# Animal Companion feats



## Hypersmurf

As a druid's animal companion increases in hit dice, it gains feats as normal.  So once a druid hits 3rd level, and his wolf jumps from 2HD to 4HD, it gains a feat at 3HD; similarly, when the druid hits 6th, the wolf hits 6HD as well, and gains another feat.

What are some good choices?

Improved Natural Attack at 6HD seems a bit of a waste - 1d6 to 1d8, a whole +1 average damage.  Spring Attack could be nice, but not until Drd12, which is a long time to wait for a concrete benefit from Dodge and Mobility.

Power Attack and Cleave at 3HD and 6HD is a definite possibility.

I notice that technically, the wolf qualifies for the Draconic Aura feat from Dragon Magic at Drd3; with 3HD, he meets the 'Character Level 3rd' prerequisite.  An animal companion granting everyone a +1 to initiative checks (or whatever) is an interesting idea...

Even further outside the box, there's the Wild Talent and Psionic Fist combination, to give the Bite attack a little extra 'zing'.  Of course, Concentration is a cross-class skill for the wolf, but he can regain his focus outside of combat by Taking 20...

By spending some cross-class skill points, the wolf can qualify for Mage Slayer at Drd6...

Any other contenders?

-Hyp.


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## Darklone

Improved Trip? Best feat ever for wolves, especially if you can make them become large somehow.


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## shilsen

Darklone said:
			
		

> Improved Trip? Best feat ever for wolves, especially if you can make them become large somehow.



 Unfortunately, that wolf's going to have a hard time meeting the Int 13 prerequisite 

Animal companions tend to be a little fragile in my experience, so Improved Toughness can be a lifesaver.

A weird one to try would be Armor Proficiency (Light) so that you can put some decent barding on the wolf, but it's unnecessary if you can get your mage buddy to cast Mage Armor on it every day.


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## cmrscorpio

Shilsen hit it spot on with Armor Proficiency.  Because barding can be enchanted just like regular armor, in the short run it can give a good boost to your animal's AC, and in the long run you can add some pretty worthwhile enchantments.

Blindfight is a good one for a wolf because it pairs pretty well with the wolf's ability to detect invisible creatures by scent.

Run, then Fleet of Foot (Complete Warrior) would allow your animal companion to charge without maintaining a straight line.

Improved Initiative, then Death Blow (Complete Adventurer) would allow your animal companion to make a coup de grace as a standard action.

Power Attack, then Leap Attack (Complete Adventurer) would allow your animal companion to double Power Attack damage on a charge.





If I were your DM and you wanted to give your animal companion special feats that aren't part of the creature's nature, like Psionic Fist, I'd require you to spend a tricks in order to be able to do that.  At the very least you'd have to train it to Gain Psionic Focus.


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## nittanytbone

Skip armor proficiency.  You can put masterwork studded leather or mithral chain barding on an animal with no problems at all, as the ACP is -0.

It all depends on what you use your animal for:

- Defensive Meatshield:  Combat Reflexes, Hold the Line, and Ability Focus (Trip) all work quite nicely to create a tripping meatshield in front of you that can stop foes in their tracks.

- Swift Mounted Critter:  Run (useful to run down horses and such in open terrain), Fleet of Foot (change direction on a charge -- great ability!), Dash (every bit of speed helps)

- Offensive Powerhouse:  Weapon Focus (Bite), Power Attack, Leap Attack

- Defensive Brick Wall:  Improved Toughness, Dodge, Iron Will

- The dodge --> mobility --> spring attack --> elusive target chain is nice as well.  It allows your companion to jump out, nail someone, and come back to your side.


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## Nifft

Wild Talent + Speed of Thought + Up the Walls? No need to expend your Focus. Later, Psionic Body.

Improved Natural Attack gets good when he gains some size increases, from HD or spells. The 1d8 -> 2d6 thing is gold.

Cheers, -- N


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## Shayuri

Animal companions don't get size increases from HD. 

But! Once you're level 7, I believe you can trade in that old wolf for something in a Dire model. Then you're packing some power. A lenient GM will let you use Natural Bond to either get it quicker, or give it some bonuses when you do get it. Or snap up a level of Beastmaster.

As for Wolfy the Wolf, you're never really going to make him a damage-dealer past the early levels unless you spend a comparatively large amount of time buffing him. I'd choose feats that boost his defense (Dodge, Improved Natural Armor, etc) and his battlefield mobility (Mobility, various speed enhancing, etc), and use him to harass spellcasters, flank, and Aid Another.

