I am playing PFS and I wonder what could make a bird companion for a human druid useful.
Right now I have thought about the following:
- It has 10 STR, so it has 0 damage modifiers on any of his attacks.
- With Weapon Finesse, it can at least hit stuff with a +2 from it's DEX – this gets to +3 at level 3 at least
- At Level 4 it can get +2 STR/CON so it get's it's first damage bonus that increases to +2 at level 6 from the base STR bonus.
- At Level 4 I can give it +1 INT so it understands every order. As a flying animal I think it should be very much possible to tell him "Fly over the opponent and attack him from behind!" to give me or my teammates a flanking attack. I don't know weather or not "fly over" someone causes an attack of opportunity.
At least this is what I thought it can do – though I don't see it being that useful before Level 4. I am right now level 2 and most of my regular companions are melee, with me also charging into battle. The bird right now is more a hindrance than a boon, taking up space on the battlefield (as it occupies a space when it swoops down to hit something). Either I was very unlucky with my rolls, or a bird is simply that bad in combat. Right now I want to teach it "Spring Attack" so it can swoop down on an enemy and then make space for the real fighters. It can also sweep large open areas to see threats coming our way, but I have yet to go on an adventure where that helped us in any way (as no one wants to avoid a combat encounter).
Where do you see value in a bird companion? What can I do to improve it's long term combat viability? What can it do in later adventures that other companions might not?
Best Answer
A few things to keep in mind:
Aid Another, either attack or defense. That way it is always swinging at AC 10. Plus, the bonus it grants stack with any other character, NPC, or summoned monster. This option also gives merit to using the multiple lower CR creature option of Summon Monster and Summon Nature's Ally.
As a flying animal, it can learn the Bombard trick, so it can drop alchemist's fire, acid vials, or other touch based attack items on opponents. Also, 'fly over' will only provoke if the bird leaves one of the opponent's threatened squares. And, unless said opponent has the Combat Reflexes feat, it can only make one Attack of Opportunity a turn.
It can also learn the Deliver trick and drop beneficial to your allies. Or, down the line, it can be given a fire breath potion to use itself.
Scouting does not have to mean avoiding the fight. It could just be helping you to set up an ambush.
If a creature is Tiny or smaller, it can always use its Dexterity in place of Strength for CMB. This helps to mitigate its size penalty on those checks. With this it could use the Dirty Trick maneuver to Blind the opponent for a round.