[CUTE}Evaluation Process: Animal Lover [class]

[Yuki Akuma]

As outlined in the Evaluation Methodology thread, this thread is for discussing, editing and evaluation the Animal Lover base class for Project C.U.T.E.

The animal lover was designed as a sort of cross between a ranger and a monk. The animal lover is primarily a secondary fighter and tertiary caster; most of her spells will only affect her animal companion, giving it that extra boost. With the right skills and feats, however, the animal lover can also make a perfect tracker.

And without further ado...

The Animal Lover
Animal lovers, as the name suggests, love all animals. They're the kids who'll be content to sit in the back yard and play with the squirrels, insects and birds all day. They're the kids who never seem to be attacked by that nasty dog two doors down. Their utter love for all things furry can be somewhat disconcerting, but if you need someone to talk to the animals, the animal lover's your kid.
Adventures: Animal lovers do everything out of love for animals, and adventuring is no exception. They may do it to find the pet they've always wanted, or perhaps to save a poor little puppy from the clutches of a witch. Really, no one's quite sure what goes through an animal lover's mind sometimes.
Characteristics: Animal lovers have a deep connection with all things fluffy, scaly, feathery... anything animalistic, at any rate. They are also rather animalistic in and of themselves.
Alignment: Animal lovers try to emulate animals in all sorts of ways. As such, an animal lover must always be neutral in regards to at least one aspect of her alignment.
Religion: Animal lovers tend towards more natural forms of worship. Many just stick to worshipping the animals they love so much.
Background: Animal lovers can find their devotion to all things furry in quite a number of ways. Some were accidentally left overnight at the park, while others spend most of their time in the garden watching the animals run around and steal food.
Races: Elves are, naturally, the most likely to become animal lovers, although quite a few humans and children of other races do, as well. Members of the savage races tend to hammer the idea that animals are merely food into their young, so they are rather unlikely to produce an animal lover.
Other classes: Animal lovers tend to stick to people like them a lot, and seem to have trouble getting along with other humanoids. They value companionship, though, especially that of a strong protector like a whiner or a storybook hero.
Role: Animal lovers shine when they have animals to interact with. With their animal companion ability, that is quite often. Animal lovers are prone to getting into the thick of things, as well, and aren't afraid to fight tooth and nail like their animal friends. Animal lovers also have limited spellcasting ability, but none of that healing stuff those other animal-focused classes have, no sir...