And remember, if you choose feats that turn out not to be as good as you thought, you can dismiss that companion and get a new one in a day.


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## Hypersmurf

cmrscorpio said:
			
		

> Power Attack, then Leap Attack (Complete Adventurer) would allow your animal companion to double Power Attack damage on a charge.




8 ranks in a cross-class skill, at 1 skill point per hit die, will take a while to accumulate 



> If I were your DM and you wanted to give your animal companion special feats that aren't part of the creature's nature, like Psionic Fist, I'd require you to spend a tricks in order to be able to do that.  At the very least you'd have to train it to Gain Psionic Focus.




Yup - fortunately, animal companions are rarely short of tricks by the time they're getting extra feats, I've found.



> But! Once you're level 7, I believe you can trade in that old wolf for something in a Dire model. Then you're packing some power. A lenient GM will let you use Natural Bond to either get it quicker, or give it some bonuses when you do get it. Or snap up a level of Beastmaster.




I'm definitely eyeing Beastmaster.  Natural Bond pretty explicitly forbids "get it quicker", but not the increasing the bonus... though that bit definitely depends on the DM.



> ... and use him to harass spellcasters, flank, and Aid Another.




Yeah - that's why I was looking at Mage Slayer with interest... and also the Vexing Flanker line.

-Hyp.


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## Kmart Kommando

best improvement would be: take Leadership.  Build an awakened animal as a cohort with class levels and feats.

I had a Halfling Outrider with an Awakened Wolf Druid.  Funny thing was, the wolf had an animal companion, who had less hit dice but better Evasion.


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## Korak

If you do upgrade to Dire Wolf, the large size and high strength make Improved Unarmed Strike and Improved Grapple a nice pair of feats.  Even on a regular wolf, it will be a capable grappler against medium sized opponents, as well as having the option to do lethal damage with grapple checks.  It will also allow the wolf to full attack with unarmed strikes to take advantage of higher BAB (as opposed to single bite attack).

Edited: because spelling is hard


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## Pinotage

I seem to recall there being someting written somewhere that animals trained for war could wear armor. Am I missing something? I thought that armor proficiency on many animal companions wasn't required.

Pinotage


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## cmrscorpio

Pinotage said:
			
		

> I seem to recall there being someting written somewhere that animals trained for war could wear armor. Am I missing something? I thought that armor proficiency on many animal companions wasn't required.
> 
> Pinotage





I believe you are remembering in the PHB where it tells you that certain animals like warhorses and wardogs are ridden easily into combat, without needing the constant Ride checks to control like regular horses.  

I don't know of anything that makes any animals proficient in armor by default.  Unless someone else can find something that says otherwise, I believe animals need to have armor proficiencies in order to use them without penalty just like all other creatures.

[edit] The Monster Manual II has a template called Warbeast that grants an extrordinary ability called _Combative Mount_ that gives the animal proficiency in all barding.  The template explicitly states that you are to assume that "war creatures" like the warhorse are assumed to already have that template. [/edit]


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## Hypersmurf

cmrscorpio said:
			
		

> I don't know of anything that makes any animals proficient in armor by default.  Unless someone else can find something that says otherwise, I believe animals need to have armor proficiencies in order to use them without penalty just like all other creatures.




The Animal Type description states: "Proficient with no armor unless trained for war."

That's in a Core book, which suggests it's not referring to the MM2 template.  Unfortunately, it doesn't go into detail about what exactly is entailed.

I've seen two suggestions in the past - one is that it costs a trick for War Training (proficient with all armors, riding dogs can trip, horses and ponies can make proper hoof attacks); the other is that it costs a trick for War Training, Light (proficient with light armor, riding dogs can trip, horses and ponies can make proper hoof attacks), and then extra tricks for Medium and Heavy armor.

Warhorses are obviously trained for war by default.

-Hyp.


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## akbearfoot

Not trying to hijack the OPs thread, I'm just currently making a druid who is also focuses on animal companions.  So I'll add my ideas in and see what others think.


I'm about to start a ebberon setting druid, for the age of wyrms campaign.  So please no spoilers.

I originally designed a progression for a druid focused on wild shaping with warshaper/natures warrior, but decided to go back to mostly druid levels because sofar nobody in the group wants to play a healer.

