druid animal companion equipment

[techpriest35]

so im running a module for a group that includes 1 elf druid with a wolf companion,1 half orc barbarian tank- melee dps, 1 gnome bard as buff/debuffer,and 1 human cleric of pelor focusing on healing and undead destruction
the druid wants to equip the wolf with something but i have no idea what kind of equipment would be appropriate for a wolf other than basic random gen magic items with exotic form
i was wondering if any of you had made a druid animal companion guide

PS THIS THREAD IS CLOSED IDK HOW TO ACTUALLY CLOSE IT

[Berenger]

I'd probably go with a collar or maybe spiked leather armor that grants something like (Greater) Magic Fang, Barkskin, Animal Growth or Endure Elements.

[Wintermoot]

Grannie's smock and nightcap, that the wolf donned to fool the inappropriately young, crimson clad peasant girl who brought her dinner.

[rel]

Barding (animal armour) is a good start. The animal can be trained in its use via handle animal and the AC boost is significant, especially at low levels.

[Maat Mons]

What level are you starting at? It wouldn't be very helpful for us to list things you can't afford.

Arguably, if you put a Headband of Intellect on an animal, it becomes smart enough to understand English, and you no longer have to worry about Handle Animal.

If you find any weapon special abilities you like, a Necklace of Natural Weapons is an option.

You could give it an item that grants flight or Air Walk.

[sleepyphoenixx]

There aren't that many animal companion specific magic items.
The only notable options i'm aware of are the Collar of Healing (MIC, 5000gp) and Beastfriend Collar (DrMag #356, 17500gp).
The former is merely okay (it lets you always know how many hp your companion has and heals 50hp 1/day), the latter increases the range of Share Spells by 5ft/2 lvls which is very useful.

Other than that you mostly want your animal companion to get saving throw bonuses, AC, miss chance... basically the same defensive items any character wants that don't require intelligence or speech to use.

In general - beyond said beastfriend collar, barding and maybe a vest of resistance for saves - you're better off equipping the Druid instead and let the animal get buffs from shared spells.
The animal companion is after all very replacable while your druid is much less so.

[Darrin]

Ok, some non-magical stuff to start with...

Armor

You can buy non-humanoid armor for the wolf. It's medium-size, so it weighs the same but costs x2 the normal price. Wolves are not naturally proficient with armor, so ideally what you want is light armor (no movement penalty) with no ACP (no attack/skill penalty). Off-the-shelf Leather Armor offers a +2 AC bonus, but once you start getting into some exotic materials, there are more interesting options:

Shapesand Leather Armor (200 GP, Sandstorm p. 102), +2 AC. Shapesand can be shaped into any "normal item of the same sort" with a DC 16 Wis check. The description (Sandstorm p. 102) isn't particularly clear about what you can or can't do with shapesand, so you may need to put on your DM hat and work out some ground rules for this stuff. I am assuming that "normal item" means it can't be masterwork, and in general, it does not replicate other special non-magical materials, like mithril, shadowsilk, or dreamhide. The wolf will need to be within 100' of the shaper or it will unshape, although the wolf has sufficient Wis to shape it's own shapesand (up to 5' cube). DM's call on whether a wolf with Int 2 can do this or be trained to do it on it's own. You can add armor spikes or netcutter spikes (RotW p. 167) for another +10 lbs (+109 GP), but this is a martial weapon that the wolf is not normally proficient with, so it would take a -4 nonproficiency penalty if it wanted to attack with it. There are some other add-ons you can probably toss on there, like muffling or camouflage (FR Underdark p. 66). Additional perks include everything you can do with 24 lbs of shapesand (for example, 2 antimatter rifles + 4 frag grenades).

Chameleon Leather (720 GP, Serpent Kingdoms p. 148), +2 AC. Same basic stats as leather, but gives a +2 circumstance bonus on Hide checks.

Leafweave Studded Leather (1530 GP, Races of the Wild p. 168), +3 AC. Not quite mithral, but at least better than standard leather. If you want to add a Least Augment Crystal (MIC), you can add Masterwork for +300 GP.

Masterwork Sharkskin Leather (470 GP, Stormwrack p. 106), +3 AC. Same bonus as studded leather, comes with built-in armor spikes (still martial so -4 nonproficiency penalty), *and* you get a +6 circumstance on Escape Artist checks to get out of ropes/vines/nets.

Mithral Chain Shirt (2200 GP, Core), +4 AC. Best armor bonus without getting magic involved. Note that there are similar materials that offer the same bonus: firebrass (Secrets of Xen'drik), glassteel (Champions of Valor), or sentira (Secrets of Sarlona). If the druid wants non-metallic, sentira is... not metal? (Probably?). Darkleaf Chain Shirt (A&EG p. 19) is a bit cheaper (2000 GP) and non-metallic. Mithral and sentira are automatically considered masterwork, but darkleaf is not, so adding masterwork would be +300 GP (2300 total).

