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One of my players is running a Druid / Ranger cross-class character and chose a Tiger as it's animal companion, which is of course available to Druids but not Rangers.
My question is are Ranger levels intended to stack with Druid-based animal companions that are not on the Ranger list, or should this companion only gain the benefit of the druid levels only?
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If your player takes the Boon Companion feat it might not matter since that will make up for the lost levels of Ranger.
Hunter's Bond is not very specific on stacking. It actually doesn't say anything about how that ability interacts with Nature's Bond. Lacking other guidance I'd allow the Ranger level - 3 to stack with Druid levels.
One of my players is running a Druid / Ranger cross-class character and chose a Tiger as it's animal companion, which is of course available to Druids but not Rangers.
My question is are Ranger levels intended to stack with Druid-based animal companions that are not on the Ranger list, or should this companion only gain the benefit of the druid levels only?
The rules make no distinction between the two, just that ranger levels are slightly less "powerful" (without the feat to nullify the penalty). Also note the ability allows you to release an animal companion and gain another pretty much at will (24 hours). What this means is by RAW it is perfectly acceptable to make use of the most advantageous animal companion at any given point.
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From the PRD: "If a character receives an animal companion from more than one source, her effective druid levels stack for the purposes of determining the statistics and abilities of the companion."
So according to the rules, if the player has both Hunter's Bond and Natural Bond, he will receive a different animal companion from each, and both will stack with each other for purposes of determining the statistics and abilities of the companion.
Example:
Rygar of the Deep Woods - Druid 6/Ranger 6
Druid 6 effective druid level is 6.
Ranger 6 effective druid level is 3.
Rygar has an effective druid level of 6+3=9 for purposes of determining the statistics and abilities of each companion.
The Boon Companion feat will bump up the effective druid level of one of these companions:
"Boon Companion - Source Seekers of Secrets 16
Your bond with your animal companion or familiar is unusually close.
Prerequisites: Animal companion or familiar class ability.
Benefit: The abilities of your animal companion or familiar are calculated as though your class were four levels higher, to a maximum bonus equal to your character level. If you have more than one animal companion or familiar, choose one to receive this benefit. If you lose or dismiss an animal companion or familiar, you may apply this feat to the replacement creature.
Special: You may select this feat more than once. The effects do not stack. Each time you take the feat, it applies to a different animal companion or familiar."
As written, Rygar could apply this feat to his Nature's Bond companion, giving him an effective druid level of
Druid Lvl (6 + 4) + Ranger (6-3) = 13.
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I don't think I agree with your interpretation of the rule. It's a good find, I thought I had read something to that effect but hadn't managed to find it again.
However, I think it is saying that the levels stack for the purposes of a single companion. "...her effective druid levels stack for the purposes of determining the statistics and abilities of the companion." Emphasis mine. It does not say they stack for the abilities of the companions with an "s".
Pretty sure you get one companion.
The exception to this is the Beastmaster Ranger, who gets multiple, but has to divide up and allocate levels (bit of a waste really)
My understanding is that teh levels 'stack' for the companion, so it would (notionally) be the 'Druid level + Ranger Level -3 = Pet Level'
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The way I'm running it is that the levels stack as if the Companion was on the Ranger list; the greater bond to nature the druid has, along with their training, allows them to "use" more creatures effectively. The -3 Ranger levels does what it needs to balance the strength.
I do wish some sort of errata was on this; Hero Lab throws an error because of this, and I need some official word to get that changed. :/
I have the same problem with that whole "do Paladins get a Heavy Horse instead of an Druid Animal Companion Horse" question, but I digress.
The way I'm running it is that the levels stack as if the Companion was on the Ranger list; the greater bond to nature the druid has, along with their training, allows them to "use" more creatures effectively. The -3 Ranger levels does what it needs to balance the strength.
I do wish some sort of errata was on this; Hero Lab throws an error because of this, and I need some official word to get that changed. :/
I have the same problem with that whole "do Paladins get a Heavy Horse instead of an Druid Animal Companion Horse" question, but I digress.
Technically they stack period. What you'd run into is that the character has a companion from X (Z-3 levels) class then levels up and takes Y class (which stacks with X class for purposes of the bond). So the character would have to release the current companion and wait 24 hours before getting the "better" companion from the Y class list with X+Y levels of companion bond.
Pallys get a heavy warhorse (or what was chosen from that short list) with an intelligence of 6 and then modify the base heavy warhorse with the bonuses from the companion table according to the pally's level (pally's level = druid level on the table). That one is straight forward and spelled out in the paladin class description of Divine Bond. If a paladin takes a few levels of druid they would stack for the divine bond as is states that the levels stack in Natures Bond. Problem is, a paladin's horse is not around 100% of the time and has to be called so it is far less useful utility wise. If you took a druid "companion" it would be around 100% of the time but wouldn't count the paladin's level as they have a specific animal for the bond.
