Our group tries to stick to the rules as written as much as possible.
In looking at the Druid animal companions, there are changes between monster stat block and the animal companion that end up being very significant.
One example, Warcat animal companion.
Size Medium; Speed 40 ft.; AC +4 natural armor; Attack bite (1d6), 2 claws (1d4); Ability Scores Str 15, Dex 15, Con 14, Int 2, Wis 11, Cha 5; Special Attacks rake (1d4); SQ low-light vision, scent.
Size Large; AC +2 natural armor; Attack bite (1d8), 2 claws (1d6); Ability Scores Str +8, Dex –2, Con +4; Special Attacks grab, pounce, rake (1d6).
vs the monster entry
Melee bite +22 (2d6+12 plus grab), 2 claw +22 (1d8+12/19–20 plus rend)
Space 15 ft.; Reach 15 ft.
Special Attacks pounce, rend (2 claws, 1d8+18), trample (2d8, DC 30)
The change of Rend to Rake allows the 5 attacks when pouncing. (bite, 2 claws, 2 Rakes)
The change of Grab from the bite entry to the special attacks entry allows the initiation of Grab on all attacks instead of just bite.
Looking at other animal companion entries these changes look to be deliberate.
Relevant rules:
Pounce: When a creature with this special attack makes a charge, it can make a full attack (including rake attacks if the creature also has the rake ability).
Grab: If the grab was not intended to apply to all attacks, then why not create the stat block like other animal companions
Grizzly Bear: Attack bite (1d8), 2 claws (1d6 plus grab) )
Giganotosaurus: ( Special Qualities grab (bite). )
Chimpanzee: Attack bite (1d6), slam (1d4 plus grab);
edit:
Yes, variations of questions on grab have been discussed many many time.
https://www.google.com/search?q=site%3Apaizo.com+grab+rules
Here is the situation. We have a 9th level elf ranger in the campaign created with a 20pt pathfinder buy that is dominating the fights with the amount of damage he is doing.
RangerBuild:
Str 14
Dex 22
Con 12
Int 12
Wis 12
Cha 8
Magic Items:
Efficient Quiver
Longbow +1 (Composite/Shock/Strength Rating+2)
Longsword+1
Ring of Protection+1
Snakeskin Shirt(+2AC/+2DEX/+2 SAVvsPOISON)
His attack with his bow (< 30') is 18. A standard course of action is for the sorcerer to cast Haste (player figures with the extra Ranger attack this is best damaging spell) and the cleric to use his good domain to make the Ranger's bow Holy.
This results in the following full attack:
14/14 Rapid Shot + Many Shot
14 Hasted Attack
9
The other day, all of the attacks hit an ogre barbarian.
4(d8 + 8 + 3d6) + d8 + 3 + 3d6 =
18 + 32 + 42 + 4.5 + 3 + 10.5 = 110 points of damage on average...
Actually, there was critical in that...but that is overkill for my question.
The holy doesn't happen that often. The haste happens a lot with the sorcerer casting it. The first time I saw this happened I was suspicious about the stacking of Many Shot with Rapid Shot but it seems legal. Part of the problem may be that the Ranger is fairly optimized but the other characters are not. I'm sure that folks could come up with some 9th level [put your class here] builds that could show the same damage potential.
I'm inclined to leave things as is. I was wondering what other folks have thought about the current archery rules/feats and if they have made any adjustments.
Seems a bit insane that the party will have to do (325 + 152) points of damage to take this guy out due to Life Bond. OTOH he doesn't do a huge amount of damage...a good chance the party (a virtual army) will meet him tonight.
I think that the CR is off, any other questions or if you notice other mistakes, let me know...
thanks
Hawk Of May.
p.s.
Looking at spells, I noticed he can't cast 5 level summoner spells due to a 14 charisma...
Edit: Took W Sepulcher's advice, large Morning Star and corrected damage.
An eidolon grows in size, becoming Huge. The eidolon gains a +8 bonus to Strength, a +4 bonus to Constitution, and a +3 bonus to its natural armor. It takes a –2 penalty to its Dexterity. This size change also give the creature a –1 size penalty to its AC and attack rolls, a +1 bonus to its CMB and CMD, a –2 penalty on Fly skill checks, and a –4 penalty on Stealth skill checks. The eidolon must possess the Large evolution before selecting this evolution, and the bonuses and penalties stack. The summoner must be at least 11th level before selecting this evolution.
To use Strength as the example, this means a huge Eidolon has a total of +16 Strength bonus from the Evolutions plus another 4 str bonus from the 11th level summoner?
Dinosaur (Deinonychus, Velociraptor) 9th Level 8d8+32
Bab: 12
Statistics: Size Small; Speed 60 ft.; AC +2 natural armor;
Attack 12, 2 talons (2d6), 10, bite (1d6), 10, 2 claws (1d4);
Ability: Str 20, Dex 18, Con 19, Int 2, Wis 12, Cha 14
Special Qualities: low-light vision, scent, pounce, multi-attack
Feats: Weapon Focus (Talon), Improved Natural Attack(Talon), Armor Prof (Light), Run
Skills Acrobatics +10 (+22 jump), Perception +14, Stealth +15;
Kobold 9th Cavalier, Order of the Sword
Str 16, Dex 14, Con 12, Int 8, Wis 10, Cha 8;
+1 BreastPlate, +1 Heavy Shield, Javelin of Lightning, Potion of Barkskin +3, +1 Lance
Challenge +3d6; Oath Of Loyalty (to Tribe), Oath of Vengence (Humans)
AC: 24 ((+1 Breatplate 7), size + 1,Natural Armor + 3,shield + 2,dex +1,dodge)
Handle Animal (Cha): 11, Intimidate(Cha): 11, Ride (Dex): 15 (9 + 3 + 2 (Skill Focus) + 2 (Dex)) (-3 Armor Check 1/2 for Mounted Mastery for -1? -2?).
