Best Animal Companion for a 4th level druid (Core prefered)

[Beelzebub1111]

I'm partial to Leopard, since it has great advantages (Pounce, Improved Grab, Rake) offense (three attacks to use with pounce) and skills (Jump, Hide Move Silently) (and can fit in other areas and settings, what with Mountain Lions, Panthers, Jaguars, and other medium sized cats having the same stats).

However, is there another Animal that's better in core? Would it be better to get, like, a riding dog, then take advantage of the bonuses for advanced level?

[Private-Prinny]

*coughFleshrakercoughcough*

[Beelzebub1111]

*coughFleshrakercoughcough*

Sorry, no dinosaurs.

[tyckspoon]

I'm partial to Leopard, since it has great advantages (Pounce, Improved Grab, Rake) offense (three attacks to use with pounce) and skills (Jump, Hide Move Silently) (and can fit in other areas and settings, what with Mountain Lions, Panthers, Jaguars, and other medium sized cats having the same stats).

However, is there another Animal that's better in core? Would it be better to get, like, a riding dog, then take advantage of the bonuses for advanced level?

5 attacks- you can Rake on a Pounce. Ape is pretty good, being the first companion choice which is properly Large and has full reach. Dire Bats are Large and reasonably strong, which makes them good early flying mounts, although not especially useful combat partners. Leopard's probably still the most damaging companion when it can attack with Rakes (and it scales a little better with things that buff per-attack, like a Bull's Strength or tying a collar of Strength on it) but the Ape's better damage dice and higher Strength make it better in other situations.

You're almost always better off swapping up to a bigger meaner animal than using the AC bonuses unless you want a particular special ability or want to use the bonus HD to select a particular feat for your companion. Or the obvious upgrade animal is just kind of lame- the Dire Lion isn't all that much better than the regular Lion, for example.

[Draz74]

Dire Animals have the sizable advantage of a good Will save progression.

The Dire Bat can be very handy at these early levels for its flight ability, especially if you're a Small druid and can ride one.

Other than that, I think the advanced Riding Dog might actually have the best stats.

[Beelzebub1111]

Medium Druid, Shifter, Dreamsight.

[Eldariel]

Dire Bat is amazing; flight, blindsense, good combat stats, good Will-saves, Large, etc. My favorite; even Medium characters can fly mounted on it.

[Jack_Simth]

Dire Bat is amazing; flight, blindsense, good combat stats, good Will-saves, Large, etc. My favorite; even Medium characters can fly mounted on it.

A creature with a fly speed can move through the air at the indicated speed if carrying no more than a light load.

(Specific text from Here)
At 4th, that's 'if they're light and/or don't need much equipment'. That Dire Bat run by the Druid-4 is strength-17; a Medium load starts at 173 pounds. Between the Exotic saddle (30 lbs for a riding saddle, 40 lbs for a military one... and you probably do want the military one for avoiding falling off), you've only got 132 pounds for yourself, your clothing, your equipment, and your treasure.

A randomly rolled male human averages 175 lbs. A male Dwarf, 165 lbs. A male elf, 109.5 lbs. A male half-elf, 145 lbs. A Male half-orc, 241 lbs. And that's pre-clothing. Females average anywhere from 5 (in the case of an Elf) to 40 (in the case of a half-orc) pounds lighter than their average male counterparts.

Small characters don't have nearly so much of a problem - a Gnome's maximum random weight for their own body is just 48 lbs, and the record rolled halfling clocks in at 38 lbs.

[hamishspence]

Doesn't Races of the Dragon have a few feats that allow fliers to fly with Medium, or even Heavy, loads?

it's not core- but if those feats can be taken by other flying creatures, they might solve some of the issues.

[Fitz10019]

The dire badger leaves behind a usable 5' diameter tunnel when it burrows. That can be very handy, depending on your campaign/DM.

[thompur]

Dire Animals have the sizable advantage of a good Will save progression.
The Dire Bat can be very handy at these early levels for its flight ability, especially if you're a Small druid and can ride one.

Other than that, I think the advanced Riding Dog might actually have the best stats.

Plus they get those nifty spikes randomly jutting out from their backs!

[Ruinix]

war beast template - leopard. win win.

[Urpriest]

war beast template - leopard. win win.

And utterly houseruled. Cool if the DM allows it, but the "core preferred" tags make that sound unlikely.

[Eldariel]

Doesn't Races of the Dragon have a few feats that allow fliers to fly with Medium, or even Heavy, loads?

it's not core- but if those feats can be taken by other flying creatures, they might solve some of the issues.

It's not a big issue either way. If you prepare a Bull's Strength, it'll allow you to ride it for 30 mins without breaking a sweat for example; that'd raise its light load to 306. Heck, if you ever end up with a +2 Str item (obv not on level 4, but a bit later; tho it's not like you have any other use for the WBL at that point beyond armor anyways), it'll have 232lb carrying capacity which might be enough depending on how heavy a load you're carrying.

Or you might just be light for your race given the likely lack of excess brawn (you tend to have relatively low Str as a Druid) and fat (adventurers in general tend to burn much of what they can acquire, and I'd imagine a Druid's diet would contain a lot of flora anyways).

[Abraxas]

And what would be the roll dices and damage for a Leopard charge?

I'm not sure if the rake dices (+6 meele 1d3+1) receives the -5 decrease as the claws during a full attack.

[DaTamarin]

Hi guys. I'm not sure if anyone still is looking at this page, but i am in the same spot as the OP. I was looking at Bison, and it deals 1d8+9 damage, which is pretty beastly. Even though it does say that the Bison would rather flee than fight, if i could find a way around that, it would be pretty insane at early levels. The dire bat and leopard are tied for second right now. Is the bison good? Thanks

[Eldariel]

You should just start a new thread instead of necroing an old one. Either way, Bison should fight just fine as an animal companion if you train it in the tricks Attack and Attack Anything; fleeing is just its natural reaction.

The biggest advantages Dire Bat has are the fact that it flies and has great observational skills (Blindsense, +8 Spot, +12 Listen). Being able to ride a flying mount on level 4 is pretty beastly.