I'm working on a bard character concept for a Jade Regent campaign. The character's backstory is that she was a lion-tamer in a travelling Varisian circus. I'm probably taking the Animal Speaker bard archetype.
1) Is there a way RAW to get an animal companion, though any kind of feats or archetypes? I'm not interested in multiclassing.
2) If not (which I suspect is the case), what do you think would be a balanced trade-off? Would a feat be enough? A swap of a class features? Maybe a custom feat to take the cleric animal domain minus the spells?
3) Alternately, how viable is simply using Handle Animal to train a regular animal?
My GM is open to creative ideas so long as they're not unbalancing.
My combat strategy is going to be to use nets, whips and spells (grease, minor image) for battlefield control and let other characters do the damage.
Eldritch Heritage for the Fey(Sylvan) Bloodline Power, but it's dubious.
"I have a tame lion" sound fine for trait.
The point of animal companions is that they are supposed to have a supernatural link between the PC and the beast. If the PC just has a lion that he has tamed, Handle Animal is the way to do it. If you want to make it more than that, you can get a druid to cast awaken on the lion, you can take some levels in druid, or you could try to use eldritch heritage as noted, however, RAW is ambiguous as to whether you can use eldritch heritage with a wildblooded bloodline. I'd allow it but some GMs might not, and I do not recall whether it is PFS legal.
The Sylvan bloodline is even more dubious than the standard wildblooded Eldritch Heritage question. It specifies that you must give up both your Arcana and your first Bloodline power in order to take a weaker animal companion. A very lenient DM might allow it, but lions are pretty good.
Sounds like you may have to go with Handle Animal.
You can try leadership with GM approval.
Someone actually answered that in this thread.
Skill Focus Kn Nature - Eldritch Heritage (Sylvan) - Boon Companion
You want a skill monkey, a buffer, and an animal companion. You are gonna have to compromise or spend the feats.
Inquisitor (Sacred Huntsmaster) gets lots of skill points and an animal companion. If you worship Milani you can cast Good Hope as a 3rd level spell.
yeah, we've had official clarification that eldritch heritage can't pick wildblooded stuff.
foxes, they end up with the highest str when medium so they are likely to be strong enough to carry you.
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Goat is good but not as good as you think. Because it starts already as small, Battle Form gives it only a +2 to strength, for a total of 14.
Since it was clarified by the designer that Battle Form is to be intended as a polymorph effect, Tiny creatures polymorphing into medium also get a +4 str, -2 dex. Therefore, the best familiar of all in terms of raw strength becomes the fox (which is wolf-ish, btw), which starts from str 9, and then goes up to 15 in Battle Form.
Both the goat and the fox have only one natural attack, therefore remember to add 1.5x str to damage.
Other honorable mentions are:
- crab: starts from str 7, jumping to 13 in Battle Form. It has 2 attacks, therefore it will actually deal more damage than fox and goat over time, despite the lower strength. Moreover, it has grab and constrict, which make it a dangerous grappling machine! The bonus is nice if you focus on grapple as well.
- hakw/owl: both start from str 6, which rises to 12 in Battle Form. They both have two attacks and give you a useful bonus (despite the one given by the owl being a bit more useful in my opinion). Furthermore, they're amazing scouts (hawk is better at spotting, owl at sneaking), both because they can fly and because of their high perception bonuses. Unfortunately, they can't tell you what they've seen. Choose one of these if you are small-sized and want an intelligent flying mount (and you do want it).
Dishonorable mentions:
- raven: it loses its ability to speak, which is the only useful thing of this familiar. The bonus is terrible and the stats are even worse. If you want an avian familiar, go with hawk or owl.
- poison scales with constitution, which is unaffected by the Mauler archetype, and has usually very minor effects. Avoid it.
Wouldn't Tiny -> Medium be +10 STR, -4 DEX and +2 CON?
Tiny -> Small= +4 STR, -2 DEX
Small -> Medium= +4 STR, -2 DEX, +2 CON
Battle Form: +2 STR
Because Battle Form says that the +2 STR is in addition to the size increase adjustments...
That would put a Fox at 19 STR with a 1d6 Bite.
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Wouldn't Tiny -> Medium be +10 STR, -4 DEX and +2 CON?
