[OOC] Return to the Rusty Rat

[Toot]

I found a picture that reminded me of Torin.  I know the dwarf in the pic has a white beard but I thought it was pretty cool.

[Toot]

This might seem like a strange question but... Druids can call upon a new animal at any time.  It just takes 24 hours and tada you get whatever new companion you want.  This is usually done to get a stronger companion but I could see reasons why a Druid might want to downgrade especially when trying to squeeze huge companion into small tunnels.  My question has to do with keeping your beloved companion's personality.  I've been role playing Toot and Boo as being very close.  But if Toot summoned a Brown Bear then he would lose all that history with Boo and have to start over from scratch.  But why does it have to be like that?  It doesn't affect game balance for Boo to go through some Druid ceremony where he gets bigger.  In game it could be mind transfer or polymorphs.  Sure his stats would change but they would anyways if Toot summoned a brown bear to replace him.  Toot can't be the first Druid who has gone through wanting to keep his companion but wants to also make him more capable of defending himself against greater threats.

[Lugar]

This might seem like a strange question but... Druids can call upon a new animal at any time.  It just takes 24 hours and tada you get whatever new companion you want.  This is usually done to get a stronger companion but I could see reasons why a Druid might want to downgrade especially when trying to squeeze huge companion into small tunnels.  My question has to do with keeping your beloved companion's personality.  I've been role playing Toot and Boo as being very close.  But if Toot summoned a Brown Bear then he would lose all that history with Boo and have to start over from scratch.  But why does it have to be like that?  It doesn't affect game balance for Boo to go through some Druid ceremony where he gets bigger.  In game it could be mind transfer or polymorphs.  Sure his stats would change but they would anyways if Toot summoned a brown bear to replace him.  Toot can't be the first Druid who has gone through wanting to keep his companion but wants to also make him more capable of defending himself against greater threats.

Reincarnation for animals?

One of my favorite characters I played was an Elf Ranger/Barbarian/Beastmaster, so having different animal companions I totally get.  I stopped at 3, because it was a lot to track.  Why not let Boo go, to be happy, adventuring is dangerous after all and perhaps there's a dryad or nymph that would love to care for such a strong animal?  In game it may make sense for Toot to take a journey to the wild, especially if we may be crafting items which takes time.  As far as personality goes, the common thread for all of Toot's companions is Toot himself.  Maybe Toot attracts animals with a certain personality?  I see no reason why he can't attract a python with the same disposition as Boo.

[Torin]

http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x.../20070206a

Acquiring an Animal Companion

The rules speak of a ceremony to gain an animal companion, but they do not go into much detail about the process other than noting that the ceremony takes 24 hours of uninterrupted prayer. Here are a few thoughts to flesh out the process.

An animal companion is not a conjured creature and is not subject to effects, such as protection from evil or dismissal, that banish or hedge out conjured creatures. Think of it as binding an animal companion rather than summoning it. To begin, you must first locate the kind of creature you desire. The prospective companion cannot be an advanced animal, nor can it be another character's animal companion or another character's familiar. It also can't have a template, even if that template doesn't change its type. Awakened animals can never serve as animal companions. The animal you choose must be of a kind your class makes available to you as an animal companion.

You can use any convenient means to locate your intended companion. Because most animal companions aren't the kind you can find in a shop, finding the animal you want probably requires a trip into the wild and a few Survival or Knowledge (nature) checks.

After locating the companion, you must arrange to keep the animal nearby for the day-long ritual that binds the two of you together. Lucky masters choose companions that are friendly enough to stick around on their own , but sometimes you must tether or cage it to keep it from wandering off.

The ritual does not succeed unless the intended companion is friendly toward you (but a wild empathy check can solve that problem). The ritual also does not succeed if the intended companion is under any charm or compulsion effect.

You can have only one animal companion at a time and an animal can have only one master at time. You can, however, have both an animal companion and a familiar if your class levels give you both class features.

The ritual itself can take any form the DM desires; however, a few gestures, chants, and perhaps some drawings sketched on the floor around the pair of you -- all repeated at intervals throughout the day -- are all that are necessary.

...

Death of an Animal Companion

When an animal companion dies, the master doesn't suffer any penalties beyond the loss of the companion and she can bind a new one right away, as noted above.

