Are animal companions ever balanced?

Only when played by the DM.

They are always balanced.
For martials they are crutch not to lag so far behind.
For casters they are just cosmetic addition because the caster is already powerful even without them and the little extra makes no difference.

players always seem inclined to protect or avenge animal companions/avatars regardless of their practical function - death of an npc is whatever but go to the ends of the earth to save your dog or something

>>51015065
Depends on the animal.

Smaller companions have ungodly stealth and agility bonuses and having something that can fly or see in the dark is always useful.

Dogs are incredibly underpowered imo, mostly because people assume the average mook is far more competent in handling them than is reasonable. A pair should be more than enough to take down a human opponent by themselves.
>and they should get massive bonuses against skellingtons

Animal companions are balanced when the DM realizes they are just well trained animals, that can't do everything a familiar can. While your pet wolf IS a bad ass, in the end it's still an animal.

>>51015065
I remember once a rogue in my party managed to tame an amusingly small bear (only 3 ft high or so) and brought it with him as his adventuring buddy. Unbeknowst to us, he was under a reducing spell with a duration of 2 days. Turns out he was normally 6 ft tall... On four legs.

>>51016221
He was a big guy

>>51016430
For u...rsine creatures, yes.

File: Petyr+the+war+beagle+more+like+petyr+the+bugbear+eater_fdc9d4_5408342.png (965KB, 1239x4819px)

965KB, 1239x4819px

Obligatory

File: 1467228439080.png (271KB, 458x613px)

271KB, 458x613px

>>51015065
>tfw I swerve to avoid hurting animals all the time
I can't wait for my darkest hour, when I will be saved by a horde of furry and feathery warriors of truth and light. I hope there's a lot of geese among them, they're a nasty bunch of motherfuckers

File: Wojtek story.jpg (1MB, 700x6355px)

1MB, 700x6355px

>>51016537
Nicely done, have artillery bear

File: Wojtek.jpg (79KB, 640x469px)

79KB, 640x469px

>>51021187

>>51021195
>died in a zoo
must
not
cry

File: war dog.jpg (69KB, 800x531px)

69KB, 800x531px

>>51021453
His buddies visited him there, he lived a good life

>>51021187
Could you even imagine what it would be if you were fighting with or against these guys and suddenly a bear pop up out of nowhere to bring them ammos and everybody seems to roll with it like it's the most normal thing ever ? Like seriously, it would litteraly be like mother nature coming and saying "YEAH THESE GUYS HERE ARE THE GOOD GUYS"

>>51021484
Wotjek...had a hard life

>>51022998
Considering the alternative prospects for an abandoned/lost cub in the wild, he made out pretty well for himself.

>>51015065
They could actually be easy to balance if you go the 4E beast ranger way but with better math.
1. Animal companions have simplified stat blocks made purposefully as part of the class. You don't just pick an animal out of the monster manual.
2. The ranger and companion share a turn, with a special action to have both attack once, just like an archery or two-blade ranger can attack twice at will.
3. Most impostantly, the companion's damage rolls must increase with level and items at the same rate a second weapon would.

>>51019729
Gets me every time man, every fucking time.

>>51021187
Next time I'm up in London for a day, I'm going to find that statue on the War Museum and get a picture with it.

>>51015065
Not really. As a level 1 wizard (with a tiny viper companion), I was able to kill a heavily armed fighter giving the party trouble via a touch attack that let the viper slither onto him and into his armor.
1d4+2 Bites with 0% miss chance and a HUGE bonus to hit/crit are a helluva thing.

File: gskc2Lj.jpg (22KB, 316x459px)

22KB, 316x459px

>>51016000
I used to run a dog daycare and I can confirm this.
Most people do not know how to fight dogs.
Even 1 is going to hurt the shit out of you.
Two requires you to actually fucking fight
Luckily I never got attacked by more than two because I couldn't do it. It fucking sucked subduing two of those fucks.
So glad to be out of that job.
Still love dogs though.

>>51015065
That image made me legit smile

File: 1482863817046.jpg (39KB, 300x300px)

39KB, 300x300px

>>51016207
>Implying a low level spell/feat should have more utility than a class feature
Can't tell if this is bait or not.

>>51024014
Sounds boring and makes no sense. The worst sins of good roleplaying.

>>51035005
>not crapping all over the action economy makes things boring

Sure, whatever floats your boat.

>>51015125
This sounds like you're saying "it doesn't matter if you're a Wizard or a Fighter, we're playing Pokemon".

Pokemon might be a bad example, given what Psychic types do to Fighting types.

>>51021187
I remember reading that if you treat animals less like pets, but more like actual companions and equals they become just that. Or maybe it was just that video with that guy hanging with lions?

>>51019729
I'll take things that never happened for 500, Alex.

>>51035111
No, the boring part is companions having simplified stat blocks and not being any animal it should conceivably be able to be.

The sharing turns thing (muh actshun economuh) is what makes no sense. It's arbitrary and gamist. If what you want to do is play a boardgame or a skirmish game, there are better options.

>>51036237
>being any animal it should conceivably be able to be
Then that would be impossible to balance. Please look up "fleshraker dinosaur D&D 3.5E" and see what happens when you can pick ANY so-called animal from any book.
OP said:
>Are animal companions ever balanced?
Not:
>Are animal companions ever RealRightFun(tm)?
I bet you're going to reply with "muh rule zero!" as if that wouldn't ideally have the exact same end result as the book limiting the player's options in the first place.

>>51036237
Under your logic, I could technically choose something like a Mastodon or a Rapter as an animal companion since they're technically beasts IIRC.

Also, it makes sense that you're sharing your turn because you take one action to give it a command and another action to let loose an arrow or swing a sword.

Of course, this is even if we're pretending that D&D isn't the equivalent of a card game anyways once it made the jump to 3rd edition.

>>51035536
Probably has the caveat 'if they're already smart enough' - you tend to see this sort of thing with big predators, which are pretty clever anyway.

And then there's that random guy who lives with a bull or bison or something.

File: 1382375518155.png (387KB, 388x500px)

387KB, 388x500px

>>51021187
Bruh.

>>51015235

Rule of writing: never kill the dog.

All rules, however, have exceptions. Sometimes you need to Red Fern that shit and have your companion heroically sacrifice itself. Such is the life of a dragon hunting hound.

>>51015125
This does, of course, depend on the game and edition.

>>51031792

Your familiar is some small useless creature, while your animal companion can be a fucking bear. Even if its "just" a well-trained bear it will inevitably be more useful than some gay magic crow that can speak or whatever.

>>51040924
Kind of? Familiars gain some tricks that can be actually useful, but it takes a good while.

>>51015235
Pets are based. NPCs literally aren't people.

>>51015235
The Principle of the whole thang! It's principalities in this.

>>51022998
>>51023069
Yea, keep in mind cubs regularly get eaten by their parents.

>>51015065
My usual pick is an Owl and they're pretty balanced.

>>51016207
This aswell. An animal companion still requires a handle animal check/action to direct in any fashion and needs to be TRAINED aswell. They get bonus tricks and stuff, but it's not a mindlink or whatever.

>>51016207
You can raise its INT and teach it Common later down the line. It won't talk, but it will understand.