Question about Hunter's Bond

[Dylan Griffin]

So i recently made a Ranger* and i was planning on getting one level in Beastmaster which would grant me an animal companion. I didn't want more than one so i was planning on taking the first option of Hunter's Bond and then using just the first level of Beast Master. However, my interpretation of the wording of Hunter's Bond would be that i would still retain an Effective Druid level of (Ranger level - 3) even if i chose the first option.

Would this be true?

[TGMaxMaxer]

If you take the beastmaster archetype, then all levels of ranger are beastmaster ranger.

The archetype lets you get the full druid list, and have multiple creatures with split level allotments.

You still have to be level 4 to get the Hunter's Bond feature which gives you the companion, and you still count as a druid -3 for the animals stats and such.

[Dylan Griffin]

TGMaxMaxer wrote:

If you take the beastmaster archetype, then all levels of ranger are beastmaster ranger.

The archetype lets you get the full druid list, and have multiple creatures with split level allotments.

You still have to be level 4 to get the Hunter's Bond feature which gives you the companion, and you still count as a druid -3 for the animals stats and such.

No not the Beastmaster Archetype, the Prestige Class.http://dndtools.eu/classes/beastmaster/

To get more specific, I'm Level 4 Ranger Level 4 Fighter, when i take beast master next level according to my calculations i should have an effective druid level of 5, EVEN IF i chose the Companion Bond over the animal companion option of "Hunter's Bond"

Ranger Level (4 - 3) = 1
Beast master Level (1 + 3) = 4
For a total of 5.
Or would i forgo the Ranger Druid level due to the fact that i chose the first option of Hunter's Bond? Which would give me an effective druid level of 4

[TGMaxMaxer]

Oh... you're mixing 3.5 stuff in. They don't really combine well, regardless of the idea of compatibility.

In this case, you would be correct. You could choose the Companion bond for the ranger class feature, and then take a single level of Beastmaster PRC and get a 4th level equiv companion from that.

Your ranger level doesn't count towards it at all, since you chose to have the companion bond not the AC.

[HangarFlying]

This should probably be moved to homebrew or the 3.5 thread.