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Magical Beast Affinity
Requirements: 6th level druid or 10th level Ranger, Handle animal Rank 9
Allows you to select certain magical beasts as an animal Companion above and beyond the normal list.
So far I have Hippogryph, Griffon, and Owlbear for this feat. Any advice on how these beasts may be too powerful and or any others that could be added to the list safely and balanced.
Magical Beast Affinity
Requirements: 6th level druid or 10th level Ranger, Handle animal Rank 9Allows you to select certain magical beasts as an animal Companion above and beyond the normal list.
So far I have Hippogryph, Griffon, and Owlbear for this feat. Any advice on how these beasts may be too powerful and or any others that could be added to the list safely and balanced.
Druids are typically anti-magical beasts. Owlbears are very high on the "druid's hate" list.
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Druids are typically anti-magical beasts. Owlbears are very high on the "druid's hate" list.Magical Beast Affinity
Requirements: 6th level druid or 10th level Ranger, Handle animal Rank 9Allows you to select certain magical beasts as an animal Companion above and beyond the normal list.
So far I have Hippogryph, Griffon, and Owlbear for this feat. Any advice on how these beasts may be too powerful and or any others that could be added to the list safely and balanced.
Based on what? I would love to see where that is written down. I have seen Druids used as pro-monster NPC foils before so I am just wondering.
Based on what? I would love to see where that is written down. I have seen Druids used as pro-monster NPC foils before so I am just wondering.Druids are typically anti-magical beasts. Owlbears are very high on the "druid's hate" list.Magical Beast Affinity
Requirements: 6th level druid or 10th level Ranger, Handle animal Rank 9Allows you to select certain magical beasts as an animal Companion above and beyond the normal list.
So far I have Hippogryph, Griffon, and Owlbear for this feat. Any advice on how these beasts may be too powerful and or any others that could be added to the list safely and balanced.
Sorry, I was channeling 3.X, with further research, it seems different in pathfinder. Still strikes me as odd though.
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Sorry, I was channeling 3.X, with further research, it seems different in pathfinder. Still strikes me as odd though.Based on what? I would love to see where that is written down. I have seen Druids used as pro-monster NPC foils before so I am just wondering.Druids are typically anti-magical beasts. Owlbears are very high on the "druid's hate" list.Magical Beast Affinity
Requirements: 6th level druid or 10th level Ranger, Handle animal Rank 9Allows you to select certain magical beasts as an animal Companion above and beyond the normal list.
So far I have Hippogryph, Griffon, and Owlbear for this feat. Any advice on how these beasts may be too powerful and or any others that could be added to the list safely and balanced.
I know for sure druids are anti-aberration but I didn't they had much against magical beasts.
I know for sure druids are anti-aberration but I didn't they had much against magical beasts.Sorry, I was channeling 3.X, with further research, it seems different in pathfinder. Still strikes me as odd though.Based on what? I would love to see where that is written down. I have seen Druids used as pro-monster NPC foils before so I am just wondering.Druids are typically anti-magical beasts. Owlbears are very high on the "druid's hate" list.Magical Beast Affinity
Requirements: 6th level druid or 10th level Ranger, Handle animal Rank 9Allows you to select certain magical beasts as an animal Companion above and beyond the normal list.
So far I have Hippogryph, Griffon, and Owlbear for this feat. Any advice on how these beasts may be too powerful and or any others that could be added to the list safely and balanced.
Like I said, it was like that in earlier editions. But it seems different in pathfinder (you can even summon an owlbear with summon natures ally, weird).
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Magical Beast Affinity
Requirements: 6th level druid or 10th level Ranger, Handle animal Rank 9Allows you to select certain magical beasts as an animal Companion above and beyond the normal list.
So far I have Hippogryph, Griffon, and Owlbear for this feat. Any advice on how these beasts may be too powerful and or any others that could be added to the list safely and balanced.
I also had a suggestion from someone to add a bulette as a top end replacement for the T-rex. Thoughts? I also think that the affinity check should be a -2, basically you can choose an magical beast animal companion at -2 your level.
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Is this just for unintelligent magical beasts? Leadership works fine for recruiting something like a Griffon, assuming you speak its language. I don't really see an issue with the hippogriff or owlbear as animal companions at -2 (which actually might be kind of steep, IMO).
Check out the bonus bestiary. It had stats for a Dragonne as a special animal companion for druids. It was on the strong side. I think you can still get it, and I think it is free. Can't remember off-hand.
I would actually allow my players to take a Hippogrif or Griffon without a feat for the -2 level. I think that would be pretty balanced and give the characters a lot more flavor. I'd also lower the Ranger level requirement to 9, to keep them at consistent levels with the Druid -3 they've already got.
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Is this just for unintelligent magical beasts? Leadership works fine for recruiting something like a Griffon, assuming you speak its language. I don't really see an issue with the hippogriff or owlbear as animal companions at -2 (which actually might be kind of steep, IMO).
