|
I've always wanted to play a character with a small black panther animal companion, and I'm finally getting it worked out. I realize that big cats are optimal for damage, wolves for trip, rocs for awesomeness... but would what I've got together/planned be viable for PFS play? I'd also like a double check on my numbers to make sure I didn't mess anything up.
The human druid has the Eye for Talent racial ability instead of a bonus feat, to give it a 4 Int and know every trick possible - as well as learn to understand Common via Linguistics. For the 1st level feat, he's got the new ARG Huntmaster feat to have his cat count as one level higher, 3rd level the APG Racial Heritage (Aasimar) feat, 5th level the Celestial Servant feat - applying the Celestial Template to the cat. Also, when the cat has a chance to advance, I'd like to keep him small (granting a +2 Dex/Con instead of the growth to medium).
I started a thread here in regards to the SR of a Celestial Servant animal companion (as well as the smite evil ambiguity).
I was tempted to have the intelligent cat take Additional Traits to get a religion trait (Blade of Mercy, slashing weapons deal subdual +1 damage), but I'm going to guess most DMs will veto an animal worshipping a goddess. Any suggestions for the level 6 builds third feat? I'm torn between Power Attack->Furious Focus, Combat Reflexes->Stand Still and Step Up->Following Step. Eldritch Claws seems like a good idea for it's 5th feat at level 10 (level 9 Huntmaster druid).
Here's the build as a 3rd level companion (technically level 2 druid due to Huntmaster):
low light vision, scent, evasion, link, share spells
HP 16 (4.5x3 +3)
Speed 50
Str 13
Dex 22
Con 13
Int 4
Wis 12
Cha 6
AC: 10+2 armor+6 Dex+3 natural+1 size= 22
Touch AC: 17
Flatfooted AC: 16
Saves: +4 Fort/+9 Reflex/+2 Will
Attacks:+2 BAB+6 Dex+1 Size= +9
+9 bite/+9 claw/+9 claw
1d4+1 and trip +7/1d2+1/1d2+1
CMB: 2 BAB+6 Dex-1 Size=+7
CMD: 10+2 BAB+6 Dex+1 Str-1 Size=18 or 22 vs trip
Tricks: all (3x4 Int=12+2 bonus=14 tricks, only 12+1 for attack all exist)
Feats:
Weapon Finesse, Agile Maneuvers
Skills:
Acrobatics 1 rank+3 trained+6 Dex=+10
Survival 1 rank+3 trained+1 Wis=+5
Linguistics-Common 1 rank-3 Int=-2
Perception 0 ranks+1 Wis=+1 (+9 with scent)
Stealth 0 ranks+6 Dex+4 size=+10
Equipment:
Leather Barding (20gp; 7.5lbs)
Training harness (20gp; 5lbs) [ARG]
Here's the build as a 6th level companion with Celestial (technically a 5th level druid)
low light vision, scent, evasion, link, share spells, devotion, darkvision 60', smite evil 1/day
HP 45 (4.5x6 +18)
Speed 50
Str 14
Dex 25 (+2 advancement at level 4)
Con 16 (+1 at level 4) (+2 advancement at level 4)
Int 4
Wis 12
Cha 6
AC: 10+4 armor+7 Dex+5 natural+1 size= 27
Touch AC: 18
Flatfooted AC: 20
Saves: +8 Fort/+11 Reflex/+3 (+7 vs enchantment) Will
DR 5/evil
Resist Cold, Acid, and Electricity 10
Attacks:+4 BAB+7 Dex+1 Size= +12
+12 bite/+12 claw/+12 claw
1d4+7 and trip +10/1d2+7/1d2+7
Power Attack (-2 attack, +4 damage to all attacks)
smite evil 1/day +6 damage
CMB: 4 BAB+7 Dex-1 Size=+10
CMD: 10+4 BAB+7 Dex+2 Str-1 Size=22 or 26 vs trip
Tricks: all (3x4 Int=12+3 bonus=15 tricks, only 12+1 for attack-all exist)
Feats:
Weapon Finesse, Agile Maneuvers, Power Attack
Skills:
Acrobatics 4 rank+3 trained+7 Dex=+14
Survival 1 rank+3 trained+1 Wis=+5
Linguistics-Common 1 rank-3 Int=-2
Perception 0 ranks+1 Wis=+1 (+9 with scent)
Stealth 0 ranks+7 Dex+4 size=+11
Equipment:
+1 Darkleaf Cloth Studded Leather Barding (Small, non humanoid) +3 AC (+1 enhancement), 0 ACP, 7 Max Dex (2550gp; 5lbs)
Amulet of Mighty Fists (Agile) (5000gp)
Training harness (20gp; 5lbs) [ARG]
Combat reflexes is a good choice, but stand still could have issues because it's a CMB check, which a small creature is hardly ideal for. Step up and following step could work, plus the idea of a cat persistently pursuing its prey is certainly fitting.
|
|
I'm worried that Stand Still wouldn't trigger much as not a lot of DMs threaten AoO by moving if they can avoid it. Seems that Step Up for all of those 5' stepping casters and archers might be pretty awesome. And Power Attack is always useful. Hard to pick a situational vs an always on ability.
Compared to large trip attackers, I'm hoping the crazy +7 Dex mod balances out somewhat the -2 size difference.
I did forget that weapon finesse applies to trip attacks. If I don't go for Stand Still, I could swap Agile Maneuvers out for something. Maybe have Step Up and Following Step early. What about the difficult terrain bypassing feats? Any good?