Let's say I have a Cat, Big as my animal companion.
Initially, under AC, it says "+1 natural armor".
When I reach 7th level, for "Advancement", under "AC", it says, "+2 natural armor".
I have always read this as meaning the Cat, Big animal companion of a 7th level druid has a +3 natural armor bonus - +1 initially, improved by +2 more at 7th level advancement.
I've just had a fellow player disagree with me...
...so I'm hoping for a little clarification?
It is just like advancing your Base Attack Bonus in that the +2 Natural Armor is what you should have. It is also read as +1 natural armor bonus increases by +1 to a total of +2.
It is just like advancing your Base Attack Bonus in that the +2 Natural Armor is what you should have, thus increasing the +1 bonus by +1.Alright. So then to be clear:
A Snake, Constrictor's Armor entry reads "+2 natural armor".Under advancement, it reads, "+1 natural armor".
So, in this case, the armor gets <worse> as the creature advances?
I'm not unwilling to be wrong, but this seems to be a very counter-intuitive way to present the information, and the text is certainly ambiguous.
You are refering to the snakes already present Natural Armor, if I am understanding correctly. The way that I have always understood the rule is that the Animal Companion advancement is in addition to the current stats. In that case, the Snake that has a pre-existing +2 Natural Armor bonus would add +1 Natural Armor bonus when the animal companion advances, thus having a +3.
I did not specifically acknowledge the "initially +1" in the OP, and that is my fault.
I am not sure I fully understand how you are missing this. I know I said that I missed the "initially +1" in the OP, but I am really just not sure where the misscomunication is.
As stated, the advancement is:
Animal Companion Bonus + Currently Existing Natural Armor Bonus = Final Natural Armor Bonus
In my first post that would be read as:
+0 Existing Natural Armor Bonus + 1 Advancement Natural Armor Bonus (level X) + 1 Advancement Natural Armor Bonus (level Y) = 2
In my second post it would read:
+2 Existing Natural Armor Bonus + 1 Advancement Natural Armor Bonus = +3 Natural Armor Bonus.
No contradiction, same math, just one omitted the pre-existing bonus and one did not.
A year or two ago there was a long thread with people arguing these issues.
From what I recall, eventually a dev arrived and said that all the stuff gets added together. You get NA from the chart, from the base and the advancement. You don't split the difference in any of this. Just keep adding stuff on from each section.
+1
So, let me make sure I've got this clear. A big cats Natural Armour bonus at 7th level is +4 (Animal Companion Base Statistics table level 7), +1 (Big Cat Starting Statistics) +2 (Big Cat 7th Level Advancement)for a total of +7 Natural Armour Bonus? Or is the +2 Natural Armour Bonus under 7th Level Advancement replace the +1 from the Starting Statistics block for a total of +6 NA?
- Thread necro warning -
To answer you question: At level 7, the NA increases by 2 on top of the existing.
If this wasn't the case, other animal companions would actually decrease their natural armor at lvl 7.
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So, let me make sure I've got this clear. A big cats Natural Armour bonus at 7th level is +4 (Animal Companion Base Statistics table level 7), +1 (Big Cat Starting Statistics) +2 (Big Cat 7th Level Advancement)for a total of +7 Natural Armour Bonus? Or is the +2 Natural Armour Bonus under 7th Level Advancement replace the +1 from the Starting Statistics block for a total of +6 NA?
The +7 is correct. Those +'s are increments, not bonuses, meaning they increase the value permanently by that amount at the time they are gained. After they are used, they should not be referenced again unless you are doing accounting on all the values of the companion to make sure they are correct.
Because James said so:
My guy necro'd two already solved threads that are nearly a decade old to give the same unnecessary quote from JJ who isn't even a rules source. Does that count as the oldest necro if we combine the age of both threads?
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Nah, same necro type from same source, so won't stack.