{table]
[tr]
[td]Level[/td]
[td]BaB[/td]
[td]Fort Save[/td]
[td]Ref Save[/td]
[td]Will Save[/td]
[td]Special[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]1st[/td]
[td]+0[/td]
[td]+2[/td]
[td]+0[/td]
[td]+2[/td]
[td]Tooth 'n' Nail (1d2)[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]2nd[/td]
[td]+1[/td]
[td]+3[/td]
[td]+0[/td]
[td]+3[/td]
[td][/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]3rd[/td]
[td]+2[/td]
[td]+3[/td]
[td]+1[/td]
[td]+3[/td]
[td]Animal Companion[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]4th[/td]
[td]+3[/td]
[td]+4[/td]
[td]+1[/td]
[td]+4[/td]
[td][/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]5th[/td]
[td]+3[/td]
[td]+4[/td]
[td]+1[/td]
[td]+4[/td]
[td]Animal Friend, Tooth 'n' Nail (1d3)[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]6th[/td]
[td]+4[/td]
[td]+5[/td]
[td]+2[/td]
[td]+5[/td]
[td][/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]7th[/td]
[td]+5[/td]
[td]+5[/td]
[td]+2[/td]
[td]+5[/td]
[td][/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]8th[/td]
[td]+6/+1[/td]
[td]+6[/td]
[td]+2[/td]
[td]+6[/td]
[td][/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]9th[/td]
[td]+6/+1[/td]
[td]+6[/td]
[td]+3[/td]
[td]+6[/td]
[td][/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]10th[/td]
[td]+7/+2[/td]
[td]+7[/td]
[td]+3[/td]
[td]+7[/td]
[td]Summon Beasties 1/day, Tooth 'n' Nail (1d4)[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]11th[/td]
[td]+8/+3[/td]
[td]+7[/td]
[td]+3[/td]
[td]+7[/td]
[td][/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]12th[/td]
[td]+9/+4[/td]
[td]+8[/td]
[td]+4[/td]
[td]+8[/td]
[td][/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]13th[/td]
[td]+9/+4[/td]
[td]+8[/td]
[td]+4[/td]
[td]+8[/td]
[td]Summon Beasties 2/day[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]14th[/td]
[td]+10/+5[/td]
[td]+9[/td]
[td]+4[/td]
[td]+9[/td]
[td][/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]15th[/td]
[td]+11/+6/+1[/td]
[td]+9[/td]
[td]+5[/td]
[td]+9[/td]
[td]Summon Beasties (Creeping Doom), Tooth 'n' Nail (1d6)[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]16th[/td]
[td]+12/+7/+2[/td]
[td]+10[/td]
[td]+5[/td]
[td]+10[/td]
[td]Summon Beasties 3/day[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]17th[/td]
[td]+12/+7/+2[/td]
[td]+10[/td]
[td]+5[/td]
[td]+10[/td]
[td][/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]18th[/td]
[td]+13/+8/+3[/td]
[td]+11[/td]
[td]+6[/td]
[td]+11[/td]
[td][/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]19th[/td]
[td]+14/+9/+4[/td]
[td]+11[/td]
[td]+6[/td]
[td]+11[/td]
[td]Summon Beasties 4/day[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]20th[/td]
[td]+15/+10/+5[/td]
[td]+12[/td]
[td]+6[/td]
[td]+12[/td]
[td]Tooth 'n' Nail (1d8)[/td]
[/tr]
[/table]
Animal Lover spells per day
{table]
[tr]
[td]Level[/td]
[td]1st[/td]
[td]2nd[/td]
[td]3rd[/td]
[td]4th[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]1st[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]2nd[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]3rd[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]4th[/td]
[td]0[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]5th[/td]
[td]0[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]6th[/td]
[td]1[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]7th[/td]
[td]1[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]8th[/td]
[td]1[/td]
[td]0[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]9th[/td]
[td]1[/td]
[td]0[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]10th[/td]
[td]1[/td]
[td]1[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]11th[/td]
[td]1[/td]
[td]1[/td]
[td]0[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]12th[/td]
[td]1[/td]
[td]1[/td]
[td]1[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]13th[/td]
[td]1[/td]
[td]1[/td]
[td]1[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]14th[/td]
[td]2[/td]
[td]1[/td]
[td]1[/td]
[td]0[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]15th[/td]
[td]2[/td]
[td]1[/td]
[td]1[/td]
[td]1[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]16th[/td]
[td]2[/td]
[td]2[/td]
[td]1[/td]
[td]1[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]17th[/td]
[td]2[/td]
[td]2[/td]
[td]2[/td]
[td]1[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]18th[/td]
[td]3[/td]
[td]2[/td]
[td]2[/td]
[td]1[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]19th[/td]
[td]3[/td]
[td]3[/td]
[td]3[/td]
[td]2[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]20th[/td]
[td]3[/td]
[td]3[/td]
[td]3[/td]
[td]3[/td]
[/tr]
[/table]
Game Rule Information
Abilities: Charisma is the most important ability to animal lovers, followed closely by Wisdom. Charisma aids them in convincing their animal friends to do what they want them to do, and Wisdom is the key ability for their spells.
Alignment: Any neutral
Hit die: d8

Class skills
The animal lover's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are: Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Here Doggy! (Cha), Hold It (Con), Imagine (Wis), Listen (Wis), Ride (Dex), Spellcraft (Int), Spot (Wis), Survival (Wis), and Swim (Str).
Skills points at first level: [4 + Int modifier] * 4
Skill points at every other level: 4 + Int modifier

