Quick question I hope,
When a character has a score of 18, or a +4 modifier under the remaster rules, a +1 increase (Ability Boost) only counts for half as much and won't raise your modifier to +5. You'll need two boosts for that.
So when you take a feat for an animal companion and it says increase a stat by 1, but the stat is already +4, does the same rule apply? Do you need two feats that increase a stat by 1 (or one feat that increases it by 2) to get from +4 to +5?
Thanks
pre-Remaster: When the improvements to your Animal Companion (or other companion types) says to increase the ability modifier by some number, you are actually increasing the ability modifier by that number directly. Animal Companions don't use the Ability Score system that player characters do.
post-Remaster: Animal Companions don't use the Ability Score system that player characters no longer use either. So still, if it says to increase the attribute modifier by some amount, I am going to increase the attribute modifier by that amount.
Did they at all buff them?
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Did they at all buff them?
I was told animal companions are unchanged. So savage companions with both the strength specializations are still -1 to hit and -5 AC compared to nimble companions with both dex specializations. Indomitable closes the strength companions AC deficit to -3 but makes the to hit -2. Savage and indomitable have benefits...but considering the fact that the pinnacle of animal companions defense is caster AC there's only one real choice...and it's still nimble. Savage and indomitable are still liabilities on the battlefield bc of how crits work in the system. I wish the different kinds of companions had been balanced by things other than AC.
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I wish the different kinds of companions had been balanced by things other than AC.
They are, Str based companions hit much harder. Lets take an Ape for example.
Start at 1d8+3 damageMature for 2d8+4
Savage for 2d8+9
Specialized x2 for 3d8+14
Meanwhile for a Dex based Cat
Start at 1d6+2
Mature for 2d6+3
Nimble for 2d6+6
Specialized x2 for 3d6+8
That's essentially a -1 to hit for +7 damage.
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I wish the different kinds of companions had been balanced by things other than AC.They are, Str based companions hit much harder. Lets take an Ape for example.
Start at 1d8+3 damage
Mature for 2d8+4
Savage for 2d8+9
Specialized x2 for 3d8+14Meanwhile for a Dex based Cat
Start at 1d6+2
Mature for 2d6+3
Nimble for 2d6+6
Specialized x2 for 3d6+8That's essentially a -1 to hit for +7 damage.
I'd take the savage companion dealing seven LESS damage than the nimble if it meant comparable AC. 5 AC is huge when you're nimble baseline is caster AC
Yeah, neither of the strength specializations in the book improve armor proficiency, while both of the Dex specializations do.
But if you swap Wrecker for Daredevil (or Ambusher) the AC gap drops significantly. Trading +1 hit/damage for +3 AC, deny advantage, and a better acrobatics score feels like a no brainer.
Still ends up being not the best comparison but it's a lot more reasonable than bully/wrecker.
The easiest fix would have been to simply move the proficiency increase for unarmed defense AND barding to specialization, remove the dex bonus / add a strength bonus...
Given that they noticed, rather late, that nimble getting the AC bonus was maybe a bit much, I really have trouble understanding why they neither touched impressive, nor the discrepancy with the specializations.
Are animal companions so much out of focus for the developers?
The easiest fix would have been to simply move the proficiency increase for unarmed defense AND barding to specialization, remove the dex bonus / add a strength bonus...
Given that they noticed, rather late, that nimble getting the AC bonus was maybe a bit much, I really have trouble understanding why they neither touched impressive, nor the discrepancy with the specializations.
Are animal companions so much out of focus for the developers?
Not sure. It's either not priority or it's working how they want it to. In the meantime I just flavor dex companions as juvenile versions of whatever strength companion I wanted to run