High Cha Animal?

[Mynameisjake]

I need a high charisma animal to use as an awakened sorcerer. Anyone know of any?

Note: The awaken spell only adds 1-3pts of Cha, so I'm looking for an animal that already has a good charisma.

[kyrt-ryder]

First 'high' (for animals) that I've found is the poison frog (1HD) with 10 charisma.

Yeah, that's the best I can find. If you have the Bestiary 2 you can check that as well.

So is this for a PC or an npc? Have you considered extracting the racial bonuses (bring the race down to +11's and +10's) then trade the +11's for 15 point buy?

[Quandary]

Hmmm... Don´t know any off hand, but I think rather than jumping at the first animal that happens to have a higher CHA score, why not pick one that you actually want for it´s own sake, and then add CHA to it.

All the Beastiary stats are for average creatures. Just like the entries for Humans or Orcs may say [CHA X] that doesn´t mean EVERY Human or Orc has such a CHA. So I don´t see anything wrong with adding 6 or so to it´s CHA (before awakening) and saying it´s an especially charismatic specimin. Obviously within real world social animals, there is undoubtedly variations in what we could call ´charisma´.

EDIT: TO Kyrt´s point, you COULD derive it´s racial adjustment and use that to build it by a standard point buy, but I don´t think that´s really necessary... Point buy is to ensure that PCs are on an equal footing amongst themselves, but I don´t think choosing to play with point-buy means there isn´t a full range of variation, i.e. random dice rolls, which can give 18s with otherwise NORMAL or even ABOVE normal (not dumped) other stats. Since adding classes onto monsters isn´t really an exact science, re: CR, you will have to eye-ball it anyways.

EDIT: Actually, I just searched the PRD with the term {animal} and {CHA}
Ravens have a half-decent score (7), and so do Wolves (6 - Dire Wolves have 10 CHA), and Giant Eagles have CHA 11,
but it turns out some of the dinosaurs have GREAT CHA: Pteranadon has 12 CHA, and Deinonychus has 14 CHA.
If you are adding any amount of ´exceptional specimin´ CHA onto those numbers, on top of the awaken, that is essentially leaving PC level stats.

[Mynameisjake]

Thanks, guys.

I will probably just end up switching scores on a point for point basis, not entirely "balanced", but, hey, it works.

I was trying to practice my "rules-fu" (on HeroLab), which is why I was trying for a "legal" combination.

Unfortunately, one of my more annoying players *shakes fist* follows my posts, so I can't say too much without giving away a "twist."

Thanks, again, for the input.

[kyrt-ryder]

Valid points Quandary. The reason I suggested extracting the racial adjustments and using the point buy is because I have no idea what he's using the character for. In some games such a creature very well could be a PC, and the guy got the awesome idea of an awakened animal sorcerer. (Or it could be a Cohort.)

I didn't really look at the dinosaurs because of the advanced HD.

Also... come on... how epic would it be for the Wizard's "familiar" to actually be the spellcaster himself lol.

Edit: Ah, so it is an NPC. Alright. Good luck Jake.

[trednis]

have the caster borrow someone's metamagic rods of maximize and empower for +4 CHA.
edit: this method makes for ridiculous stats on awakened plants.

[the David]

Don't forget this rule:

''Creatures with class levels receive +4, +4, +2, +2, +0, and –2 adjustments to their ability scores, assigned in a manner that enhances their class abilities.''

This means that your awakend animal will get 1d3+4 on his charisma. you can find it in the adding class levels section from the bestiary.

[Mynameisjake]

the David wrote:

Don't forget this rule:

''Creatures with class levels receive +4, +4, +2, +2, +0, and –2 adjustments to their ability scores, assigned in a manner that enhances their class abilities.''

This means that your awakend animal will get 1d3+4 on his charisma. you can find it in the adding class levels section from the bestiary.

Well...that changes things. Thanks, D.

[trednis]

the David wrote:

Don't forget this rule:

''Creatures with class levels receive +4, +4, +2, +2, +0, and –2 adjustments to their ability scores, assigned in a manner that enhances their class abilities.''

This means that your awakend animal will get 1d3+4 on his charisma. you can find it in the adding class levels section from the bestiary.

Does this come into play for any creature that normally only has racial HD (such as an monstrous cohort) or only when making NPC's? Even with just awaken, it seems pretty powerful that suddenly most stats would increase.

[Threeshades]

Deinonychus has 14 charisma to boot. It's the highest I know.

[Kthulhu]

kyrt-ryder wrote:

Also... come on... how epic would it be for the Wizard's "familiar" to actually be the spellcaster himself lol.

Awakened animal wizard with a human familiar. :D