I am working on an Animal companion, but got a bit confused on some topics. I would appreciate some input.
Q: Can I drop handle animal when I get a more intelligent animal?
I’m thinking eye for talent into int for the first three levels of an Ape, a new Ape at 4th with eye for talent in str and an ability raise to get int to 3. So can I just command it without ever needing handle animal? Or do I still need to put skill points into it?
Q: Can I give my large Ape the exotic weapon proficiency (Flying Blade)?
How does a weapon work for an Animal Companion? Does it gain iterative attacks at bab +6?
It’s an Ape, I think it can hold a chain and throw it around.
Q: How does the damage of a Flying blade scale?
I’m thinking bigger is better. So using a flying blade one size category larger than the Animal Companion (even after Animal growth, so at lvl10 that would be gargantuan). Also adding lead blades as a touch spell. In the end it would be like hurling a sharpened lead anchor around. I’m thinking:
Flying blade: 1d12 -large-> 3d6 –huge->4d6 -gargantuan-> 6d6 –lead blades-> 9d6
Q: Does lunge stack with natural reach and reach weapon? Does it increase the threatened squares with 5’ for AoO too?
Q: How many AoO’s can you get from a single move action?
I wonder what happens if an enemy tries to come closer to a huge creature with a reach weapon. Is it square by square getting one for every threatened square it moves out of? Or only one time?
I think a huge creature with reach weapon looks like this:
X= out of reach, R=threatened by reach weapon (flying blade), N=threatened by natural reach (Ape, bite), C= creature
XRRRNNNCCNNNRRRX
So if an enemy moves from x up to a square adjacent to the creature, is that
A: 5 AoO (3 Reach weapon and 2 Natural weapon)
B: 1 AoO per movement, even though it passes more threatened squares
C: 0 AoO since it started on a square that was not threatened.
2. IIRC, there is a list of feats available to animal companion listed in the animal companion feature description. Once the creature reaches Int 3 or more it might select feats from outside the list.
4. It should stack but its effects ends at the end of the user's turn (i.e. once the user finishes its actions), so the extra reach from Lunge does not apply to attacks of opportunity, unless for very specific occasions when the opponent reacts to your action with action that provokes AoO (like readying an action to cast teleport when opponent comes within 10 feet to teleport away - but its very very rare).
5. Movement provokes only one attack of opportunity from each threatening opponent - if you move around an opponent's threat area you will provoke only one attack of opportunity even if you leave multiple threatened squares (as long as opponent don't have some special ability that allows him to make an attack of opportunity for each square left - I have a vague feeling I have seen something like that but it might have been 3rd party product). EDIT: Answer B.
Can I improve my companion’s Intelligence to 3 or higher and give it weapon feats?
No. An Intelligence of 3 does not grant animals sentience, the ability to use weapons or tools, speak a language (though they may understand one with a rank in Linguistics; this does not grant literacy), or activate magic devices. Also note that raising an animal companion’s Intelligence to 3 or higher does not eliminate the need to make Handle Animal checks to direct its actions; even semi-intelligent animals still act like animals unless trained not to. An animal with Intelligence of 3 or higher remains a creature of the animal type unless its type is specifically changed by another ability. An animal may learn 3 additional tricks per point of Intelligence above 2.
Although it is for PFS and isn't necessarily binding on a home game this gives a rather thorough and balanced assessment of animal capabilities. Sums up as Int 3 doesn't remove need for handle animal checks, and no to the weapon use.
With the increased damage - good luck getting a definitive answer. there are a number of conflicting sources and no answer yet that I've seen.
Animal companions are a special case. Possessing intelligence of greater than 2 does not change them into magical beast, but they are allowed to become more intelligent. They do not become sentient creatures, but rather extremely intelligent animals of their kind.
To my knowledge, this increase allows them to understand a language, but they must still be trained, and used with handle animal.
Also see this blogpost and this one too.