A New Leaf for Companions

I'd love to see rules on leshy companions. Those guys are just adorable.

Suddenly, being a companion seems like a legitimate career choice.

Humans, Covered Next week, SWEET.

I like it when new ideas take root.

Suddenly, being a companion seems like a legitimate career choice.

I know of a Rose who would argue they always were ;-)

So only elves can get plant companions then?

Pretty cute. I wonder what the companion is in the picture. I orginally thought it might be a treant sapling, but according to the stat blocks those are medium creatures, that thing looks small.

Is it a Carnivorous Vine? or some new type of companion?

It's not the Vine. Those are Medium too. Maybe it's the Carnivorous Flower?

Awesome!

Pretty cute. I wonder what the companion is in the picture. I orginally thought it might be a treant sapling, but according to the stat blocks those are medium creatures, that thing looks small.

See that little twig sticking out of its head? Obviously it just hit the arbitrary small/medium divide, making it a medium creature. Like a halfling with a huge afro.

Anyway, awesome! Looking forward to the guide even more now!

Dwarfs are medium creatures, and they're about the same size. The treant is leaning forward, so it looks smaller than it is.

It's not the Vine. Those are Medium too. Maybe it's the Carnivorous Flower?

Could be a baby treant familiar instead of a companion?

Hmm, a druid with a carnivorous flower companion... And it can rage after a while. It's as if Poison Ivy went to the Little Shop of Horrors!

This reminds me quite a bit of one of the old Dragon magazine articles (from #357, maybe? It was one of the last few), that had rules for Druid Plant Companions. Those were sort of like a Summoner's Eidolon, in that they could "evolve" a number of different abilities from a base "chassis."

That was one of my favourite issues! I'm looking forward to seeing the stuff in this book! :-)

How can I my self medicating PFS Alchemist to have a Walking Pesh Plant?

You know, the medium-sized treant actually has less armor than I would expect. Only a +1 natural armor bonus, (on top of the bonus that they get from animal companion advancement) doesn't seem as high as I would expect for something with bark. Most other animal companions have a much better Dex bonus, giving them a better overall AC than the treant will have.

But the treant will be a Sundering machine (24 Str at level 4!); give it Power Attack and Imp Sunder and that think will destroy stuff. It'd take a bit of work since you'll have to give it a 3 Int... but TREE SMASH!

This is awesome but I am sad that the option for non-animal companions are strictly elvish.

I can just see the carnivorous plant saying, "Feed me".

I love these guys! Can't wait to see the art to match them all!!

This is awesome but I am sad that the option for non-animal companions are strictly elvish.

I hope the only elvish part gets removed too, or at least interesting options are made available for the other races to make up for it.

I can't quite figure out how a floating fungus is supposed to have an elvish feel to it anyway...

How can I my self medicating PFS Alchemist to have a Walking Pesh Plant?

Pesh comes from cactus blossoms. You have to wait for the stats for the pesh cactus companion are added.

Good thing Half-Elves count as elves for stuff like this. And Humans can take Racial Heritage. I feel bad that Gnomes can't get it though. I think it would definitely make sense for them too.

I think it's safe to assume there will be all sorts of cool stuff like this for all the races. No need for jealousy.

Of course. The whole point of the racial archetypes are that very specific races get cool things that no other race can get.

Good thing Half-Elves count as elves for stuff like this. And Humans can take Racial Heritage. I feel bad that Gnomes can't get it though. I think it would definitely make sense for them too.

I think you're going to need someone a big higher up on the Paizo totem pole to clarify that one, because as-written I don't think that half-elves can take elven archetypes / feats / etc. unless it specifically states they can (see the old version of the Arcane Archer). Racial Heritage is a maybe, but I think you'll need a designer to okay that one; seems a bit much that half-elves can use their own material, plus human and elven material in this book and I know that someone said that half-elves can't take human or elven favored class bonuses, which is still an "effect" related to race.

But we'll see.

And if you are anything like me, chances are you'll just hand wave racial requirements on most stuff. More diversity that way.

Unless you play PFS. Then I feel sorry for you, with the stricter rules and all.

Suddenly, being a companion seems like a legitimate career choice.

Ha! I'd gladly accept you as my leafy slav... companion, old treant! Now, if we only could add the fiendish template to your stats...

Oterisk wrote:

Good thing Half-Elves count as elves for stuff like this. And Humans can take Racial Heritage. I feel bad that Gnomes can't get it though. I think it would definitely make sense for them too.

I think you're going to need someone a big higher up on the Paizo totem pole to clarify that one, because as-written I don't think that half-elves can take elven archetypes / feats / etc. unless it specifically states they can (see the old version of the Arcane Archer). Racial Heritage is a maybe, but I think you'll need a designer to okay that one; seems a bit much that half-elves can use their own material, plus human and elven material in this book and I know that someone said that half-elves can't take human or elven favored class bonuses, which is still an "effect" related to race.

But we'll see.

Half-elves are seriously unimpressive to me. I think it's part of their draw that they can have the best of both worlds, because honestly, that's the only reason I can think to play one.

Probably just another thing I'll hand wave though.

And if you are anything like me, chances are you'll just hand wave racial requirements on most stuff. More diversity that way.

Unless you play PFS. Then I feel sorry for you, with the stricter rules and all.

That's also why I let fighters in my game cast 9th level wizard spells. More diversity that way.

