The last thread I made was so successful for the session we played last night that my friends asked if I could also request on their behalf what they should be doing with their 3000gp starting gold for level 3.
Many of them had upwards of 2500gp left to spend at the beginning of the session, the Ranger and Witch didn't even have weapons or armor since they were at such a loss as to what to get.
To give some backdrop, the Witch is planning on being your basic Witch, debuffs, cackles, fortune/missfortune, slumber etc.
The Druid wants to focus on her companion, a Tiger, as to be the frontline with myself (a Paladin).
Even though the Witch is an advanced class, we are all relatively new to the game (even the DM) so I would appreciate if the suggestions mainly were to come from the core rulebook.
Again, thanks so much to everyone for the support, without your help I would of definitely of bitten it in last nights campaign!
Do that have basic adventuring gear? e.g. bedrolls, tents, rope, pitons, shovel, etc?
The approach I take when selecting items, spells etc. is to think of a scenario that my character could get into and what they would need to solve it e.g. Scenario: Need a campfire but the weather is too bad/there's nothing to burn. Solution: Campfire Bead.
I've been trying to think of things but much of what I use (level 5 witch - hedge witch/herb witch) isn't in the crb. Would you consider allowing Ultimate equipment at least?
Do that have basic adventuring gear? e.g. bedrolls, tents, rope, pitons, shovel, etc?
The approach I take when selecting items, spells etc. is to think of a scenario that my character could get into and what they would need to solve it e.g. Scenario: Need a campfire but the weather is too bad/there's nothing to burn. Solution: Campfire Bead.
I've been trying to think of things but much of what I use (level 5 witch - hedge witch/herb witch) isn't in the crb. Would you consider allowing Ultimate equipment at least?
I think that would be ok!
Items such as wands, what armor to get (if any), a backup weapon, rings and other pieces we are all pretty ignorant of; basic stuff like waterskin, bedroll and everything we have down pat.
I believe a wand of Cure Light Wounds is a staple of most adventuring parties. The typical (and boring imo)items are those that increase ability scores, saving throws and ac. Muleback Cords (1000gp)are a nice way to increase carry capacity. Of all items the most consistently useful I've had is the Handy Haversack (2000gp); the Haversack is particularly useful for characters that like to use items. Personally I feel everyone should carry a dagger for utility and backup purposes as well as both a melee and ranged weapon of some sort even if they specialise in just one.
Just stick the ranger in some medium armour and get a longbow and two handed sword (and the quickdraw feat). Don't put the witch in armour (get the Mage Armour spell) but they could use a mithral buckler (1005gp) without arcane spell failure.
As a witch I've made a fair amount of use out of alchemical weapons and remedies e.g. alchemist's fire and anti-plague. I spent a significant proportion of my starting wealth on purchasing extra spells, alchemical items and various kits and other tools.
Iirc our starting wealth was between 3000-4000gp and the items I had were: Casimir's Diagnosis Ring (a custom magic ring that could be used to cast Detect Poison and Diagnose Disease), blanket, water-skin,bedroll, belt pouch, candles (10), torches (5),Chalk (10), flint and steel, ink and ink-pen, wire saw, cauldron, mess kit, soap, spell component pouch,Straight razor, whetstone, small mirror, brush, cup, shaving powder (47), survival kit, bottle,bucket, compass, oil, shovel, silk rope, tent, vial (10), healer's kit (20), strong brandy, potion-cure light wounds (2), smelling salts, alchemist's kindness (2), Antiplague (2), antitoxin (2), bloodblock (2), sooth syrup, bodybalm, leeching kit, surgeon's tools, veterinarian's kit, acid (2),alchemist's fire (2), cold iron caltrops (2), thunderstone, scent cloak (1), tracking powder, Desna's star (2),tanglefoot bag, nightsage, backpack, dagger, and quarterstaff.
Almost all of these items were chosen because of my character's backstory and his role in the party: "Healer-Physician & Witch-Herbalist" is how he describes himself on the poster he uses to advertise (and yes I actually made a poster).
I'd like to clarify something - in your post you mention both a Ranger and a Druid, but in the thread title you only mention a Ranger. However, later on you say your Druid wants to focus on making their Animal Companion a Tiger to help you in melee, and Rangers don't get the option to take an Animal Companion until Level 4. Are we talking about a group of 5 (Paladin, Druid, Sorcerer, Ranger, and Witch) or 4 (Paladin, Druid or Ranger, Sorcerer, and Witch)?
