Best companion for a level 7 urban druid

[Soranar]

I'm thinking of updating my urban druid handbook and I've just thought of a few things recently.

The urban druid's urban companion include animated objects who are only proficient with their slams but

-you can design animated objects with arms that wield weapons (says a statue of adamantine or something)
-anyone can use a weapon without being proficient with it, it just means you get -4 to hit with it.
-you can throw a mythril chain shirt on anybody to give him +4 AC (no armor check penalty for wearing it)
-just like your statue can have a third arm to wield a darkwood shield (again no armor check penalty)

now all this equipment is not cheap : a large fullblade, strongarm bracers, a darkwood heavy shield + a mythril chain shirt would easily eat up half my WBL at level 7

but I get an AC 20 meatshield with construct immunities and hardness 20

Still, I find the construct traits so reliable (they're immune to nearly everything and I can heal them) that I think it could be worth it assuming the math works out.

At level 7, here are my urban companion options:

Meaning a large animated humanoid object can either:

-use its slam with +5 to hit for 1d8 +4 (1.5 STR) damage or

-use strongarm bracers to wield an enchanted+1 huge fullblade for 4d8 + 5 damage at +2 to hit

assuming I'm trying to hit an average CR 7 monster with 20 AC, I need to roll

15+ for the slam (30% chance to hit)

or

18+ for the fullblade (15% chance to hit)

With the slam I do 9.5 damage
With the fullblade I do 23 damage, more than twice as much which is even better when you consider DR.

I could use a hammerer instead for 2d8+10 damage with +10 to hit

problem is, the hammerer does nothing half the time meaning

I have 50% chance to take no action, if I manage to attack (and I'm in range) I have a 50% chance to hit

So 25% of the time the hammerer deals about 19 damage.

Though his defense is ok (21 AC) he doesn't have a hardness and only has 36 hitpoints

I'm also not a fan of using utterly unreliable characters (at least the animated object can threaten squares and do as I say) but I'd like input.

which urban companion would you prefer and why?

*note that the other decent options are a progressed light warhorse with 7 HD or a progressed dire bat with 6 HD

the horse would deal 1d4+4 with +8 to hit
the bat would deal 1d8+6 with +7 to hit

Both could benefit from greater magic fang and take feats but I'm thinking the construct traits trump everything else at this point.

[Athan Artilliam]

Why not take a Fleshraker & cast Venomfire on it?

[Soranar]

Why not take a Fleshraker & cast Venomfire on it?

The urban druid doesn't have access to the full druid animal companion list, it's quite restricted. The only upside are the constructs and the light warhorse

[Athan Artilliam]

Fair enough. Animate a carriage & incorporate a bunch of hidden crossbows/bows into it. An animated object should be able to shoot them. Glue on some Bracers of Archery to give it profeciency

[nedz]

I always liked the idea of a BMX for an Urban Druid companion — but that would be small or medium so you probably wouldn't be able to ride it.

At level 7 you should be able to afford a statue of some kind, so maybe a statue of a horse or giant spider or whatever fits your character concept. You would use this as a mount as well as for combat.

[Gruftzwerg]

Animated Object is imho your best option here. You just need to be creative/cheesy with the design:

While the stat-block doesn't reflect it, the bonuses for movement speed can be stacked.
Nothing stops you from designing your animated object as a rider on his mount with wheels attached to its hoofs (totals +60ft movement speed).
Give the rider sheet-like wings/cloak to give it a fly speed and the ability to blind enemies.
Let the rider have a rope for constrict attacks.
As large animated object it also gets trample.

If you add all of this on top of the construct traits & hardness it has, why not take it? And remember, even if it should get destroyed, you could get a new one within 24h of downtime.

The fact that your companion has all possible body slots should be seen as a bonus and not as a burden. Even if you lack the gold in the early levels, it will pay off over time, to invest into item upgrades for your animated objects.

[Troacctid]

The thing you also have to consider is the value of vermin companions. When they change their type to animal and gain an Intelligence score, they also gain feats for all their hit dice. Which means all their feat slots are fully customizable! That can be a big advantage if you pick the right feats!

[Gruftzwerg]

The thing you also have to consider is the value of vermin companions. When they change their type to animal and gain an Intelligence score, they also gain feats for all their hit dice. Which means all their feat slots are fully customizable! That can be a big advantage if you pick the right feats!

niche catch! I never thought about this, but this gives a vermin animal companion a huge advantage.

[Soranar]

The thing you also have to consider is the value of vermin companions. When they change their type to animal and gain an Intelligence score, they also gain feats for all their hit dice. Which means all their feat slots are fully customizable! That can be a big advantage if you pick the right feats!

I hadn't thought of that. With its size bonus the huge centipede would make a decent grappler with improved unarmed strike, improved grapple, improved natural attack

You still lose the immunities of the large construct and the hardness, which makes it a very good tank

In the same vein the large spider can entangle things fairly well with its webs, something you can't do through spells since you don't get web or entangle. And tremorsense is a great scouting option for a sentry.

So that same spider can take ability focus web/poison and rely on those.