Weapon and Armour Proficiency: Animal lovers are proficient with all simple weapons, light and medium armour, and with shields. Animal lovers face a special restriction, however: they cannot wear any armour, or clothing for that matter, made out of an animal's hide. If they do, they lose access to all class abilities (except for weapon and armour proficiencies), as well as spellcasting, for twenty-four hours.
Tooth 'n' Nail: At first level, an animal lover gains Improved Unarmed Strike as a bonus feat. In addition, an animal lover can choose to deal either slashing damage (by scratching) or piercing damage (by biting) instead of the usual blugeoning damage.
At fifth level, and every five levels thereafter, the animal lover's damage die for their unarmed strike is increased as if they were one size larger than they are, but only when dealing slashing or piercing damage. (The dice give in the table are for Small-sized Animal Lovers.)
Animal Companion At third level, an animal lover gains an animal companion. Her druid level is treated as being equal to her animal lover level + her Charisma modifier.
Spells: Beginning at 4th level, an animal lover gains the ability to cast a small number of divine spells, which are drawn from the animal lover spell list. An animal must choose and prepare her spells in advance.
To prepare or cast a spell, an animal must have a Wisdom score equal to at least 10 + the spell level. The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against an animal lover’s spell is 10 + the spell level + the animal lover’s Wisdom modifier.
Like other spellcasters, an animal lover can cast only a certain number of spells of each spell level per day. Her base daily spell allotment follows the same pattern as the Ranger's. In addition, she receives bonus spells per day if she has a high Wisdom score.
Through 3rd level, an animal has no caster level. At 4th level and higher, her caster level is one-half her animal lover level.
Animal Friend: An animal lover of at least fifth level may use the Here Doggy! skill in place of Bluff, Diplomacy, Gather Information and Intimidate when dealing with animals and magical beasts. This ability may be used to improve the attitude of an animal or magical beast with an Intelligence score of 2 or lower, like the druid's Wild Empathy ability.
In addition, an animal lover gains a +1 circumstance bonus to her AC against attacks made by animals, elementals, fey and magical beasts, as well as those made by other animal friends and nature lovers such as druids. This bonus increases to +2 at level ten, and improves by +1 at every fourth level thereafter.
Summon Beasties Starting at tenth level, an animal friend may use Summon Swarm as a spell-like ability useable once per day. Her caster level is equal to her animal lover level.
At thirteenth level and every three levels thereafter, an animal lover gets an extra use of this ability per day.
At fifteenth level, an animal lover can instead choose to use Creeping Doom, although she is still able to use Summon Swarm.

[Yuki Akuma]

Right. First order of business...

I think Tooth 'n' Nail should do more damage, now that I actually look at it.. 1d2 at level 1? :o

[LoopyZebra]

I haven't looked at what CUTE has in terms of equipment, but I'm assuming there's got to be something this character could pick up to do more damage. That said, as it is now, Tooth n' Nail is kinda lame.

Also, the part about an animal's hide (Armor Proficiency) needs to be clarified. Does it include things like wool, or just fur and leather?

[Fax Celestis]

Tooth'n'Nail should probably be 1d4/1d6/1d8/1d10/1d12 progression.

Why Summon Swarm and Creeping Doom? Why not Summon Nature's Ally (class level/2)? To me, that'd make more sense.

Finally, no Knowledge (Nature)?

[belboz]

So, a question and a suggestion. The suggestion is probably way too radical, but I thought I'd throw it out there anyway.

Although we don't have the animal lover spell list yet, I take it that (with some fluff changes) it's going to be *essentially* those components of the Druid spell list that deal with Animal:

Level 1: Calm Animals, Charm Animal, Detect Animals (like DAoP, but can't be used to detect plants), Hide from Animals, Magic Fang, SPeak with Animals, SNA I

Level 2: Animal Messenger, Animal Trance, Reduce Animal, SNA II, and *possibly* Bear's Endurance, Bull's Strength, Cat's Grace, Owl's Wisdom, Eagle's Splendor and Fox's cunning (not druid spells, but...), and Spider Climb

Level 3: Dominate Animal, Greater Magic Fang, SNA III

Level 4: Giant Vermin, Repel Vermin, SNA IV

Just a draft list; we might want to use a totally separate system, but it's a thought.

