Ok- ... I'm currently playing a druid .. and I was looking through some Druid Spells (nothing I can take yet, but want to think about what direction I want to take my character).
I came across the
Anthropomorphic Animal Spell
You transform the touched animal into a bipedal hybrid of its original form with a humanoid form, similar to how a lycanthrope's hybrid form is a mix of a humanoid and animal form. The animal's size, type, and ability scores do not change. It loses its natural attacks except for bite (if it had one as an animal), all types of movement other than its land speed, and special attacks that rely on its natural attacks. One pair of its limbs is able to manipulate objects and weapons as well as human hands do; limbless animals like snakes temporarily grow a pair of arms. The creature's Intelligence increases to 3, and it gains the ability to speak one language you know. It is not considered proficient in any manufactured weapons. It can attack with unarmed strikes, dealing unarmed strike damage for a creature of its size (unless it has a bite attack, which is a natural attack).
Anthropomorphic animal can be made permanent with a permanency spell cast by a caster of 11th level or higher at a cost of 7,500 gp.
Now- .. with this.. I wanted to know.. would this spell allow you to Justify having your Animal Companion take the Martial Weapon Proficiency feat (Evening going so far to say a member of the party had tried to teach the Companion while the spell is cast)
I just like the idea of being able cast the spell, then hand my companion a Great Sword :P
In short, yes, you could have the companion take Martial Weapon Proficiency for one particular weapon (honestly you may as well take an Exotic Weapon since you're stuck burning a feat). However, I'm not sure that you're really gaining all that much from going this route. Remember, it loses all of its special attacks (pounce, rake, gore, etc) which I would say are generally better than being able to swing a weapon.
In short, yes, you could have the companion take Martial Weapon Proficiency for one particular weapon (honestly you may as well take an Exotic Weapon since you're stuck burning a feat). However, I'm not sure that you're really gaining all that much from going this route. Remember, it loses all of its special attacks (pounce, rake, gore, etc) which I would say are generally better than being able to swing a weapon.
This. You can certainly do it, but it may not be the most effective character build.
In short, yes, you could have the companion take Martial Weapon Proficiency for one particular weapon (honestly you may as well take an Exotic Weapon since you're stuck burning a feat). However, I'm not sure that you're really gaining all that much from going this route. Remember, it loses all of its special attacks (pounce, rake, gore, etc) which I would say are generally better than being able to swing a weapon.
Well- all the Wolf gets is Trip (if I remember correctly :P) ... but its just what I see in my head (doesn't even mean thats what I'll end up doing.)
This. You can certainly do it, but it may not be the most effective character build.
Most effective isn't my normal MO ... I just try and get what I see in my head :P (Mind you, I do want to live.. so if Something will hurt me WAY more than help-.. I will avoid the option).
I'm just trying to figure out if this would be allowed. :3
Da bump-
on an attempt at one last 'ruling'.
Da bump-
on an attempt at one last 'ruling'.
Only ruling that matters is that of your DM.
Of course, the book says the following on feats;
"Animal companions with an Intelligence of 3 or higher can select any feat they are physically capable of using. GMs might expand this list to include feats from other sources."
So as long as he's Intelligence 3 (doesn't really matter how) and can physically use Weapon Proficiency, go crazy (unless your DM says otherwise).
|
I'm pretty certain the answer to this is actually "no".
It's the timing of the feat choice that is in question here.
So, let's say I'm a human that took the "Eye for Talent" Racial thingie from the APG. This would allow me to raise my animal companion's INT at level one to 3 or higher. He cannot, at this point, take the Weapon Proficiency feat, because he's not physically capable of using it. These conditions persist until you physically cast AA on the creature. He cannot possibly have chosen a WP feat before becoming anthropomorphic.
In my view, you'd have to have this cast, made permanent, and then have the animal gain whatever WP Feat you wanted it to have.
I'm pretty certain the answer to this is actually "no".
It's the timing of the feat choice that is in question here.
So, let's say I'm a human that took the "Eye for Talent" Racial thingie from the APG. This would allow me to raise my animal companion's INT at level one to 3 or higher. He cannot, at this point, take the Weapon Proficiency feat, because he's not physically capable of using it. These conditions persist until you physically cast AA on the creature. He cannot possibly have chosen a WP feat before becoming anthropomorphic.
