There are not.
This is one of those great times where spell research should come into play.
Or the ritual to call up a new companion. Oceans usually do not just creep up on you (unless you are bad at with teleporting type spells), so you should have some forewarning.
It is not like a vermin familiar has too many tricks it would lose, so switch out should not be too much of a problem mechanically.
I know that people like just having 1 pet, but this is another way to play the companion ability- having a ton of pets each suited for different environments, and letting them go as you go out of environments where they cannot survive.
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Hmmm...Okay, so is there anything that would prevent physical contact of the salt? I think the salt is treated as a splash weapon if throne.
Salt water is an issue, but there may be feats/spells to keep the water out...?
In terms of pet selections, never tried either, but the two vulnerable to salt each have unique abilities (for companion animals). The giant slug and giant leech.
Leech has blood drain like a vampire.
Slug has a ranged acid attack.
Just trying to figure out if they can be viable enough to give them a shot.
Neither companion seems worth having, even if they didn't have susceptibility to salt.
And yeah, literally all salt does to them is that a handful of salt functions as a vial of acid. It does a "whopping" 1d6 damage as a splash weapon. That's it. Ocean water does nothing special to them whatsoever.
Endure Elements is a 1st level spell. Endure... Saltiness? couldn't be any higher than that.
Just give them acid resistance?
It say it affects them as though it were a flask of acid. If that's the case then Acid Resist 5 should do the trick 83% of the time.
Salt water doesn't do anything to them! Literally, the only thing susceptibility to salt does is that a handful of salt deals damage like acid. It says absolutely nothing about any other form of salt, salt water, or anything else. ONLY a handful of salt.
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Salt water doesn't do anything to them! Literally, the only thing susceptibility to salt does is that a handful of salt deals damage like acid. It says absolutely nothing about any other form of salt, salt water, or anything else. ONLY a handful of salt.
While this is true, expect table variation. Especially if the GM ever saw Alien Nation.
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Neither companion seems worth having, even if they didn't have susceptibility to salt.
And yeah, literally all salt does to them is that a handful of salt functions as a vial of acid. It does a "whopping" 1d6 damage as a splash weapon. That's it. Ocean water does nothing special to them whatsoever.
The companions have value, but it would very much depend on your build. I agree than neither are very strong tank/DPS companions. Slug is unique in being a companion that has a ranged attack (unless you count the camel spit). That leech's blood drain is actually pretty dangerous too, especially as it works just fine against things immune to poison.
Just give them acid resistance?
It say it affects them as though it were a flask of acid. If that's the case then Acid Resist 5 should do the trick 83% of the time.
This is one that doesn't totally make sense. The normal, non-companion, Giant slug has the same salt weakness as above and immunity to acid. I've been assuming that this means it bypasses acid resistances, otherwise why include such a weakness.
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Just give them acid resistance?
It say it affects them as though it were a flask of acid. If that's the case then Acid Resist 5 should do the trick 83% of the time.
This is one that doesn't totally make sense. The normal, non-companion, Giant slug has the same salt weakness as above and immunity to acid. I've been assuming that this means it bypasses acid resistances, otherwise why include such a weakness.
The Salt could be functioning for the slug in a very similar manner to how the Alkali alchemical works on oozes and such, being a base serving as acid damage and counteracting the acidic nature of the creature punching through it's natural resistance.
That leech's blood drain is actually pretty dangerous too, especially as it works just fine against things immune to poison.
I don't actually think it's especially dangerous. It moves at only 5' per turn unless in the water (where it still only has a 20' speed) and it ends up with 11 Strength and 12 Dex, so it has a horrible attack bonus whether you take Weapon Finesse or not. It attaches if it hits, but its CMD is practically rockbottom (11+BAB), so, it's trivial to remove it. It needs to stay attached for two rounds in order to have any effect (ability damage only matters in pairs), at which point, they've taken a "huge" -1 penalty to hit and damage and lost HP equal to their HD. You need four rounds before it works again.
How long do combats last in your game? I've never seen a Pathfinder fight last longer than 4 rounds--they rarely last more than 2. A pouncing pet could deal far more damage than that Con loss, likely in one round or less, and most of them also have Grab (grappling penalizes attacks more than some Strength loss).
The Slug is unique because of the ranged attack, but it's not actually a good ranged attack. The Slug ends up with a 6 Dex, so, you'll have a -2 to hit on the attack, and it only ever deals 1d8 damage. Nothing will boost it because it's a touch attack (so Deadly Aim won't work) that is not a natural weapon (it's a special ability) or a weapon in general (rays are weapons, but regular ranged touch attacks are not).
Both of them are pretty terrible, especially at doing the unique things they are meant to do.
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That leech's blood drain is actually pretty dangerous too, especially as it works just fine against things immune to poison.I don't actually think it's especially dangerous. It moves at only 5' per turn unless in the water (where it still only has a 20' speed) and it ends up with 11 Strength and 12 Dex, so it has a horrible attack bonus whether you take Weapon Finesse or not. It attaches if it hits, but its CMD is practically rockbottom (11+BAB), so, it's trivial to remove it. It needs to stay attached for two rounds in order to have any effect (ability damage only matters in pairs), at which point, they've taken a "huge" -1 penalty to hit and damage and lost HP equal to their HD. You need four rounds before it works again.
How long do combats last in your game? I've never seen a Pathfinder fight last longer than 4 rounds--they rarely last more than 2. A pouncing pet could deal far more damage than that Con loss, likely in one round or less, and most of them also have Grab (grappling penalizes attacks more than some Strength loss).
The Slug is unique because of the ranged attack, but it's not actually a good ranged attack. The Slug ends up with a 6 Dex, so, you'll have a -2 to hit on the attack, and it only ever deals 1d8 damage. Nothing will boost it because it's a touch attack (so Deadly Aim won't work) that is not a natural weapon (it's a special ability) or a weapon in general (rays are weapons, but regular ranged touch attacks are not).
Both of them are pretty terrible, especially at doing the unique things they are meant to do.
Combat lasts as long as it needs to. Really depends if DM brought a monster/trap/challenge with resistances we can overcome, or if its got that one version of of an ability that our party just can't cope with.
Also depends if party is keen on role playing, or if they just want a hack and slash adventure.
If combat only lasts 2-4 rounds, I wonder if your party is being challenged enough...? 2-4 rounds, to me, implies that either DM doesn't care about combat aspects of the game or is just not providing adequate challenges for your party (or party is just very skilled at running away).
Anyway, Leech get's the abilities that matter in the first incarnation, so I'd opt to not increase size and add the +2 con and +2 dex for the 4th level advancement. I'd focus it on stealth, possibly taking the "racer" archetype to add 10 to it's base speed. Only strength damage, sure, but you can knock things unconscious that way. Grapple and improved grapple and the one that allows dex for CMB. It does have attach (Ex) which adds 8 to stay grappled.
As for slug, you've got his dex wrong. Yeah, starts at 8 and goes to -2 at 7th, but remember that all animial companions are +2 str/dex at that same 7th level. So at 7th, he's 8 dex if I make him large. The better option, as above, is to opt out of the size increase and add +2 con and +2 dex. So at 7th he'd be 12 dex. A human with "eye for talent" could make that 14 dex. Before you say that only a +1 or +2 dex isn't very much, remember that the "spit acid" ability is a ranged touch attack, so it really doesn't need to be as high against most targets.
Anyway, I like slugs, so it is also a personal attachment.