Mr Scruffy (just onemore thread about him I'm sure)

[herrhauptmann]

Was going back over some slightly older comics... For a while I was under the impression that Belkar was a variant ranger with no spellcasting or animal companion (then he got an Owls Wisdom and cast a few cure spells).
Then I assumed he was a different variant, this one with no companion. But now he seems to have Mr Scruffy...
So, I got this weird feeling that Scruffy will eventually become his animal companion, then around that time, Belkar will die in a Heroic Sacrifice (to TV TROPES!!) saving Mr Scruffy from getting hit or squished or zapped or something...

Anybody have an opinion on this?

[Chronos]

Sure, if by "eventually" you mean "since about 66 strips ago".

[herrhauptmann]

Well isn't part of having an animal companion being able to talk to it, and get a response of sorts?
So far, he's only spoken to Scruffy at the same level of understanding as the Old Cat Lady down the street.

[Hectonkhyres]

Well isn't part of having an animal companion being able to talk to it, and get a response of sorts?
So far, he's only spoken to Scruffy at the same level of understanding as the Old Cat Lady down the street.
Which just goes to prove that the Old Cat Lady has levels in either ranger or druid.

[herrhauptmann]

We must have different varieties of Old Cat Lady in mind. The one I knew, kept her cats in a state of squalor (could smell cat pee from outside the house, and 5 feet or more from any closed window or door). Her cats were in terrible health, never fixed, so very quickly became heavily inbred. Hers were the first indoor cats I've seen that were half-feral

On a side note, she was also cooking teacher at the local middle school, hadn't done a full year of teaching in 9 years, and got smashed at a christmas party, and started hitting on her 13 year old daughters friends.

All in all, I envy you for your Old Cat Lady.

[AceOfFools]

The Belkster don't do Hero Sacrifice. Not for smoking hot twins, not for his animal companion.

See, there are other smoking hot twins and bad-ass kitty cats out there. But there's only one Belkster. He's only going down if he's sure he's coming right back up.

[David Argall]

Well isn't part of having an animal companion being able to talk to it, and get a response of sorts?


The accent is on "of sorts". It's usually assumed you can direct your animal companion pretty freely, but it has no tremendous ability to tell you much.

[ericgrau]

You can give the animal companion a command to follow a trick (learned like any other animal) as a free action instead of a move action. You can guide/force/push him (if he doesn't know the needed trick) as a move action instead of a full round action. He also gets bonus tricks. That's the extent of your advantage. No, seriously.

[Chronos]

Besides, he has been getting responses. Sure, we don't know what "mrowl" means, but that doesn't mean that he doesn't.

[NerfTW]

Belkar is a core ranger. He took the class so he could fight with two weapons at once. Remember that in the strip you mentioned, he had no idea Rangers could cast spells at all. In fact, he refers to himself as a "warrior" in that strip.

He doesn't have an animal companion because he doesn't know he can have an animal companion. Now, Mr. Scruffy is likely his animal companion. He appears to have a deep bond with him.