Scenario:
I have a 20th level Sorcerer with the Sylvan (Wildblood) Bloodline. At 1st level, I gain an animal companion. My effective druid level for this ability is equal to my sorcerer level – 3 (minimum 1st). At level 20 this gives me an effective druid level of 17. I take the Boon Companion feat and wear a Robe of Arcane Heritage. Relevant Text Below.
Boon Companion
The abilities of your animal companion or familiar are calculated as though your class were 4 levels higher, to a maximum effective druid level equal to your character level....
(Emphasis Mine)Character Level
The total level of the character, which is the sum of all class levels held by that character.Robe of Arcane Heritage
...The wearer treats her sorcerer level as 4 higher than normal for the purpose of determining what bloodline powers she can use and their effects.
(Emphasis Mine)
There's a lot going on here. I bolded the important phrases. My question is, what is the order of operations for this calculation and how does the Robe interact with Boon Companion? Here is my interpretation:
1 - Calculate sorcerer level (20+4=24 for Bloodline)
2 - Calculate effective druid level (24-3=21)
3 - Attempt to apply Boon Companion since it modifies effective druid level. You cannot apply it because your sorcerer level is 21, which is higher than your character level (20).
Is this a correct interpretation, or can I use the 4 Sorcerer levels gained from the robe to calculate my "character level" for purposes of applying Boon Companion to my Animal Companion ability?
I think your interpretation is correct. You first need to consider your bloodline, which is what's giving you the animal companion in the first place, before determining what's going on with the animal companion itself.
in this case it's as you listed. You don't know your Effective Druid Level until you have a bloodline level. Thus it would be too high.
Owner - D20 Hobbies
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My question is, what is the order of operations for this calculation and how does the Robe interact with Boon Companion?
In general, whatever is worse for you is the answer.
Look at metamagic spells, they are used as the "worse" for you when checked against various limitations.
It is most likely your robe will exceed your character level, so that boon companion has nothing to do.
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There are no rules for a level 21+ animal companion.
IMO it seems clear that the Robe of Arcane Heritage can't create an effective sorcerer level higher than 20th. However, if some GM were to allow that, and then also allow animal companions higher than 20th, they'd be firmly in house rules territory and needing to figure out how companion stats progressed beyond 20th.
I also agree you are correct, boon companion won't go higher than character level, regardless of what your effective character level is for the bloodline.
I'm 100% aware that there are no rules for a companion above 20, just as there are no rules for any PC to level above 20. That said, progression is constant for abilities, base attack, etc... and follows a set path so it's easy to extrapolate what a higher than 20 companion would look like from a purely stat-based standpoint. Additionally this same question could be asked of a level 10 Sorcerer. Robe of Arcane Heritage would bring Sorcerer level to 14, so you would have a companion level 11 while you yourself are only level 10.
A Half Elf or Aasimar Lunar Oracle can get a level 30 Animal Companion without any of this BS. I was just trying to find a means of getting a higher level Companion on an Arcane Spellcaster. It was merely a thought exercise for stacking abilities and order of operations.
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Owner - D20 Hobbies
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so it's easy to extrapolate what a higher than 20 companion would look like
A Half Elf or Aasimar Lunar Oracle can get a level 30 Animal Companion without any of this
Yes, easy for the GM to create something beyond 21. But it wouldn't be a rule.
Actually no, Lunar Oracle can at best do 23. It isn't 1/2 anymore, it is 1/6.
Boon companion only brings you up to yiur character level. It is added on last, just like the trait that improves your caster level.
Continuing the current derail...
Here is a silly build skeleton I put together for an overpowered animal companion character.
It does some shuffling to keep it's animal companion from exceeding the PFS max, but one could skip the shuffling and have a much higher level companion.
Basically you can combine animal ally with an actual animal companion to get levelx2 - 3
so it's easy to extrapolate what a higher than 20 companion would look like
A Half Elf or Aasimar Lunar Oracle can get a level 30 Animal Companion without any of this
Yes, easy for the GM to create something beyond 21. But it wouldn't be a rule.
Actually no, Lunar Oracle can at best do 23. It isn't 1/2 anymore, it is 1/6.
Huh, I didn't see that.
The SRD still lists Sylph and Ifrit as having a 1/2 level to one revelation bonus. Any idea if that was nerfed or are those two races still viable for this?
Also strictly speaking there IS a set of rules in the base rulebook that allows for advancement beyond 20th level in a pinch, and not just for the GM. The GM has to approve their use, but if you had a means of scaling an animal companion above your level you could use them for this purpose. See the rules here.
The relevant section is "Advancing Beyond 20th Level".
The SRD still lists Sylph and Ifrit as having a 1/2 level to one revelation bonus. Any idea if that was nerfed or are those two races still viable for this?
That is an error at the d20pfsrd site. The Paizo PRD and the Archives of Nethys both give these races a +1/6 level bonus.
The SRD still lists Sylph and Ifrit as having a 1/2 level to one revelation bonus. Any idea if that was nerfed or are those two races still viable for this?That is an error at the d20pfsrd site. The Paizo PRD and the Archives of Nethys both give these races a +1/6 level bonus.
Thank you. That's what I wanted to know.