Is the plant companion for druids in Dragon 357, pg 90-91 usable as is for Pathfinder or does it need further conversion beyond the required basic conversion?
Is the plant companion for druids in Dragon 357, pg 90-91 usable as is for Pathfinder or does it need further conversion beyond the required basic conversion?
Without having seen it, probably not; 3.5 and PF use completely different rules for companions.
Greetings, fellow traveller.
If you're looking for plant companions in general, you might want to check the treesinger from the ARG.
Ruyan.
Greetings, fellow traveller.
If you're looking for plant companions in general, you might want to check the treesinger from the ARG.
Ruyan.
That looks interested but it requires you to be an elf. The plant companion I'm asking about can be used by any druid and it's extraordinary powers can be customized as one levels up. I'm just wondering if the 1 hd plant companion in Dragon 357 would be useable as is after basic conversion or if it needs further conversion. The article says it follows the rules for a normal animal companion but is different because it is a plant.
Without having seen it, probably not; 3.5 and PF use completely different rules for companions.
I'm aware of the differences in the systems. That is why I am here.
Hm. Maybe you can talk to your GM asking him to drop that silly prerequisite.
Otherwise, Arazyr has posted a list on d20pfsrd which might help you.
Ruyan.
I appreciate that link, but I still want some input from people about the plant companion in Dragon 357. Has anyone taken a look at it?
OK. This actually caused me to laugh. Why? I do own exactly three Dragon magazines--and guess what? One of them is #357!
So. Done reading. My first question is: what do you want from your plant companion?
Looking at the Natural Selection abilities I spot a lot of interesting possibilities to customize my companion. Have you tried building a sample companion for, say, druid 4, druid 7 and druid 10?
Lvls 4 and 7 are interesting because (as you surely know) the PF companions evolve--their powerfulness increases quite a lot and it would be interesting to compare a #357 companion with one of the companions following one of the links I posted.
Your 3.5 companion lacks ~1 HD for a given level in druid (which affects hp, saves and skill points in turn) and the stat increases.
I am a little in undecided here (and lack the time to do the sample builds myself), but with the standard progression found on the 3.5SRD and the abilities listed on page 91 it might make for a strong(er) companion.
Let's see; druid 4 would give you with Dragon #357:
In addition you could get:
Looks rather powerful to me--than again this might change with higher levels (as is the case with PF animal companions designed for melee).
Hm. I think it really boils down to: what do you want from your companion? Also: if it looks too good when compared to the PF advanced plant companions it might be high time to discuss with your GM.
Sorry, but I can't give you more advice/thoughts than this.
Ruyan.
Multiple powers can not manifest at the same level according to the article.
lvl 4: can't take new ability since Growth spurt (+8 Str, -2 Dex, +4 Con, +2 NA, -1 attack/AC), Alacrity (2 attacks when using full round action for full attack action), and Eldritch Fibres (natural weapons count as magic for overcoming DR) manifest.
Your plant companion can only evolve one new ability at a time.
If I am interpreting the article right. So those three abilities would not show up at the same level. I assume they would show up in the order selected at the next two levels. Plus you have to select Powerful twice before you can take Growth Spurt. So your example setup is off. Yes, there is a slight typo in the text and it says Iron Bark instead of Growth Spurt. Besides, I'm more interested in the Poisonous ability right off the bat. I'll make it bigger later.
Here's what your example setup should look like if you are interested in taking Growth Spurt. Tho the level you select Alacrity, Eldritch Fibers and Powerful can vary. You just have to focus on taking Powerful twice before you can gain Growth Spurt. This example setup assumes you want to take Growth Spurt asap.
Dang. You're right, of course. Thanks for giving me advice, Araxiss!
If you're looking for poison my advice would be (still): build a sample customized companion and compare it to the poisonous snakes or the puffball from the treesinger PrC.
Ruyan.
PS: Now, I'm you got me interested as well in the presented material in Dragon #357! Seems I need a discussion with my GM.
So you're starting to think that it is probably the only 3.5 animal companion that is a viable option for Pathfinder like I was thinking, huh? :P
I was also thinking I would give it two feats from Savage Species that would improve it's poison as well. I dunno if any such feats exist in Pathfinder itself. I was planning something else that may seem kinda too powerful but that is a bit down the line.
But I was wondering if the base creature itself was fine to use as is after basic conversion and was wondering if the Poison and Sticky Sap abilities needed to be converted or if they were fine as is.
Anyone know if the Poisonous and Sticky Sap abilities need to be converted? Is it ok to post any material from the magazine to get more help from people or is posting material from Dragon verboten?
Still wondering if I need to do any conversions to the two abilities I mentioned. Anyone have suggestions?
So.... No suggestions for converting the special abilities? I'm starting to think this was the wrong community to ask for help.
i would just allow a plant companion. there are rules for vermin companions. Vermin share many mechanical similarities to plants and are probably almost as balanced.
The problem is not the plant companion per se--there exist plant companions in PF now (see my post above: treesinger from ARG).
The conversion Araxiss talks about is more specifically tied to the abilities he mentions; although, I think the vermin companions might open up new possibilities here: maybe you'll find some of their abilities are similar to Poisonous and Sticky Sap.
Another thought: take a look at the various frog (special) abilities? Maybe they offer some (mechanically) similar abilities.
I'm away from books right now, but finding time I'll recheck my Dragon.
And I think posting material would violate copyrights, since all that stuff is owned by Wizards.
Ruyan.
Yar. The actual companion itself is easily converted. It's the two abilities I mention that I wonder if they will work just fine as is or if they need to be converted. The Sticky Sap one in particular feels like it should say something about CMB and CMD in there.
Decided to go with the aforementioned Treesinger for my thought build tho taking this companion instead of one of the three listed.