Hawk Companion

[scribjellydonut]

Has anyone played a ranger with a hawk companion?  I was just wondering because it seems to present some really nice RP venues in the way of the hawk scouting areas, and letting its master know.  Unfortunately due to the lack of control of an animal companion this would be impossible.  Do hawks then have really high spot skills?  Seeing as this seems to be the only useful thing they'd be good for, perhaps that & disarm(to simulate the hawk swooping down and making an attempt at grabbing something from an enemy).  I was just thinking of the Drizzt books and Montolio's familiar hooter that would let him know of orc movements and people in his grove.  Really they ought to be invincible from enemies too(but this may present a balance issue) since they would be flying too high to be hit by even arrows.  Thoughts?

[TheImpossibleDream]

Arrows work fine against all birds, they have natural ac based upon their natural dodge bonuses, so invincibility would be silly!

[scribjellydonut]

Arrows work fine against all birds, they have natural ac based upon their natural dodge bonuses, so invincibility would be silly!

You can't really be suggesting you can hit a hawk soaring at an altitude of 100 meters with an arrow launched from a composite bow?  Even on a calm day this would be quite a feat.

[Relinquish]

Hey, my druid can turn into a raven, can I be 100% immune to damage too?

[scribjellydonut]

Hey, my druid can turn into a raven, can I be 100% immune to damage too?

Well I dunno really.  I was just throwing the idea out there to open up some discussion about maybe making some familiars more dynamic.  I did this hoping maybe someone would have some insight or ideas about how to impliment this.  Hopefully other people that respond are more helpful and not just a smartass.

[lovethesuit]

Hawk companions are actually a little overpowered IMHO. Nerf them please.

[ScottyB]

If a bird is flying that high then you can't see them on the screen. Therefore, they can't be targeted, and they don't need invulnerability.

If you can see it on your screen, it is where it is. Not a hundred meters above where it seems to be.

I'm not even going to bother moving this to suggestions.

[The Crimson Magician]

May as well just insert a fly command. :D

/c fly a imo

[Jayde Moon]

If a bird is flying that high then you can't see them on the screen. Therefore, they can't be targeted, and they don't need invulnerability.

If you can see it on your screen, it is where it is. Not a hundred meters above where it seems to be.

I'm not even going to bother moving this to suggestions.

But even if you can't see it on your screen, maybe it should be able to see YOU because it's got eyes like a HAWK, ZOMG.

As far as this one goes, I think that even if the DMs would want to implement something like this, you're opening up a huge can of worms on how to implement it fairly.

Sometimes realism just has to take a back seat to mechanics and balance.

[lovethesuit]

May as well just insert a fly command. :D

/c fly a imo

This was part of my last app.

[SkillFocuspwn]

Jawl Highwind - Supergirl

[scribjellydonut]

I'm not even going to bother moving this to suggestions.

It wasn't a suggestion...  usually when I have a suggestion I already have it hashed out how it would work, I was just posting this here for ideas about it.  Maybe I wasn't clear.....
 
A ranger/druid with a hawk companion could take it and allow it to soar(basically scouting) over the lands.  Then the hawk would return and [squawk squawk] letting the ranger know where the danger is or what not... with a druid an even more detailed report could be available.  Anyways, this is impossible due to mechanics since as soon as your little hawk 'flies' near an orc or malar beast, bam-bam - now it's dead.  In reality though an orc or malar beast wouldn't be able to be hit your hawk while it's scouting since it's soaring high overhead.  I think it comes down to a mechanics limitation, but the point of this thread was for suggestions on the matter, not me suggesting anything in particular.
 
Can you script it so companions behave like familiars(maybe only certain companions and not others) that way the ranger/druid PC could possess the hawk.  Then make the hawk invincible to normal damage, but take away its attacks(or at least the damage if you can't take away the attack) and give it something like permanent invisibility, that way the ranger/druid could control the hawk and 'fly' it over any terrain as a scout.  Make it so this only works in outdoor areas and the bird can't enter caverns/indoor areas.  This still wouldn't be ideal since the druid/ranger wouldn't be free to move about while their hawk scouts, but it's better than nothing.  Plus the fact that people could abuse this, but by and large I don't see people taking a hawk for a companion just to annoy people.
 
I was just thinking that It might be good to have familiars with more purpose than either a tank/sneak attacker/trap finder.... maybe something a bit more dynamic is all.

[Drakill Tannan]

Although the above idea would be cooler, i can suggest somethign that is easier to balance:

You could script an ability similar to track, avilable only when your hawk companion is summoned: the companion flies away and then after some time you recive information in a similar way as track and your compaion comes back. Probably would make druids tack too well for the server balance, although it makes sence, maybe it could work as track using the compaions search/spot skills? (the hawk has thouse right?)  that way, en experienced ranger would have little use for it, while a non-tracker ranger or a druid could find it better.

That sounds good IMO.

EDIT: Though this should not be limited to the hawk, other flying compainons/familiars should have this too. Are the raven and bat familiars unchanged? if so, they are good candidates.

[Oskar Maxon]

Drakill brings up a pretty valid point -  how is it different to tracking?

[Winston Martin]

[squawk squawk] letting the ranger know where the danger is or what not...