Tiny -> Small= +4 STR, -2 DEX
Small -> Medium= +4 STR, -2 DEX, +2 CON
Battle Form: +2 STRBecause Battle Form says that the +2 STR is in addition to the size increase adjustments...
That would put a Fox at 19 STR with a 1d6 Bite.
No, polymorph effects set smaller than small to small, or larger than large to medium, and then apply the stat bonus of the effect. A tiny creature is set to small, and then gains the +2 bonus from battle form.
No, polymorph effects set smaller than small to small, or larger than large to medium, and then apply the stat bonus of the effect. A tiny creature is set to small, and then gains the +2 bonus from battle form.
So then a Goat (base STR 12) would actually be the strongest Familiar in Battle Form at 18 STR?
Lesser familiars, like a Monkey, would suffer greatly from that rule. Base STR= 3 with +6 (+4 size, +2 Battle Form) you get a Medium Monkey with 9 STR? It just seems a little underwhelming...
I shall never be tamed! ROAR!
... or something.
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So then a Goat (base STR 12) would actually be the strongest Familiar in Battle Form at 18 STR?
Not quite. See the "Table: Ability Adjustments from Size Changes" in the polymorph section of magic.
There is no entry for small or medium. They are treated the same so a Goat going from small to medium only gets the extra +2 from the mauler ability.
A fox on the other hand starts tiny with 9 str gets the +4 for size tiny > small/medium and the additional +2.
Hope that helps
Ah, my mistake was using "Table: Size Changes" from Monster Advancement!
That being said, a Tiny creature with 9 STR sounds... odd... compared to something like the Snapping Turtle with 4 STR anyway.
@ ohako
The only other option I can find for your Bard is the feat Companion Figurine. This will alter your Figurine of Wondrous Power's stats to that of an Animal Companion and doubles the duration of it's abilities.
Benefit: You may select the creature summoned by your figurine of wondrous power as an animal companion or familiar, or as appropriate. The figurine has the standard abilities of a familiar or animal companion of its type, plus additional abilities related to its figurine type (see below). The main advantage of this is that if your familiar or companion is killed in creature form, it merely reverts to statue form and can be used again later.
The following standard figurines are available as animal companions (C) or familiars (F).
Ebony Fly (C): You must have the Vermin Heart feat to select this creature as an animal companion. It is treated as a horse animal companion, and at 8th level it gains a fly speed of 120 feet (average maneuverability).
Golden Lions (C): When you select a golden lion as an animal companion, one of the pair becomes your companion and the other retains its standard figurine abilities.
Ivory Goats (C): When selecting an ivory goat as an animal companion, you select one of the three goats in the set (traveling, travail, or terror) as your companion; the others remain standard figurines. All three goats are treated as horse animal companions. The goat of traveling never suffers from fatigue or exhaustion from extended travel. The goat of travail has 2 horn attacks (1d8 + Str bonus) in addition to a horse’s normal attacks. The goat of terror has the fear aura and magical weapon horns as described in its figurine entry.
Marble Elephant (C): The elephant is treated as an elephant companion.
Serpentine Owl (C, F): The owl is treated as a bird animal companion or an owl familiar, but only in its Small horned owl form. In its giant owl form, it is merely a creature, not an animal companion or familiar. After three uses of its giant owl form, the figurine loses that transformation ability forever but still functions normally in its horned owl form as an animal companion or familiar.
Silver Raven (C, F): The raven is treated as a bird animal companion or a raven familiar. It retains its metallic appearance and animal messenger ability (though this is redundant for an intelligent familiar) but not its hardness when in animal form.
While the figurine is active, you and the active figurine gain all the normal benefits of having a companion creature; for example, a wizard with a silver raven familiar gains a +3 bonus on Appraise checks, the raven can speak one language, and so on. While the figure is inactive, you gain none of these benefits but are not otherwise hampered by its inert state (as if the creature were out of range but not dead). The usable duration of the companion figurine doubles; for example, an ebony fly is normally usable up to three times per week for up to 12 hours per use, but as a companion creature you may use it up to six times per week for up to 12 hours per use. The figurine is still a magic item and is subject to effects like antimagic field and dispel magic that affect magic items; it uses its caster level or your own, whichever is greater.