In my view, you'd have to have this cast, made permanent, and then have the animal gain whatever WP Feat you wanted it to have.
I would agree with this logic entirely, and this may have been an issue at some point that I missed, but casters can put ranks in Fly, yet at lower levels they have no means of flight.
Were I DMing, I wouldn't allow this immediately at level 1. As soon as AA was available for casting, the druid could start casting it and showing the animal how to use the weapon. At the next feat-granting level, the animal could take the proficiency. It has already been said: this isn't an optimal decision. I don't think it would break the game to work it in as such.
EDIT: I should note a couple of things; the animal would of course have to have an Int of 3 or higher, and the weapon would have to be one that druid is proficient in, OR the animal would have to be instructed to follow the instructions of another (such as the party fighter). Regardless, the animal couldn't learn to use a weapon spontaneously.
I say yes, but the animal can only use it in anthropomorphic form. Feats that you lose the requirements for become inactive until you qualify again.
(Why couldn't they give the spell a name like "Shape of Man" instead?)
Here's another question: Can you stack this with Awaken?
|
I say yes, but the animal can only use it in anthropomorphic form. Feats that you lose the requirements for become inactive until you qualify again.
(Why couldn't they give the spell a name like "Shape of Man" instead?)
Here's another question: Can you stack this with Awaken?
The real issue for this is timing. The AC would have to be able to use the weapon before learning how to use it & since this is not a permanent change (without permanency) the AC would have to be in this shape for more than 24 hours before it would count as legal.
So to be strictly legal, for this AC to learn to use this weapon the Druid would need to cast AA on the companion and make it last more than 24 hours THEN succeed on a Handle Animal check (DC 25) PUSH the AC to learn the weapon and THEN have an open Feat available for the AC to spend.
Once that's done the Druid will still need to burn a move/free action every round to have the AC use the weapon instead of it's normal natural weapons.
Clarification: This spell does not change the AC's type so it remains an animal and requires a successful Handle Animal check each round to make it perform a non-standard action. It would be a free action if the Druid burns a trick slot for use weapon or a Move action if he doesn't.
@darth_borehd: Yes it would stack with Awaken but doing so changes the AC back into a normal animal of it's type that has this spell on it and it loses all of it's animal companion abilities/powers. Permanently.
FINALLY I can have my monkey with a whip!
Clarification: This spell does not change the AC's type so it remains an animal and requires a successful Handle Animal check each round to make it perform a non-standard action. It would be a free action if the Druid burns a trick slot for use weapon or a Move action if he doesn't.
Are you sure about that? The creature's intelligence does bump to 3, which raises it above animal intelligence AND it can speak a language that you know, indicating that you can thus direct it verbally as a free action (as speaking is a free action).
Anthropomorphic Animal and Awaken actually don't stack, or rather the two are mutually exclusive to begin with. Cast Awaken first, the animal's type becomes Magical Beast and Anthropomorphic Animal no longer affects it. Cast Anthropomorphic Animal first, its INT becomes 3 and Awaken won't work on it.
There's also the issue mentioned before where an Awakened animal can no longer serve as an AC.
Go find an 11th level caster and pay 7500 to make it permanent!
The biggest advantage, I think, is that being intelligent the wolf won't need handle animal and tricks to do what you want. That bonus is based off of how big a stickler your GM is although.
Shame it only gets an int of 3. It's still pretty stupid.
For fighting, it's not that great. For shenanigans, it's amazing. Perhaps you could make a wondrous item, like a collar, teach the companion a trick to activate it. The collar has Anthropomorphic Animal 1 a day or something.
Go find an 11th level caster and pay 7500 to make it permanent!
The biggest advantage, I think, is that being intelligent the wolf won't need handle animal and tricks to do what you want. That bonus is based off of how big a stickler your GM is although.
Shame it only gets an int of 3. It's still pretty stupid.
For fighting, it's not that great. For shenanigans, it's amazing. Perhaps you could make a wondrous item, like a collar, teach the companion a trick to activate it. The collar has Anthropomorphic Animal 1 a day or something.
Just hope they don't get targeted with a dispel. Permanent does not equal instant. ;-)
Also if you awaken it, it's stops being an animal companion. It's too smart and stops being the subservient follower.