Bringing back the animal from the dead reestablishes the link between the two of you, and you need not locate or bind a new companion; however, the reincarnate spell is an exception. The spell brings back the animal as an independent being and the resulting creature is no longer an animal companion.

[DM Surranó]

If you mean dismissing Boo and summoning a different animal in his place but his personality and, more importantly, memories of your adventures together then nope.

If you mean dismissing Boo, getting a python, then dismissing it and getting Boo back-- why not, as long as you can still locate that same bear. Especially if you let him to another fey for safekeeping, so to say.

Tapatalkkal küldve az én ALE-L21 eszközömről

[Merrinna Starsong]

You're lucky. It takes me a year to get a new familiar. Speaking of which, I should get that air elemental summoned before the next mission starts.

[Toot]

Torin:  Thanks for the article.  It cleared up some issues I was having.  One in particular is magic items for animals and therefore myself in animal form.  I highlights specific points of interest for a Druid and his companion.

Animal Companions and Magic Items

A great way to both protect your companion and perhaps give it some offensive power is to equip it with magic items. Consider purchasing items for your companion or just give it items you no longer need (such as your +1 ring of protection when you acquire a +2 ring of protection).

Once you do so, however, you and your DM face a potentially difficult decision. Exactly which items can animals use? Since most magic items fit users of any size, the simple answer is this: pretty much any item. No animal companion can use an item that requires spell completion or spell knowledge because they are not spellcasters. Likewise animals cannot speak, so they can't use command word items. Animals also lack weapon proficiencies and prehensile appendages, so they cannot employ weapons, either. That leaves us with the following: potions (though you may have to open the potion vial and pour out the liquid), rings, and most items that can be worn or carried. Your DM may decide that your companion's body type simply does not allow some items to fit your companion. For example, you might persuade your DM to let your wolf wear boots, but don't count on your snake wearing boots. Creatures like owls and hawks may have a hard time with cloaks (since the garment interferes with their wings).

Other than the exceptions noted here, all animals have locations for magic items similar to those noted for characters on page 214 of the Dungeon Master's Guide. For example, a quadruped uses its back feet for the "foot" location and its front feet for the "hand" location. The hind legs correspond to a humanoid's legs and the front legs correspond to a humanoid's arms.

For avians, treat the feet and legs as hands and arms, and the wings as legs and feet. The creature can wear "leg" items on its wings or hind legs, but not both.

A snake simply wears items over its head or body.

In most cases, even if your companion can't use an item you've found, it should be possible to make (or have made) an item it can use. For example, you might fashion wing bands of speed for your owl's or hawk's wings, and they would work just like boots of speed for your companion.

For an in-depth look at what items an animal can use or wear, check out Wild Life.

This is also important because it states that you don't need to make special items unless the companion doesn't have the item location or the item would make one of the companions abilities unusable (but in that case you can make items to fit the creature).  It even mentions possibly putting boots on your wolf which goes with what it says in the DM's Guide that no one's race or size should make a magic item unusable except for armor and weapons.  So a boot would reshape itself from human looking to fit a lizardman so it should also reshape itself to fit a wolf.  This is all with the DMs blessing of course.  

RE switching Boo's personality: I wasn't thinking of a ritual that would change Boo into a snake.  It would be the same type.  So a Black Bear into a Brown Bear or a Wolf into a Dire Wolf.  I know there are no Game Rules for this but that's what house rules are made for.    Obviously Toot wouldn't be the first Doodid ever to want to upgrade their companion but keep the previous companion's memories too.  It wouldn't effect game balance at all.

In any case, at least the article says: "An animal companion identity is strongly linked to you, however, and the two of you form a sort of dual being."  So like Lugar mentioned, the new animal would likely act a lot like Boo anyways.

[DM Surranó]

Will look these up tomorrow. Briefly put,

1. Rings and cloaks may resize but they may hinder some actions like moving silently. More appropriate items would be bracers and saddles, respectively, but then they are custom made.

2. it's not the snake but anything that's not Boo. Even another black bear.

Tapatalkkal küldve az én ALE-L21 eszközömről

[Toot]

You're lucky.  It takes me a year to get a new familiar.  Speaking of which, I should get that air elemental summoned before the next mission starts.

YAY!  I can now talk to air elementals!    If you let me I could use the Aii Elemental as a flying steed!  My next level I'm picking up the fire elemental language and then I will be able to speak with all four elemental types!

[Shanna Rendin]

Ahh, CoDzillas...