My pcs have defeated a lot of high level enemy parties and taken their loot, and are very well stocked. Nobody in the party has an AC lower than 40, so that whole "bear riding bears and summoning other bears" is going to make them laugh if it can't get at least a +30 to hit.

A tripping build for the animal companion seems fine, though, since those rely on touch attacks.

[Menzath]

Another option would be to have a dire tortise(sandstorm). They have a neat feature: lightning reflexes, they always have a surprise round for the first round of combat. Get some horseshoes(or equivalent) of speed and full plate barding and you have a cheap effective trample companion that doubles as a great mount.
Even better if the druid is mounted, they can cast essence of the raptor and animal growth to change it from a fast bus to a speeding semi-truck.
The biggest worry is if it takes enough dex damage. But some form of immunity to paralysis would take care of that.

*And I think the point of mass bears is the grapple checks. I mean even out of the MM, polar bears wreck. If two of those are pinning someone, they aren't getting back up.

[Ramza00]

It doesn't really matter if you are willing to use spell slots.

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/animalShapes.htm

At 16th level you will have 2 8th level slots based off your class levels. Add 0 to 2 additional 8th levels spells due to bonus spell slots.

-----

Of course you do not want to use your 8th level spell slots to make your animal companion (and up to 16 willing allies) any animal up to 20 HD. But you have that option.

Thus remember this and pick a generalist animal companion, one that is good for almost all situations. If you need something special like a roc, a t-rex, a wooly mammoth, a squid, a sparrow, etc.

[tyckspoon]

I should have mentioned that I'm running a high-loot campaign. My pcs have defeated a lot of high level enemy parties and taken their loot, and are very well stocked. Nobody in the party has an AC lower than 40, so that whole "bear riding bears and summoning other bears" is going to make them laugh if it can't get at least a +30 to hit.

A tripping build for the animal companion seems fine, though, since those rely on touch attacks.

Generally speaking the best bear or big cat you can get should work out ok, but you're going to have to invest some gear and/or spell slots into it to get the best results. Take a Dire Tiger, Greater Magic Fang all its natural weapons, give it a +6 Strength bonus item. That'll get it around +27 on its primary claws. +2 for charging on its pounces is +29. Share your favorite melee buff with it and you're over that +30 benchmark. Don't forget it can also be a subject of any group or area buffs that may be going on - if there's a Bard around or a Cleric laying down Recitation, Righteous Wrath of the Faithful, or Haste, the animal companion can get in on that.

[zfs]

Dire Bear with Warbeast training has by my accounting +27 to hit with its primary without a single buff spell, magic item, or additional feat taken at its 15th HD. It's trivial to get that well into the 30's with just a couple buffs and items.

[Segev]

Is venomfire a spell, or a feat? If the latter, just don't take it. Fleshrakers are good but not overwhelming at level 16. Dire Wolf is a good choice, too, as is the biggest Bear he can get.

If venomfire is a spell, then go ahead and cast it and let the party disjoin it. They'll feel like they did something useful.

Really, though, a Large or Huge Bear or a Dire Wolf in level-appropriate barding with an amulet of natural attacks that is enchanted to make his natural weapons keep up with a fighter's weapons of choice would probably be fine.

[zfs]

Is venomfire a spell, or a feat? If the latter, just don't take it. Fleshrakers are good but not overwhelming at level 16. Dire Wolf is a good choice, too, as is the biggest Bear he can get.

If venomfire is a spell, then go ahead and cast it and let the party disjoin it. They'll feel like they did something useful.

Really, though, a Large or Huge Bear or a Dire Wolf in level-appropriate barding with an amulet of natural attacks that is enchanted to make his natural weapons keep up with a fighter's weapons of choice would probably be fine.

It's a Spell. Level 3 Druid. Only works on things that already have a venom, though.

[MaxiDuRaritry]

If you're fighting in tight quarters, then try the shrink collar from the Arms & Equipment Guide. The wearer keeps all of his stats, except he turns small regardless of his previous size. So just imagine a small size T-Rex just as strong and dangerous is a big one, just without the reach.

[Tvtyrant]

I'm planning a 16th level druid opponent for my party, and I'm trying to figure out its animal companion.

I know the best animal companion is the fleshraker, and that with venomfire it one-shots pretty much anything. But that's way higher op than my campaign. The party druid has a wolf whose uselessness has become a recurring joke at our table (the party druid doesn't bother to use buff spells).

So I was looking for some option that is less broken than a fleshraker, but still better than a wolf. Bonus point if it's not too reliant on buffs, the party has a staff of spell storing loaded with dusjunction so I believe buffs won't last long.

Thanks

Dire Elephant, you can use spells to turn it into smaller shapes when you are indoors but it is actually good in combat while not being broken. Plus you can share Megalodon Empowerment with it to make a colossal city taker.

[Hiro Quester]

I got a lot of mid-op mileage out of a war-trained tiger, as AC for a Druid I played to epic levels.

Don’t underestimate the value of being a self-buffer who shares spells with the AC. Druid has so many buff spells with24 hour or hours/level duration. Plus the Bite of the were X that add serious (+12) strength for minutes/level.

When your war-trained tiger AC gets the benefit of these it can be a melee monster, without quite the book-throwing levels of cheese you get with a venom fire fleshraker.

[King of Nowhere]

what is this war-trained thing some people have been mentioning?

[Hiro Quester]

i meant applying the “warbeast” template from MM2. I was confusing it with animals trained for combat riding (as per the handle animal skill).

Edit: It’s controversial for an AC to have this template. My DM let me spend time raising and training the tiger.

It adds +1 HD, +10 to speed, and +3 to Str and Con and +2 to Wis. it is also proficient with armor, and gives the rider+2 circumstance bonus to ride checks.