----------------

Now the wild idea. Somehow, when I look at the Animal Lover, and compare it to the other classes we have, I get a "one of these things is not like the other" feel. It doesn't feel, to me, like it fits a "childlike archetype" to the extent the others do...perhaps because it's so rooted in an ability (affinity with animals) that a small child might *really* have, rather than imagine.

The suggestion to consider would be transforming this into a 10-level PrC, intended to be enterable at, say, Level 5. Say, "Here Doggy!" 8 ranks, Cha 13 as prerequisites. As a PrC, it'd need to be a bit more powerful, but that could easily be done by squeezing some of the abilities into a narrower range. (For example, starting with spells at L.1), something like:

{table]
[tr]
[td]Level[/td]
[td]BaB[/td]
[td]Fort[/td]
[td]Ref[/td]
[td]Will[/td]
[td]Special[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]1st[/td]
[td]+0[/td]
[td]+2[/td]
[td]+0[/td]
[td]+2[/td]
[td]Tooth and Nail 1d3[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]2nd[/td]
[td]+1[/td]
[td]+3[/td]
[td]+0[/td]
[td]+3[/td]
[td]Animal Companion[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]3rd[/td]
[td]+2[/td]
[td]+3[/td]
[td]+1[/td]
[td]+3[/td]
[td]Tooth and Nail 1d4[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]4th[/td]
[td]+3[/td]
[td]+4[/td]
[td]+1[/td]
[td]+4[/td]
[td]Animal Friend, Summon Beasties 1x/day[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]5th[/td]
[td]+3[/td]
[td]+4[/td]
[td]+1[/td]
[td]+4[/td]
[td]Tooth and Nail 1d6[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]6th[/td]
[td]+4[/td]
[td]+5[/td]
[td]+2[/td]
[td]+5[/td]
[td]Summon Beasties 2x/day[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]7th[/td]
[td]+5[/td]
[td]+5[/td]
[td]+2[/td]
[td]+5[/td]
[td]Tooth and Nail 1d8[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]8th[/td]
[td]+6/+1[/td]
[td]+6[/td]
[td]+2[/td]
[td]+6[/td]
[td]Summon Beasties (Creeping Doom)[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]9th[/td]
[td]+6/+1[/td]
[td]+6[/td]
[td]+3[/td]
[td]+6[/td]
[td]Tooth and Nail 1d10[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]10th[/td]
[td]+6/+1[/td]
[td]+7[/td]
[td]+3[/td]
[td]+7[/td]
[td]Summon Beasties 3x/day[/td]
[/tr]
[/table]

{table]
[tr]
[td]Level[/td]
[td]1st[/td]
[td]2nd[/td]
[td]3rd[/td]
[td]4th[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]1st[/td]
[td]1[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]2nd[/td]
[td]1[/td]
[td]0[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]3rd[/td]
[td]1[/td]
[td]1[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]4th[/td]
[td]1[/td]
[td]1[/td]
[td]0[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]5th[/td]
[td]1[/td]
[td]1[/td]
[td]1[/td]
[td]-[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]6th[/td]
[td]2[/td]
[td]1[/td]
[td]1[/td]
[td]0[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]7th[/td]
[td]2[/td]
[td]1[/td]
[td]1[/td]
[td]1[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]8th[/td]
[td]2[/td]
[td]2[/td]
[td]1[/td]
[td]1[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]9th[/td]
[td]2[/td]
[td]2[/td]
[td]2[/td]
[td]1[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]10th[/td]
[td]3[/td]
[td]2[/td]
[td]2[/td]
[td]1[/td]
[/tr]
[/table]

If that seems a bit overpowered at the end, remember that this is really a level *15* character, not a level 10 (because CL 6 is the first CL you can take in this class).

