This is mainly just a thread asking for opinions.
Now suppose someone wanted to play a Ranger and decided to choose a Lepord over a Cheetah. Now the sprint doesn't really work with a lepord, so my question is, would it be "balanced" to allow the person to exchange sprint for pounce?
My first thought is "no," seeing as how pounce(at least in my opinion) is a more powerful ability than sprint and more useful.
Anyone?
Note that Pounce scales MUCh better then sprint, but it shouldn't be a problem.
Suprised the Leopard doesn't have the ability naturally.
==Aelryinth
It does, just not as an animal companion. It's like how a wolf animal companion appearantly loses Low Light Vision during the ritual.
It does, just not as an animal companion. It's like how a wolf animal companion appearantly loses Low Light Vision during the ritual.
I never noticed that, seems odd.
Aye it does, which brings me to another question. If someone were to want an Elven Hound as an animal companion via the Elf Ranger sub levels in(RotW), which of their abilities would they lose and which would they keep? Also would they stick with the Magical Beast HD(as per the advantage of level the 4th Elf Ranger sub level).
While Pathfinder makes animal companions alot more simple and easier to do, it also adds a bit of confusion(why some animals lose abilities they should have, prime example being the Wolf's Low Light Vision).
I seriously think that's a typo. Dogs and horses get low-light. I see no reason why ANY animal companion would lose that, if they naturally have it in the first place.
Same goes for pounce, sprint, trip, etc.
Aye, you'd think it was. The wolf is the only animal companion(AFAIK) that does not have low-light vision.
Main question, would a Lepord animal companion gain pounce and rake(instead of sprint, sprint's Cheetah after all) when advancing at 4th level?
Aye, you'd think it was. The wolf is the only animal companion(AFAIK) that does not have low-light vision.
Main question, would a Lepord animal companion gain pounce and rake(instead of sprint, sprint's Cheetah after all) when advancing at 4th level?
By RAW, no. Animal Companions are not normal animals, and they follow the stats and rules laid out for them. Something I lament for this particular case because jaguars are my favorite cats and cheetahs are distinctly not.
As far as the rules are concerned for Animal Companions, it might look like a Jaguar, Leopard, Cougar, Lynx, etc etc etc... but they all fight like a Cheetah. Which makes zero sense to me since Cheetahs are an extraordinarily unique breed. Most other "Small Cats" are pretty similar in technique, behavior and prey.
If I were to make a guess as to Paizo's motives for this, I'd say that they figured they already had a feline companion with Pounce and Rake and all that (the Large Cats). So the Small Cats should do something different, which works just fine for the Druid but leaves the Ranger high and dry.
Aye, you'd think it was. The wolf is the only animal companion(AFAIK) that does not have low-light vision.
Main question, would a Lepord animal companion gain pounce and rake(instead of sprint, sprint's Cheetah after all) when advancing at 4th level?
By RAW, no. Animal Companions are not normal animals, and they follow the stats and rules laid out for them. Something I lament for this particular case because jaguars are my favorite cats and cheetahs are distinctly not.
As far as the rules are concerned for Animal Companions, it might look like a Jaguar, Leopard, Cougar, Lynx, etc etc etc... but they all fight like a Cheetah. Which makes zero sense to me since Cheetahs are an extraordinarily unique breed. Most other "Small Cats" are pretty similar in technique, behavior and prey.
If I were to make a guess as to Paizo's motives for this, I'd say that they figured they already had a feline companion with Pounce and Rake and all that (the Large Cats). So the Small Cats should do something different, which works just fine for the Druid but leaves the Ranger high and dry.
Aye I completely agreed.
And yes the changes I believe were made in the spirit of "balance," but that is also why I'm attempting to find some clairification and open up discussion on whether for not for at least one example(cheetah/leopard) if just giving the leopard pounce&rake instead of sprint would be too "unbalanced"
Because after all, a leopard sprinting after prey like a cheetah seems rather silly to me too.
Animal Companions as a whole seem to be in rather serious need of revision and clarification. Why is a Horse animal companion mechanically different from a regular horse? Why is it inferior in every way to a heavy horse?
Similarly, Lion animal companions are different from regular lions as well (and again inferior, even compared to taking a lion and shrinking it to Medium size).
I understand that Animal Companions are special and not like other animals, and that's fine. But why should they be inherently worse?
Things like this really make me want to never have an animal companion...
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I understand that Animal Companions are special and not like other animals, and that's fine. But why should they be inherently worse?
Things like this really make me want to never have an animal companion...
Because they advance as the PC advances, quickly surpassing the normal animal by a huge degree. Things always look bad if all is compared at level 1
I just thought it is a cub and as it leveled it grew up.
Because they advance as the PC advances, quickly surpassing the normal animal by a huge degree. Things always look bad if all is compared at level 1I understand that Animal Companions are special and not like other animals, and that's fine. But why should they be inherently worse?
Things like this really make me want to never have an animal companion...
Okay, now that I've looked it over a bit more, it makes more sense.
Now I'm completely unable to make sense of the table under Additional Rules listing the movement for light and heavy horses, though. But that's a different matter...
Yeah, but taking low-light from a wolf? I still think it's a mistake.
Yeah, but taking low-light from a wolf? I still think it's a mistake.
I think we can safely assume that this is a typo rather than a deliberate change. Right?