Boon Companion rules?


Rules Questions


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So, as there are a few interpretations I've heard of how the Boon Companion feat works with familiars, I'm curious what the PFS ruling is. Mind you, I am not a PFS player (closest VC is like 75 miles away, too far for me to travel for regular games) but I am however curious how the PFS interprets the feat, since it says it's available to familiars and animal companions, yet only references your druid level...


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Same way the regular rules do. Adding "in pfs" doesn't make something a pfs question. Its not like "in bed" with a fortune cookie :)


BigNorseWolf wrote:
Same way the regular rules do. Adding "in pfs" doesn't make something a pfs question. Its not like "in bed" with a fortune cookie :)

Okay, so then how does it work? Because I've been asking in the regular forums and gotten a few different answers. Some say that despite not saying wizard level it means wizard level. Some say that it says druid level which means that the maximum level only matters for animal companions not for familiars, and then there is the (pedantic) literal reading that says your druid level is increased which means it has no effect for a familiar.

For reference:

Quote:
The abilities of your animal companion or familiar are calculated as though your class were 4 levels higher, to a maximum effective druid level equal to your character level. If you have more than one animal companion or familiar, choose one to receive this benefit. If you lose or dismiss an animal companion or familiar that has received this benefit, you may apply this feat to the replacement creature.

Note, it says nothing at all about effective wizard level. Now, when I GM I can of course say that "obviously the intent is druid OR wizard level" but I've seen others interpret it other ways, so who I am to say "Sorry dude, you are wrong and I am right."

Which, is kind of why I am asking here... how does PFS treat this feat in regard to familiars when the feat only mentions a druid level?

EDIT: Also, I know of one case where a character in my home game would be illegal in PFS despite being 100% legal by the RAW and clarified as RAI by SKR. That is, she's a Aasimaar with Scion of Humanity who is a Gunslinger (Buccaneer). The official rules say that she can take a human archetype, PFS says she can't. So that is very much a case where just adding "IN PFS" turns it into a PFS question.


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I asked about this a while ago when one of my players in a home game wanted to use it for a familiar with no cap. I asked on the boards and didn't get a whole lot of help, other than a few people saying it should be capped. There was a couple of people that implied that at one time this was a animal companion only feat, it was only later versions that included the familiar. If this is true, it was likely an oversight when updating the feat to not include language more appropriate to the familiar.


Sitri wrote:
I asked about this a while ago when one of my players in a home game wanted to use it for a familiar with no cap. I asked on the boards and didn't get a whole lot of help, other than a few people saying it should be capped. There was a couple of people that implied that at one time this was a animal companion only feat, it was only later versions that included the familiar. If this is true, it was likely an oversight when updating the feat to not include language more appropriate to the familiar.

Hmm, yah that could be but honestly, if it is I don't get why a writer cant just tell us that...it's like they completely avoid the question, one thread on it that had a lot of FAQ hits they just marked "No reply needed" like.. um wtf yes a reply is needed, or are they saying that we are all stupid that we are even asking when it's so obvious what the feat does because the wording is 100% clear and concise?

Or, here even more so... why can't a Venture Captain tell me simply how this feat is arbitrated for familiars in PFS, since that would at least be closer to an official ruling than the developers seem to want to bother with.


I never actually realized this as in most cases it is used for animal companions, but I would also suppose it should cap effective wizard level as well.
The feat's purpose is to minimize effects of multiclassing or class abilities that grant weaker companions (like the ranger's or sylvan sorcerer's).

But a developer's ruling on this would be better.


The pre-requisite for taking Boon Companion is "Animal Companion Class Feature"

Familiar is not Animal Companion, so I believe it is, as written, not applicable to familiars.

I am even curious whether a Ranger could take this feat at Level 3, since they have the class feature, but it doesn't activate until 4th level (so you couldn't take it until 5th level).


A ranger cannot take it katana 3. They don't have th class feature yet.


heliodorus04 wrote:

The pre-requisite for taking Boon Companion is "Animal Companion Class Feature"

Familiar is not Animal Companion, so I believe it is, as written, not applicable to familiars.

