Ranger's Animal Companion


Alpha Release 3 General Discussion


I noticed the ranger's animal companion is still 1/2 level= druid level. Is there any chance this can be changed to level-3= druid level? Here is why...

The character in Pathfinder RPG are a bit stronger. The enemies with level will be a bit stronger too. What about animal companions? Nope. Now I do understand that it could make for great roleplaying..

You killed Nightwing XIII, prepare to die!!

But I would imagine it would get old quickly.

Dark Archive

Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Charter Superscriber

I really don't see any problem with making it level -3, otherwise they're pretty useless in combat.


Animal companion gets favored enemy bonus now which will help him a lot versus favored enemies. Also, there is a class option in the gazeteer

Pathfinder Gazetteer wrote:

Class Abilities: Rangers who join a military unit sometimes find it difficult to keep a more exotic animal

companion and instead choose a different path. These rangers focus their training on a single animal, to the exclusion of all others, forming a tight bond. This ability replaces the wild empathy ability.
Enhanced Companion (Ex): Upon gaining an animal companion at 4th level, the ranger must choose a single type of animal. The ranger cannot call a different animal companion. The ranger’s effective druid level is equal to the ranger’s level –2 (instead of the normal 1/2) for that type of animal. This animal must be on the basic list of companions that can be chosen at 4th level and cannot be changed.

So... not exactly what you are looking for but you can get a seriously kick a$$ riding dog for a halfling ranger with this.

I know not what you are looking for. It would be nice to see this in core. Or better without limiting it to level one companions.


Dennis da Ogre wrote:
Animal companion gets favored enemy bonus now which will help him a lot versus favored enemies.

I really like the sound of this. Your companion learn to hate those who you hate. But the real problem is the defense of the companion. At 20th level ranger the best offensive companion you could get is a polar bear. 8HD and CR4 68hp. I see the problem being hp(what out for area spells and saves. Additional HD would help a great deal. At level-3. A 20th level ranger could have a dire tiger 16 HD CR8 and 120hp. Nothing that is too earth shattering but the tiger would have a better chance at survival. Also to put this in perspective a 20th level druid (or 17th for that matter) could use a summon nature's ally IX spell to summon 2-5 (d4+1) dire tigers. A 20th level mage (or 17th again) could summon 1d3 fiendish dire tigers.


Yea, overall the Ranger's Animal Companion is relatively sucky by the time you get one and never really useful for anything other than scouting, which usually ends up in its death as well.

I'm not sure what the concept/purpose of the Ranger's Animal Companion was really suppose to be since a Ranger is a Melee Combat class and its Animal Companions are basically "minions with 1 hitpoint" compared to the level 4+ monsters and traps you'll be seeing.

I suppose if you get the free horse or camel, but they arent really that expensive to just buy. It's something like 95gp for a Horse with all the equipment in 3.5E. (saddle/saddle bags/bit & bridle, etc.) It's likely you won't need a mount for the first few adventures anyway.

Even giving the Animal Companion the Ranger's "Favored Enemy Bonus" does do a whole lot to improve it. That's great if your fighting you Favored Enemy, but what about the other 90-95% of the adventure(s)? Most DMs are not going to rearrange their entire campaign simply because you hate Goblins or Undead or whatever. They have to make it interesting for everyone playing, not just the Ranger, his minion and his hatred.

They should provide their innate "ALERTNESS" ability that all animals have, similar to the Wizard's Familiar, but for a different reason being as Rangers do not have a mental link. Example being a Riding Dog, their spot and listen bonuses are relatively high and without house ruling it that they "add to yours" or "get their own" perception check, they are just another 2HD mouth to feed, better go skill up that survival.

Also, there is suppose to be a "BOND" with said Animal Companion. To the point where your character is suppose to grieve when it dies. So sending them out to be smashed flat and then just resummoning Sophie the Snake III, seems a bit lacking from the original intent of an Animal Companion. I had this problem recently with my Kobold Druid and his Boar Mount. The DM and I looked through the rules to try and figure out why the Dire Boar is ...well... Dire.

