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View Full Version : Protecting an animal companion from vamps



NephandiMan
2008-06-01, 08:13 AM
I'm currently playing a druid for the first time, and we're in an adventure that involves a substantial number of vampires. Does anyone know of a reliable way to protect my animal companion (a brown bear) from the negative levels their slam attack inflicts? The party's level 7-8, so if need be, our cleric can cast Restoration, but the material component for that can get pricey if one's trying to save up for...well, anything, really. And in any case, I'd rather prevent the levels from happening than cure them afterward.

Should I just beef up his Fort and hope he makes the save? Should I outfit him with specially-designed armor? Should I see if my DM will let me train him to hurl rocks?

*EDIT: Sorry, forgot to mention: this is core-only.

jcsw
2008-06-01, 09:12 AM
IIRC, nothing prevents animal companions from becoming undead...

If you can spare the feats, giving the bear the Lasting Life feat (Libris Mortis) will let it repeatedly make checks to remove it, but you need the Endurance(but bears already have that) and Enduring Life feats (Libris Mortis) as prerequisites.

NephandiMan
2008-06-01, 09:21 AM
Oh, man - I thought they overpowered before... Now I know what's more frightening than one ton of angry brown bear charging you: one ton of angry UNDEAD brown bear charging you.

Of course, I think it's reasonable to assume that a druid wouldn't want to grossly violate the natural cycle of life and death without an exceedingly good reason - and "because it would be even more broken," while fun, is not an exceedingly good reason. (Unless you're creating PrC's).

Of course, if it doesn't actually make the bear undead, I'll look into that. And I'll cross my fingers and hope he gets an extra feat before we're done fighting vampires. :smallwink:

*EDIT: Never mind. I just realized Death Ward solves all my problems - and our cleric can use it. *shakes head* Looks like I need to play even more clerics than I already do...

jcsw
2008-06-01, 10:03 AM
Oo I never noticed that either. I've never played a cleric before, amazingly.

And the lasting life feat doesn't require you to be undead, in fact it's probably meant for people who combat undead since undead are immune to negative levels and living necromancers can turn them.

ChaosDefender24
2008-06-01, 10:50 AM
Given that animals tend to be big, beefy things with high Con scores contributing greatly to their strength, I wouldn't turn my bear undead... Death Ward does the trick, though