However... you could then take leadership and have it be your cohort.
|
|
Are you sure about that? The creature's intelligence does bump to 3, which raises it above animal intelligence AND it can speak a language that you know, indicating that you can thus direct it verbally as a free action (as speaking is a free action).
Clarification: This spell does not change the AC's type so it remains an animal and requires a successful Handle Animal check each round to make it perform a non-standard action. It would be a free action if the Druid burns a trick slot for use weapon or a Move action if he doesn't.
I am absolutely positive of this.
If you check the animal intelligence blog post you will see that the FIRMLY declared anything of type=animal requires a successful handle animal check to get them to do ANYTHING you want them to do.It doesn't matter what the animals intelligence is, it still needs a handle animal check to perform any action you want it too.
Unlike a familiar there is no direct connection between the AC and the Ranger/Druid/etc. It will only perform actions you want it to do if you use Handle Animal on it.
You want it to attack? Handle animal check.
You want it to stay? Handle animal check.
You want it to go get a cup of coffee? Handle animal check.
You bump it's Intelligence up to 30 and it becomes headmaster of the wizards school and king of all Golarion and you want it to put on a hat? Handle animal check.
This is the part everyone glosses over but that's why they wrote the Animal Companion Blog post. You NEED to get +12 (minimum) bonus on your handle animal skill to ever be able to reliably control your companion (and that's only for Tricks you have succeeded in teaching it).
The only thing an intelligence over 2 does for any creature of type=animal is allow it to learn more tricks.
@Zephyr, the spells do stack with the understanding that you have to drain the targets Intelligence by a point. There are multiple ways to do that drain to your AC and most are not difficult enough to stop you.
There is nothing about these 2 spells that prevents them from stacking with each other.
I bet you could awaken an anthropormic animal if you could effectively cast both spells at the same time.
Timestop>>>Awaken>>>Anthromorphic animal>>>Permanency>>>Time resumes and all spells effectively happen at the same time. Though you'll need a few 18th+ level casters. Good luck with that. ;-)
Of course if such creatures an breed true you can have a species of anthromorphic minions! Wrings hands. *excellent*
I would agree with this logic entirely, and this may have been an issue at some point that I missed, but casters can put ranks in Fly, yet at lower levels they have no means of flight.
(Dex; Armor Check Penalty)
You are skilled at flying, through either the use of wings or magic, and can perform daring or complex maneuvers while airborne. Note that this skill does not give you the ability to fly.
Check: You generally need only make a Fly check when you are attempting a complex maneuver. Without making a check, a flying creature can remain flying at the end of its turn so long as it moves a distance greater than half its speed. It can also turn up to 45 degrees by sacrificing 5 feet of movement, can rise at half speed at an angle of 45 degrees, and can descend at any angle at normal speed. Note that these restrictions only apply to movement taken during your current turn. At the beginning of the next turn, you can move in a different direction than you did the previous turn without making a check. Taking any action that violates these rules requires a Fly check. The difficulty of these maneuvers varies depending upon the maneuver you are attempting, as noted on the following chart.
Flying Maneuver Fly DC
Move less than half speed and remain flying 10
Hover 15
Turn greater than 45° by spending 5 feet of movement 15
Turn 180° by spending 10 feet of movement 20
Fly up at greater than 45° angle 20
Attacked While Flying: You are not considered flat-footed while flying. If you are flying using wings and you take damage while flying, you must make a DC 10 Fly check to avoid losing 10 feet of altitude. This descent does not provoke an attack of opportunity and does not count against a creature's movement.
Collision While Flying: If you are using wings to fly and you collide with an object equal to your size or larger, you must immediately make a DC 25 Fly check to avoid plummeting to the ground, taking the appropriate falling damage.
Avoid Falling Damage: If you are falling and have the ability to fly, you can make a DC 10 Fly check to negate the damage. You cannot make this check if you are falling due to a failed Fly check or a collision.
High Wind Speeds: Flying in high winds adds penalties on your Fly checks as noted on Table: Wind Effects on Flight. “Checked” means that creatures of that size or smaller must succeed on a DC 20 Fly check to move at all so long as the wind persists. “Blown away” means that creatures of that size or smaller must make a DC 25 Fly check or be blown back 2d6 × 10 feet and take 2d6 points of nonlethal damage. This check must be made every round the creature remains airborne. A creature that is blown away must still make a DC 20 Fly check to move due to also being checked.
