can someone explain the feat.....

[zainale]

boon companion.i don't understand it's meaning. is it good it sounds good? but i am not sure..... whats my levels do for my companion? or does it make the CA 4 lvls higher? a simple long drawn out explanation would be greatly appreciated. >.> and if you can't thats fine i will just keep asking on parts i don't understand.

[Atticus Bleak]

zainale wrote:

boon companion.i don't understand it's meaning. is it good it sounds good? but i am not sure..... whats my levels do for my companion? or does it make the CA 4 lvls higher? a simple long drawn out explanation would be greatly appreciated. >.> and if you can't thats fine i will just keep asking on parts i don't understand.

Your animal companion gains HD, Base Attack Bonus, Saves, Skills and Feats as it levels up with you. A druid starts with theirs' at level one, but Rangers and Paladins don't get them until later, and the animal companion they gain has a level of their class level -3.

Boon Companion exists so that Rangers and Paladins can catch up and have animal companions on par with their level, instead of 3 levels behind them. It also helps if you are a class with an animal companion, but decide to multiclass. Since you aren't leveling in the class that gave you a companion, the companion will stop leveling, unless you take Boon Companion.

[zainale]

so its really good?
and if i keep leveling in the none druid class the boon companion also keeps lvling?

[zainale]

do i take this or does the A.C. take it?

[Hubaris]

Yes.

So basically if you are a Druid 4 / Fighter 4 (A 8 HD Character) your Animal Companion would be level 4 (equal to your Druid level).

If you (the character, not the Animal Companion) take Boon Companion, you add 4 to the Animal Companion's level. So now your Animal Companion is 8 (4 from Druid, 4 from Boon).

This won't help you increase it past the limit though (which is your Total Character Level). So if you were a Druid 4 / Fighter 2 (A 6 HD Character) and you take Boon Companion, it will be a level 6 companion (4 from Druid, 2 from Boon Companion) NOT a Level 8 Companion, as it would then be higher level than you (6 HD).

[zainale]

i am playing a non-ranger non-druid should i put points into natural soul or animal ally? if i did would it be worth the three feats.

[My Self]

What are you playing? What class, level, and feats do you have?

[zainale]

((well i am still low level, and i am an alchemist, as for feats they are a mess since this is my first time playing pathfinder and an alchemist and my dm won't let me change my feats or won't yet. i have been looking the class over for what seems like months and i would not have taken the feats i have.))

anyways a pure alchemist that takes the three feats natural soul at 1th lvl i take animal ally 5th boon animal 7th. that would leave a little wiggle room for a couple feats for bombs. i think like splash weapons mastery and ricochet splash weapon with discovery precise bombs. maybe toss in animal soul at 9th.

[My Self]

Yes, but what level exactly, and what feats do you already have? Can you state it more clearly? Sorry if I can't quite interpret what you're saying in that last post.

Also, what alchemist discoveries do you have?

[DM_Blake]

It's simple.

You get +1 to hit with whatever one single weapon you choose. Nothing to it.

I sure hope you were asking about the Weapon Focus feat. Your thread title was awkwardly unspecific, so I just assumed any old feat would suffice.

[zainale]

My Self: lvl 3 about to hit lvl 4 alchemist dodge, weapon focus (bombs)(i think its the one that does +1 weapon damage or to hit one of those),1 other feat but i cant remember what. but i am about to hit lvl four.

DM_Blake: i am talking about the feat boon companion. and if its worth the three feats to apply it.

[Gark the Goblin]

DM_Blake, is it really so rare to complete the thread title in the beginning of your post? At least on my browser, it's very easy to mouse over the title and see what the OP is before clicking.

zainale, Boon Companion can be a pretty good feat. We had a ranger/fighter who dipped mad dog barbarian for a dinosaur companion and took Boon Companion, and the thing was quite the meat grinder. I'm not sure it's worth the two extra feats to get the AC in the first place, though - 7th level was around the dinosaur's peak usefulness, and I hear that's the case for a lot of animal companions. Dipping isn't a great idea for an alchemist, but I could see cavalier (for the buffs, HP, and ranged martial weapons proficiencies) if you really want that AC.

[Deighton Thrane]

Like gark said, Animal Companions tend to fall off at higher levels. So if you are going to take the feats, it's best to take them right away. However, as an alchemist, you should be able to keep the animal companion a little more relevant at higher level with infusions.

However there's another really good option open to you as an alchemist, and that's the tumor familiar. With the familiar folio, you can take the mauler archetype for the familiar. With the archetype the familiar can grow to medium size, gains a bonus to strength instead of intelligence, and gains an ability that, when you reduce an enemy to 0 hit points, it gains a +2 to attack and damage, and the trade off is not being able to speak to it, and to not be able to have it deliver touch spells. As you don't actually cast spells, this is pretty much a straight bonus.

Then at level 7, you can trade up with the Improved Familiar feat to gain a familiar that can activate wands, or use invisibility to scout for you, or a number of other tricks. For 1 discovery and 1 feat, it's worth taking a look into. It's not necessarily going to be as good at combat as a full level animal companion, but at level 7 when you're getting an extra buff spell every turn, or communing with the gods (for free btw), the trade off seems pretty good.

[zainale]

you don't get to chose the shape of your tumor familiar? i thought you could if i where to take that i would chose a monkey shaped one

[Rub-Eta]

A 'Tumor Familiar' is a 'Familiar', not an 'Animal Companion'. Boon Companion doesn't work for 'Familiars', only 'Animal Companions'.

[zainale]

If you have more than one animal companion or --->familiar<---, choose one to receive this benefit. If you lose or dismiss an animal companion or --->familiar<--- that has received this benefit, you may apply this feat to the replacement creature.

it might count for a special mount as well >.>

[Rub-Eta]

Wow, totally missed that.

And yes, you can chose between any normal Familiar that a Wizard/Witch can get with Tumor Familiar and use the exact same rules.

But I'm very confused. You're playing a pure Alchemist character, right?
If you're talking about a Tumor Familiar, Boon Companion won't do you anything as your effective level for determining how powerful the familiar is, is already equal to your HD (your total level) and Boon Companion doesn't take you over that limit.

[zainale]

i am tossing the idea about of getting an animal companion with natural soul and animal ally and i am a Chirurgeon. and if i took tumor familiar my team mates might burn me at the stake for being evil or something. got a "burn the world!" about to fall pally and a "the unjust must die!" wizard that's a teifling in the group. and anything that's not normal might get me killed so an animal companion....