Author Topic: Awakened Dire Wolf  (Read 2142 times)

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Oaklanbash

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Awakened Dire Wolf
« on: March 17, 2010, 03:53:58 AM »
Hello to all my fellow players,
I just reached level 9 with my Druid a couple weeks ago and I decided I wanted to awaken my faithful Dire Wolf companion that I had for many years.  I know how the spell works, but my GM has also allowed me to take the leadership feat at level 9 and take him as a cohort.  So I guess what I would like to know is how I should proceed with my Dire Wolf.  Here are a few of the house rules my DM has allowed me to use.

1.  I start with the base dire wolf from the Monster Manual.
2.  When he undergoes the transformation I am allowed to keep the 8 and 5 I rolled on d8 when he was my Druid companion for base HD as d10 rolls.
3.  Retroactive upgrade to all his past levels to full BAB progression, meaning he starts out as Awakened Dire Wolf with 8HD and 8 BAB from magical beast.
4.  Can keep the good Will Save from animal
5.  The only classes he can choose from are Barbarian, Scout, Ranger when he gets further XP.
6.  I will get the level 8 HD stat increase to choose from, most likely strength.  When he gets the first level of PC class, I will get the level 9 feat.
7.  He counts as 4 for LA, I know that seems very steep.  He cannot use weapons of course.  Just bite....

So I guess I would just like to see some of the insight that all of you have.  I was leaning towards Barbarian to allow him to wear light armor and get 10 foot speed increase and rage.

kurashu

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Re: Awakened Dire Wolf
« Reply #1 on: March 17, 2010, 04:01:16 AM »
Get him pounce and then go for a swift hunter build. Giving him Lion Totem Barbarian 1 MIGHT be a flavor issue with the DM, but it's the easiest way.

Oaklanbash

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Re: Awakened Dire Wolf
« Reply #2 on: March 17, 2010, 04:12:47 AM »
wow that sounds very interesting... I am just sure he will say something like why is a canine type creature taking feline type prestige classes....

dark_samuari

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Re: Awakened Dire Wolf
« Reply #3 on: March 17, 2010, 04:53:43 AM »
wow that sounds very interesting... I am just sure he will say something like why is a canine type creature taking feline type prestige classes....

Easy, unless it's been specified say the dire wolf is a student of ferocity and savagery. If you take two levels in barbarian you can have both lion & wolf totem that way which would only back it up. 

cru

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Oaklanbash

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Re: Awakened Dire Wolf
« Reply #5 on: March 17, 2010, 07:28:30 AM »
All very good points and questions...

I will get to a few now, more later.

The first about ECL12, we are actually only counting him as level 5.  An awakened dire wolf has so many weaknesses, even though he has massive strength, so we are just going to count him as his CR level.  So he will start adventuring with me as a pure dire wolf without PC levels, after a certain amount of cohort XP he will get to choose his first PC level.  However I am getting all his crappy skills, lack of attacks, etc. 

All complete books (adventurer, divine, etc), monster manuals, faerune books, and a few other books with DM permission are allowed.

WOW I never thought to use maximize rod on awakened creatures... I can see some fun later on with 18 int dire ape wizards ;)

In the future, I will awaken my current brown bear, however I want to get him war trained (MM2) before I do to make him all the more beefy


ninjarabbit

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Re: Awakened Dire Wolf
« Reply #6 on: March 17, 2010, 05:28:15 PM »
Improved trip is a must since your dire wolf will be making a lot of trip attacks and you'll get a free bonus attack on every sucessful trip, lucky for you in that UA wolf totem barbarian gets him improved trip.

I also think you'll want the whirling frenzy variant from US/SRD and take extra rage as your 9th level feat.
« Last Edit: March 17, 2010, 08:08:08 PM by ninjarabbit »

PhaedrusXY

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Re: Awakened Dire Wolf
« Reply #7 on: March 18, 2010, 02:40:49 PM »
LA +4 is fucking ridiculous. It's not just "a bit steep". However, by what you've said, I assume that he isn't actually treating it as LA+4. That would indeed mean it is ECL 12, and not an eligible cohort.

What you seem to be saying that he's treating the base awakened dire wolf as ECL 7, which basically means it has a +1 LA (8 hit dice, counts as a level 9 character, so that's LA +1 not +4). That's a lot more reasonable.

Is that right?
Edit: Wait... that doesn't add up either... It sounds like he's giving it a negative LA (-1).

And there are ways to give it weapons, if you want. The easiest is spiked armor, but that suffers the drawback that it is counted as a light weapon, and so he'll only get 1/2 his strength mod to damage with it and it won't benefit from Power Attack. You could instead give him a Mouthpick weapon (Lords of Madness, I think) which is basically a weapon that he holds in his mouth and attacks with. That will let him make iterative attacks, but he'll unfortunately lose his automatic trip attack, so it might not actually be worth it.

What I'd suggest is just forget about giving him a weapon. Enchant his bite with Greater Magic Fang, and give him the Combat Reflexes, Improved Trip, and Robilar's Gambit feats. Also make sure he is Hasted somehow (Boots of Speed, friendly party wizard, etc). This will give him extra attacks without having to mess with using weapons, and also let him get maximum benefit out of that free trip ability.

Use retraining (PHB2) or psychic reformation (Expanded Psionics) to rearrange his feats. The bad thing about Robilar's Gambit is that it requires +12 BAB, so he won't qualify for a while. You could instead use Karmic Strike, but the prereqs might be tough (it requires Combat Expertise, and therefore a 13 Int), and it only works if the enemy actually hits him, instead of if they just attack him.
« Last Edit: March 19, 2010, 11:31:46 AM by PhaedrusXY »
[spoiler]
A couple of water benders, a dike, a flaming arrow, and a few barrels of blasting jelly?

Sounds like the makings of a gay porn film.
...thanks
[/spoiler]

bearsarebrown

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Re: Awakened Dire Wolf
« Reply #8 on: March 18, 2010, 02:43:33 PM »
Improved Unarmed Strike can also get him iterative attacks.

ksbsnowowl

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Re: Awakened Dire Wolf
« Reply #9 on: March 18, 2010, 05:44:15 PM »
With the free trip attack and followup attack (via Improved Trip), scout would actually synergize really well with the awakened dire wolf.  He can move 10 ft, and usually get 2 attacks, both with skirmish.  Ranger + Swift Hunter at level 12 would be really good for this.  If you could swing the Highland Stalker PrC (Comp Adv), it also would go well, though I forget what the prereq's are. 

Highland Stalker would give you a "boost" to your skirmish damage (Scout 4/Ranger 1/HS 2 would have +3d6 skirmish damage).  Add a level or two of Barb to get free Improved Trip, and that puts you at ECL 18 with 17 HD, BAB of +16, fairly decent skills (averaging almost 4+Int skills per level, even with the crappy 2 skill points per level from animal/mag beast), and +3d6 skirmish, 20 ft. additional speed, rage, and a few other minor abilities.
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