Author Topic: Disscussion - Animal companions  (Read 2554 times)

archonzero

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Disscussion - Animal companions
« on: August 17, 2008, 04:17:29 PM »
  There has been many occasions where it would have been nice to take control of a pet, much like a wizard can with a familiar for purposes of roleplaying when said character's owner is perhaps not present, indisposed of, dying, unconscious, captured amidst a few of the possible reasons.  Say they had instructed the animal to fetch someone, or something.. lets say for example the lassie syndrome.  Granted they are not as highly intelligent capable of formulating speech (as a wizards familiar is a magical being not an animal persay) Though a ranger or druid should be able to effectively communicate to their companion(s).  These companions while wild in nature are still also quite intelligent as animal instincts would go.  How do others feel about it, players, DMs and Devs.. is it too much work and much easier to say PM said players or hopefully catch a DM online at the time to take care of such requests?

  As well another question, what is the point of the "special skills" for each animal companion.  Are they merely additives to the controller (ie. ranger, wizard, sorcerer, druid?) or are they suppose to be useable features to toggle for the pets somehow?  I see little point in effect if a panther who can hide and move silently is always visible.
« Last Edit: August 17, 2008, 07:04:58 PM by archonzero »

ethinos

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Re: Disscussion - Animal companions
« Reply #1 on: August 17, 2008, 08:00:13 PM »
What special skills are you talking about?
Torgan Ironshield: Battlerager and smith
Wirth Darmington II: Roguish noble
Kurgh: A simple herdsman

failed.bard

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Re: Disscussion - Animal companions
« Reply #2 on: August 17, 2008, 08:41:05 PM »
You can put familiars into stealth and spot modes.  I don't know if you can with animal companions.

archonzero

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Re: Disscussion - Animal companions
« Reply #3 on: August 17, 2008, 08:49:14 PM »
  I've not been able to use any animal companion bonus skill features.  Or least I'm unawares of how to. 

failed.bard

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Re: Disscussion - Animal companions
« Reply #4 on: August 17, 2008, 10:08:16 PM »
Okay, from the litle bit of testing I just did with the druid I just made, the animal companion seems to mirror your mode.  If you activate stealth, so will it, same with detect mode.

archonzero

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Re: Disscussion - Animal companions
« Reply #5 on: August 17, 2008, 10:43:35 PM »
  Pet doesn't activate stealth from what I can see.  Though I've a high level of spot/listen easily triple the amount it has in move/hide ranks

ethinos

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Re: Disscussion - Animal companions
« Reply #6 on: August 17, 2008, 10:46:17 PM »
It should be easy to tell. Is it moving slower?
Torgan Ironshield: Battlerager and smith
Wirth Darmington II: Roguish noble
Kurgh: A simple herdsman

failed.bard

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Re: Disscussion - Animal companions
« Reply #7 on: August 17, 2008, 10:53:51 PM »
  Pet doesn't activate stealth from what I can see.  Though I've a high level of spot/listen easily triple the amount it has in move/hide ranks

Right click on it, then go to the special abilities part on the radial, and see if it says "stealth mode", or "cancel stealth mode" after activating yours.

Wids

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Re: Disscussion - Animal companions
« Reply #8 on: August 19, 2008, 11:15:37 PM »
I'm still trying to get my hawk to use his Disarm attack, too; maybe I'm not practicing on the right skeletons or whatnot.  But I may have to take some of this advice and try to get the hawk's supposed stealthiness to work.  Too many times have various enemies seen and attacked that hawk while Viorica's trying to sneak past them undetected.  And with only one summon between rests, I don't want to unsummon the hawk just to sneak past one pack of shadows and kill the pack of ghouls beyond them; that hawk is a surprising little bad-ass in a fight.   :?

ethinos

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Re: Disscussion - Animal companions
« Reply #9 on: August 20, 2008, 06:17:38 AM »
Its entirely possible the hawk is attempting Disarm. I don't remember whether or not you'd see the Resisted messages or not from an animal companion or a familiar.
Torgan Ironshield: Battlerager and smith
Wirth Darmington II: Roguish noble
Kurgh: A simple herdsman

failed.bard

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Re: Disscussion - Animal companions
« Reply #10 on: August 20, 2008, 07:27:05 AM »
You should see both restisted, and plain old attempted messages for disarm, since the KD spamming dire wolf shows up in messages when it attempts to KD.

ethinos

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Re: Disscussion - Animal companions
« Reply #11 on: August 20, 2008, 07:29:02 AM »
Hmm. Maybe it's an AI thing then? Hopefully someone who has had plenty of experience with the hawk companions can chime in.

Edit: Did some googling and found this in someone's guide to being a ranger.

Quote
HAWK
A pretty cool looking pet is the Hawk, He flies above you, keeping a keen eye
on the surroundings. The hawk's level is always five levels lower than your
own. The pet gains the Disarm and Mobility feats, but Disarm is not used by the
bird. With a Search skill of only 2, he does not find but the easiest traps.
Stats at clvl 06 -- Lvl: 01, AC: 20, HP:  09, Dmg: 1-2,  AB: +3
Stats at clvl 12 -- Lvl: 07, AC: 20, HP:  36, Dmg: 1-2,  AB: +8
Stats at clvl 20 -- Lvl: 15, AC: 20, HP:  72, Dmg, 1-2,  AB: +14/+9/+4

However, another source mentions that the hawk gains the ability to use Disarm when it reaches level 5.

Quote
Hawk: The hawk is a silent and stealthy animal companion, able to remain hidden when others are easily detected, making it the perfect scout. It is also capable of disarming opponents.
Skills: Listen, Spot, Search, Hide, Move Silently; Feats: Dodge, Mobility; Special: Gains Disarm feat (at 5th)
« Last Edit: August 20, 2008, 07:45:58 AM by ethinos »
Torgan Ironshield: Battlerager and smith
Wirth Darmington II: Roguish noble
Kurgh: A simple herdsman

archonzero

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Re: Disscussion - Animal companions
« Reply #12 on: August 26, 2008, 08:40:49 PM »
  So I've done as was suggested.. to right click the companion portrait to check the abilties, etcetera.  When I stealth, the wolf shows a Stealth: OFF greyed out feature.  When I'm unstealthed it shows Stealth:ON option selectable.  I've played with clicking it, to no effect.. I've clicked it back to reset it and then once again while I am in stealth mode, to no effect.  Even though it looks like the ability says to be active, the wolf still moves at it's normal full rate and not at a pace that would indicate it's attempting to move like a stealthed PC would. 

  It would seem that this option is A>broken or B> not suppose to work.