It's very possible I'm just overthinking this, so input would be greatly appreciated!
I have a player who is making a Progenitor Druid, which doesn't use Nature Bond for an animal companion. He plans to take a level of Hunter at 2nd level solely to gain the animal companion ability. He expects them to stack and the rules seem to support this.
However, if his Druid class used something for Nature Bond besides gaining an animal companion, should the two classes stack for those purposes? To me, one class gave up that option, so gaining it for the second class should limit the animal companion abilities to just the second class's level(s), not stack with both. If he wanted both to stack, shouldn't he have selected an animal companion for both?
It just comes across to me more as a meta-gaming, looking for a loophole to gain as much as one can ploy. Am I wrong for that?
You are correct that it wouldn't stack. The line you're looking for is the following
If a character receives an animal companion from more than one source, her effective druid levels stack for the purposes of determining the companion’s statistics and abilities.
The druid levels don't count unless they actually grant the animal companion class feature.
If a character receives an animal companion from more than one source, her effective druid levels stack for the purposes of determining the companion’s statistics and abilities.
He receives animal companion only from one source (hunter), therefore it will be level 1 Animal Companion.
P.S.: Got ninja'd :)
LOL. Thanks folks! It pays to ask!