Long story short, the Dire template does not exist from what we could tell and at level 7 a Druid with a Boar seems kinda silly when you can apparently dismiss the Boar and summon a Dire Boar which has like 31 STR I think. We have house ruled the Boar so he increases appropriately from level 1 to 7 and still be useful as a Companion. Yes, normally the Boar is a level 4 companion even for a druid, but the only difference between him and the Wolf is 1HD, High Natural Armor( 6 I think), and 1d8 damage, so we lowered those proportionately so he could be started with. (2HD, 4 Nat AC, 1d6 dmg.)

This especially comes into play when the Companion is suppose to be the character's best friend or super duper trusty steed. To simply dismiss the Boar whose your loyal friend and steed to summon a Dire Boar, beacuse he's better and the PHB says I can... seems kinda cold and heartless, not to mention not very realistic.

I would love to see the Ranger get something MORE than just a minion, but at what point does the class itself start to take hits for his Companion to be better. The other option that I mentioned above would be to have them provide a bonus, most likely "ALERTNESS".

Silver Crusade

Baramay has a good idea with the ranger level -3 = effective druid level. Fractional effective levels become ineffective rather quickly. A paladin channels energy as a cleric -3, and this never has been a balance issue. Some tweaking with the level gap might be necessary, but aside from that, this should work well.


Shadewest wrote:
Baramay has a good idea with the ranger level -3 = effective druid level. Fractional effective levels become ineffective rather quickly. A paladin channels energy as a cleric -3, and this never has been a balance issue. Some tweaking with the level gap might be necessary, but aside from that, this should work well.

I completely agree.

Scarab Sages

Did anyone else notice the class substitution level? Just pick an animal type, forget about wild empathy, and voila, an animal companion at your ranger level -2. Not bad I'd say.

Scarab Sages

I think this would be a good balancer. 1/2 ranger level is not in line with similar abilities. It would help make Rangers even more desirable.

Although that Feat is really nice. Especially for a Talentan dino rider.


We imported Nelbin, my level 5 gnome ranger, to Pathfinder alpha 3. We used racial starting hit points so Nelbin's hit points increased from 29 to 43hp. But my loyal steed husky has only 13hp :(. I wonder should we add some hp to animal companion too and how much that would be for medium animal.

Any experience?


LordWee wrote:

We imported Nelbin, my level 5 gnome ranger, to Pathfinder alpha 3. We used racial starting hit points so Nelbin's hit points increased from 29 to 43hp. But my loyal steed husky has only 13hp :(. I wonder should we add some hp to animal companion too and how much that would be for medium animal.

Any experience?

At 6th level your ranger qualifies as a 3rd level druid with regard to animal companions under current rules or my suggestion. This gives a +2 HD bonus, +2 natural armor, +1 str/dex adj, share spells and evasion. Until that time I suggest keeping him out of major fights and helping flank when facing many enemies. At 8th level your have some good spells to share like barkskin, healing and bear's endurance.

In Complete Adventurer there is a feat that allow you to add +3 to your effective druid level as long as it does not go beyond your character level.


SRD wrote:

THE DRUID’S ANIMAL COMPANION

A druid’s animal companion is superior to a normal animal of its kind and has special powers, as described below.

Class Level Bonus HD Natural Armor Adj. Str/Dex Adj. Bonus Tricks Special
1st–2nd +0 +0 +0 1 Link, share spells
3rd–5th +2 +2 +1 2 Evasion
6th–8th +4 +4 +2 3 Devotion
9th–11th +6 +6 +3 4 Multiattack
12th–14th +8 +8 +4 5
15th–17th +10 +10 +5 6 Improved evasion
18th–20th +12 +12 +6 7

Animal Companion Basics: Use the base statistics for a creature of the companion’s kind, but make the following changes.

Class Level: The character’s druid level. The druid’s class levels stack with levels of any other classes that are entitled to an animal companion for the purpose of determining the companion’s abilities and the alternative lists available to the character.