In the event that your group indeed has a Ranger who wants to focus on their Animal Companion, they will need to take Boon Companion to allow it to progress at the same rate as a Druid companion - otherwise it will be vastly underpowered compared to your party. In either case, I'm going to focus on suggestions for the Animal Companion here.
Big Cats are among the best companions for offense-focused players - they have lots of natural attacks, get Pounce later on, and have good Wisdom to shore up their weakest save. However, the one thing they lack is good HP, and to fix this you will want one of two solutions - either have someone purchase a Wand of Mage Armor for 750gp, or have the Big Cat take Light Armor Proficiency and purchase Chain Shirt Barding for 200 gp. Both options give the Tiger a 21 AC - the Wand costs gold and has limited uses, but it saves you a feat slot. Personally I prefer the Chain Shirt, as that can be enchanted for further bonuses to AC down the road and opens up Mythril Medium armor later on to give even more AC. I also suggest that the player boosts their companion's Constitution to 14 next level to help with the low HP (animals take the average of their d8 HD and don't get maximum HP at Level 1, meaning he only has 13 HP right now).
You may also want that player to purchase a +1 Cloak of Resistance for their tiger - that makes them more resistant to spells and debilitating conditions, bringing their saves up to Fortitude +5 / Reflex +8 / Will +4. This only costs 1000 gp and will help keep the Tiger from getting shut down. Another good purchase to aid the Animal Companion would be Pheromone Arrows - each arrow costs 15 gp and can be crafted at half price with a DC 25 Craft (alchemy) check. Creatures with the Scent ability (such as Tigers) gain a +2 Circumstance bonus on attack and damage rolls against creatures who have been hit by one of these arrows, and the effect lasts for 1 hour or until the scent has been washed off. It's a pretty potent buff for the Animal Companion, bringing their full-attack numbers up to Bite +8 (1d6+4) / 2 Claws +8 (1d4+4) / Rend (1d4+6). Those are some pretty solid numbers, and at Level 5 the player can have their companion pick up Power Attack (which I only recommend if their attack bonus is buffed since their BAB scales slower than most characters').
For the player, Medium armor is going to give them the most protection at the expense of some mobility. A Druid could choose between Studded Leather (Light, +3 AC, Max Dex +5, 25 gp) or Hide (Medium, +4 AC, Max Dex +4, 15 gp) depending on whether they want mobility or slightly better protection. A Ranger should ideally be looking at better Medium armors such as Agile Breastplate (Medium, +6 AC, Max Dex +3, 400 gp) with the plan of eventually upgrading to a Mithril Breastplate (4000 gp). As for weapons, a Druid focused on buffing and spells may want to find a way to pick up Longbow proficiency so they can use the Pheromone Arrows I talked about above if nobody else in the party uses a bow, and a Druid who wants to get into combat themselves will want to save their gold and use a Quarterstaff with the Shillelaugh spell until they can afford a +1 Amulet of Mighty Fists (4000 gp) for use with Wildshape.
For general use, a Wand of Cure Light Wounds is a big help for the party (750 gp, 50 charges) so nobody has to prepare healing spells. If the Druid is focused on spells they should consider taking Scribe Scroll - many spells on the Druid list are situational, so being able to use a scroll rather than one of their limited spell slots is helpful, and they'd get more use out of it since they have access to their entire spell list.
That's all for now. I'm not as familiar with a Witch, but I may return later to attempt to give some advice.
Skip the feat. Mithril chain shirt has 0 apc.
Mithral Chain Shirt Barding costs 2,200 gp for a medium-size Animal Companion, meaning the player can't purchase it until Level 4 at the earliest since it costs more than half of their WBL (which is 3,000 gp at Level 3). Besides that, their AC grows to Large size at Level 7, meaning they'd have to sell the old barding and buy some sized for a Large creature, which costs 4,400 gp. If you do that, by Level 7 you will have spent 5,500 gp on armor just to avoid spending a feat. That's a large portion of your WBL, and this early in the game the player will also need a number of other magic items (Amulet of Mighty Fists, magic armor, two Cloaks of Resistance, etc). Spending the feat is not a huge investment, and it will allow the player to put their gold towards other items they need.
