Hemaskas the Monk's page

"This spell calls the nearest wild animal of a particular type you designate (provided the animal's CR is equal to or less than your caster level) to seek you out."

What does "of a particular type mean". Say I wanted a tiger and was in the correct biome, would I have to call for a feline, and the GM gave me a leopard, or can I call for a tiger and only get a tiger (if there is a tiger present).

Also RAW can I use call animal on an animal right in front of me to improve its attitude
"When the called animal arrives, it approaches to within 5 feet of you and remains nearby for the duration of the spell. Its starting attitude is indifferent, modified by circumstances and interaction. "
Also I have some doubts on how call animal works in pfs? PFS by its nature tries to avoid random encounters and arbitrary gm decisions.

However it would seem from the spell description that the ultimate decider of whether an animal is available or not is completely up to the whim of the GM.

I do get the ability to check in advance so as not to waste the spell (I believe that this check is before I cast the spell not after?)
"Knowledge of the local fauna makes this spell more effective, and the GM may permit a Knowledge (nature) skill check (DC 15) to know what animals can be found in an area."

Why this is of concern to me is because
I am now attracted to the concept of a animal whisperer type druid who always has a different animal companion depending the region.´

To make my concept more effective, I have decided to give myself the trait gifted adept-call animal (+1 CL) and spell specialization-call animal (+2 CL).This allows me access to CR 4 animals at level 1 and so thus I expect resistance from GM. I understand that I still have to empathize them and I still have to persuade them to fight for me, but I have given my self 18 cha and am taking the human favorite class bonus to empathize. I am willing to act with restraint and also to allow the GM to roleplay the animal running away, being scared by undead, ... But I am afraid that wen I ask for anything even remotely powerful the GM will play it safe and give me nothing.

How can I make use of my character concept and investment without this being a frustration either for myself or the other players or the GM?

Hemaskas the Monk wrote:

Thanks for the idea Flutter!

But I am unsure if you can use call animal on vermin.

I would have never thought of using a pig that way!

Hmmm.. your vermin empathy ability doesn't let you do that. Not that familiar with blight druids...

You can pick up the vermin hearted feat to let you treat vermin (covers the centipedes ears such a nasty word) as animals. A little redundant with your vermin empathy ability though.

Hmm.... I am unsure if i can get vermin heart, because the prerequisite

Thanks for the idea Flutter!
But I am unsure if you can use call animal on vermin.

I would have never thought of using a pig that way!

thanks for all the replies.

I think I am looking for a way to turn the fluff I want my character to have to some advantage not necessarily an unfair advantage. I suppose a swarm at level 1 is unfair, but I do want my vermin empathy (which requires me to invest in my CHA) to be of some use

I was thinking, after reading the above posts, how many animals/vermin can I retain influence over in combat after having made them friendly via wild/vermin empathy, are they to be considered combat pets and thus be limited to one?

Would diplomacy be limited to the same restrictions when influencing more then one person? Can friendly NPCs be considered combat pets?

Humanoids that fight for you via charm person or diplomacy, do they count as combat pets? If so that might reduce the efficiency of charm person for a summoner.

After all as the animal/vermin are only under my influence, I still have to make rolls to command them and I fail by 5 or more, they may attack me, and so I am at some disadvantage here

Thanks for all the replies.. I can see now that buying 25 centipedes is not an option and anyway having a huge number of critters a swarm does not make!

I like the option of using summon swarm and vermin empathy

What about the problem of: can vermin with stats (i.e. like the stats of the house centipede or even a rat) be found using survival skill in likely locations in adventures when no such creatures are listed as monsters in the scenario?

My GM is saying that there might be such creatures but the ones you find are too small to be of use and that it is unfair (and against the rules) for him to have to make up exactly what vermin are available in any given location

Also another thing occurs to me, in the confirmation there are frogs mentioned in the pond where the oracle is, could I use wild empathy (if I had that, as I won't!) on said frogs and then use them as toads using stats as per the toad familiar?

also what if I came across two animals (or vermin) that were stated in an adventure and made them friendly using wild empathy (or used Charm animal/vermin) would I then only be able to fight using one of them?

Thanks for letting me know the sources

what about summoning natures ally for multiple creatures, does that put me past the limit of more then one combat animal? or if I cast animate dead?

Once again thanks for your opinion and replying

My dream is to roll up a Blight Druid that has his own vermin swarm from level 1.

I was hoping to use my Vermin Empathy ability and either find some vermin using my survival skill or buy them

House Centipedes are available on the paizo PRD for 1cp and I was thinking of buying 25 of them (the max that fits in one square)

But the GM I usually play with says that I am only allowed use one combat pet and also wants to know exactly what source the House Centipedes are in.

"During the course of a scenario, you may have one combat animal and as many noncombat animals as you like."

what makes an animal a combat animal as the house centipedes are not combat trained.. they also are not animals as they are vermin!

If I am not able to buy in advance vermin, what should the DC be to find vermin, there must be many of them in most of the scenarios that we play in PFS, can a GM just rule that there are no vermin in the dungeon or a forest we are passing, can a GM insist that the only vermin that are there are unstated vermin that cannot be used in combat because otherwise their stats would already be published in the adventure?

Can anyone else think of ways to get and keep for a whole adventure a multitude of vermin

Any other advise on the blight druid would be welcome and how do other players feel about playing alongside a blight Druid?