Awaken, Animal Companion Buffs and Companion Sneakiness

[riffraff]

So I found a scroll of Awaken and I'm quite keen to use it on my lovely panther because, good gods, she needs all the buffs she can get. However, I'd like some clarification on what ends the effects. The spell and wiki descriptions say the stat buffs last "for as long as [the companion] remains at the caster's side, even between rests". Does that mean it's lost if the companion is unsummoned/dies? How about if I pick up a totem and decide to switch my companion to a different type on a level up?

On the buffs front, I find my poor panther is not as sneaky as I assumed she would be (vast majority of my combats seem to start with her being spotted as I ninja my way around monsters) and is pretty squishy. Are there good buff spells/methods to help her get tougher and/or sneakier? Is it simply a case of stacking up some zoo spells? Or should I be summoning help for her? I'm not very magical by design, but I'd like to help my cat not get insta-squashed.

It's probably not being helped by me exploring all over the place regardless of monster levels. Curiosity killed the cat.

[Waldo52]

I don't have the answer to your questions, but the questions themselves shed light on how lame dexterity rangers are right now.

The rogue-like companion doesn't have crippling strike or rogue goodies outside of sneak attack dice. There are obviously no gear slots because you're dealing with a summon, no epic dodge that I'm aware of, and you're locked out of animal buffing feats because you didn't build for strength, which is just arbitrary and strange.

As much as I like to whine and moan about the state of rogues, you have it worse in certain ways. Your character has mediocre damage and kind of/sort of good AC without ED, your main summon is gimped because you didn't build for strength and constitution, you just kind of exist.

You can buff your stealth skills into the stratosphere, but your panther is going to be pretty limited in that regard. I've PGCC'd it and your panther is going to be made of paper and will struggle to hit anyone with decent AC. It's a sad story.

[riffraff]

I don't have the answer to your questions, but the questions themselves shed light on how lame dexterity rangers are right now.

Here's me being an Archer specifically (with a brief dip into Rogue for sneak attack, no less). Oh dear. I found a nice Mighty longbow quite early on so despite being Dex I have ironically been buffing my Strength consistently for the extra damage.

You can buff your stealth skills into the stratosphere, but your panther is going to be pretty limited in that regard. I've PGCC'd it and your panther is going to be made of paper and will struggle to hit anyone with decent AC. It's a sad story.

I'm content with being far less than optimal, but it would be great if I didn't lose my cat every other fight and then have to force a rest or wait 10 minutes. It sounds like maybe picking up the Panther totem and switching her stat block to a tougher creature might be the way to go then. I did look at the animal comp spreadsheet someone whipped up, but I dunno how up to date it is and I have no context for what enemies are like at the relative level.

[Sandrow]

Be a knight, guard your panther, and it will sneak attack stably.

[Waldo52]

Be a knight, guard your panther, and it will sneak attack stably.

Not a bad idea, but without knowing much about knights I doubt this will help much in PvP.

I'm not one of those guys who thinks fighting players is the entire point of the game, but I've had my heart broken every time I've tried fighting people with a dex based ranger.

[toftdal]

Awaken persists until the companion is killed, dismissed or you level (on every level-up the companion is unsummoned as it gets better stats). Awaken is quite a good buff for the companion and there is a loot-amulet that has it 1/day that is often for sale in shops pretty cheaply. Another important spell is Greater Magic fang to give it DR-penetration (+1 for every 3 ranger levels up to +10 at 30th ranger).

Then you have sequencers and the treats that can be made with herbalism if you can find fire-/iceberries. But there is no way around it being squishy no matter which totem you choose. I like the bear for having massive damage.

Oh, and one last point - you can pick a totem (location:FOIG) which lets you skin whichever animal you pick at level-up. So, if you have panther-totem - it will look like a panther even if you choose a bear on levelup)

[riffraff]

Knight's not really in keeping with my sneaky shooty dex character, unfortunately, unless I'm misunderstanding how the class works.

Awaken persists until the companion is killed, dismissed or you level (on every level-up the companion is unsummoned as it gets better stats). Awaken is quite a good buff for the companion and there is a loot-amulet that has it 1/day that is often for sale in shops pretty cheaply. Another important spell is Greater Magic fang to give it DR-penetration (+1 for every 3 ranger levels up to +10 at 30th ranger).

Then you have sequencers and the treats that can be made with herbalism if you can find fire-/iceberries. But there is no way around it being squishy no matter which totem you choose. I like the bear for having massive damage.

Oh, and one last point - you can pick a totem (location:FOIG) which lets you skin whichever animal you pick at level-up. So, if you have panther-totem - it will look like a panther even if you choose a bear on levelup)

Ah, thanks for this! I'll need to invest. And yeah, I've found where I can pick a totem, I've just been putting it off as I wasn't totally sure if I wanted to be surrounded by panthers all the time or if something else would be cooler. The fire and iceberries are a great shout as I happen to be a herbalist and it gives me something else to go exploring for. Thanks!

[xf1313]

You are archer pathed, well, that one give a lot of ranged damage...your pet just need to stay strong. I personally feel dip into warlock (for extended darkness) is a very nice option, and recommend lesser arcane sequencer over lesser druidic

[Jagel]

For an Archer I would go for a more tanky companion like bear or boar