Was thinking of taking Skill focus(handle animal) and Beast Totem(ECS) as my 1st level feat + human bonus feat...at 3rd I'll take Natural spell, and at 6th I'll take a level of beastmaster and the Totem Companion(ECS) feat.  That will give me an effective druid level of 9th and allow me to have a Displacer beast companion with 3rd level companion bonuses.

at 9th I was planning to take companion spellbound so I can share spells at 30ft and by then I'll have a decent list of buff spells to share.  The cool thing about the displacer beast is that even though its a magical beast, I can still cast animal based spells on it, as per the totem companion feat.

Seemed like a pretty sweet concept to me, to have an  large 8HD pet with 3 attacks 10ft reach, 50% miss chance, and evasion at 6th level.  It also has a 5 int and can SPEAK common.  The alignment says usually lawful evil instead of -always- like most other monsters, so Im not sure if I can attract 1 with a non-evil alignment, I am hopeing so.

Comparing it to some of the dire animals it does less damage,  but gets more attacks and has way more surviveability imo.  Plus it can actually communicate with the group by speaking which I think would add a fun RP dynamic as the displacer beast can hurl his own insults at people for being dumb 

1 thing to note is that the Totem companion feat has ambiguous wording...it says there is a minimum level requirement, but it's not listed as 'minimum character level'...Instead it just shows the chart that refers to effective druid level and references the chart in the PHB.  So the way I read it is effective druid level will qualify you to take the feat at lvl 6, instead of waiting to lvl 9 because of the beastmaster bonus.

No word yet from the DM if he will let natural bond give effective bonuses or not, but I doubt it.  I haven't written the character up for him yet to look at and approve,  but sofar he said he didn't have a problem with me getting a displacer beast companion.


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## Zurai

akbearfoot said:
			
		

> Was thinking of taking Skill focus(handle animal) and Beast Totem(ECS) as my 1st level feat + human bonus feat...at 3rd I'll take Natural spell, and at 6th I'll take a level of beastmaster and the Totem Companion(ECS) feat.




You do not qualify for Natural Spell at 3rd level.


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## ShadowChemosh

Hypersmurf said:
			
		

> As a druid's animal companion increases in hit dice, it gains feats as normal.  So once a druid hits 3rd level, and his wolf jumps from 2HD to 4HD, it gains a feat at 3HD; similarly, when the druid hits 6th, the wolf hits 6HD as well, and gains another feat.
> ....



Just to point out that not only do Animal Companions not gain a size increase they also don't gain feats due to their bonus hit dice.

*Per the FAQ*
_The animal companion rules - or, for that matter, pretty much any other effect that grants a creature bonus Hit Dice - don’t use the monster improvement rules presented in Chapter 4 of the Monster Manual.  The rules in Monster Manual are for creating tougher versions of existing monsters, not for increasing the statistics of creatures who gain Hit Dice.  An animal’s normal advancement line has absolutely nothing to do with the benefits it gains from being an animal companion, and vice versa._


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## Hypersmurf

ShadowChemosh said:
			
		

> Just to point out that not only do Animal Companions not gain a size increase they also don't gain feats due to their bonus hit dice.




You know, you're absolutely right, up until the part where you say "they also don't gain feats due to their bonus hit dice".

_*Bonus HD:* Extra eight-sided (d8) Hit Dice, each of which gains a Constitution modifier, as normal. Remember that extra Hit Dice improve the animal companion’s base attack and base save bonuses. An animal companion’s base attack bonus is the same as that of a druid of a level equal to the animal’s HD. An animal companion has good Fortitude and Reflex saves (treat it as a character whose level equals the animal’s HD). *An animal companion gains additional skill points and feats for bonus HD as normal for advancing a monster’s Hit Dice.*_

-Hyp.


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## ShadowChemosh

Hypersmurf said:
			
		

> You know, you're absolutely right, up until the part where you say "they also don't gain feats due to their bonus hit dice".
> .....-Hyp.



Oops my bad.  Guess thats what I get for only reading the FAQ and not double checking the PHB.

Now back to the Feat thread already in progress....


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## akbearfoot

Wow, I can't believe I missed that...Could have sworn natural spell was one of the feats you can take early, but gain no benefit until you qualify for it.

OK so...

1st Beast totem, Skill Focus(handle animal)
3rd Companion Spellbound
6th Totem Companion
9th Natural Spell

Of course then I have to weigh the benefit of having the cool pet at 6th level vs being able to wild shape freely and still use magic for 3 extra levels.  Not sure which is better


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## Slaved

If you really want feats that need skill points there is Open Minded.

You could also take feats from either the Book of Nine Swords or Magic of Incarnum.

With the first you can get a once per battle option plus an extra class skill and then you can follow up with a stance, +2 to everyones will save would be funny.

