So the party druid lost his animal companion to a chain of bad tactical decisions in combat yesterday. In the meantime both of the other players decided they were going to get Leadership next level, so I will have to introduce all of three new companions to the party very soon, and I would like some roleplaying advice on how to do this concincingly.
Unfortunately I cannot tell you yet what the cohorts are going to be, the AC however will probably be a bear, just like its predecessor.
Are they affiliated with any sort of organization or are they in a town? Pretty easy if so, they just "hire" or entice the NPCs into joining.
AC is easy. Your Druid can cast Summon Fuzzy Woodland Creature as many times as his spell slots allow in a day.
Not too far of a stretch to say he uses Summon Fuzzy Woodland Creature and makes it a more permanent bond.
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The things I wrote down below might not be canon, it is an aspect how I would roleplay the situation.
The player might be thinking when his/her animal companion is buried, its vessel will rot and disintegrate over time, and provide other living plants and animals some life as in means of a fertilizer.
So, doing a druidic ritual over its rest place, might accelerate the process of this, and an animal (the new one) sense this spiritual power and wander around forest (or plains), find out the druid, and from there, they can bond, like giving the animal his scent, giving something to eat, commune with it, and I assume some chanting might be required to finish the ritual.
Depending on your definition of Druidic Powers as the GM, whether it is Nature Gods (Gozreh), or Spirit of Nature Philosophy (The Green Faith in Golarion), player might chant some prayers, or utter some atavistic/naturistic voices. If you want to include Symbolism, drawing runes or nature symbols on soil might also help.
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About the henchmen, of course it is not a Supernatural thing, just make sure when they are at a bar in a city, make some wanna-be-hero youngsters show up to heroes, compliment their skills and ask to follow their lead in order to cleanse evil / do good deeds / be famous & rich. Make sure that their loyalty is not absolute, and their alignment need not be the same.
Alternatively, your players can look for henchmens actively, putting up announcements around, and evaluate the applicants. There is a better chance of getting a same alignment this way, thus a higher Leadership score.
have the AC bear chase the new NPCs into the PC's camp.
or have the NPCs capture the AC bear in a trap, and the PCs get the unravel the situation,
the NPCs recognizing the relevant PCs on the spot, and being immediately prone to aiding them/joining up/etc.
I really like these last two posts they make the whole process a little more interesting.
Point of notice: the characters are currently in the south-eastern Cinderlands, Varisia, close to the border to Belkzen, so there is not a lot of wildlife, or civilization going on. (they are currently headed for a village that is besieged by the undead remains of countless conflicts with raiding orc parties and thus pretty isolated)
Yes but the animal companion entry under druid says "24 hour ceremony in an area where the animal type would be found"
So no arctic adventure summoning in a dinosaur. You are either limited by an animal companion choice that is native to your surroundings, or you are taking a little side-trip somewhere to find the animal you want.
(this is a rule that many GM's will happily handwave away after killing a beloved pet, but it is there)
So it turns out the player was more attached to this bear than I thought, to a point where he seems to have lost interest in his druid character after the death of the bear, so I'm considering giving him a freebie on this one, and to have the mysterious cube the players woke up next to on the first session bring the bear back.
The druid wakes up, and the ghostly form of his former companion is licking his face. The rest of the group is asleep still. Surprised by the presence of his lost ally, the druid _____________. The ghost bear continues to do it's job as a guardian for the Druid, following him everywhere, chasing after enemies, fetching his slippers. The rest of the party seem confused by the druids continued belief his bear is there still, and real. After all they buried the bear. At some point, when the Druid finds a creature that suits his fancy, the bear's ghost melds into the new creature, and viola, a new Animal Companion is born.
Let the player RP out his sadness over the loss of his Animal Companion. When he is ready, give him a real one back.
Instead of giving him a new bear, there is always the options of Raise Animal Companion.
If the spell level is too high for them currently (or the cost of buying it is too steep), you could make a custom ritual or some such to do the same (preferebly involving a side-quest to obtain the necessary knowledge/materials).
So, I have a druid who has lost a couple of animal companions. The first time my druid had to hunt down and slay the giant crocodile that ate the companion (my druid was busy saving the party sorcerer from an identical fate at the time) to recover the remains.
She then spent a couple of hours ritually saying goodbye to her faithful friend and companion, including preparing and singing a song of farewell and communing with nature. She then performed the 24 hour ritual to gain a new animal companion and spent some time with the new animal companion while the rest of the party did some shopping in town.
I thought it was all pretty cool and interesting. It was a role playing fiesta.
But the rest of the players were like "get over it already" and expressed no real interest in role playing the situation in spite of the number of times the animal companion had saved their own butts, including the sorcerer, for whom the lost animal companion essentially sacrificed himself to save.
So after that when my druid lost her second animal companion it was pretty much, "we bury him and spend 24 hours summoning a new one." Which I personally think is sort of sad, but that's how the group wants to do it.
That is totally sad.
That is totally sad.
Well, generally speaking it's a really good group, but for some reason they tend to treat cohorts, animal companions, mounts and other "hangers on" as fodder for jokes and/or sexual innuendo, not as actual characters to interact with. I wish that weren't the case, but it's a small price to pay for playing with such a good group.
The druid wakes up, and the ghostly form of his former companion is licking his face. The rest of the group is asleep still. Surprised by the presence of his lost ally, the druid _____________. The ghost bear continues to do it's job as a guardian for the Druid, following him everywhere, chasing after enemies, fetching his slippers. The rest of the party seem confused by the druids continued belief his bear is there still, and real. After all they buried the bear. At some point, when the Druid finds a creature that suits his fancy, the bear's ghost melds into the new creature, and viola, a new Animal Companion is born.
Let the player RP out his sadness over the loss of his Animal Companion. When he is ready, give him a real one back.
I really like this !!!
To OP: As for the cohorts, does your character have befriend some NPC or have relative that coul be adventurers? This could be a good way to introduce your first cohorts.
Cohort: By some strange luck the pc meets a childhood friend who happens to have no urgent tasks at hand and offers to join the party to get to chat about the old times.
That is totally sad.Well, generally speaking it's a really good group, but for some reason they tend to treat cohorts, animal companions, mounts and other "hangers on" as fodder for jokes and/or sexual innuendo, not as actual characters to interact with. I wish that weren't the case, but it's a small price to pay for playing with such a good group.
Ah well. I thought your ideas for saying goodbye to the old and welcoming the new were pretty sweet, anyhow.