[Troacctid]

I hadn't thought of that. With its size bonus the huge centipede would make a decent grappler with improved unarmed strike, improved grapple, improved natural attack

You still lose the immunities of the large construct and the hardness, which makes it a very good tank

In the same vein the large spider can entangle things fairly well with its webs, something you can't do through spells since you don't get web or entangle. And tremorsense is a great scouting option for a sentry.

So that same spider can take ability focus web/poison and rely on those.
My last urban druid switched between Hank Scorpio, a monstrous scorpion with Born Under a Half Moon to qualify for crafting feats, and Scorpio Malfoy, another monstrous scorpion with Dragontouched and Draconic Aura.

Before that, she spent some time with an animated leather cloak that she wore so it could billow behind her dramatically in the wind even when there was no wind.

[Nihilarian]

I'm never quite sure what to do with Animated Objects since there's very few explicit rules about it, so it comes down to what your dm will allow.

That said, if i was playing one I'd probably try to get my dm to let me use a fantasy bike for an urban companion, and build a mounted character

[Troacctid]

One of my favorite animated objects, if you do get an animated object, is the adamantine carriage ("statted" in Dragon #331). Just a big ol' wheeled battering ram with 20 hardness that you can ride inside of.

[Soranar]

One of my favorite animated objects, if you do get an animated object, is the adamantine carriage ("statted" in Dragon #331). Just a big ol' wheeled battering ram with 20 hardness that you can ride inside of.

In official 3.5 material animated objects are super vague but they are statted. Even if you shape it into a weapon, the object's slam can't do more than 1d8+4 unless you give the carriage arms to hold weapons which I guess you could.

The carriage can also grant you cover and it can be made of adamantine. As a DM I'd argue a large animated object could only contain 1 or 2 medium creatures, maybe more small creatures. The bigger ones could arguably carry more passengers but then you hit problems inside structures and dungeons that are meant for people with legs (mostly stairs and ladders).

Still the urban druid is the only dnd 3.5 class that can have a car as a class feature.

[liquidformat]

Animated Object is imho your best option here. You just need to be creative/cheesy with the design:

While the stat-block doesn't reflect it, the bonuses for movement speed can be stacked.
Nothing stops you from designing your animated object as a rider on his mount with wheels attached to its hoofs (totals +60ft movement speed).
Give the rider sheet-like wings/cloak to give it a fly speed and the ability to blind enemies.
Let the rider have a rope for constrict attacks.
As large animated object it also gets trample.

If you add all of this on top of the construct traits & hardness it has, why not take it? And remember, even if it should get destroyed, you could get a new one within 24h of downtime.

The fact that your companion has all possible body slots should be seen as a bonus and not as a burden. Even if you lack the gold in the early levels, it will pay off over time, to invest into item upgrades for your animated objects.

So I am envisioning an animated object made from a statue of a man on a chariot, where the man and chariot are adamantine, it has a rope coming out of the front and the statue man is wearing a massive cloth cape, and you give him a huge sword

[nedz]

Still the urban druid is the only dnd 3.5 class that can have a car as a class feature.

Most players would reject the Ferrari for an adamantine APC :smallsmile:

[AnonJr]

Still the urban druid is the only dnd 3.5 class that can have a car as a class feature.

So... Knight Rider? Or would you need to awaken it first? :smalltongue:

[Soranar]

Most players would reject the Ferrari for an adamantine APC :smallsmile:

I think I've figured out a way to boost the dire bat's damage sufficiently that it becomes the obvious choice.

-Be an azurin human (for 1 essentia)

At level 1 take shape soulmeld (dissolving spittle) and share souldmeld

At level 3 you take expanded soulmeld capacity

At level 6 you take bonus essentia (+2 essentia since you can shape a souldmeld). You can now invest 3 points of essentia into dissolving spittle (2 from being level 6 and 1 bonus from expanded soulmeld) which means you deal 4d6 damage with your acid spit but you're sharing it with your mount who also gets a 4d6 ranged attack.

At level 1, the animated object would have +2 to hit with dissolving spittle as long as it stays close. With 15 HP and 20 hardness adamantine, the thing is practically unkillable by low level monsters and it should deal quite a bit of damage with a 2d6 ranged touch attack.

At level 4 the dire bat (flyer with 22 DEX) becomes the obvious choice with a whopping +9 to hit despite the size penalty. Considering most things have terrible touch AC it'll probably only miss on a 1. The bat has pretty good saves, good senses, good movement modes and good AC. It can also carry you when you wildshape into a dark stalker at level 5 (17 DEX and 3d6 sneak attack bonus).

By level 7 the bat gets a bonus feat and, honestly, it's still very powerful but I could see someone pick the large spider so it could entangle an opponent then spit at it until it dies.

Dissolving spittle won't keep up forever (by level 12 you should probably retrain all of those feats) but it'll keep you going until you get there and it makes the bat a very good choice. Too bad a large animated object would have a terrible to hit bonus with a ranged touch attack

[Nihilarian]

Share Soulmeld is a good shout. Urban Companion may or may not count as an Animal Companion, but it probably counts as a mount you can share spells with.

[nedz]

I've seen a halfling Druid riding a Dire Bat AC with a halfling Warlock as a tail gunner.
It did get shot down occasionally.