Lessen or remove the XP of Animal Companion death

[Pool]

In a what and why fashion.

What: Animals Companions to cost less XP upon death.

Why: The AI for Companions are brain-dead more often than not. If they're not accidentally clogging the battleflow, they're sprinting right into a blatant death trap. It feels as though I'm being shot in the foot for having an animal companion (and I'm sure most people who play Rangers agree), not counting that they are weak in comparison to simple illusion spawns of the third circle or higher.

Simply lowering the amount lost, or removing it entirely, would be a lot less irritating than losing 900 XP for the AI wigging out and not immediately responding to commands.

[Random_White_Guy]

I quite like this to be frank.

Instead of seeing every PC subjected to a basic penalty I'd rather a more responsibility of the player type of approach be used like with Clerics expected to respect their deity or risk spell failure.

Abuse the ability of a companion and then you get punished, but just "Oops it's dead here's a pile of XP against you".

[The Old Hack]

I support this as well. Actually, I am a prime criminal when it comes to familiar abuse -- I have rarely used them for much more than their special ability spell. I think I am going to have to sit down and think about how I can do better.

What should get penalised is to use the familiar to trigger traps, do suicide aggro pulls and the like. Give the poor thing a chance.

(Could it possibly changed so PvP familiar deaths cause XP loss but not other causes? That way it would still be dangerous to use it in PvP. I'm not sure about this one, though.)

[Blue41]

Animal companions can be extremely powerful when utilized correctly. Feeding your pet bear the right potions at the right time can swing the fight in your favor, but the risk should match the potential reward. While it's unfortunate that the exp loss is enough to put most people off ever summoning their animal companion outside of RP interactions, lessening the exp loss may just lead to putting them on the level of familiars.

Hey rat, give me cat's grace, back in my robes.

[prestonhunt]

I will say that I have recently noticed that the cost for companion death is no longer a debt that you repay, but rather it has reverted to a xp deduction, and as such has reverted to the old way that was easily exploitable.

[Spiffy Has]

It's fine as is honestly.

[Howlando]

Familiars and animal companions require some finesse and care to use mechanically effectively. I personally think it rather a success that they're not used all the time, and definitely would not support seeing them being used as ubiquitous meat shields.

[Pool]

@ ShadowCharlatan.

No, Shadow, I'm not targeting the penalty simply because its' a penalty. I'm suggesting it because its' an easy fix. If the suggestion were to alter the AI, it would be a lot more work than editing the value of the XP loss, and it would fall to the bottom of the list, if not fall off entirely. Not to mention that Neverwinter Nights is an extremely old game, there is only so much you can do with AI.

I understand entirely why the penalty is there, because this isn't the first time this has been suggested. It's an Animal /Companion/, not just another spawn to have run over a trap, it's there to put value in the animal and ensure the character actually takes the steps to try and protect it as a normal pet owner would with their actual dog/bird/whatever.

Most players on the server (or so I believe, I trust the depths of their characters from interacting with them for quite some time) using an Animal Companion will treat them as such, which includes the ye olde 'crying in the rain over the cold corpse of a close and dear animal' if something bad happens to them, unless of course their character is some animal abusing, apathetic individual, which is cool either way.

I believe RWG offered a good deal to this, where calloused lack of treatment of the animal companion could result in spell failure/inability to summon another one. That I can get behind. The suggestion was made because of how unresponsive the companion can be during combat. It will, more often than not, charge the frontlines after you tell it to follow you, or hold its' ground.

[Talir]

You have a player tool that can help make it easier to control the animal. Utilize that.

What one is shot in the foot for is treating their most beloved companion as just another summon/calculation in battle, there to soak up damage and then die so one can save resources. Before any XP reduction is even looked at, this needs to change.

For those who wants to have a battle-hardened companion they feel easier about keeping around in combat, one of the Favored Enemy bonuses give the awaken spell when the animal companion is called (Beast).

The penalty helps separate between those who would incorporate their animal companion into play or who are bold/confident in their control, and those who would really, really love to have an extremely potent summon but cannot justify losing any XP. Were there any changes to be made, it would not be the penalty.

Yes it hurts. As it should when something dear to you is in danger.