So, my hunter/cavalier just picked up a warcat animal companion and I was looking over its abilities and I noticed something strange.
Does the warcat animal companion get grab on all of it's attacks? or is it restricted to its bite the way the bestiary one is. The only problem with using the bestiary is that the animal companion gets abilities the bestiary version doesn't and vice versa meaning its not an entirely accurate comparison. (The animal companion gets rake, while the bestiary monster gets rend and trample)
For additional clarification. If it does get grab on all 5 of it's attacks is it forced to let go before continuing it's attack? Or if it successfully grabs with it's bite can it go ahead and do it's claw and rake attacks as normal (foregoing the now redundant free grabs)
It doesn't have any abilities that trigger on a successful grapple so there's no mechanical advantage to releasing after it successfully grabs something.
I did some cursory searches and didn't see this question come up.
Weird. I’d say technically it doesn’t get grab on any of its attacks, since it doesn’t say which one. But I think most GMs would assume it’s on the bite in this case.
As for why to have grab but not on any of your attacks? it still gives a +4 to grapple checks, if the companion wants to grapple normally.
Out of curiosity I did a search and found a number of other animal companions that have similar issues. It seems to mainly come up when the animal companion gains grab as part of it's increase at 4th or 7th level.
Allosaurus: has a bite and 2 claw attacks but doesn't state which attack gets grab
Big Cats: basically the same as the warcat
Titanboa, Giant Weasel, Behir, Crawling Vine: gains grab without defining which attack its on but at least in these cases it only has a single attack.
Some additional oddities
Grizzly Bear: gets grab on it's claw attacks at 7th level without gaining the grab special ability.
Crocodile, Gar, Eel, Constrictor, Behir, Crawling Vine: These creatures seem to lose grab on upon advancement.
Giant Mantis: similar to the crocodile and gar, however given that it gains a new special ability that it can only use against enemies its grabbed it's clear that probably none of these creatures actually lose grab upon advancing.
All other animal companions that gain grab have their attack clearly defined or don't have their attacks upgraded. IMO the intention seems to be that they should all be formated the same way the Angler Fish is. Grab is both clearly stated in the attack its self and it's given as a special quality possesed by the creature. It is only listed again as a special quality because the ability actually upgrades as part of it's advancement.
Unfortunately, there's not consistency about where grab shows up for creatures that are formatted correctly. The Giganotosaurus has a bite and 2 claw attacks and gains grab with it's bite attack. While the Marsupial Lion has a bite and 2 claw attacks and gains grab with its claw attacks only.
So, judging from the Bestiary the intention seems to be for the warcat to only have grab on it's bite. But I wonder if that's how it's been run at other tables.
just checking, cavalier normally dosnt stack for most ACs
The plan is first mother's Fang Cavalier(4)/Pack Lord Hunter(x) with the feat horse master and boon compaion (to be retrained at higher level} lets me have 2 basically full level animal Companions. The warcat is coming purely from hunter levels and boon compaion.