Bonus HD: Extra eight-sided (d8) Hit Dice, each of which gains a Constitution modifier, as normal. Remember that extra Hit Dice improve the animal companion’s base attack and base save bonuses. An animal companion’s base attack bonus is the same as that of a druid of a level equal to the animal’s HD. An animal companion has good Fortitude and Reflex saves (treat it as a character whose level equals the animal’s HD). An animal companion gains additional skill points and feats for bonus HD as normal for advancing a monster’s Hit Dice.

and

SRD, Advancing Monsters wrote:

SIZE INCREASES

A creature may become larger when its Hit Dice are increased (the new size is noted parenthetically in the monster’s Advancement entry).

A size increase affects any special ability the creature has that is affected by size. Increased size also affects a creature’s ability scores, AC, attack bonuses, and damage values as indicated on the tables below.

Table: Changes to Statistics by Size

Old Size* New Size Str Dex Con Natural Armor AC/Attack
Fine Diminutive Same –2 Same Same –4
Diminutive Tiny +2 –2 Same Same –2
Tiny Small +4 –2 Same Same –1
Small Medium +4 –2 +2 Same –1
Medium Large +8 –2 +4 +2 –1
Large Huge +8 –2 +4 +3 –1
Huge Gargantuan +8 Same +4 +4 –2
Gargantuan Colossal +8 Same +4 +5 –4
* Repeat the adjustment if the creature moves up more than one size.

Table: Increased Damage By Size

Old Damage (Each)* New Damage
1d2 1d3
1d3 1d4
1d4 1d6
1d6 1d8
1d8 2d6
1d10 2d8
2d6 3d6
2d8 3d8
* Repeat the adjustment if the creature moves up more than one size category.

I would imagine that this would allow some animal companions (wolves, bears, eagles, etc) to advance in size as they gain the additional hit die. That'd keep the survivability rate up there...


I thought about ranger level -3 for effective druid level myself. Probably by far the easiest solution.
I understand that a druid has a greater bound to nature than rangers, but druids are one of the most powerful classes and rangers are clearly not. Why do druids need a powerful animal companion in addition to their other good powers? Rangers could use it much more.

Dark Archive

Melayl wrote:
SRD wrote:

THE DRUID’S ANIMAL COMPANION

Bonus HD: Extra eight-sided (d8) Hit Dice, each of which gains a Constitution modifier, as normal. Remember that extra Hit Dice improve the animal companion’s base attack and base save bonuses. An animal companion’s base attack bonus is the same as that of a druid of a level equal to the animal’s HD. An animal companion has good Fortitude and Reflex saves (treat it as a character whose level equals the animal’s HD). An animal companion gains additional skill points and feats for bonus HD as normal for advancing a monster’s Hit Dice.

The interpretation I've gotten from RPGA officials is that the animal companion doesn't get anything not mentioned here. So the extra ability point for each 4 HD, for instance, is right out, as are size increases.

Given that many size increases can give +8 Strength or +3 Natural Armor or whatever, it seems very likely that this is the intended ruling, even if the SRD doesn't specifically mention it here.

When I've played a Ranger, I swap out Animal Companion for Distracting Attack (PHB 2) or something. It's just a pain in the butt, otherwise, to keep track of a creature that will never be of any real use and it's generally ineffective actions. It's just tough enough that you'd want to at least *try* to use it in a fight (unlike a Familiar, where you'd know better), but just weak enough that all it will do is frustrate you and waste time at the table.

With the Feat that gives +3 level for Animal Companion strength, it's potentially great at the lower levels, but the Animal Companion still will only be the equivalent of a 13th level Druid's Companion by 20th level, and have fallen behind again.

Anywho, best Feat choice ever when your Companion hits the appropriate HD break? Light Armor Proficiency. So nice to have a war dog in chain-shirt-barding with an AC 20ish at 4th level.

Grand Lodge

Pathfinder PF Special Edition, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
Melayl wrote:


I would imagine that this would allow some animal companions (wolves, bears, eagles, etc) to advance in size as they gain the additional hit die. That'd keep the survivability rate up there...

Save that animal companions do not increase in size from the bonus HD. The badly misnamed animal advancement rules, refer to creating advanced versions of the standard animal, monster etc., not changing an actual critter.


I understand that from a strict interpretation of the rules, you can't do it. I thought, however, that we were looking for ways to make animal companions useful and survivable at higher levels. I tend to view the rules more as guidelines, though.

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