Change of a Companion?

[MarleVVLL]

Hi friends.

I'm new to this server and am refreshing my knowledge of NWN2; it's been quite a few years since I've played. I must say, I'm really enjoying my experience.

I have a question to pose. My character is a conflicted wood-elf ranger/assassin who is neutral evil (technically an accident as I didn't know this server could allow any alignment to become an assassin until it was too late). As a ranger, hide, stealth and the like are important, and I fear my initial choice of having a boar as a pet was the wrong choice for my character. From a RP perspective, having a boar for a stealthy rogue doesn't make too much sense (and she has decent intelligence -- 12 I think).

With this in mind, I'm wondering if a GM could change my animal companion to a panther instead? I don't mind RPing an evil character - it's a bit counter intuitive for me, but it makes for interesting dialogue.

Thanks for your consideration.

[Deathgrowl]

You could RCR. Then you could change alignment to something you would prefer as well as getting another companion. I suggest doing it as early as possible. The longer you wait, the harder the RCR XP hit will feel.

[DM Narshe]

I don't believe this can be changed by a DM and that using the RCR npc in the Nexus as you log in is your only solution.

Some of the questions you might have about RCRing can be answered here.

It is often fortunate that you would decide to change something like this so early in your character's development as the experience loss is not nearly as dramatic. You might also decide to keep the pet. I believe boars are one of the stronger options available.

I've always liked boars myself, but also quite fond of the cat selections. And who doesn't like a cuddly furball to keep you company?

*looks at Passiflora*

[McGondy]

To be honest, the I'd expect the panther companion to get in the way when wanting to score a paralysing death attack as they would be too low a level to sneak effectively while you take assassin levels to rush for HIPS. Breaking stealth stuffs up the "not in combat" prerequisite for the death attack, but you can always use them as a meat shield while they last (which unfortunately isn't too long) while flanking and dealing some pretty high hurting. I thought my boar would help me solo, but you can't beat another PC who can rush in the room once you've taken a guard out.

TL;dr: companions break your death attacks, and you don't need a meat shield once you have HIPS->I'd use it purely for RP

[Deathgrowl]

TL;dr: companions break your death attacks, and you don't need a meat shield once you have HIPS->I'd use it purely for RP

I don't know how powerful they are for rangers, but here's my little experience with an animal companion:

Breteas wanted to show me his druid's companion, a snow lepoard. He buffed it up. It had over 50 AC, I think 48 AB and hit for 35-40ish damage. That's on par with fighters, except it also has damage reduction and a druid to heal it.

Animal companions are very, very powerful if used right. Unfortunately the AI is terrible.

[McGondy]

I can imagine they are quite powerful in the hands of a PC focused on the druid class, however for OP's build where there is usually quite the dip into Assassin (9 levels), ranger companions are received at a lower level, rangers do not have the awesome buffs and he will be most likely HIPSing later in his build. In this case I 'd stick with the hog and then use it RP'ly. Or RcR to get one that you can RP with the entire time. I fell terrible sending my Suscrofia in to die within a rounds. Find some adventurers to be meat shiel- uh... adventure with They're usually better companions