Hello all,
I had this posted in a different thread, but it never garnered an answer so I thought I'd put into its own thread.
After playing druids in 2nd, 3rd, 3.5, and soon to be a druid in a Pathfinder (Currently playing an evoker in the Pathfinder modules)game set in the Forgotten Realms; I have concerns about the animal companions once they hit mid levels and higher.
As we gain levels we come upon more nasties with tougher things that we need to bypass such as damage reduction. Now under 3.5 it was difficult for them to be of any use versus tough opponents due to not having Silvered/Cold iron/Adamantine/etc. weapons. Even Wildshaping had this disadvantage, thus making the druid weaker and more of a spell caster in many situations even with the magic fang family of spells. I am wondering if with the new ruling in PF to have certain magical attack bonuses = bypassing damage reduction types [in example: Cold Iron/Silver = +3; Adamantine = +4; Alignment Based = +5] takes care of this concern?
We have not playtested far enough in to see the results of this, but I will be converting my 8th level Druid(7 levels)/Ranger(1 level) over to Pathfinder as we adopt the rule set for our midlevel Forgotten Realms campaign. The Druid has a Dire Ape animal companion that I will be using.
Also a quick question for wildshape. If in a dire ape form (or any humanoid form for that matter), can a druid take off his magic items prior to shaping and then put them on again due to having a roughly human shape? For example: Let's say a 20th level druid has the following gear:
--Wild platemail +3 (Allows druid to shape shift and still receive the base and magical armor bonuses, just no other abilities) while the armor merges into the druid's form
--Belt/girdle of Giant Strength
--Ring of invisibility
--Ring of Protection
--Head Band of wisdom
--Scimitar of speed +3
--etc.
The armor works by merging and becomes insubstantial (per 3.5)
The other items are taken off prior to shifting and re-equiped while in humanoid form (In this case Dire Ape) do they function if they are the type of magic item which resizes for its wearer.
Thanks!
Also a quick question for wildshape. If in a dire ape form (or any humanoid form for that matter), can a druid take off his magic items prior to shaping and then put them on again due to having a roughly human shape? For example: Let's say a 20th level druid has the following gear:
--Wild platemail +3 (Allows druid to shape shift and still receive the base and magical armor bonuses, just no other abilities) while the armor merges into the druid's form
--Belt/girdle of Giant Strength
--Ring of invisibility
--Ring of Protection
--Head Band of wisdom
--Scimitar of speed +3
--etc.The armor works by merging and becomes insubstantial (per 3.5)
The other items are taken off prior to shifting and re-equiped while in humanoid form (In this case Dire Ape) do they function if they are the type of magic item which resizes for its wearer.
You don't have to take off and re-equip anything except for the scimitar and the ring of invisibility -- the rules state that items that give a permanent bonus (like the belt of Str, the headband of Wis, and the ring of deflection) still work while polymorphed/wild shaped.
I am wondering if with the new ruling in PF to have certain magical attack bonuses = bypassing damage reduction types [in example: Cold Iron/Silver = +3; Adamantine = +4; Alignment Based = +5] takes care of this concern?
If you buy an Amulet of Mighty Fists +5, you can ignore all metal/alignment-based DR. It's pretty expensive, though.