Foghammer wrote:

And if you are anything like me, chances are you'll just hand wave racial requirements on most stuff. More diversity that way.

Unless you play PFS. Then I feel sorry for you, with the stricter rules and all.

That's also why I let fighters in my game cast 9th level wizard spells. More diversity that way.

That's... not really comparable. Plant companions make as much sense for druids of any race as they do for elves, as opposed to giving one class an unrelated class's primary features. If it was something like the unique elven hounds long bred and kept secret within elven houses that'd be one thing, but a mini-treant companion is appropriate and flavorful for any race of druid and I can hardly fault a GM who'd open up the option.

Foghammer wrote:

And if you are anything like me, chances are you'll just hand wave racial requirements on most stuff. More diversity that way.

Unless you play PFS. Then I feel sorry for you, with the stricter rules and all.

That's also why I let fighters in my game cast 9th level wizard spells. More diversity that way.

What race gives fighters 9th level wizard spells?

Sure it is. One is something reserved for a specific type of character, and the other is something reserved for a specific type of character.

Sure, perhaps the specific example of plant companions should be more widely available, but to just allow any racial archetype for any race? That cheapens them greatly. Why not just allow clerics to take rogue archetypes? Or paladins to take alchemist archetypes? Or a fighter to cast wizard spells? You're already ignoring major prerequisites of racial archetypes.

Also, caedwyr, the cool ones.

Like a halfling with a huge afro.

Thank you, Mort, for my next PFS character.

- Rebis

carnivorous plants bite jumps from d6 to 2d6? intentional? normally it would jump to a d8

Foghammer wrote:

And if you are anything like me, chances are you'll just hand wave racial requirements on most stuff. More diversity that way.

Unless you play PFS. Then I feel sorry for you, with the stricter rules and all.

That's also why I let fighters in my game cast 9th level wizard spells. More diversity that way.

That seems unnecessarily inflammatory for an offhand comment. And your comparison is hyperbole at its worst. I find that many feats with racial requirements seem to have them forced on for the sake of giving a specific race a specific 'trick' which is, in my opinion, silly. Allowing a human to take the keen senses feat is far and away from allowing non-spellcasters to cast spells they don't have access to in the slightest. Your implication is that my house-rule is bad-wrong-fun. Condescending AND pretentious. I'm disappointed, because yours is a voice I respect on the Paizo forums.

The Puffball seems sort of un-Elf-y. Having a pet fungus seems more in line with general gnomish madness.

Yay! Treant sapling for companion... Duh, why did we switched Aphalon game from d20 to Roll & Keep. It would be great for my druid.

Oh a puffball! The companion of Ginny Weasley... Can it be pink?

The Puffball seems sort of un-Elf-y. Having a pet fungus seems more in line with general gnomish madness.

A drow is a type of elf. To me, a fungal puffball seems highly appropriate for an underground race.

- Rebis

Mighty Squash wrote:

The Puffball seems sort of un-Elf-y. Having a pet fungus seems more in line with general gnomish madness.

A drow is a type of elf. To me, a fungal puffball seems highly appropriate for an underground race.

- Rebis

Especially that dark elves are fungi themselves...

This is going to be such a fun book :)

I'm on tears of joy. Really.

I may plan to strip the racial restrictions from darn near everything in the book and use them instead for non-race-specific organisations created by the given races.

For example: Elves create an order of druids called the leafsingers. It's all elves at first. But eventually, their secrets get out, or maybe they start allowing other races to become members. There's nothing inherent in the elf that makes them uniquely able to learn the abilities of the leafsinger. They just came up with it first.

Stuff I don't mind being restricted to race is biology-specific stuff or things that depend on specific racial abilities. A drow-only antimagic class building on their spell resistance would remain race-restricted, for example. Or restricted to any races with spell resistance.

... but TREE SMASH!

Indeed.

Mairkurion {tm} wrote:

Suddenly, being a companion seems like a legitimate career choice.

Ha! I'd gladly accept you as my leafy slav... companion, old treant! Now, if we only could add the fiendish template to your stats...

Sorry, but somehow, you don't measure up to Hot Elven Babe.

That's generally what I do as well. Any feat based on culture is something a member of another race can get if adopted by that culture. I have no trouble with the treesingers being a group of elven druids really into wood crafting--it makes logical sense--but if they welcomed a member of another race into their society, they could reasonably learn those secrets. Especially with druids. I mean, imagine you have a couple elven druids dying, then their friends reincarnate them. They both come back as humans. Are they going to be kicked out of Kyonin? If the formerly elven, now reincarnated human druids have a kid, isn't he or she going to be genetically human but culturally elven?

The regular elves who go on about "Forlorn" must really have to remember reincarnation. They talk about the horror of elves being raised by humans, lost to their people and their culture, only to find that the new "Forlorn" elf was a human until last week when a witch hexed him with a reincarnation hex. Wow, those humans. They really don't understand our ways and, um, yeah....

Asgetrion wrote:

Mairkurion {tm} wrote:

Suddenly, being a companion seems like a legitimate career choice.

Ha! I'd gladly accept you as my leafy slav... companion, old treant! Now, if we only could add the fiendish template to your stats...

Sorry, but somehow, you don't measure up to Hot Elven Babe.

** spoiler omitted **

"Yeah, nice bush lady" is likely your last words

OK, how many people are going to call their plant companions Russel? :)

I just want to go around breaking houses with my treant. That's all I'll do in my game and it will be glorious.