Table: Wind Effects on Flight
Wind Force Wind Speed Checked Size Blown Away Size Fly Penalty
Light 0–10 mph — — —
Moderate 11–20 mph — — —
Strong 21–30 mph Tiny — –2
Severe 31–50 mph Small Tiny –4
Windstorm 51–74 mph Medium Small –8
Hurricane 75–174 mph Large Medium –12
Tornado 175+ mph Huge Large –16
Action: None. A Fly check doesn't require an action; it is made as part of another action or as a reaction to a situation.
Try Again: Varies. You can attempt a Fly check to perform the same maneuver on subsequent rounds. If you are using wings and you fail a Fly check by 5 or more, you plummet to the ground, taking the appropriate falling damage (see Environment).
Special: A spellcaster with a bat familiar gains a +3 bonus on Fly checks.
Creatures with a fly speed treat the Fly skill as a class skill. A creature with a natural fly speed receives a bonus (or penalty) on Fly skill checks depending on its maneuverability: Clumsy –8, Poor –4, Average +0, Good +4, Perfect +8. Creatures without a listed maneuverability rating are assumed to have average maneuverability.
A creature larger or smaller than Medium takes a size bonus or penalty on Fly checks depending on its size category: Fine +8, Diminutive +6, Tiny +4, Small +2, Large –2, Huge –4, Gargantuan –6, Colossal –8.
You cannot take ranks in this skill without a natural means of flight or gliding. Creatures can also take ranks in Fly if they possess a reliable means of flying every day (either through a spell or other special ability).
If you have the Acrobatic feat, you get a bonus on Fly checks (see Feats).
Actually, you can't take fly ranks without a means of flight. As such, no caster can even take ranks until level 5.
That is all.
You want it to attack? Handle animal check.
You want it to stay? Handle animal check.
You want it to go get a cup of coffee? Handle animal check.
You bump it's Intelligence up to 30 and it becomes headmaster of the wizards school and king of all Golarion and you want it to put on a hat? Handle animal check.
That is so incredibly funny... an animal, even when ascended to human intelligence or further, by merit alone of being an animal, is innately both stupid and stubborn?
An animal, let's say an anthropomorphic animal that got rigged up to have 12 int, can speak and understand 2 languages and knows 36 tricks. Sounds impressive, until according to RAW those tricks need to be used to do things like 'teach it to open a door,' otherwise people will have to use full round actions to yell "JUST TURN THE KNOB LUPUS! YOU HAVE DONE THIS BEFORE."
but they'd be handle animal checks so they'd be more like "turn the knob Lupus, turn the THAT'S A GOOD BOY keep going, turn and GOOD BOY!"
Awaken turns the animal into a Magical Beast (Augmented Animal). Does it get to be smart or would it being an augmented animal mean it could be an 18 int creature that can't problem solve and can be bribed with bacon bits?
So, anthropomorphic animal is pretty useless- no I take that back. It's completely useless for its seemingly intended purpose, but is fantastically useful as an anti-animal debuff. Attacked by a dire lion? Give it hands and the ability to talk, and it loses all of its offensive abilities. Give it a very human appearance for hours. Then kill it.
|
|
You want it to attack? Handle animal check.
You want it to stay? Handle animal check.
You want it to go get a cup of coffee? Handle animal check.
You bump it's Intelligence up to 30 and it becomes headmaster of the wizards school and king of all Golarion and you want it to put on a hat? Handle animal check.
That is so incredibly funny... an animal, even when ascended to human intelligence or further, by merit alone of being an animal, is innately both stupid and stubborn?
An animal, let's say an anthropomorphic animal that got rigged up to have 12 int, can speak and understand 2 languages and knows 36 tricks. Sounds impressive, until according to RAW those tricks need to be used to do things like 'teach it to open a door,' otherwise people will have to use full round actions to yell "JUST TURN THE KNOB LUPUS! YOU HAVE DONE THIS BEFORE."
but they'd be handle animal checks so they'd be more like "turn the knob Lupus, turn the THAT'S A GOOD BOY keep going, turn and GOOD BOY!"
