My Urban Ranger is about to hit 4th Lv and I was thinking about what kind of animal companion to take he's a masked, sort of Zorro-type guy called the Black Lash who leaps across rooftops, using his whip to get around, swashbuckling and protecting the city. There's certainly a bit of Batman in there too, with the stealth stuff Rangers can do.
Zorro still have a horse named Tornado if I remember correctly, but I don't really need the getaway power with the lashing from rooftops and whatnot, but I could certainly see it being useful at some levels.
A bird of prey maybe might be cool, but I'm not sure if it's the flavor I want to emphasize for him. An owl is a little too Nite Owl from Watchman, a hawk or eagle is a little too Birdman or The Falcon. And the only animal at explicitly listed under "urban" is "dire rat!" ...which I'm not totally sold on exactly. ;p
Does anything have any takes or ideas on the concept?
Dogs have scent, and don't look out of place following you around.
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Dog: Blends into your environment. Trip is pretty nasty. Given their speed and acrobatics it can probably roofjump better than you.
Horse: Can be told to wait on the edge of town. If you have disguise you can make it a coal black steed while in costume or a drab palimino if its outside the inn in the picket line.
Raccoon: Can hide in your backpack. Also has a mask. Get him an int of 3 and ranks in lockpicking.
weasel: Say hello to my little friend!
Fox: El zoro
Oh, a possum! You could say... bluff points? I just think possums are adorable. He'd be able to fight too, because possums are legit. Y-you could throw him at your enemies. Terrifying.
I like raccoon, too. And foxes!
And if you like dogs but need more flavor, well, what kind of dog? Dogs seems like a solid idea and there's a thousand different kinds to give you more identity. A Wetterhoun, maybe? Or a Schapendoes, or Münsterländer. A medium sized fearless dog, to go with your agile ranger.
Sorry for not knowing too much about the game as is, but character design is my favorite thing to do, so I tried to stick to my strengths in my 'advice'. There's my two cents!
I'ma throw my vote in for the dog, though I think a bird sounds pretty neat.
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Dog: Blends into your environment. Trip is pretty nasty. Given their speed and acrobatics it can probably roofjump better than you.
Horse: Can be told to wait on the edge of town. If you have disguise you can make it a coal black steed while in costume or a drab palimino if its outside the inn in the picket line.
Raccoon: Can hide in your backpack. Also has a mask. Get him an int of 3 and ranks in lockpicking.
weasel: Say hello to my little friend!
Fox: El zoro
I have to agree with the Wolf!
This is going to be something that has a lot of possiblies.I would look at it and give it your own little flair.
A wolf named Timber. Snake-Eyes for the win.
Hell yeah, wait, what?
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A wolf named Timber. Snake-Eyes for the win.Hell yeah, wait, what?
G.I. Jooooooooooooooooooooeeeeeeeeee!!!!!
Have you considered bonding to your allies instead?
Have you considered bonding to your allies instead?
Say what?
EDIT: Oh, right. Yeah, definitely. I'm not really sold on thr flavor of a little animal friend. But I like to imagine the roleplaying potential of such a thing.
Hunter's Bond (Ex)
At 4th level, a ranger forms a bond with his hunting companions. This bond can take one of two forms. Once the form is chosen, it cannot be changed.
The first is a bond to his companions. This bond allows him to spend a move action to grant half his favored enemy bonus against a single target of the appropriate type to all allies within 30 feet who can see or hear him. This bonus lasts for a number of rounds equal to the ranger's Wisdom modifier (minimum 1). This bonus does not stack with any favored enemy bonuses possessed by his allies; they use whichever bonus is higher.
The second option is to form a close bond with an animal companion...
Pigeon!
Not saying I agree or disagree with that assessment, but sometimes people make sub-optimal characters for RP reasons AKA fun.
Not saying I agree or disagree with that assessment, but sometimes people make sub-optimal characters for RP reasons AKA fun.
My wisdom is 12 anyway, so doing that for one round doesn't give me a lot of room for interesting RP.
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I think a dog is an excellent choice. Perhaps your GM can help you flesh out a medium size breed appropriate to both the campaign and your character?
Alternatively, as others have suggested, a bird of prey like a falcon or hawk that would be a uncommon but natural sight in an urban setting. (Would a big crow/raven fit better?) At least with the bird it has an easier time keeping up with your ranger's roof-top running! And it can serve as a aerial "spy" watching your back, etc. :-)
Common cat, use the small version of a leopard companion. Good at roof running and it gets pounce, a perfect partner for a ranger.
Common cat, use the small version of a leopard companion. Good at roof running and it gets pounce, a perfect partner for a ranger.
I was thinking about a panther funny enough....
I'd go for a tabby rather than a black panther, just so people crapped their pants when they got ambushed by next doors cat.
+1 El Gato!
I vote for a black horse!
@blackbloodtroll
Trophy Hunter is the firearm ranger, right? So instead of the critter I would be increasing the touch AC distance of the firearms I don't use.
Lol for the camel. Badass because they're like more interesting horses?
@sunbeam
See, I've definitely been thinking about bat. But I don't know how much I want to be like Batman. The comparisons are already obvious. That might push it over the edge more than I'd like. I want to be "the Black Lash," and not so much "that guy who's like Batman."
Actually, the camel is pretty bad ass.
They nerfed the spit so it can no longer stun the tarasque without a save.
Actually, the camel is pretty bad ass.They nerfed the spit so it can no longer stun the tarasque without a save.
They're really good at complex math.
Actually, I have another idea. In the first encounter of the campaign, we assaulted an old fishery which the base of operations for this nasty mob boss. He nearly blindsided us with this massive crocodile the size of a ship and had a gate in the bottom of the fishery it could pass in and out of freely. We killed the guards and the crocodile lazily escaped into the bay.
Maybe it's time to repay Tick-Tock the Croc a visit....
Horse. You need him to wait outside the window or under the rooftop so you can jump on him and make a fast getaway.
Horse. You need him to wait outside the window or under the rooftop so you can jump on him and make a fast getaway.
This is the full on Zorro trick, yeah. But I'm not really hard-up for mobility with my lash and stealth.
I'm a bit surprised no one has suggested a song bird.
One with red plumage, green highlights and yellow wings perhaps.
I'm a bit surprised no one has suggested a song bird.
One with red plumage, green highlights and yellow wings perhaps.** spoiler omitted **
HaHA! That's wonderful.
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For a guy named "The Black Lash", I'd suggest a snake. It's like the animal equivalent of a whip. Or a raven, because they're black and kinda cool.
But really, I think the dire rat would be a better choice than you give it credit for. Intimidating, adapted to its environment, tough, the works.
You could always take Improved Familiar and get a psuedodragon?
Dire Bat.
No, seriously. If you're playing Zorro in a city, I get the feeling you're running around at night a lot. Dire Bat's see in the dark, they're big enough you could talk him into letting a small companion ride him (if you needed to).
EDIT : With the added benefit that you can add a cape, and be El Hombre Murcielago
Oooo.. the dire bat could BE your cape. Having him spread his wings should be a good "aid another" action on those jump checks accross the roof.