|
| 1 person marked this as FAQ candidate. |
Im sorry for bringing this up, but I cant find anywhere where a solid positive answer was given, so Im hoping to get one here. Obviously this could go any way you want it in a homegame, I want to know for PFS specifically.
I know animal companions arent proficient with armor unless you have them take the feats. I know an animal with 1-2 Int cant activate (dont know about higher Int animals) items that must be activated to be used. I know if it specifies a bodypart that it doesnt have, the animal cant use it (a dog cant use horseshoes of speed, cause it doesnt have hooves).
Id be inclined to think an animal with 1-2 Int could use items for the following slots, assuming it has the correct body part to use it: Armor (assuming it has the feats), belts, eyes, feet, head, headband, neck, shoulders, wrist (ankle?)
So, could an animal companion use items for those slots? Would they cost more if the animal isnt humanoid? The armor is obviously a yes, since there are rules for that in the core, but I havent seen anything that indicate a belt for a dog/horse/rhino/dinosaur would cost any more to make than a belt for a person.
|
Animals, by definition, cannot have an Int higher then 2 therefore this is a moot point. Animals are not proficiant with armor unless trained for war.
An animal can use a magic item if it has a passive effect. There is no "use magic item" trick listed, therefore it couldn't activate any magical abilities an item may have.
Cost of magic items doesn't change as the item itself resizes to the proper proportion. An animal cannot use a magic item if it doesn't have the same body part (ie: a Snake wearing bracers).
|
This is a semi rant. This is one of the things that bugs me about PFS,
a class feature that the devs and some others try to gimp a class feature to fit into a low power game. All animal companions should be awakened IMO they are semi magical animals after all. I do not think that this would harm/damage the game in any way. The summoner has an Elilodon which is far more powerful IMO. I think that there should be 2 feats for animal companions at 5th level they should be able to add the Dire animal template an at 11th level they should be able to add the legendary animal template.
also I dont think animal companions should take Int penalites for non learned skills.
|
I don't think that any magic items that require activation would be appropriate for an animal companion. Maybe a familiar, but even with a point of INT (let's not go down that road again huh) I don't think the animal would be capable of activating the ring.
If you ignore the issue with activation, I think if the hawk wore a Hand of Glory with a Ring of Feather Falling it could work. Expensive option, but if its that important to you...
|
|
From FAQ
Can I improve my companion’s Intelligence to 3 or higher and give it weapon feats?
No. An Intelligence of 3 does not grant animals sentience, the ability to use weapons or tools, speak a language (though they may understand one with a rank in Linguistics; this does not grant literacy), or activate magic devices. Also note that raising an animal companion’s Intelligence to 3 or higher does not eliminate the need to make Handle Animal checks to direct its actions; even semi-intelligent animals still act like animals unless trained not to. An animal with Intelligence of 3 or higher remains a creature of the animal type unless its type is specifically changed by another ability. An animal may learn 3 additional tricks per point of Intelligence above 2.
|
|
I know animal companions arent proficient with armor unless you have them take the feats.
The trick there is to get them masterwork studded leather armor. You take the armor's armor check penalty of...0 for non proficiency.
I know an animal with 1-2 Int cant activate (dont know about higher Int animals) items that must be activated to be used. I know if it specifies a bodypart that it doesnt have, the animal cant use it (a dog cant use horseshoes of speed, cause it doesnt have hooves)
Id be inclined to think an animal with 1-2 Int could use items for the following slots, assuming it has the correct body part to use it: Armor (assuming it has the feats), belts, eyes, feet, head, headband, neck, shoulders, wrist (ankle?)
Rings and helmets as well. Anything but a snake should be able to wear pretty much anything a humanoid could wear.
So, could an animal companion use items for those slots? Would they cost more if the animal isnt humanoid? The armor is obviously a yes, since there are rules for that in the core, but I havent seen anything that indicate a belt for a dog/horse/rhino/dinosaur would cost any more to make than a belt for a person.
Even if you double the cost for a custom job, you're talking about twice the cost of the physical item, not the enchantment... so its really pretty trivial to an adventurer.
Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 8
|
I don't think that any magic items that require activation would be appropriate for an animal companion. Maybe a familiar, but even with a point of INT (let's not go down that road again huh) I don't think the animal would be capable of activating the ring.
If you ignore the issue with activation, I think if the hawk wore a Hand of Glory with a Ring of Feather Falling it could work. Expensive option, but if its that important to you...
I didn't think you had to activate the ring. Reading it, it sounded automatic to me. I could be wrong though.
|
|
| 1 person marked this as FAQ candidate. |
Would you, as a GM, allow a belt of dwarvenkind to grant its animal wearer, the ability to understand, speak, and write the Dwarf language?
Aura strong divination; CL 12th
Slot belt; Price 14,900 gp; Weight 1 lb.