[Fax Celestis]

...you know, I think he's got a point.

[Randomman413]

So, if it were a prestige class, the animal lover would get a level 2+ CHA modifier animal companion at character level 7 at the earliest? That doesn't seem very useful at all...
What other classes can use the Here, Doggy! skill?

[Yuki Akuma]

There aren't any other classes with the Here Doggy! skill. I don't think it's a good idea to make this a prestige class, anyway...

[Mephibosheth]

Initially I was attracted to the idea of a Animal Lover PrC, but I agree with Yuki that it should be a base class. Like he said, there's no other class that uses Here Doggy!, and it doesn't really seem like a continuation of the abilities of any of our other classes.

Mephibosheth

[belboz]

Hmm...

1) What if the "Here Doggy" requirement was changed to just 4 ranks, so that the requirement could be met by a level 5 character taking ranks cross-class? Yeah, it's a pretty inefficient use of skill points, but most PrCs have inefficient combos to balance the (generally better progression) they provide, no?

2) In re the utility of the Animal Companion: A 2nd-level AL (minimum CL 7) would get an animal companion as a 3rd-level druid. That's *almost* as good as a 7th-level ranger's, and it will improve faster. If the AL has Cha 14+, they'll already match the ranger at the same CL (and beat him/her at Cha 16+).

3) Are PrCs always the extension of existing abilities? The Shadowdancer? The Dragon Deciple? The Horizon Walker?

[Elrosth]

As outlined in the Evaluation Methodology thread, this thread is for discussing, editing and evaluation the Storybook Hero base class for Project C.U.T.E.

Just a quick spelling error. I only got to skim, so I'll hold off on comments for now.

[Fax Celestis]

Now, about my questions.

[LoopyZebra]

Fax's suggestions make sense, particualrly those about replacing the swarms. However, Knowledge: Nature allows for knowledge checks on plants, ecosystems, etc. which the Animal Lover would have no clue about. Perhaps, instead, they could have a class feature which allows for Knowledge checks specifically related to animals and plays like a Bardic Knowledge ability (or some such)? Might be a little off-flavor, though.

[Shiny, Bearer of the Pokystick]

I'm conflicted.

I like the Animal Lover. I really like precisely becuase it presents an ability that isn't purely restricted to an imaginary world; children really are good with animals. It's one of the main things people will mention if you press them to name things kids are good at. I think that's a really interesting idea, and for that reason, I think the Animal Lover is an interesting base class.

That said, in its current form, its abilities could be easily compressed into ten levels- and that's a sign to me that if we're going to keep it a base class (and I think, for the reason stated above, that we should) we'll be needing to flesh out the abilities and flavor of the class as appropriate....I've got a few (very few) ideas of my own on that score, but since I'm relatively unfamilar with this class and its influences, I'm probably not the best person to overhaul it.

So....summary, I think we should change a lot, but I think it should stay a base class.

[Yuki Akuma]

More abilities wouldn't go amiss. I dind't give them many because of the spellcasting, but now that I look at it..

Does anyone have any ideas, other than making Tooth 'n' Nail stronger?

[Shiny, Bearer of the Pokystick]

I was thinking some form of (probably defensive) ability that relies on their animal companion's ferocious protection of them.

More well-developed:
All fours:
The Animal Lover can move about using their hands and feet equally for locomotion.
Their carrying capacity is increased to that of a quadraped of their size.
They gain a +10ft enhancement to their speed.
An Animal Lover can still use their hands to manipulate objects when not using them for locomotion.

Just a thought, and it relies partly on my fuzzy understanding that quadrapeds have a higher carrying capacity than bipeds, which is...probably...true.