With the second you can get any of a host of very useful soulmelds. You can even spend more feats to be able to bind them and get further special abilities! A tripping wolf with sphinx claws could be very crazy!!    And what animal companion does not want spell resistance? Basically just pick out whatever the animal is weakest against or could use some boosting in and pick whichever gives you a boost in that area.


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## Hypersmurf

Slaved said:
			
		

> If you really want feats that need skill points there is Open Minded.
> 
> You could also take feats from either the Book of Nine Swords or Magic of Incarnum.
> 
> With the first you can get a once per battle option plus an extra class skill and then you can follow up with a stance, +2 to everyones will save would be funny.




I figured there would potentially be interesting stuff in Bo9S, but I don't own it...

If there's one to make Jump a class skill, it could potentially open up Leap Attack... especially if the DM was happy for you to rework the base 2HD wolf's initial feat and skill points.

-Hyp.


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## Zurai

Hypersmurf said:
			
		

> IIf there's one to make Jump a class skill, it could potentially open up Leap Attack... especially if the DM was happy for you to rework the base 2HD wolf's initial feat and skill points.
> 
> -Hyp.




Jump is the associated skill for the Tiger Claw discipline, and taking Martial Study to pick up a maneuver from a discipline gives you the associated skill as a class skill for all of your classes.

As a bonus, you'd get a Tiger Claw maneuver to use 1/encounter; unfortunately, RAW, the only one you could take before your 6th HD is Wolf Fang Strike (attack with two weapons as a standard action), which is, ironically, completely and totally useless for a wolf. If you were able to wait til that 6th HD, you could snag Claw at the Moon (+2d6 damage on a successful Jump check) or Rabid Wolf Strike (+4 to hit, +2d6 damage, -4 AC), both of which are nice maneuvers.


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## blargney the second

Shape Soulmeld is awesome for animal companions.  Heck, just Wormtail Belt gets it +2 natural AC!  Soulspeaker Circlet lets it understand one language, which is actually quite cool if you think about it.
-blarg


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## Jack Simth

Theoretically, Improved Unarmed Strike gives your animal companion iterative attacks.  Plus, it's a prerequisite for Improved Grapple, which is very handy on the Large+ sized animals (as they tend to have very good grapple checks, but a low enough AC such that the attack of opportunity spoils the grapple).


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## irdeggman

akbearfoot said:
			
		

> Not trying to hijack the OPs thread, I'm just currently making a druid who is also focuses on animal companions.  So I'll add my ideas in and see what others think.
> 
> 
> I'm about to start a ebberon setting druid, for the age of wyrms campaign.  So please no spoilers.





My son is playing a shifter druid using racial substitution levels from races of eberron in my AoW game.

That is one sweet set up - that racial substitution level shifter druid.  Check it out - you will be amazed at what you can get (basically for losing an animal companion and getting a beast spirit instead).


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## akbearfoot

I only own the campaign setting ebberon book sofar. 

What is the gist of the shifter sub levels?


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## blargney the second

The shifter druid substitution levels make you forgo the animal companion and wild shape in favour of drastically improved shifting abilities.


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## Pinotage

Hypersmurf said:
			
		

> The Animal Type description states: "Proficient with no armor unless trained for war."
> 
> I've seen two suggestions in the past - one is that it costs a trick for War Training (proficient with all armors, riding dogs can trip, horses and ponies can make proper hoof attacks); the other is that it costs a trick for War Training, Light (proficient with light armor, riding dogs can trip, horses and ponies can make proper hoof attacks), and then extra tricks for Medium and Heavy armor.
> 
> Warhorses are obviously trained for war by default.
> 
> -Hyp.




That's the quote I was looking for. Warhorses are trained for war, by default, but I'd also include riding dogs in that. The description says under the equipment section that a riding dog is 'brave in combat like a warhorse' which I've always assumed meant it was trained for war. Then again, lots of DMs assume that taking the Combat training via Handle Animal trains an animal for war, and hence gains it the armor proficiencies.

Pinotage


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## irdeggman

blargney the second said:
			
		

> The shifter druid substitution levels make you forgo the animal companion and wild shape in favour of drastically improved shifting abilities.




Plus a whole bunch of other non-shifting based benefits:

Alertness
Ability bonus to Str, Dex or Con (when preparing spells +2 at 3rd level up to +6 at 18th level)
Add +4 to wild empathy and Handle animal checks
Transfer spirt to any animal that he has summoned
Rapid summoning (at 12th level) - standard action vs full-round

Get the book it is almost a mandatory book if playing the setting because of all the goodness contained within.