Check out the bonus bestiary. It had stats for a Dragonne as a special animal companion for druids. It was on the strong side. I think you can still get it, and I think it is free. Can't remember off-hand.
I would actually allow my players to take a Hippogrif or Griffon without a feat for the -2 level. I think that would be pretty balanced and give the characters a lot more flavor. I'd also lower the Ranger level requirement to 9, to keep them at consistent levels with the Druid -3 they've already got.
Sounds good. But this whole concept may be to powerful for one feat hmmm...
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Sounds good. But this whole concept may be to powerful for one feat hmmm...Is this just for unintelligent magical beasts? Leadership works fine for recruiting something like a Griffon, assuming you speak its language. I don't really see an issue with the hippogriff or owlbear as animal companions at -2 (which actually might be kind of steep, IMO).
Check out the bonus bestiary. It had stats for a Dragonne as a special animal companion for druids. It was on the strong side. I think you can still get it, and I think it is free. Can't remember off-hand.
I would actually allow my players to take a Hippogrif or Griffon without a feat for the -2 level. I think that would be pretty balanced and give the characters a lot more flavor. I'd also lower the Ranger level requirement to 9, to keep them at consistent levels with the Druid -3 they've already got.
As cool as it sounds, I kinda think it is too much for one feat unfortunately.
I could see maybe creating a druid and/or ranger archetype around the idea in which multiple class features are sacrificed.
Also, you would need to really keep a handle on how the animal companion advancement rules interact with these much more powerful beasts - you'll most likely end up with very powerful versions of the given magical beast after a number of levels.
It's a really cool idea in concept - you're just going to be very careful from a true game balance perspective.
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One way to balance the feat is to add the following line :"if such a special companion is killed or released from service, a new companion cannot be gained before the character gains a new level in a class that grants an animal companion".
This should encourage PCs to avoid using their companion as mere cannon-fodder.
Also, combat-worthy magical beasts should probably be available to Druids only, and not to Rangers, to follow the philosophy behind the more restrictive list of Animal Companions available to the Ranger.
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FYI, one of the cavalier orders in Advanced Options: Cavaliers' Orders from Super Genius Games is the Order of the Griffon.
You might want to take a look at how that order allows the cavalier to gain a griffon as his mount ...
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Sounds good. But this whole concept may be to powerful for one feat hmmm...Is this just for unintelligent magical beasts? Leadership works fine for recruiting something like a Griffon, assuming you speak its language. I don't really see an issue with the hippogriff or owlbear as animal companions at -2 (which actually might be kind of steep, IMO).
Check out the bonus bestiary. It had stats for a Dragonne as a special animal companion for druids. It was on the strong side. I think you can still get it, and I think it is free. Can't remember off-hand.
I would actually allow my players to take a Hippogrif or Griffon without a feat for the -2 level. I think that would be pretty balanced and give the characters a lot more flavor. I'd also lower the Ranger level requirement to 9, to keep them at consistent levels with the Druid -3 they've already got.
As cool as it sounds, I kinda think it is too much for one feat unfortunately.
I could see maybe creating a druid and/or ranger archetype around the idea in which multiple class features are sacrificed.
Also, you would need to really keep a handle on how the animal companion advancement rules interact with these much more powerful beasts - you'll most likely end up with very powerful versions of the given magical beast after a number of levels.
It's a really cool idea in concept - you're just going to be very careful from a true game balance perspective.
Keep them with the animal companion HD and BAB, it's suddenly less of an issue. It's already easy to gain a Roc companion from the Bestiary. It requires neither a feat or anything other than the waiting game for it to be sufficiently sized for use as a mount (assuming that's what you want it for). That is roughly comparable in ability to the majority of critters we've been talking about: hippogriffs, griffins, etc. It'd work for something like an owlbear too.
The problem comes in when creatures like Dragonnes come into the picture. Those would require some reworking since they're so powerful. A limited list of non-magical magical beasts (really the old "beast" type from 3.0 and earlier) would be sufficient for what I described above. :)
Personally, I'm surprised that rules for magical beast companions haven't been released, since as was pointed out above, there are stats for a dragonne companion. I think the biggest balance issue with some of the magical beasts is the flight issue--animal companions that can fly are relatively uncommon, not super great in combat, and only rideable around 7th level (unless you're a halfling or gnome, I guess. Or a goblin or kobold!). I would expect a griffon to be at least as good in combat as a small cat, if not a big cat, plus get the flight ability.
Also, never understood why druids would hate all magical beasts equally--sure, the owlbear is often described as crazy aggressive and destructive, but griffons are typically treated as flying pumas (despite their Int), and everybody loves unicorns :)
Does not like a problem as long as you replace BAB, HD, Skills, and Feats with the animal companions. If you just added on all of the things an animal gets for being an animal companion then you will have problems.
As for the flying thing, this should not be a problem since to be useful in combat the animal companion will need to spend feats, and skill points to make full use of the ability. By the time these enter the game your spell casters will have the fly spell.