Awaken turns the animal into a Magical Beast (Augmented Animal). Does it get to be smart or would it being an augmented animal mean it could be an 18 int creature that can't problem solve and can be bribed with bacon bits?
So, anthropomorphic animal is pretty useless- no I take that back. It's completely useless for its seemingly intended purpose, but is fantastically useful as an anti-animal debuff. Attacked by a dire lion? Give it hands and the ability to talk, and it loses all of its offensive abilities. Give it a very human appearance for hours. Then kill it.
Yup, pretty much this spell is a waste of a perfectly good Animal companion. And you are right, it makes for an AMAZING debuff to take out animal companions.
You will never see anything as beautiful as a the look of horror on a druids face when you hit his Uber-Pouncing, Animal Growth'd Lion companion with this spell. I giggle in glee every time I do it.Also it's only a free/move action to get Fido to open that door if he's your animal companion. That is the biggest advantage of the AC class benefit.
Clarification: Awaken however is different. It actually changes the creatures type to Magical Beast which does not need handle animal checks to do what you want. That spell removes both the stupid ANd the stubborn part and makes the creature a valued friend and ally.
Yup, pretty much this spell is a waste of a perfectly good Animal companion. And you are right, it makes for an AMAZING debuff to take out animal companions.
You will never see anything as beautiful as a the look of horror on a druids face when you hit his Uber-Pouncing, Animal Growth'd Lion companion with this spell. I giggle in glee every time I do it.Also it's only a...
I've considered this the domain of Pup Shape since that spell was released. At least with PS, you can do it from range instead of having to do a touch attack or risk your familiar.
|
|
I've considered this the domain of Pup Shape since that spell was released. At least with PS, you can do it from range instead of having to do a touch attack or risk your familiar.Yup, pretty much this spell is a waste of a perfectly good Animal companion. And you are right, it makes for an AMAZING debuff to take out animal companions.
You will never see anything as beautiful as a the look of horror on a druids face when you hit his Uber-Pouncing, Animal Growth'd Lion companion with this spell. I giggle in glee every time I do it.Also it's only a...
Yeah but Pup Shape doesn't stop the critter from ripping you apart, it's only a -2 to hit and damage and makes it harder for you to kill it (will save to attack it while it's eating your spleen) AND buffs it's defenses and Dex.
Plus it never lasts long enough.Anthropomorphic Animal just ruins an AC for HOURS. Drops it down to a single bite attack, strips it of all it's special abilities, most of it's movement and if it did know how to use a weapon it takes that away. Not to mention what happens if it was wearing barding when you hit it.
Use a cheap Rod of Reach and watch the druid cry.
I still see no reason why it cannot take a weapon proficiency feat. It CAN use it while under the influence of this spell, so it fulfills the wording of the feat requirements.
Is not the opposite true? Can a druid take Improved Natural Attack to use while wild shaped?
Here's another idea:
Have the animal take the "Catch off-guard" feat which it would qualify for and then use improvised weapons without penalty while anthropomorphized.
Yeah but Pup Shape doesn't stop the critter from ripping you apart, it's only a -2 to hit and damage and makes it harder for you to kill it (will save to attack it while it's eating your spleen) AND buffs it's defenses and Dex.
Plus it never lasts long enough.Anthropomorphic Animal just ruins an AC for HOURS. Drops it down to a single bite attack, strips it of all it's special abilities, most of it's movement and if it did know how to use a weapon it takes that away. Not to mention what happens if it was wearing barding when you hit it.
Use a cheap Rod of Reach and watch the druid cry.
Rod of Reach is a great idea. I may consider buying one for my Witch, come to think of it...
The biggest thing to me is that Pup Shape also reduces the AC to 1 HD. Also, it's -4 CON. If you have an evil character in party, or it does hit someone, you smack it and it promptly dies. Hard. A stray fireball is 99% likely to slaughter the AC at that point.
I am absolutely positive of this.
If you check the animal intelligence blog post you will see that the FIRMLY declared anything of type=animal requires a successful handle animal check to get them to do ANYTHING you want them to do.
Can you please provide a link to the post by a game developer that supports this? What you're saying makes absolutely no sense at all.
