The Monstrous Companion feat:
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/general-feats/monstrous-companion
Certain creatures are listed as above Cphort level 12 but the feat caps out at EDL(Effective Druid Level) of 20 with the highest effective cohort level being 12. Has there been an errata or is there some sort of way to raise your EDL for the purposes of this feat(or animal companions in general) that I might have missed somewhere in here? I know "normal" leadership has multiple factors that can change the overall score and therefore raise or lower your Leadership value but this feat has nothing to support this unless I've missed a change that was made somewhere else.
Aasimar or Elf Nature Oracle with a Favored Class Bonus that raises their effective Druid level?
I think this thread. can answer your questions alot better than I can.
From what I read Aasimar or Elf Nature oracle with favored class bonus cannot increase her animal companion’s Hit Dice above her actual character level + 1. While that is an awesome gain at earlier levels, eventually your animal companion will cap out one your character hits
lvl 15. Animal companions are capped out at a 20th effective druid lvl similar to how pc are capped at 20th lvl. Raising it above that is official houserule or homebrew territory. So yeah the monstrous comapion feat is capped at an effective cohort lvl 12 once you get an effective druid lvl of 20.
Aasimar or Elf Nature Oracle with a Favored Class Bonus that raises their effective Druid level?I think this thread. can answer your questions alot better than I can.
From what I read Aasimar or Elf Nature oracle with favored class bonus cannot increase her animal companion’s Hit Dice above her actual character level + 1. While that is an awesome gain at earlier levels, eventually your animal companion will cap out one your character hits
lvl 15. Animal companions are capped out at a 20th effective druid lvl similar to how pc are capped at 20th lvl. Raising it above that is official houserule or homebrew territory. So yeah the monstrous comapion feat is capped at an effective cohort lvl 12 once you get an effective druid lvl of 20.
I was wrong you can take a pc's character level beyond 20, the requirement of the xp is pretty steep though. Plus all regular classes cap at lvl 20. If you your character goes to lvl 21 and beyond your going to have to multiclass or take a prestige class if you haven't already done it at earlier lvls.
My DM thoughts:
Monstrous companion totally blows. Fiercely. A level 10 druid with Leadership and an Animal Companion has 2 effectively CR6 minions, for a combined CR8. Math: an NPC with 7 PC levels -1 for NPC equipment and an animal with 9 hit dice per monster creation table.
If the very same druid uses this dumb feat to swap for a Hippogriff with ECL 6... you get a CR2 creature. What the actual eff?
My thoughts: ignore the text on the feat and just say you can swap your Comp for a monster on the list with CR of up to your Level-2, with class levels for the remainder. That way it's literally the same as taking a cohort, but you get one buddy instead of 2. If it's unbalancing, add in CHA math or something.