Found another Obscure rule that screws up things
Both in Legacy and Remaster
Animal companions have a fairly hidden strange rule under "Young Animal Companions" section that talks about general stats for your animal companion
Animal companions calculate their modifiers and DCs just as you do with one difference: the
only item bonuses they can benefit from are to Speed and AC (their maximum item bonus to AC is +3) .
Steadyfoot Tassel Would be a useless item that grand nothing and Alacritous Horsehoes would not give its item bonus to Athletics checks
the only other thing i could find that the rule effect is Runic body, it would not be able to give its item bonus to the animals attack
This rule make no sense other then affecting runic body since animal companions can only use Companion items anyway.
My guess: its a relic from early times in development that never got removed even in remaster.
and the fact that companion items where made that this rule negates tells med even the developers have forgotten about that rule
Am i missing something here or is the rule just wack and prob should be removed?
It cant be that it loses everything in Young when it becomes Mature ither since the level scaling and more is in the same section and not in Mature and forward,
so it would lose it level scaling, prof and hp aswell if that was the case.
ty yea failed to do a proper search before posting
Well, there's a few ways you could look at this:
"The only items bonuses they can benefit from are to speed and AC..."
Alright, says what it says. If we treat this as a general (which it is) then when we look at
quote=Companion]An item with this trait can be worn by an animal companion or similar creature. A companion can have up to two items invested.
The companion trait outlines pretty clearly (IMO) that it is an exception to the general rule above. However, it would be great if they updated the wording to say something like "The only items bonuses they can benefit from are to speed and AC, except for items with the Companion trait".
Yeah, I'd say it's a general rule that generic items can only give AC and speed bonuses (so they wouldn't benefit from a Demon Mask, for instance), and that these items are specifically made for companions, and thus are exceptions. But yeah, I would have expected some wording about Companion items being an exception to this rule.
Yeah, it is hard to argue that the item bonuses listed in Companion items is intended to be an exception to the general rule for Companions not being able to benefit from item bonuses when Companions are also forbidden from wearing or using items that don't have the Companion trait in the first place.
What other item bonuses would the general rule be preventing them from using?
I also agree that the best way to fix this would be to add an override in the Companion trait that lets the item's item bonuses function on the Companion and override the general rule preventing item bonuses. Or something to that equivalent.
Yeah, it is hard to argue that the item bonuses listed in Companion items is intended to be an exception to the general rule for Companions not being able to benefit from item bonuses when Companions are also forbidden from wearing or using items that don't have the Companion trait in the first place.
What other item bonuses would the general rule be preventing them from using?
I also agree that the best way to fix this would be to add an override in the Companion trait that lets the item's item bonuses function on the Companion and override the general rule preventing item bonuses. Or something to that equivalent.
Only thing I can figure is that people kind of forgot the line about only getting benefits to speed and AC existed, because it a little "hidden" under the young animal companion subsection.
Anyways, we all agree there is a conflict and I mostly ignore the rule piece under young animal companion, except to say that if a GM does let the companion wear an item without the companion trait that it will only provide bonuses to speed and AC.
Pretty much,
Refer to Ambigious Rules underneath Game Conventions and find a solution that fits. Mine is that item bonuses from gear with the Companion Trait ignore that restriction.
That's pretty much what I'm trying to get at as well.
The correct answer is pretty obvious, items with the companion trait should do what they say they do and ignore anything that might say otherwise.