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You have to re-buy armor at level 7 so that is unavoidable feat or not. So buying cheap until level seven is just a good parctice your not going to enchant it anyway. Either leather, master work studded leather. It's a difference of a single point of AC. So suffering with cheap armor is fine. Which you could make up with Dodge of you wanted.
There are 2 ways to calculate the cost of armor you clearly take the much more punishing calculation. I will leave that for the ops gm to decide. But even with that. At level 7 if you say to most people you can buy a feat for 4000 gold (Mithril cost) they would say yes.
Somethings are only attainable throw feats so they become super valuable.
Short term I agree with you. I would not buy it before level 7. You can even take the feat until level 7 release your ac and get a new one without it. This has never fit my characters so I don't do it.
If you have a specific build in mind 4000 is a good price.
Don't get me wrong, at later levels spending 4k on a feat is a steal. If the player in question was starting at Level 7 then I'd be much more conflicted over whether to spend the gold on it now or wait a level or two. However, these players are starting at Level 3 - that'll be four levels between now and when they need to purchase the armor where the AC is more vulnerable, and Big Cats don't have a lot of HP to spare so they can't really take a chance on it. I recently played a Hunter and even with Mage Armor available we still couldn't use it all the time because we didn't know when the day's combats would start and we'd risk wasting the spell. Sure, spending the feat might be a larger investment in the long run, but right now the most important thing is keeping their tiger alive and the feat does that best.
Definitely ask the GM if you could have the companion retrain the feat later, though - if they're nice you can retrain at Level 7 or later and just purchase the Mithril Armor as suggested to save a feat.
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It is definitely a tricky cost benefit. The low hp hurts. Even with toughness I have been tempted to put my ability point into con if I don't need non-animal companion feats.
One thing that can help this is barkskin extend and anointing oil. Resinous skin at level 5. Both help damage mitigation a lot.
I enjoy you thoughtful posts.
It is definitely a tricky cost benefit. The low hp hurts. Even with toughness I have been tempted to put my ability point into con if I don't need non-animal companion feats.
One thing that can help this is barkskin extend and anointing oil. Resinous skin at level 5. Both help damage mitigation a lot.
I enjoy you thoughtful posts.
Had to look up the Anointing Oil. 25gp for +1 CL on a buff? That's pretty amazing, and given that it's an Alchemical Item I'm shocked I haven't noticed it before. Definitely stealing that for future characters.
My first Animal Companion character was a melee Hunter that traded the Human bonus feat for Eye for Talent, getting +2 INT to my animal companion. I took a Roc, gave them Toughness, and was planning on putting a point into CON at Level 4. I figured Mage Armor would be enough to bump its AC up but misjudged how spaced out the fights would be throughout the day and a Ghoul hit & paralyzed it at Level 2, then CDG'd it. I went an entire level with no animal companion as a result. Looking back, trading Toughness for Light Armor Proficiency would've kept it alive much better. Possibly why I prefer it over other options now.
And thank you! You raise some good points and suggestions as well. I had always assumed you multiply the cost of Special Materials when making Barding, but now I know that's a subject of debate - one I would certainly like to be resolved. Maybe when Ultimate Wilderness gets released in the section on Animal Companions?
You have to re-buy armor at level 7 so that is unavoidable feat or not. So buying cheap until level seven is just a good parctice your not going to enchant it anyway. Either leather, master work studded leather. It's a difference of a single point of AC. So suffering with cheap armor is fine Which you could make up with Dodge of you wanted.
Just going to emphasise this. Light Armor Proficiency for an animal companion at low levels is at best a difference of 1 AC (since MW Studded Leather has an ACP of 0, meaning you don't take any penalties for wearing it at all), and will cost you a grand total of 200/400 gp. That's +3 AC for an extremely reasonable price, that can be further enchanted. Or, alternatively, just leave it be until you hit level 7 and need new armor for the pet anyway.
Save yourself a feat slot, don't take Light Armor Proficiency unless you are specifically building towards heavier armors.
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An additional ac option is a cracked Vibrant Purple Prism (Ioun Stone) then the animal companion can cast from it with their turn so you don't have to waste yours. You can also fill it with shield to really crank their AC. Or, at later levels other buffs in the future (protection from evil is a decent choice).
As I have 2 druids, a sylvan sorcerer, an eldritch guardian, several characters with other familiars and sacred huntmaster I'm hoping for some good animal stuff in ultimate wilderness.