Assuming...
...a game that will go to a high level (15-16 at a minimum, 19-20 is possible), and be played through all the levels (so the whole range of power is traveled through).
Assuming...
...a caster Druid, so Domain spells will get some milage, in a small to average (3-5 person) mixed group, so an animal companion isn't neccesary but isn't entirely redundant either.
Question...
...What Domains of the Paizo Pathfinder core books (Core, APG, UC, UM, ARG, etc) available to Druids (including Druid archtypes from those books) do you feel are on par with the better animal companions (at least the orange, really the green to blue ranked ones from the two Druid guides on here) available.
And of course...
... Why do you feel that way.
[edit: and of course if you can give an example of how at your table you (or your GM) made the most of a particular domain, or animal companion if you think all domains are stinkers in comparison, please do tell]
The BAB of an animal companion starts high then gets lower as it levels up. By 15-16 or even 17-19 it is almost at wizard-level.
As for domains, it does still depend on what you want your Druid to be. But, for nice ones-
-Plains domain. You get pounce a few times per day, but more importantly: HASTE. And haste is awesome. And I just realized you get Blur as a FREE ACTION. Amazing.
-Earth/Caves domain. You get the Pit spells which are nasty, and the others which mostly aren't useless.
-Cave domain. Tremorsense is mean, and Wall of Stone and Stone Call are quite nice.
I remember a part of a druid guide or domain guide which listed all the druid domains and made some good comments, not sure where it is.
Personally I have never found a domain. That is worth replacing the animal companion with.Um, Animal domain? Add in Boon Companion and you have both a full animal companion and a full domain. Also consider the subdomains: Feather and Fur. I prefer Fur, but YMMV.
Yeah, while the Druid is a feat starved class so some builds have trouble cramming even 1 feat in, if you can make room for it it's basically getting the best of both worlds.
... and really, when you look at the powers and spells you get, for essentially the cost of just 1 feat...
I've heard people mutter that the AC decreases in value at higher levels; hard to keep up with the firepower of everything else.
This is true, though I've also found many players spend zero or close to zero of their WBL on their animal companion, and I think that has something to do with it, and of course some players don't pick the most mechanically sound ACs.
If you AC is say a large cat, or even something just 'green' like a wolf, then you spend even 10-15% of your WBL on it, you start seeing some real changes in it's performance.
Go take 10% of a Level 10's wealth by level, and look at all the +2 stat, +save, +armor stuff you can start putting on the AC, assuming your GM lets you make collars/paw wrist bands, etc for it, or you get it the feat/training to wear light armor.
So I do think they drop off at higher levels, but I also think part of that is players letting them drop off more than they have to.
The BAB of an animal companion starts high then gets lower as it levels up. By 15-16 or even 17-19 it is almost at wizard-level.
As for domains, it does still depend on what you want your Druid to be. But, for nice ones-
-Plains domain. You get pounce a few times per day, but more importantly: HASTE. And haste is awesome. And I just realized you get Blur as a FREE ACTION. Amazing.
-Earth/Caves domain. You get the Pit spells which are nasty, and the others which mostly aren't useless.
-Cave domain. Tremorsense is mean, and Wall of Stone and Stone Call are quite nice.
I remember a part of a druid guide or domain guide which listed all the druid domains and made some good comments, not sure where it is.
Exactly what I was hoping for. :)
I debated putting this in general discussion, because I was just asking it for opinions not really for advice, but then I realized what people add here would be really good advice, so I placed it in this forum.
There are two Druid guides here, Treantmonks (which is GREAT and one of his originals, but a tad dated. He also recommends domain for caster druids), and Peterrco's (which is also great, and more up to date. He recommends animal companion for both druid types).
I think the guides are a GREAT resource, but they also aren't the whole of Druid players opinions, experience, or knowledge, and as they're both over a year old now, it never hurts to ask a question like this and see what people say, in the interest of player knowledge. :D