The animal is smart enough to know a language, speak a language, understand a language, respond, talk, and perform other actions that a sentient creature can perform, but it's too stupid to be able to follow verbal commands without a Handle Animal check simply because its creature type is "animal"? I find this a little hard to believe. If this is truly the case, then this is one of those places where I'm glad that house rules exist to trump completely illogical rules.
|
|
There's the link and below I've highlighted the relevant passages.I am absolutely positive of this.
If you check the animal intelligence blog post you will see that the FIRMLY declared anything of type=animal requires a successful handle animal check to get them to do ANYTHING you want them to do.
Can you please provide a link to the post by a game developer that supports this? What you're saying makes absolutely no sense at all.
The animal is smart enough to know a language, speak a language, understand a language, respond, talk, and perform other actions that a sentient creature can perform, but it's too stupid to be able to follow verbal commands without a Handle Animal check simply because its creature type is "animal"? I find this a little hard to believe. If this is truly the case, then this is one of those places where I'm glad that house rules exist to trump completely illogical rules.
Also I'd recommend reading the discussion in this blog post for clarification.
Another aspect of intelligent animals is tool use. There are a number of feats that convey an understanding and the proper use of weapons and armor. Generally speaking, these feats are off-limits to animals, but when their intelligence reaches 3, the rules state that they can use any feat that they are physically capable of using. Some people take this to mean that they can equip their animal companion in chainmail and arm him with a greatsword given the correct feats. While you could interpret the rules in this way, the "capable of use" clause is very important. Most weapons require thumbs to use properly, and even then, few animals would choose to use an artificial weapon in place of the natural weapons that have served them all their life. It's what they were born with, after all, and virtually no amount of training will change that. In the end, the GM should feel free to restrict such choices if he feels that they take away from the feel of his campaign. The rules themselves are left a little vague to give the GM the latitude to make the call that's right for his campaign.
The Handle Animal skill functions similarly no matter how intelligent an animal becomes. A character must still make Handle Animal checks to train his animal and get him to perform the appropriate tasks. A GM should, however, make exceptions in the case of how such an intelligent animal might react in absence of instructions. It might not know to unlock a door to escape a burning building—as that's a fact that's learned over time and experience—but a smart animal might have a better chance of finding a way out.
You want it to attack? Handle animal check.
You want it to stay? Handle animal check.
You want it to go get a cup of coffee? Handle animal check.
You bump it's Intelligence up to 30 and it becomes headmaster of the wizards school and king of all Golarion and you want it to put on a hat? Handle animal check.
The "minor" detail that I forgot about yesterday when I was incredulously reading this was that animal companions get Link, which lets you use Handle Animal to execute a known trick as a free action. Being that it's a free action, it's not really as big of a deal that you have to make a Handle Animal check. It still isn't logical that a creature of high intelligence that understands a language can't just act on commands, but it is what it is.
|
|
The "minor" detail that I forgot about yesterday when I was incredulously reading this was that animal companions get Link, which lets you use Handle Animal to execute a known trick as a free action. Being that it's a free action, it's not really as big of a deal that you have to make a Handle Animal check. It still isn't logical that a creature of high intelligence that understands a language can't just act on commands, but it is what it is.
You want it to attack? Handle animal check.
You want it to stay? Handle animal check.
You want it to go get a cup of coffee? Handle animal check.
You bump it's Intelligence up to 30 and it becomes headmaster of the wizards school and king of all Golarion and you want it to put on a hat? Handle animal check.
Yes but remember it's only a free action for known tricks (which is a very low number, I think the most that an AC can have is 13 known tricks), EVERYTHING else you want your animal companion to do requires you to use the PUSH action.
Pushing your Animal Companion is a Move action and DC 25 Handle Animal check.Now since every class that gets an AC uses charisma as a dump stat this is NOT an easy check to make, even with the +4 bonus on your AC.
|
|
Also if you awaken it, it's stops being an animal companion. It's too smart and stops being the subservient follower.
However... you could then take leadership and have it be your cohort.
You bet!
In fact, the Beat Masters article in Kobold Quarterly #18 deals, among other things, with this very topic! :)
Yes but remember it's only for known tricks (which is a very low number, I think the most that an AC can have is 12 known tricks), EVERYTHING else you want your animal companion to do requires you to use the PUSH action.
Pushing your Animal Companion is a Move action and DC 25 Handle Animal check.