Description
This belt gives the wearer a +4 competence bonus on Charisma checks and Charisma-based skill checks as they relate to dealing with dwarves, a +2 competence bonus on similar checks when dealing with gnomes and halflings, and a –2 competence penalty on similar checks when dealing with anyone else. The wearer can understand, speak, and read Dwarven. If the wearer is not a dwarf, he gains 60-foot darkvision, dwarven stonecunning, a +2 enhancement bonus to Constitution, and a +2 resistance bonus on saves against poison, spells, and spell-like effects.
Even if it did (which isn't too far a stretch) I don't see anything objectionable about allowing the animal to write Dwarven. Of course with an int of 1 or 2 I don't expect it to have anything intelligent to write and if it say only has paws, it's not going to get much further than large letters scrawled out in the sand.
I don't see anything wrong with giving these abilities to an animal that wears this item. Even if it speaks and understand Dwarven, an animal with int 1 or 2 is unlikely to be able to communicate much other than basic emotions, such as hunger or fright.
On an aside, something that bothers me is that there's no rules for what slots animal companions get other than ask the GM. I find it annoying to sit down at a table with my animal companion and double check that all his gear his legal (Amulet and Cloak on an Ape)
|
|
Would you, as a GM, allow a belt of dwarvenkind to grant its animal wearer, the ability to understand, speak, and write the Dwarf language?
With animal intelligence, it is still going to be unable to understand the nuances of any sort of speech, save a few simple commands.
Further, most animal companions lack the vocal apparatus to speak.
So... nope.
I removed a post. Play nice.
|
This ruling confuses me. My granddaughter has a dinosaur for her druid and I was going to put an Amulet of Natural Armor +1 on it but discovered that it needed the feat Extra Item Slot, if I am understanding the rule correctly.
Druids local 704 has a handy fashion guide Here covering who's allowed to wear what.
The dinosaur should be good with an amulet of natural armor without a feat.
|
|
No rings for animals? Bummer!
I was hoping to pick up a ring of feather falling for my hawk, so if he gets knocked out in an aerial fight, he doesn't, you know, plummet.
Pathfinder Player Companion: Animal Archive *Note: The Animal Magic Item Slots table found on the inside front cover of the book is not legal except under the following conditions. First, an animal companion, familiar, or bonded mount, may choose one slot listed under its body type when taking the Extra Item Slot feat (this feat may be taken multiple times, each time selecting a different available magic item slot based on the creature’s anatomy).
This ruling confuses me. My granddaughter has a dinosaur for her druid and I was going to put an Amulet of Natural Armor +1 on it but discovered that it needed the feat Extra Item Slot, if I am understanding the rule correctly.
Animal companions are also limited by their individual anatomies. In Pathfinder Society Organized Play, animal companions always have access to barding and neck-slot items so long as they have the anatomy.
Additionally, animal companions have access to magical item slots, in addition to barding and neck, as listed on the inside front cover of the Animal Archive so long as they select the Extra Item Slot feat.
So, without any extra feats, your granddaughter's dinosaur can wear barding and a neck-slot item, such as an amulet of natural armor with no difficulty.
|
|
What about the additional resources statement that I quoted?This ruling confuses me. My granddaughter has a dinosaur for her druid and I was going to put an Amulet of Natural Armor +1 on it but discovered that it needed the feat Extra Item Slot, if I am understanding the rule correctly.
Druids local 704 has a handy fashion guide Here covering who's allowed to wear what.
The dinosaur should be good with an amulet of natural armor without a feat.
.
An animal has access to whatever is more restrictive: The neck + barding or the chart. An animal can take extra slot.. but only to open up something that's already available on the chart.So if for example your dinosaur is a T rex. Thats a biped: claws and paws body type. Without doing anything it comes with the Armor & Neck slot items.
In PFS it can take the feats extra slot belt, extra slot chest, extra slot eyes, extra slot headband, extra slot ring, extra slot shoulders, or extra slot wrist. In a normal game the t rex wouldn't have to use a feat to use any of those items, it could instead take extra slot to use boots for example.
|
|
From FAQ
Can I improve my companion’s Intelligence to 3 or higher and give it weapon feats?
No. An Intelligence of 3 does not grant animals sentience, the ability to use weapons or tools, speak a language (though they may understand one with a rank in Linguistics; this does not grant literacy), or activate magic devices. Also note that raising an animal companion’s Intelligence to 3 or higher does not eliminate the need to make Handle Animal checks to direct its actions; even semi-intelligent animals still act like animals unless trained not to. An animal with Intelligence of 3 or higher remains a creature of the animal type unless its type is specifically changed by another ability. An animal may learn 3 additional tricks per point of Intelligence above 2.
This still leaves the question of what to do if your Animal Companion is not an animal, such as with Celestial Servant.
By RAW I am all but certain that as a Magical Beast, once it has INT 3+ it is not bound by the Handle Animal rules. However I know that PFS house rules animal companions and familiars very heavily so in PFS does requiring Handle Animal trigger off of a creature's intelligence and type like by RAW or does it trigger off of the creature being granted by the Animal Companion class feature even if that creature is intelligent and not an animal? I suspect that in PFS it is the latter since that seems to fit with all the other changes PFS makes to Animal Companions.