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I am getting ready to join a Pathfinder game for the first time and I am very excited about giving it a try. I am joining the group late so I will be starting at level 3 and while all of the classes have been rewritten I think I am going to go with a 1/2 orc DRUID.
As I start reading the special abilities I get "stumped" right at the start with NATURE BOND. This provides very cool options for the druid to start with but ... I am not sure what to go with.
I want the cool Domain power... but I want my animal companion as well.
So I am asking you... the experts... what is the conventional wisdom? Animal Companion or Cleric Domain?
Thanks
T
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I am getting ready to join a Pathfinder game for the first time and I am very excited about giving it a try. I am joining the group late so I will be starting at level 3 and while all of the classes have been rewritten I think I am going to go with a 1/2 orc DRUID.
As I start reading the special abilities I get "stumped" right at the start with NATURE BOND. This provides very cool options for the druid to start with but ... I am not sure what to go with.
I want the cool Domain power... but I want my animal companion as well.
So I am asking you... the experts... what is the conventional wisdom? Animal Companion or Cleric Domain?
Thanks
T
It depends on the character concept you have in mind. If you want the animal companion then go with it, but if you plan on taking any prestige classes remember you will be leaving your animal's bonus' behind. I have a druid who is taking legendary captain (stormwrack but it's a 3.5 savage tide campaign) and his animal companion is going to be stuck at a low druid level especially at higher levels.
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The Animal Domain allows you to have a (much, much weaker) Animal Companion, and be able to swap it out more readily for a different animal type.
It entirely depends on the campaign that you're headed into whether or not the ability to speak with and hold animals a few times a day is going to be really useful or a complete waste. You might want to seriously consider that, as these spells are really situational, while Fire, Earth, etc. tend to be more generally useful (for combat, anyway, which is generally a big deal).
If I were playing in a solo game, in a rural area, I'd be all over Animal for the ability to use Speak with Animals to 'gather information' and 'assemble the troops' and whatever. In other games, the ability to fling a bunch of Magic Stone spells each day might be handy (particularly if undead are on the horizon...).
Depends on the settings your DM is planning. My animal companion was left out of a lot of scenarios. My DM thought of it as a complication.
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Ironically, I believe Complete Adventurer had a feat called Nature Bond, which lets you add 3 effective druid levels when computing the strength of your animal companion...
A single-classed druid with animal companion and the Nature Bond feat would be much more effective (ok, maybe not, but much cooler IMO) than a naturey dude with an extra domain. I'd go further and invest in Mounted Combat, to protect the mount from incoming attacks, but that's just the clicky little specialist-builder in me talking... LOL! :P
Plus, Nature Bond allows you to get to the Dire Bear faster. Gotta have an animal companion that Improve Grabs things I say. Bane of enemy wizards type grabby McGrab Dire Bear thingy.. yeah.. cool!
Actually you need to double check that feat PDK, it only works up to your character level, it doesn't stack beyond it. So a straight druid gets no benefit from taking that feat.
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Abe's right. If you multiclass into another class, like fighter for example, your animal companion still gets stronger for 3 levels. I had a player who wanted that plus the beastmaster prestige class, which allows druid levels to stack for animal companions plus an additional 3 levels. He made a good argument to start the game with at 6th level with a dire lion (stating he'd have a +6). I told him I'd think it over then went over the rules until the next game. I even asked wizards for a rules clarification, and they told me the second sentence of this post. :-)
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[PDK note to self: check Nature Bond again...]
Ok, DHMBIFOM right now, but I will recheck, for the purposes of this discussion. For the purposes of my homecampaign though: it's all decided already! :) Rangers are at level -3, and Nature Bond bridges the gap to full druid level... and Druids with Nature Bond will get +3 effective level, and a gold star for sticking with their Animal Companion. Also, IMC, I've also houseruled that Druids can retain an Animal Companion they've awakened...
Just wow PDK, what do you give wizards, I might want in! ;D
However I would also point out that in the case of feats like Natural Bond the WotC answer was you apply them in the most beneficial manner for the player (this was addressed for the Practiced spellcaster feat as asked about the Ultimate Magus... which is usually a trap class).
So if the said character that wanted that Dire Lion, he would add the Natural Bond in before any other bonus to get up to class level, then add on anything that can raise it above class level, as this follows the rule that the Natural Bond doesn't raise it above class level (the things that follow do) and still gives the most benefit to the player...
However I point out what is good for the goose is good for the gander, so DM's use it to good effect too!
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You know Abraham... all druid PCs I've DMed ended up re-rolling another character around levels 13 or 14. *Every* single one of them constantly saw their animal companion die *everytime* the party entered combat (i.e. not only talking about boss fights, but the fights leading to the boss, and sometimes even random encounters on the road!!!)
Animals are weak D&D creatures. Very weak. They will almost always crap out at levels 10+ (i.e. good at low levels, fantastic at levels 5 to 8, but really, really crap after level 11/12/13 or so...) Compared to a 15th-level wizard, a 15th-level druid is a joke, animal companion or not.
So, my houserules on awaken/yes! and Nature_Bond/sure_whatevah have not overpowered the druids in my campaign at all, just merely gave a slight fighting chance to them. It adds an element of fantasy lacking from the druid class (i.e. they *should* be able to ride huge talking lions... if anyone could, it is they!!!)
I, in addition, strongly encourage druid PCs to outfit their pets with massive amounts of low level magic items (i.e. those +1 rings, cloaks, and amulets no one wants after level 10, I say "throw on the donkey!" :) )
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Addendum: most houserules I make are created out of the need to remove an annoying factor from my DMing duties. To me, rerolling a new animal companion every 5 min is annoying, it slows the game. Even moreso annoying is the blank look the player gives me after asking "Can I find a T-Rex around here" while the party is traipsing in some kind of northern tundra. I just hate it. So anything that will increase the staying power of animal companions is welcome in my games (I try to sway druids to take Mounted Combat and put points in the ride skill, for instance, so as to negate at least one attack from their mounts every round... note that "one attack" can be a disintegrate ray, and it's not hard to beat the opposed attack roll of a wizard if you max your ranks in ride...)
Cheers!
Oh I don't mind, from what I've read of your posts I figure that you have good reason to do as you did on houserules, I've just not had the problems you have had in my experience. Of course Different Tables = Different Games too.