Attacks, +1 Lance (d6 + 3) 14/9, Lance Charge 16/11 (3d6 + 24 (+ 3d6 challenge), 20x3)
Order of the Sword: By My Honor (Ex), Mounted Mastery (Ex)
oath, order, oath, Oath
Feats: Dodge, Mounted Combat, Ride-By Attack, Skill Focus (Ride), Spirited Charge, Trample While, Weapon Focus (Lance), Mobility
I created a 9th level (Kobold) cavalier for the fun of it and because I needed more monsters to create a challenge for the party. The encounter consisted of 3 Stone giants and the Kobold Cavalier. Essentially the party neutralized the Cavalier with spells while dealing with the Stone giants.
Round 1: Mage acts first casting 'Black Tentacles' on 2 giants and the cavalier. The giants get themselves out of the tentacles. Heavy armor and Melee types (Dwarf Paladin, Dwarf Cleric and Human Barbarian) close in. Cavalier fails to get out of the tentacles.
Round 2: Mage casts haste. Melee begins between giants and the party. Cavalier extracts himself from the tentacles.
Round 3: Mage casts fly. Melee continues between the party and giants. Kobold calls out challenge, charges the dwarf cleric with a Ride by Attack and misses. Out of Game the group asks if the Kobold is a cavalier. I dodge the question but give a description of the Kobold with the Sihedron Rune on his shield.
Round 4: Mage decides to cast Hypnotic Pattern the Kobold...Kobold fails his save. (I'm thinking I made a mistake here. Hypnotic pattern affects a max of 10 HD. When the Raptor saved against the spell that used up the spell, it does not continue on until the 10HD max is reached.). Melee continues...
Round 5: I rule that as long as no one bothers raptor mount it will not go out of its way to attack anyone. Kobold is still out of the battle. Melee continues between party and giants but will be over soon.
Round 6: Mage decides to magic missile the raptor mount. Since the mount could not attack the mage I ruled that it ran off in a direction that took it the farthest away possible from party.
The party turns its attention to other urgent matters (i.e. more giants elsewhere). Overall a pretty anti-climatic introduction of the cavalier into my campaign.
A preface first. We have a good sized group of folks that meet and play Pathfinder (currently) every two weeks. The part consists of:
2 Clerics, 1 Ranger, 1 Beast Master(adjusted from 3.5: Druid 4, Fighter 1, BM 2), 1 Rogue, 1 Sorcerer, 1 Wizard and 1 Barbarian. Everyone is 7th level. Most of the characters have decent hit points (I allow one roll for HP or take the average
Both clerics have "Selective Channeling", 14 Charisma and the Heavy Armor Proficiency. The ability to heal all 8 characters for 4d6 of damage ten times a day is making most of the combats a pushover for the party. That is an average of 1,120 (8*3.5*4*10) hit points healed per day. I'm having a tough time creating reasonable encounters.
An example of the problem is the fight with Grazuul in "Hook Mountain Massacre". The ogre's leading up to this fight were mere speed bumps. For this battle I added a bigger brother to Grazuul:
Drazuul Male Troll; Large Giant Giant6 Fighter6 Barbarian1
HitDice:(6d8)+(6d10)+(1d12)+130 HitPoints:206
Initiative:+2 Speed:Walk 40 ft.
AC:20(touch 11,flat-footed 18)
Attacks:*Bite+15;*Claw+20/+20;Damage:*Bite1d6+4;*Claw1d8+11;
Vision:Darkvision (90 ft.), Low-lightFace/Reach:10 ft./10 ft.
Special Attacks:Rage, Rend
Special Qualities:Fast Movement, Giant Traits, Regeneration, Scent
Saves:Fortitude:+22,Reflex:+6,Will:+3
Abilities:STR 28(+9),DEX 14(+2),CON 30(+10),INT 6(-2),WIS 8(-1),CHA 6(-2)
Feats: Combat Reflexes, Dodge, Improved Bull Rush, Improved Critical (Bite), Improved Natural Attack (Claw), Power Attack, Weapon Focus (Bite, Claw), Weapon Specialization (Claw)
Alignment:Chaotic Evil
CMB: 21
CMD: 28
Possessions: Chain Shirt
I warned the group that I would probably kill someone with this fight. I should not have worried. Although it was a tough fight the only real threat of death came from one the trolls attempting to drag one of the dwarves into the water. I think the party felt justifiably good about beating this fight. The ranger's favored enemy did help in this case.
It makes me wonder if the channel energy ability was really pitched towards the average party size of 4 and not the kind of group we have (i.e. 8 characters). I'm hoping that as the party gains levels the effect of channel energy will have less of an impact. Scaling encounters in 3.0/3.5 was something I had to do for this large group but the channel energy SU ability just seems to have made it worse.