[Mephibosheth]

Another option would be a bastardized form of Wild Shape. I'm sure that kids the world over have pretended to be animals, and an Animal Lover would most certainly appreciate that kind of imagination. I don't think we should use normal Wild Shape, but some sort of hybrid form could work. Maybe we could have each Animal Lover pick their favorite animal, and they can change into increasingly powerful versions of that animal. For example, an Animal Lover that likes puppies could change into a dog, then a riding dog, then a wolf, then a worg (or similar), then a dire wolf.

Just a thought.

Mephibosheth

[Yuki Akuma]

Hey, you two, quit stealing abilities from my Wild Child PrC. :P

I suppose we could just roll Wild Child into Animal lover and be done with it, although Wild Child was really more about 'being' an animal than just really liking them..

[Shiny, Bearer of the Pokystick]

I don't really like the idea of physical emulation...maybe something like Totem barbarians, wherein the Animal Lover choose their favorite animal and gradually gains ability score, skill and bonus feat benefits appropriate to that animal?

Also maybe attack forms that are usually animal-only, like pounce, rend, etc.?

[Mephibosheth]

That was my thought, too. I guess I didn't make it clear enough. I envision kids running around on all fours and emulating the behavior of their favorite animals, not actually changing into them (though there could be cosmetic changes, especially in the deep imaginal).

Mephibosheth

[Shiny, Bearer of the Pokystick]

That was my thought, too. I guess I didn't make it clear enough. I envision kids running around on all fours and emulating the behavior of their favorite animals, not actually changing into them (though there could be cosmetic changes, especially in the deep imaginal).

Mephibosheth

Ahhh, gotcha. That sounds just about perfect, then.

Yuki, I did like the wild child, but it seems to me the obvious route to go with making the Animal Lover base-class worthy is one of two:

1. Animal-related abilities that allow the Animal Lover to take on animalistic traits, as the Wild Child does.

2. Some sort of leadership thing where they lead a small army of animals that love them back.

Number one seems easier to me. And there may be other things that are obvious to others (while my thoughts may not be as obvious to another perspective).

Regardless...a degree of rolling-together of Wild Child and Animal Lover might work.

[Yuki Akuma]

..I love the second idea. Having a sort of network of small forest critters, with one or two large animal companions, would be a fun ability to have.

...Basically, leadership with animals, but..

[Shiny, Bearer of the Pokystick]

..I love the second idea. Having a sort of network of small forest critters, with one or two large animal companions, would be a fun ability to have.

...Basically, leadership with animals, but..

Wellll, we did run into the problem of that kind of ability being hard to judge as over or under powered before, and how difficult it is to scale with level.

But I do like a kid with squirrel scouts, dog guardians, cat ace-in-the-hole combatants...

If you can figure out a way to keep this from getting unweildy, and a way to scale it by level, I'll support it.

[Yuki Akuma]

Perhaps have it as an extension of the Animal Friend class feature. Instead of them gaining specirfic animal companions, they can walk into an area and be automatically 'friends' with a certain number of animals in the area.

Perhaps the animals could act as if they already know the Animal Lover, and the Animal Lover would find them familiar... or something, I dunno.

[Shiny, Bearer of the Pokystick]

Perhaps have it as an extension of the Animal Friend class feature. Instead of them gaining specirfic animal companions, they can walk into an area and be automatically 'friends' with a certain number of animals in the area.

Perhaps the animals could act as if they already know the Animal Lover, and the Animal Lover would find them familiar... or something, I dunno.

Of course, that assumes there are animals in any given area....

[Yuki Akuma]

Of course, that assumes there are animals in any given area....

In the biological sense there most certainly would be animals in any area the PCs themselves could survive. :P

[Shiny, Bearer of the Pokystick]

In the biological sense there most certainly would be animals in any area the PCs themselves could survive. :P

I suppose that depends how broadly we define 'animal'. But I suppose you do have a point.

Take a crack at statting out this proposed ability of yours, why doncha.

[Fax Celestis]

Funny. I did that already.

[Shiny, Bearer of the Pokystick]

Funny. I did that already.

Well, by jiminy!

[Yuki Akuma]

Do you mind if we blatently steal it, Fax?