boon companion
PFS Legal Boon Companion
Source Animal Archive pg. 18, Seekers of Secrets pg. 16
Your bond with your animal companion or familiar is unusually close.
Prerequisites: Animal companion or familiar class feature.
Benefit: The abilities of your animal companion or familiar are calculated as though your class were 4 levels higher, to a maximum effective druid level equal to your character level. If you have more than one animal companion or familiar, choose one to receive this benefit. If you lose or dismiss an animal companion or familiar that has received this benefit, you may apply this feat to the replacement creature.
Special: You may select this feat more than once. The effects do not stack. Each time you take the feat, it applies to a different animal companion or familiar.
This feat doesn't care about druid levels in the prereq, but then references them in body. I know a lot of classes reference druid levels when talking about ACs, but familiars could care less about druids most of the time.
I have a player in an upcoming game wanting to take this to raise his "familiar" higher than his level. A closer reading of the text leaves me a bit uncertain whether or not this is doable.
Any ideas?
Cant raise it higher. But I think a ranger can use it for example.
The familiar can't exceed the characters total levels with this Boon, no.
This is what I always thought, but when the player asked, I didn't really feel that I had the text to back up my answer. Why doesn't the body just say "level" or "character level" instead of "druid level?"
It does.
The abilities of your animal companion or familiar are calculated as though your class were 4 levels higher, to a maximum effective druid level equal to your character level.
Generally this Boon is used for Multiclass, or players wanting to top up their Level-3 (ie Ranger) companions, or in the case of the Beastmaster, shore up some of their companions (as they split the Levels).
The part about 'equal to your character level is the key here. Druids can have Familiars too.
If it just said 'to your level', then it could be still argued the L-3 would apply to multi-classed Rangers who took this Feat
The abilities of your animal companion or familiar are calculated as though your class were 4 levels higher, to a maximum effective druid level equal to your character level.
If someone says, screw my druid level, I want my wizard level four levels higher than my character level, the text doesn't really support telling them no.
EDIT: After your edit, I do see how at time the druid language could be preferential.....just not in this instance. Perhaps "druid or wizard level" would be more appropriate language since that is where the main info for ACs and familiars are referenced?
The text tells them what they can do, it doesn't tell them what they can't. The player can't actually say 'screw the Druid levels' because the text specifies them - if anything he should just stay really really quiet :)
Effectively, this Feat does nothing for single class characters with a non level reduced Companion.
Its good for those people with a -3 companion, and that was what the designer said the purpose was HERE
Its been covered a few times now, and it doesn't boost your Famil/companion past your total character levels (though there IS a way to do that...)
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And it doesn't do anything for familiars at all. They're not animal companions.
The latest version of Boon Companion in Animal Archive (posted by OP) does include familiars.
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This feat can also be useful for classes that can get multiple animal companions, but must divide (effective) druid levels among them. For example, a Huntmaster cavalier's levels are equivalent to a druid of equal level for his animal companion; at 5th level, after having allotted his first 5 'druid' levels to his first pet, he can take a second companion, take Boon Companion, and immediatley have to companions equal to his own level.
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For example, a Huntmaster cavalier's levels are equivalent to a druid of equal level for his animal companion; at 5th level, after having allotted his first 5 'druid' levels to his first pet, he can take a second companion, take Boon Companion, and immediatley have to companions equal to his own level.
Hmm not sure the feat works like that for the Huntmaster. A Huntmaster's effective druid level is equal to his class level unlike say a ranger's which is at -3. A Huntmaster's new animal companions are not treated as your effective druid level - X, you are dividing your total druid levels up. So they would not gain the benefits of the feat.
However, if say a multiclass Fighter 4/ Huntsman 1 took boon animal companion he could raise a single companion to 5th level. Or a Fighter 4/ Huntsman 2 with two different pets could take the boon animal companion feat to raise one pet to 5th level leaving the other at 1st.
Ranger just says you gain an animal companion with Effective Druid Level equal to class level -3. There is no language to say it is limited to this, just that that is what the Ranger class feature gives you.
This raises Effective Druid Level by 4, to a maximum of your character level.
So the feat raises exactly what the Ranger class gives you (effective druid level) and while the feat has a limit called out there is not "limit" in the Ranger class feature.
I can see the OP's concern over using it with a Famililar RAW (Wizards don't have effective druid level) but I believe it is clear what the feat is supposed to do.
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Can you quote a Dev Team response saying this?
Don't need to.
The feat then raises and ranger's effective druid level making it equal with his class level. So a 10th level ranger with boon animal companion would have a 10th level pet.
Pretty sure kaisc is correct, especially when the Game Designer who wrote the feat came out and said that this was 100% the intention behind the feat.