Clothing

I'm not sure if I should go into too much detail here, but... wolves can wear boots, gloves, belt, collar/necklace, shirt, cloak, goggles/mask, and... maybe even pants? There are some nonmagical clothing items that offer various bonuses, like crampons, earthsilk jersey, and sundark goggles... but most of these would just look silly on a wolf. Except the sundark goggles, that would look awesome because Steampunk Wolf is undeniably cool. The only other clothing thing I could think of that might not look silly is maybe a darkweave shirt or bandana tied around the neck. Bandanas look very cool on wolves. Darkweave is from Eberron Campaign Setting (p. 122) and gives a +1 circumstance bonus to Hide checks in dark/shadowy conditions. Only problem there is if my wolf is wearing sundark goggles and has a darkweave bandana, then I really want to also get him a steam-powered motorcycle, because how could a bad-ass steampunk goth-wolf not have a motorcycle? Sorry, this kinda veered into silly territory (and then throttled the accelerator).

Magic Items

Pearl of Speech (600 GP, MIC). Still dealing with animal intelligence, so this likely does not provide intelligent speech (DM's call), but presumably the animal can be taught a limited vocabulary of simple words for rudimentary communication. But the primary reason you start with this one is so that the wolf can activate command-word magic items. If you're the DM, then you may want to decide if this is something the animal can be taught to activate on its own, or if it requires a specific trick initiated from the wolf's companion.

Collar of Perpetual Attendance (2000 GP, used to be online here (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/fools/20030401c)). This gives the wolf the equivalent of "hands" so that it can manipulate objects, open doors, etc. It's not clear exactly how the unseen servant is directed, but the original article is assuming that this device was intended to be used by ordinary non-magical non-verbal housecats, so presumably a wolf could use it just as well. There may be some limitations on what an Int 2 wolf might be able to imagine as possible, but it might be smart enough to allow the druid to also direct the unseen servant verbally, in which case... there is SO MUCH (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=8235936&postcount=8) an unseen servant can do!

Talisman of the Disk (500 GP, MIC). This is not for the wolf, exactly, but for the party's frontline meatbag to add a "wolf sidecar" when he charges into battle. Since the meatbag is moving, not the wolf, then the wolf still has all of its actions available, and could full attack, or execute a full charge on a different opponent. While a wolf normally doesn't get any extra attacks on a full attack... a wolf wearing sharkskin leather could technically TWF with the armor spikes for an additional offhand attack (-4 penalty on the bite/-12 penalty on the spikes, or -2/-6 with Gloves of the Balanced Hand). Since the disk floats about 3' above the ground, consider giving the wolf a +1 attack bonus for attacking from higher ground.

Feather Fall Talisman (50 GP, Sharn City of Towers p. 170). While you can put a ring of feather falling on a wolf, this is a cheaper one-shot item to protect against pit traps, illusionary floors, etc.

Amulet of Teamwork (2000 GP, MIC). If you opted not to get the Collar of Perpetual Attendance and don't want to get into arguments about whether the wolf can "activate" a magic item, then this might be a nice alternative: +2 damage bonus when flanking for the wolf and any flanking allies, which works passively.

Drow House Insignia (360/2160/5400 GP, Races of Faerun p. 173). Sounds like these are worn around the neck, so another collar/necklace alternative. Activation method is not mentioned, but probably a command-word item, provides a minor spell effect 1/day, such as shield or spider climb. While a wolf is decidedly not a drow, we did mention earlier that he wears sundark goggles, has a darkweave bandana, and is a total goth, so you can undeniably say it totally fits his style.

Monk's Belt (13000 GP, DMG). For when your goth-wolf wants to Kung Fu Panda. While this item does not explicitly give the wolf Improved Unarmed Strike, you can add that with Bracers of Striking (1310 GP, Magic of Faerun), Ring of Might (4000 GP, Magic of Faerun), or Fanged Ring (10000 GP, Dragon Magic).

Anklet of Translocation (1400 GP, MIC). 2/day, wolf can *BAMF* into flanking position, out of a grapple, etc. To fit the goth aesthetic, anklet can have those steel motorcycle studs or maybe little silver skulls.

[liquidformat]

First comment is if everyone hasn't started the game yet see if the elf will go for a riding dog instead of a wolf (unless you can get war beast template then go war beast)

Take a look at monster equipment (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?624060-3-5-Monster-equipment-dumpster-dive), things like beast claws can give the wolf claw attacks whereas jaws of the dragon can do a lot to enhance their bite attack. Stuff like shadow cloak and ring of the darkhidden can be great depending on the tactics of the wolf/riding dog. If the druid is taking VOP by all means that animal companion should take it too, otherwise talk over with the DM if that is acceptable isn't a bad choice.

[Troacctid]

Check out the list of useful items spreadsheet in my signature. If you filter it for the "Familiar" tag, you'll find a bunch of great items for sidekicks—although do take note that command-activated items won't work unless your wolf has the ability to speak somehow.

[Max Caysey]

so im running a module for a group that includes 1 elf druid with a wolf companion,1 half orc barbarian tank- melee dps, 1 gnome bard as buff/debuffer,and 1 human cleric of pelor focusing on healing and undead destruction
the druid wants to equip the wolf with something but i have no idea what kind of equipment would be appropriate for a wolf other than basic random gen magic items with exotic form
i was wondering if any of you had made a druid animal companion guide

I give all my animal companions Vow of Poverty!

[techpriest35]

thank you guys for the ideas i had no idea what to give the elf cause most items seemed kind of silly for a wolf