William Timmins's page

If I'm a Fighter with Leadership and want my horse as a Cohort... do I just use animal companion rules? If so, druid level = my level? My level -3? ??

Some of the wording in certain places (IE: dragonne) possibly suggest this, but I'm not aware of any definitive rule on the matter.

Bolas are ranged trip. In 3.5, far shot doubles range, which means max range for a bola becomes 100 ft. In PF, no, bonuses halved, so max range is 50 ft. Also, it used to be 'ranged touch, then resolve trip.' Now it's just a trip, at range, so it's A) harder to do, and B) the range penalty goes to the trip

It used to be you could probably just skip the Exotic Weapon Proficiency, because that's all of -4 on a touch attack.
Now, you need EWP and your chance of success is lower because range penalties apply to the trip attempt.

Am I missing something?

Granted, most people overlook the bola completely so I'm not sure how many people CARE...

In 3.5e:
Enlarge person increases damage of melee and projectile weapons, but not thrown weapons.
Reduce person decreases damage of melee and projectile weapons, but not thrown weapons.

In PF:
Enlarge person increases damage of melee weapons, but not projectile or thrown weapons.
Reduce person decreases damage of melee and projectile weapons, but not thrown weapons.

Anyone know the logic behind the change?

After going over animal companions again and again, I'm forced to conclude they're just not even close to balanced.

Proposal:
Use base animal. Animal gets a 'companion penalty' equal to CR (fractions become 0). This penalty reduces effective druid level on the companion chart. This penalty cannot be offset by Natural bond.
At DM's option, one can have a smaller version of a companion with one less penalty and a larger version with one more.

So:
Badger and dog use regular druid level
Horse and wolf use druid level -1.
A large wolf is -2.
Velociraptor is -2.
Deinonychus is -3.

Is there any point to taking a dog as a companion over a wolf, other than willingness to sacrifice for your art?

Wolf is larger, has trip, slightly better stats until level 4, at which point the dog's stats are slightly better than the wolf, until 7, at which point the wolf dominates again.

Am I missing something?

Another idea, based on similar principles and more 'PF friendly.'

For Aberrations, Animals, Constructs, Fey, Humanoids, Ooze, Plant and Vermin:
Take the lesser of: HD, half of CR (Rounded down).
Subtract this value from CR and subtract twice this amount from HD
If HD is no more than twice CR, this will equalize the two.

For Magical Beasts and Monstrous Humanoids:
Take the lesser of: 1/4 HD, 1/4 of CR (Rounded down).
Subtract this value from CR and subtract four times this amount from HD.
If HD is no more than four times CR, this will equalize the two.

Example:
Ogre: CR 3, 4 Humanoid HD
Lesser of 4, half of 3 CR or 1, so ‘1’.
Ogre becomes: CR 2, 2 Humanoid HD. The ogre is treated as a 2nd level character.

While I don't agree with Paizo's CR = level equivalent idea, this is consistent.
The ogre trades away 2 levels of fighter (+2 hp, armor, fighter abilities, feats) or 2 levels of barbarian (+4 hp, some armor, skills, rage, etc.) in exchange for a big boost to (some) stats and permanently/undispellably Large size. (Note that you can have permanent Enlarge Person cast on you for about 3k or so)