Question about Non-Combat animal companions in PFS

[Angel Hunter D]

So my understanding is that I can only have 1 combat animal companion and numerous non-combat animal companions. I'm playing a 6th level beastmaster ranger and trying to figure out what i can do with them.

My question is: What can a non-combat companion do?

More specifically, let's say I walk into a barn with my T-Rex and Bat. Goblins jump out of the hay and attack me. I command my Bat to go hang in the rafters, as per the "flee" trick (it has to keep me in range of it's senses, namely it's blindsight I'm thinking) while the dino and I fight. So me and the dino kill most of the goblins, but one of them drank a potion of invisibility. Now, I know I can have the dino try to sniff out the goblin, but let's say he got knocked out. Can I use my improved empathic link to "see through" my bat's "eyes" and use it's blindsense to locate the goblin?

[GinoA]

Your combat animal is set for the entire scenario.

FAQ wrote:

If you have more than one class-granted animal companion (or eidolon), you must choose which will be considered the combat animal at the start of the scenario.

FAQ

[Bronnwynn]

That's, uh, not his question. At all.

[Nefreet]

But it answers his question, which was "What can a non-combat companion do?"

If you can only have one, and it's decided at the beginning of the scenario, the other one is just "fluff".

[BretI]

The Pathfinder Society FAQ says:

Quote:

Noncombat animals (ponies, horses, pet dogs, and so on) cannot participate in combat at all.

Making a perception check is participating in combat. Therefore, the bat can't do it.

[Nefreet]

Nope.

If you purchase 10 small dogs before a scenario begins, and your GM allows you to bring them all with you, and they're "keeping watch" while you sleep, only one of them will be able to make the Perception check to notice your camp being mugged.

Moral of the story: plan on bringing only 1 critter to any scenario.

[Angel Hunter D]

OK, I get that the bat can't do anything itself.

But the thing is, when i use my improved bond I am the one making the check, not the critter, using it's "eyes" (something i can activate as a swift action and drop as a free action)

[rknop]

How about making active checks in non-combat situations? E.g. Sleight of Hand checks to steal things, Perception checks, etc.

I'm guessing that the answer here is still "no", that the real rule is "one animal for crunch, all the others are fluff". However, there are crunch situations that aren't combat, so there remains a bit of ambiguity.

[Nefreet]

The best compromise between bringing >1 critters to the table (which players want to do), and bringing <1 critters to the table (which many GMs would prefer), is to bring 1 critter to the table.

Yes, this means a couple archetypes probably aren't the best choice for PFS play.

[Angel Hunter D]

I chose beastmaster so i could get the t-rex, but since i have a spare level to go around after taking "boon companion" i want to get some bang for the buck. Blindsense on a stick seemed a good way to go, and the explicit rule on only being limited in combat made it look ok to me.

[Nefreet]

What do you mean by "spare level"?

[Avoron]

His effective druid level is his ranger level -3. If he wants one good companion, he can take Boon Companion. But that's capped at his character level anyway, so the +4 bonus doesn't make his primary companion any stronger than a +3 bonus would.

So, since beastmasters can split up their levels, instead has:

Tyrannosaurus, effective druid level 2, raised to 6 by Boon Companion
Bat, effective druid level 1.

[Angel Hunter D]

Since it looks like i can't use the bat's blindsense, i might as well swap it for a giant wasp and have darkvision that flies.

[Angel Hunter D]

and darkvision that i can only use at the GM's discretion while exploring