Now since every class that gets an AC uses charisma as a dump stat this is NOT an easy check to make, even with the +4 bonus on your AC.
I count 12 tricks on the Handle Animal page. It also states that at Int1->Tricks=3, Int2->Tricks=6; so it stands to reason that Int3->Tricks=9. By level 6 your Animal Companion has 3 bonus tricks, bringing the total known to 12.
Even if the # of tricks known doesn't scale up at Int3, you could easily leave out Fetch/Perform/Work from your list, as those actions are usually done out of combat anyway, so the move action isn't a big deal.
And there is one class that gains an Animal Companion that doesn't ignore Charisma... Paladin ;-) I imagine that a Cleric with the Animal domain would also have decent Charisma for channeling (unless he/she is skipping that).
|
|
Yes but remember it's only for known tricks (which is a very low number, I think the most that an AC can have is 12 known tricks), EVERYTHING else you want your animal companion to do requires you to use the PUSH action.
Pushing your Animal Companion is a Move action and DC 25 Handle Animal check.
Now since every class that gets an AC uses charisma as a dump stat this is NOT an easy check to make, even with the +4 bonus on your AC.I count 12 tricks on the Handle Animal page. It also states that at Int1->Tricks=3, Int2->Tricks=6; so it stands to reason that Int3->Tricks=9. By level 6 your Animal Companion has 3 bonus tricks, bringing the total known to 12.
Even if the # of tricks known doesn't scale up at Int3, you could easily leave out Fetch/Perform/Work from your list, as those actions are usually done out of combat anyway, so the move action isn't a big deal.
And there is one class that gains an Animal Companion that doesn't ignore Charisma... Paladin ;-) I imagine that a Cleric with the Animal domain would also have decent Charisma for channeling (unless he/she is skipping that).
If you bump it's int to 3 it will increase the max tricks it can learn to 16 yes. (Int 3=9 tricks, +7 bonus tricks at level 20 = 16 tricks total)
And Paladins don't get Animal Companions, they get a Divine Bond which is radically different then an AC even though they share a passing similarity.Back to the original question, training the AC to use that weapon on command is another trick (unless you want to burn a move action to Push it to use it).
If you wish to have a weapon using Beast-man to assist your Druid you CAN do it, it's just going to be really, really bad.
Remember, based on the rules of this spell you HAVE to teach the AC to use the weapon AFTER the spell is cast.
The spell removes all weapon training the AC has when it is cast on them. So you need to cast the spell, THEN train it to use it after each and every casting.
|
|
You want it to attack? Handle animal check.
You want it to stay? Handle animal check.
You want it to go get a cup of coffee? Handle animal check.
You bump it's Intelligence up to 30 and it becomes headmaster of the wizards school and king of all Golarion and you want it to put on a hat? Handle animal check.This is the part everyone glosses over but that's why they wrote the Animal Companion Blog post. You NEED to get +12 (minimum) bonus on your handle animal skill to ever be able to reliably control your companion (and that's only for Tricks you have succeeded in teaching it).
Everyone glosses over it because it's pretty much the stupidest rules clarification ever published. Consider "A Game of Thrones".
The only thing an intelligence over 2 does for any creature of type=animal is allow it to learn more tricks.
Factually incorrect. It also opens up new feat trees.
|
|
You want it to attack? Handle animal check.
You want it to stay? Handle animal check.
You want it to go get a cup of coffee? Handle animal check.
You bump it's Intelligence up to 30 and it becomes headmaster of the wizards school and king of all Golarion and you want it to put on a hat? Handle animal check.This is the part everyone glosses over but that's why they wrote the Animal Companion Blog post. You NEED to get +12 (minimum) bonus on your handle animal skill to ever be able to reliably control your companion (and that's only for Tricks you have succeeded in teaching it).
Everyone glosses over it because it's pretty much the stupidest rules clarification ever published. Consider "A Game of Thrones".
** spoiler omitted **
The only thing an intelligence over 2 does for any creature of type=animal is allow it to learn more tricks.
I fail to see how the meanderings of a writer who has nothing to do with the game rules of a totally different world or setting we are discussing has any bearing on this discussion.
Factually incorrect. It also opens up new feat trees.
Semantically correct but immaterial. Just because it removes the restriction on feat choices does not mean it actually grants anything.