Wieke's page

You made a few errors, you forgot to add in the Wolf's correct strength modifier (it gets 1.5 * its strength on damage) it also doesn't need to take armor proficiency since the only penalty is a -2 to a few skills on the armor you chose. Freeing it up to take Weapon Focus equaling the Cat's Bab and the 7th level doesn't take into account the Boon Companion feat.

Ah yes totally spaced on the damage multiplier, that does increase it's damage quite a bit. But regarding Armor Proficiency if the feat description is to be believed the armor check penalty will be applied to it's attacks if it's untrained. Granted you could just give it a mitrall chainshirt barding, that may be the better choice. Though what feat should be taken instead? Remember you can't have the companion pick a feat with a bab +1 requirment at that lvl. (Dodge, improved natural armor, toughness maybe?)

Which kicks the wolf up to where he gets Multi Attack for 2 attacks doing 1D8+9.
Improved Drag ? Why? Take Cleave, Ability Focus (trip) and Vital Strike to really put the hurt on.

Yeah cleave would be a possibility, I just wanted to make use of the high CMB. Vital Strike requires bab +6, which the animal companion doesn't have at that point. Ability Focus only applies to special attacks (not sure trip qualifies) and increases the DC that needs to be saved against (which trip doesn't have). So I'm not sure how that's supposed to work. Mmm, would cleave let you trip both opponents? If so it would definitely be more useful than improved drag.

Also forgot to give them 1 rank in the Linguistics skill so they'd learn common. And thanks for pointing pointing out Boon Companion, didn't know that feat existed. (Shame it ain't core, my DM probably wouldn't allow it.)

Just her to pitch in my 2 cp and share the fruits of my labour...

So I am trying to decide what animal companion to choose for my ranger. Found this thread and a ranged guide and because I didn't find a conclusive answer (not to mention that my preferences might be differ) I decided to stat the possible animals.

I am comparing the Small Cat and Wolf animal compantions because I'm limited to the list mentioned Hunter's Bond description and disregarded the others because of personal preference, obvious inferiority and incomparability with the campaign setting.

Because I had the wolf pick up armor proficiency I decided to also give them barding. Because I've got no idea of the character wealth by level in pathfinder I just bought what seemed right.

First off the animal companion at lvl 4 (when you acquire it).

In and out of combat the cat seems the most useful. It is only outdone in the damage (though probably not in case of a full attack) and HP. Granted the skills aren't really chosen to fit the wolf.

Note that at lvl 5 the cat picks up weapon finesse (furthering the gap between the attack bonusses even more) and the wolf power attack (mostly in preparation for later levels).

At level 7 the wolf gets improved. This can either be done by applying the improvements found in the list of animal companion stats or the alternative, increasing dex & con by 2. I decided to stat both possibilities.

We quickly dismiss the wolf as it is outdone or matched by either cat (except for the damage when compared to the alternative cat). The alternative cat seems better, it is only outdone by the normal cat in the damage and CMD departments. Quite frankly none of the damage seems really impressive, sure it might be nice but tripping & flanking an enemy so the fighter can finish it seems more useful. And since the alternative cat has the highest mobility (acrobatics skill) and CMB it seems to be the most useful one. And since it's stealth is also quite high there would be no objection to having it tag along.

Now for form I've also statted the animal compantions at ranger lvl 10, when the wolf would get it's improvement. Not that I'm especially concerned with play at this level, it's doubtful our campaign lasts that long (though I hope it does).

I gave the cats rings of protection to counter the breastplate's cost relative to the mitral shirts.

So finally the wolf seems to be getting competitive. First off normal cat vs alternative the only advantage normal has is damage, but alternative could use power attack and still have a higher attack roll. So that round goes to the alternative cat.

Wolf vs alternative cat, wolf has damage (though not by much considering alternative cat's power attack & full attack options), HP, CMB, CMD and could be used as a mount. The alternative cat has AC, attack, saves and a bit higher usefull skills. Here I would think they are pretty much equal (none of the differences seems to be that substantial).

My personal preference is the alternative small cat, mostly because it would start out useful and I'd prefer not switching animal companions mid campaign (rpwise etc). Not to mention that I expect my character to do a lot of scouting, and with a high stealth the small cat could at least tag along. (Also, the mental image of a small ninja-like cat bouncing around the battlefield scratching enemies and tripping them up appeals to me. And I already have a name, which usually takes a long time with me.)

Optimal solution? Start of with the small cat, don't increase it's size (go for the alternative) at lvl 7. Then either keep it or swap it for a huge wolf at lvl 10.