Was going through some of my older builds, and wanted to revisit an Animal Companion build I had a while back. The idea was using Animal Ally and Bonded Mount Revelation to stack druid levels in PFP (Originally used a Nature Domain Cleric with a 1 level dip into Nature Oracle for Cha to Saves).
The Character was an Emerald Spire character (unfortunately we never got to finish because the group I played with entirely lost interest in anything 1e as soon as 2e was released...). The basic idea was that we needed a support caster and a front line tank/defender. Instead of the assumed Oradin, I made a Cleric focused on Channel Energy with the Animal and Plant domain, with 90% of my build focused towards the Bear and the other 10% focused on healing/buffing.
Revisiting the idea, I want to make the companion THE focus of the build, so changing it to Wolf and stacking Oracle levels with Bonded Mount and Animal Ally (playing Halfling with Caretaker).
Theoretically speaking, what is the earliest level via retraining that I could take both while having an Animal Companion for the longest time possible in the players career?
(Edit) This is for PFS so I know about the "HD Cap = Player Level +1" homebrew rule but I don't know the nitty gritty of retraining.
Also, any advice for keeping the Bear instead of Wolf with character level stacking that doesn't involve Sacred Hunter + Animal Domain?
Did some thinking and just want to confirm my logic is correct:
Level 3 > Take Extra Revolation
Level 4 > Retrain Extra Evolation for Animal Ally
Level 5 > Take Extra Revolation
So level 5 would be the lowest level?
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there are a few oracles that can get animal companions with the class abilities
look at the lunar mystery
Primal Companion (Ex): You gain the service of a faithful animal of the night. You can select from a bear, boar, crocodile, shark, tiger, or wolf. This animal functions as a druid’s animal companion, using your oracle level as your effective druid level.
Prophetic Armor (Ex): You are so in tune with your primal nature that your instincts often act to save you from danger that your civilized mind isn’t even aware of. You may use your Charisma modifier (instead of your Dexterity modifier) as part of your Armor Class and all Reflex saving throws. Your armor’s maximum Dexterity bonus applies to your Charisma, instead.
I think there was a misunderstanding regarding this post. I was referring to ruling regarding Retraining and the fastest/least problematic way of obtaining Animal Ally's bonus condition at the earliest possible level.
Benefit: You gain an animal companion as if you were a druid of your character level –3 from the following list: badger, bird, camel, cat (small), dire rat, dog, horse, pony, snake (viper), or wolf. If you later gain an animal companion through another source (such as the Animal domain, divine bond, hunter’s bond, mount, or nature bond class features), the effective druid level granted by this feat stacks with that granted by other sources.
Unfortunately, Animal Ally doesn't allow Bear so I would still be restricted on my Animal Companion to Wolf (but would allow me to play Human or Half Orc, since they also give +2s to their animal companion). Although Bonded Mount gives my wolf a free 6 Int instead of the starting 2 Int.
The build concept was going to use Friend of Animals to give them saving throw bonuses. I don't want to have flashbacks of Yogi Bear dying because they failed a Will Save and got Paralyzed.
The build itself will most likely be a Lunar Oracle Spirit Guide with a Nature Spirit.
Regarding the question on hand, with a single retrain, is level 5 the lowest possible level to get both Animal Ally and Primal Companion/Bonded Mount?
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So let me see if I understand the core of what you are trying to do:
*Animal Ally gives you an animal companion of your character level -3.
*Bonded Mount revelation gives you an animal companion of your oracle level.
*So you want to stack the two of them to have an animal companion of (oracle level + (character level -3)).
And you want to know if it's possible to do it any earlier than 5th level, correct?
Not if you are doing only one retrain. If you want this to work you can't get Bonded Mount until after Animal Ally. And you can't get Animal Ally until character level 4. So you'd need to find an oracle build who gets either a feat or a revelation at exactly 4th level. Which, as far as I know, doesn't exist. With two retrainings this is no problem at level 4.
Lvl 1 Feat = Nature Soul
Lvl 1 Revelation = (doesn't matter)
Lvl 3 Feat = (doesn't matter)
Lvl 4 - Retrain Lvl 3 feat to Animal Ally
Lvl 4 - Retrain Lvl 1 Revelation to Bonded Mount
You said this is for PFS, so that would only cost 10 Prestige (which should easily be attainable by 4th level).
However I really question if it's worth it. The PFS animal companion level limiter was put it because things were getting. . . excessive. At 11th level your wolf would theoretically be the equivalent of a 19th-level wolf but the limiter brings it back down to a 12th-level wolf. Is one level to your companion worth 2 feats (and limiting your choices)?
Thanks Balafon! I hadn't even thought or considered retraining my Level 1 Revelation. For some reason, my brain had the idea that retraining anything before 4th level would disqualify the 4th level feat. But considering it'd cost 10 PP instead of 5 PP, it only seems fair.
Though I think you are misreading the clarifications or had they changed them? The rules I was reading stated that the HD was capped, not Druid Level, so a level 11 character would have a Level 15th Druid Level (HD 12 Animal Companion). Still a far cry from Level 19/HD 15, but a lot less limiting than only Druid Level 12/HD 10.
If the HD Cap was changed to Druid Level, that definitely would put a damper on investing a lot into this build. Can anyone confirm this?
Level 5 = Druid Level 7/HD 6
Level 6 = Druid Level 8/HD 7
Level 7 = Druid Level 9/HD 8
Level 8 = Druid Level 11/HD 9
Level 9 = Druid Level 12/HD 10
Level 10 = Druid Level 13/HD 11
Level 11 = Druid Level 15/HD 12
Level 12 = Druid Level 16/HD 13
I could always take a dip into one of the Pact Classes and have two animal companion at DL 10/9 and HD 9/8 respectively (is what I would say if the Pact Lord or Pactmaster were PFS legal, lmao).
So it looks like the earliest Companion Level is 3 and the earliest Animal Ally+Bonded Mount level is 4. Thanks again for helping me confirm!
Level 1 Revelation = [Filler Choice]
Level 1 Feat = Nature Soul
Level 3 Feat = Extra Revelation: Bonded Mount
Level 4 Retrain Feat = Extra Revelation > Animal Ally
Level 4 Retrain Feature = Revelation [Filler] > Bonded Mount
Total Cost: 10 PP, 400 GP (Retrain x2)