Dinosaur Animal Companion Stats

[gnrrrg]

I am building a saurian shaman druid and am working on the animal companion. For most dinosaurs, the starting strength is only 10. I understand that these are medium creatures which is much smaller than most dinosaurs that are statted out and that Paizo doesn't want first level druids to have some killing machine at their beck and call, but comparing this to the strength scores of other medium animal companions it seems like a mistake. Small animal companions like birds and badgers have a 10 strength. Surely a medium dinosaur would be a little bit stronger.

I checked both versions of the errata for the Bestiary and there was no mention of changing a dinosaur animal companion's ability scores in either of them.

Is there another source where such a correction may have been made?

[Deadmanwalking]

Huh? The Allosaurus, which gets Pounce, starts with a Str 14, as does the Tyrannosaur, and the Spinosaur gets Str 18 and three natural attacks from 1st level.

A lot make do with a 10 at 1st, but it's not universal by any means. Personally, I'd go Allosaurus. Pounce is great combined with three attacks and grab, and even before 7th level Str 14 and three natural attacks is quite workable.

[Claxon]

Ummmm....plenty of dinosaurs have higher than 10 strength.

Allosaurus - 14
Amargasaurus - 11
Ankylosaurus - 10
Arsinoitherium - 14 (not really a dinosaur but dinosaur like)
Brachiosaurus - 13

That's all I have time to go through for you, but the point is that I think you'll probably find similar trends throughout the list.

[Sithis of Fangwood]

gnrrrg wrote:

I checked both versions of the errata for the Bestiary and there was no mention of changing a dinosaur animal companion's ability scores in either of them.

Is there another source where such a correction may have been made?

The Core Rulebook, Bestiaries and several splatbooks all have the statblocks and advancements you're looking for. You probably just missed them. Some Bestiaries list them separately in the back, and at least one lists them on the same page as the main entry.

Or you can look HERE for a compiled list of everything. Just be sure to double check your findings. Archivesofnethys is usually very accurate but not 100%.

My Saurian Shaman used a Spinosaurus for most of his career. Scarily effective. Allosaurus is a good damage dealer with Pounce, but Spinosaurus is stronger and will hit more often.

[gnrrrg]

I did not mention that this is for a PFS character, which lowers the legal list. Half are still at strength 10 or less.

Ankylosaurus 10
Brachiosaurus 13
Deinonychus 11
Dimetrodon 12
Dimorphodon 8
Elasmosaurus 10
Pachycephalosaurus 15
Pteranodon 8
Stegosaurus 10
Styracosaurus 10
Triceratops 10
Tylosaurus 10
Tyrannosaurus 14
Velociraptor 11

And there is still the ridiculous notion that an ankylosaurus or a triceratops is only as strong as a badger. Hatchlings maybe, but a hatchling would be a small creature, not a medium one.

[Lady-J]

gnrrrg wrote:

I did not mention that this is for a PFS character, which lowers the legal list. Half are still at strength 10 or less.

Ankylosaurus 10
Brachiosaurus 13
Deinonychus 11
Dimetrodon 12
Dimorphodon 8
Elasmosaurus 10
Pachycephalosaurus 15
Pteranodon 8
Stegosaurus 10
Styracosaurus 10
Triceratops 10
Tylosaurus 10
Tyrannosaurus 14
Velociraptor 11

And there is still the ridiculous notion that an ankylosaurus or a triceratops is only as strong as a badger. Hatchlings maybe, but a hatchling would be a small creature, not a medium one.

hatchling would probably be a tiny creature

[blahpers]

Most of those 10s get +8 bonuses at their size-up levels, so it works out. You're running with a "juvenile" version at the moment.

[Sithis of Fangwood]

gnrrrg wrote:

Half are still at strength 10 or less.

Strength isn't the only important stat for an Animal Companion. The weaker options often make up for it in other ways, such as having a high Dex, Con or AC.

Spinosaurus and Allosaurus used to be legal in PFS. There's a Boon apparently that grants Spinosaurus now.

But if Strength is your priority, just go with whatever has the highest Strength after advancement.

[Auke Teeninga]

A deinonychus with an amulet of agile fists is quite deadly.

And it doesn't take much space. :-)