Animal Companion AC

[avgbountyhunter]

I just want to make sure I'm adding this up right. Any help is appreciated!

The druid in my game has a dinosaur animal companion at lvl 6 that took a point in DEX at lvl 4 and I need help making sure it has the correct AC. This is what I have:

10 - Base
4 - DEX bonus
1 - Base natural armor
1 - improved natural armor feat
1 - dodge feat
4 - natural armor (see companion chart in druid section of pfcrb)
2 - STR/DEX bonus (from same chart)

That brings us to an AC of 23. This seems high to me so I figured I would post it here to be sure. Thanks for taking a look.

[Tom Baumbach]

avgbountyhunter wrote:

2 - STR/DEX bonus (from same chart)

Near as I can tell, this is the only thing you're calculating incorrectly. The companion's AC is 22; the STR/DEX bonus is added to the ability score, not the ability modifier. So a +2 Dexterity will get the dinosaur an additional +1 to its Dex modifier. (This velociraptor's Dex appears to be 20, so that's a total +5 modifier.)

AC 22, touch 16, flat-footed 16 (+5 Dex, +6 natural, +1 dodge)

[spalding]

Yeah got to say this isn't even a "high" AC for an animal companion:

Boar will have higher and that's before taking the armor feats (at level six I was looking at an AC of 30ish for my boar in LoF).

[avgbountyhunter]

Thanks for the info Tom!

Abraham spalding wrote:

Yeah got to say this isn't even a "high" AC for an animal companion:

Boar will have higher and that's before taking the armor feats (at level six I was looking at an AC of 30ish for my boar in LoF).

Ah, well, I just wanted to be sure I had everything right. My players use the dino as a meat shield ALL the time!

[FireberdGNOME]

10 Base
5 DEX
5 Natural (6th Companion, no size increase until 7th!)
1 Natural (Feat)
1 Dodge (Feat)
22 Total

Not too bad when you count his obscene speed, solid attack routine, and POUNCE! *nom nom nom*

Question for Abe: can you break down the 30ish AC for your boar? I am only getting to 26 *with* a friendly Barkskin.

In our game our Druid has a Cheetah (Steve!) that is a monster with Finesse and Trip :)

GNOME

[HaraldKlak]

FireberdGNOME wrote:

10 Base

5 DEX
5 Natural (6th Companion, no size increase until 7th!)
1 Natural (Feat)
1 Dodge (Feat)
22 Total

Are they level 6? In that case you have forgot +1 AC for small size. And it might be added that it does not have pounce until the lvl 7 increase.

He could put barding on the critter to boost its AC. The first +2 for a leather armor is cheap in gold, and proficiency doesn't matter without ACP. Getting a bit more gold, he might buy a mithral chain shirt for his dino, to advance it a bit more.

[FireberdGNOME]

Ah, yes. Thank you very much :) so AC 23 and no Pounce... until 7th *evil grin*

Mithy chain shirt would be pricy, but useful.

GNOME

[Abraham spalding]

FireberdGNOME wrote:

Question for Abe: can you break down the 30ish AC for your boar? I am only getting to 26 *with* a friendly Barkskin.

10 Base

10 Natural Armor
1 Dex
5 +1 chain shirt
3 Barkskin
4 shield (was multiclassed with boon companion)
33 total

[FireberdGNOME]

Genau! Vielen Dank :)

Got it, thanks!

GNOME

[Noxon19]

Yeah that isn't high. As a level 3 hunter I have a small cat with an AC 26.

[Java Man]

Did not realize hunters could pull off necromancy so well.

[Claxon]

Nearly 7 years.

I really wish the forums had a submission prompt to let people know they are about to submit to a thread that hasn't been active in over a month.

That way maybe we wouldn't get so much thread necromancy.

[The Thread]

SERIOUSLY I'M TRYING TO SLEEP.

[Heather 540]

I have a level 4 hunter with a boar companion. The boar's AC is 22. It was actually higher at level 3 at 25, but the level 4 mods dropped his Dex down to 11 and increased his size from Small to Medium.

[vhok]

Heather 540 wrote:

I have a level 4 hunter with a boar companion. The boar's AC is 22. It was actually higher at level 3 at 25, but the level 4 mods dropped his Dex down to 11 and increased his size from Small to Medium.

you don't have to take the level 4 or 7 adjustments you can take a +2con +2dex upgrade instead

Each animal companion has different starting sizes, speed, attacks, ability scores, and special qualities. All animal attacks are made using the creature’s full base attack bonus unless otherwise noted. Animal attacks add the animal’s Strength modifier to the damage roll, unless it is its only attack, in which case it adds 1-1/2 its Strength modifier. Some have special abilities, such as scent. As you gain levels, your animal companion improves as well, usually at 4th or 7th level, in addition to the standard bonuses noted on Table: Animal Companion Base Statistics. Instead of taking the listed benefit at 4th or 7th level, you can instead choose to increase the companion’s Dexterity and Constitution by 2.

[Volkard Abendroth]

avgbountyhunter wrote:

Thanks for the info Tom!

Abraham spalding wrote:

Yeah got to say this isn't even a "high" AC for an animal companion:

Boar will have higher and that's before taking the armor feats (at level six I was looking at an AC of 30ish for my boar in LoF).

Ah, well, I just wanted to be sure I had everything right. My players use the dino as a meat shield ALL the time!

Eventually they will realize the Animal Companion can take armor proficiency feats.

[Abraham Z.]

Or just wear Darkleaf Lamellar barding without any proficiency. +4 armor bonus (and can be enchanted for higher), no ACP penalty so no problem without proficiency, and since the recent FAQ about pricing armor with special materials, a very reasonable 3240 gp for a Large non-humanoid companion.