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## escaflowne777

What's improved natural attack, and where?


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## Ovistavin

escaflowne777 said:
			
		

> What's improved natural attack, and where?




It's in the Monster Manual or the SRD. 



			
				d20srd.org said:
			
		

> Improved Natural Attack [General]
> Prerequisite
> Natural weapon, base attack bonus +4.
> 
> Benefit
> Choose one of the creature’s natural attack forms. The damage for this natural weapon increases by one step, as if the creature’s size had increased by one category: 1d2, 1d3, 1d4, 1d6, 1d8, 2d6, 3d6, 4d6, 6d6, 8d6, 12d6.
> 
> A weapon or attack that deals 1d10 points of damage increases as follows: 1d10, 2d8, 3d8, 4d8, 6d8, 8d8, 12d8.
> 
> This feat may be taken multiple times, but each time it applies to a different natural attack.


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## Hypersmurf

Pinotage said:
			
		

> That's the quote I was looking for. Warhorses are trained for war, by default, but I'd also include riding dogs in that. The description says under the equipment section that a riding dog is 'brave in combat like a warhorse' which I've always assumed meant it was trained for war. Then again, lots of DMs assume that taking the Combat training via Handle Animal trains an animal for war, and hence gains it the armor proficiencies.




It's possible to have a riding dog who isn't war-trained; their entry says "If trained for war, these animals can make trip attacks just as wolves do (see the Wolf entry)."

The implication is that only some _are_ trained for war.

-Hyp.


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## Pinotage

Hypersmurf said:
			
		

> It's possible to have a riding dog who isn't war-trained; their entry says "If trained for war, these animals can make trip attacks just as wolves do (see the Wolf entry)."
> 
> The implication is that only some _are_ trained for war.
> 
> -Hyp.




That's true. I'd missed that. I guess a riding dog would need Combat training via Handle Animal to qualify as trained for war.

Pinotage


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## RuminDange

Hypersmurf said:
			
		

> If there's one to make Jump a class skill, it could potentially open up Leap Attack... especially if the DM was happy for you to rework the base 2HD wolf's initial feat and skill points.
> 
> -Hyp.




These is Cosmopolitan from the FRCS that allows you can use to make a skill a class skill and gain a +2 bonus to it.  It is 3E feat and don't remember how it was changed in the FRPG or what the prerequisites are since I am away from my books.  But if allowed...   

RD


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## Hypersmurf

RuminDange said:
			
		

> It is 3E feat and don't remember how it was changed in the FRPG or what the prerequisites are since I am away from my books.  But if allowed...




In PGtF, it was revised to a +2 to Bluff, Sense Motive, Gather Information feat.

-Hyp.


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## Legildur

Firstly, I'd only take a wolf over a riding dog for reasons of style (ie role playing). I believe that the riding dog is a superior companion and has the added benefit of being more civilisation friendly. The riding dog also helps out with the armour proficiency issue for barding if you assume it to be 'trained for war'.

Looking at potential feat choices, I think Spring Attack is a great choice for a dog/wolf because of the base speed and the risk-free trip ability. I know that can be a long wait, but it also depends on your DM. For example, from the SRD we have "A 1st-level druid’s companion is completely typical for its kind except as noted below" and "A druid’s animal companion is different from a normal animal of its kind in many ways. A druid’s animal companion is superior to a normal animal of its kind and has special powers, as described below" and "Each of the monster entries describes a typical creature of its kind."

Now I'm not going to quote definitions from the dictionary for "typical" and "superior", but I believe that there may be enough wiggle room to argue that the MM entry for a wolf could be adjusted to replace Weapon Focus (bite) with Dodge (for example).  That would enable Mobility at 3HD (3rd level) and Spring Attack at 6HD (6th level).

I can also see an argument for using a non-standard ability score array for an animal companion.

Other feats I favour for animal companions are Improved Natural Armor and Iron Will.


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## RuminDange

Hypersmurf said:
			
		

> In PGtF, it was revised to a +2 to Bluff, Sense Motive, Gather Information feat.
> 
> -Hyp.



Well that sucks.  I liked it being able to give skill as a class skill.  Oh well.


RD


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## blargney the second

Distracting Attack from the Miniatures Handbook.  Draconic Aura can also be good - raising the DC of energy attacks for a bunch of allies is pretty sweet, as is giving them a bonus on Spot, Listen, & Init.
-blarg


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