Animal Companion levels with no-Animal-Companion Druid?

[KunoichiSong]

If i have levels in Druid, but it's an archetype that does not give me an Animal Companion, but then I take the Animal Ally feat and get a level in Hunter, would my Druid class levels be added to the Druid levels from the feat and Hunter class in terms of calculating my Animal Companion level?

[Stone Dog]

My bet is that since one of the prerequisites for Animal Ally is that you do not have an animal companion, if you ever gain an animal compantion then you don't meet the prerequisites and Animal Ally no longer works.

But I'm more interested in seeing if there is a consensus here, so I won't be arguing the point.

[Nohwear]

My interpretation would be that your Druid levels would not add to your animal companion, but your Hunter levels would.

EDIT: It would be helpful to know if your Druid archetype gives up nature bond, or just keeps you from selecting an animal companion with it. Or just let us know what it is.

[dragonhunterq]

animal ally
It counts your levels in companion granting classes + (your levels in non companion classes-3).

You don't get to count levels twice.
If your druid doesn't grant a companion it doesn't trigger the stacking clause.

[KunoichiSong]

The feat states quite clearly that the druid level given by it is your character level-3, which then stacks with any further effective druid levels that you may get in the future.

I do get that the archetype'd druids wonct work, though.

[Menacing Shade of mauve]

You don't get an "effective druid level" for Druid levels that don't have animal companion; the "effective" part.

[Tyrant Lizard King]

If you are a Druid that does not have an animal companion, whether from your archetype are because you chose a domain, you CAN take this feat. Prerequisites state NO animal companion... period.

Prerequisites: Nature Soul, character level 4th, must not have an animal companion or mount that advances as an animal companion.
.......
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If you later gain an animal companion through another source (such as the Animal domain, divine bond, hunter's bond, mount, or nature bond class features), the effective druid level granted by this feat stacks with that granted by other sources.

As it says, if you later gain an Animal Companion from another source your effective druid level stacks with the class that uses its class level as Druid (or its level -3 like a Ranger). Meaning it is only using your character level -3 until/if you gain an animal companion from another class... that's when it separates.... class levels without an animal companion -3, plus effective Druid level for class that provided the Animal Companion class feature.

For example; Druid 10/Ranger 4
You did not gain an animal companion with your druid class but you took Animal Ally and gained one from that. Then multiclassed into Ranger, gaining its animal companion with druid level equal to Ranger level -3 at level 4 for a total effective Druid level of 1 from Ranger. Animal Ally is Non-Animal Companion class levels -3, giving you 7 from Druid....
As written, these stack giving you an animal companion equal to a level 8 Druid(7 Druid + 1 Ranger)

I would like to point out that this could be enhanced with the Boon Companion feat as long as you multiclass into a class that has the Animal Companion class feature. Added to the example above you would have an animal companion equal to a level 12 Druid.

[Calth]

RAW, the animal ally feat is a complete mess. Despite the later levels language, nothing in the feat negates that gaining an animal companion means you no longer meet the feats prerequisites, meaning the feat stops functioning and you lose all benefit from it. This is obviously not how its supposed to work. But its equally doubtful that if you ignore the prerequisite issue, it is supposed to work as written, as any levels from animal companion classes would count double. (The feats language grants you an EDL of CL-3 + whatever EDL you get from classes). The most likely intent of the feat is to simply grant you an EDL of CL-3 and prevent you from gaining a second animal companion.

There is nothing that prevents an archetyped version of an animal companion class that loses the companion from taking the feat and proceding as normal.

[BigNorseWolf]

No. If your druid trades in for a domain they don't have levels in a critter granting class.

One thing you can do though is take a domain like animal, feather, or scaley kind that gives you a critter at -4 and then take boon companion for +4 levels to get it back: effectively getting a domain for a feat.

[Chess Pwn]

dragonhunterq wrote:

animal ally

It counts your levels in companion granting classes + (your levels in non companion classes-3).

You don't get to count levels twice.
If your druid doesn't grant a companion it doesn't trigger the stacking clause.

+1