I am even curious whether a Ranger could take this feat at Level 3, since they have the class feature, but it doesn't activate until 4th level (so you couldn't take it until 5th level).

Read the feat. It says Prerequisites: Animal companion or familiar class feature.

Boon Companion feat

But, yes that is true, somewhere in the FAQ it does say that until you actually get a class feature you don't have it. Which, makes sense because otherwise a level 3 ranger could take this feat and get a companion early... then never ever bother taking another level of Ranger.

Also, a 4th level Ranger could retrain to the feat, since part of the retraining rules (at least in the RAW, I do not know PFS retraining rules changes, so don't be like "But AbsolutGrndZer0 said it was allowed" haha) you ARE allowed to when retraining get any feat you qualify for even if you did not qualify for it at the original level.


Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Rulebook Subscriber

Here is the Seekers of Secrets text - clearly works with animal companions *or* familiars. Probably someone on the boards tried to abuse the "not super strict" language, so they specified druid in the next version.

Seekers of Secrets wrote:

Prerequisites: Animal companion or familiar class ability.

Benefit: The abilities of your animal companion or
familiar are calculated as though your class were four levels
higher, to a maximum bonus equal to your character level.
If you have more than one animal companion or familiar,
choose one to receive this benefit. If you lose or dismiss an
animal companion or familiar, you may apply this feat to the
replacement creature.

In other words, it works *just fine* in PFS.

Silver Crusade

I don't know if this will help, but there are two versions of the feat. Archives of Nethys link has a pointer to both of them, but the text is from the Animal Archive version.

Seeker of Secrets version:
Boon Companion
Your bond with your animal companion or familiar is
unusually close.
Prerequisites: Animal companion or familiar class ability.
Benefit: The abilities of your animal companion or
familiar are calculated as though your class were four levels
higher, to a maximum bonus equal to your character level.
If you have more than one animal companion or familiar,
choose one to receive this benefit. If you lose or dismiss an
animal companion or familiar, you may apply this feat to the
replacement creature.
Special: You may select this feat more than once. The
effects do not stack. Each time you take the feat, it applies to a
different animal companion or familiar.

Here it doesn't list 'Druid Level', but rather 'Character Level'. One has to wonder what they meant with this limiting, but incomplete, change.

Edit: Wow, Majuba, you have many levels in Ninja.

The Exchange Owner - D20 Hobbies

Majuba wrote:
In other words, it works *just fine* in PFS.

Yes, mostly because we know what it is trying to say.

Your AC or Familiar is 4 levels higher to a limit of your character level and it can diminish penalties (like Ranger AC at -3 levels) for single class builds.


Ah, cool okay thanks I didn't know it was updated in Seeker of Secrets. :)

And again, "We know what it's trying to say" is not a valid defense for many GMs because when something is not 100% clear, it is opened up to interpretation.

EDIT: Wait... Seeker of Secrets is OLD LOL... so yeah, it's obviously a misprint in Animal Archive given the original source's wording...

The Exchange Owner - D20 Hobbies

AbsolutGrndZer0 wrote:
obviously a misprint in Animal Archive given the original source's wording...

Not a misprint. It was deliberately changed to accommodate a single-class Ranger taking it and getting to remove the -3 penalty to their Animal Companion.


James Risner wrote:
AbsolutGrndZer0 wrote:
obviously a misprint in Animal Archive given the original source's wording...
Not a misprint. It was deliberately changed to accommodate a single-class Ranger taking it and getting to remove the -3 penalty to their Animal Companion.

Okay, but then it's confusing for familiars that aren't affected by druid level.


Generally this sort of feat can take a Familiar or Animal Companion up to your Character Level but not beyond. I guess the specific reference to Druid level is to make it uniform for multiclass Druids, Rangers, Clerics with the Animal domain etc, who all use "effective druid level" to advance their ACs, substitute for "Wizard/Sorcerer level" where appropriate for Familiars.

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