Telthor Companion Details (For those Interested)

I'm a huge fan of the Spirit Shaman, and I'm very thankful to Kaedrin for giving us the Telthor Companion feat to make the class much easier to play. However I was growing frustrated with the lack of documentation on the companion and decided to do the only logical thing: open up a test module and level a spirit shaman 1 to 30, rolling back and forth occasionally, to discern exactly what this companion provides.

Here's the bad news: the Spirit of the Land starts off really weak. Mediocre AC, mediocre damage, and knockdown.

Now that we've gotten that out of the way, rejoice! If you're willing to spend three feats (Telthor Companion, Natural Bond, Epic Animal Companion) you'll have one of the most powerful pets in the game.

Spirit of the Land Starting Stats
Str 14, Dex 16, Con 15, Int 2, Wis 12, Cha 6
AC: 16, HP: 30, Fort 3/Ref 6/Will 4
Feats: Knockdown, Weapon Finesse, Weapon Focus (Creature), Low Light Vision, Evasion
Levels: Monstrous 3

The Spirit of the Land gains levels in the Monstrous class, which provides the following:

• HP: 8
  
• BAB: Full
  
• AC: 1 natural armor per level in the class
  
• Saves: Fortitude (bad), Reflex (good), Will (good)
  
• Skills: 2 points, Hide & Move Silently

The Spirit of the Land levels slower than the Spirit Shaman, gaining power for every three effective druid levels the Shaman has. Each time the companion raises it gains:

• 2 levels in Monstrous (+2 BAB, +20 HP, +2 AC, higher saves)
  
• +1 Strength and +1 Dexterity

Additionally it gains a few more feats as its level rises. At druid level 9 it gains Multiattack, and at druid level 15 it gains Improved Evasion. Multiattack is great, granting an additional iterative attack with the normal -5 penalty. At druid level 15 it actually moves to its normal function, reducing the iterative attack penalty from -5 to -2. There's a lot of value in this for a companion with a full base attack progression.

But how does the Spirit of the Land work with your magic? Quite well, actually. As far as spells go the Spirit of the Land is considered an animal companion, making it a valid target for Enrage Animal, Nature's Favor, Animal Growth, Awaken, and Heal Animal Companion, as well as Flame Weapon. However, since the companion is Monstrous and not an Animal you cannot cast Nature's Avatar on it.

Anyways, that's all you need to know about the companion. It's a sturdy little thing capable of dishing out an absurd amount of damage with the proper enhancements. Good luck in your adventures!

Thanks for your work on this!

marnold wrote:Thanks for your work on this!

No big. I'm going to follow up this post with a comparison to the Wyrmling and Dinosaur companions, since they're considered to be the strongest pets available.

Comparing the Spirit of the Land to the Two Best Druid Companions

The dragon and dinosaur companions are considered the two strongest druid companions, so it seems appropriate to compare the Spirit of the Land to each of them. These comparisons are at level 30 with epic animal companion and completely unbuffed. All animal companions have multiattack, evasion, and improved evasion.

Spirit of the Land (Monstrous 23)
Str 24, Dex 26, Con 15, Int 2, Wis 12, Cha 6
Fort 9 / Ref 21 / Will 14
AC: 41, HP: 230
Skills: Hide & Move Silently
Feats: Knockdown, Weapon Finesse, Weapon Focus
Attack Routine: +30/+28/+26/+24/+22 1d6+7 (20/x2)

Wyrmling (Dragon 26)
Str 24, Dex 17, Con 15, Int 15, Wis 17, Cha 16
Fort 17 / Ref 18 / Will 18
AC: 36, HP: 364
Skills (only useful skills included here): Listen, Search, Spot, Spellcraft
Feats: Improved Initiative, Power Attack, Darkvision, Low-Light Vision
Special: Spell Resistance 22, Immunity to Mind-Affecting Spells
Attack Routine: +31/+29/+27/+25/+23/+21 1d6+7 (20/x2), 1d6+7 (20/x2), 1d8+7 (20/x2)

Dinosaur (Beast 25)
Str 32, Dex 28, Con 21, Int 2, Wis 14, Cha 10
Fort 19 / Ref 23 / Will 10
AC: 46, HP: 375
Skills: None worth mentioning
Feats: Low-Light Vision
Attack Routine: +29/+27/+25/+23 1d3+11 (20/x2), 1d3+11 (20/x2), 2d4+11 (20/x2)

So where does this leave our shaman's companion? Surprisingly well off, all things considered.

Defenses: The Spirit of the Land is very fragile when compared to the other two, with at least 130 fewer hit points and half their fortitude saves. It falls between the two in terms of AC. But in all comparisons, the Spirit struggles with defense. The wyrmling also has significantly higher saves vs spells thanks to a high spellcraft score and is immune to mind-affecting spells.

Combat: The dino deals an average of 13.83 damage and attacks four times a round. The wyrmling deals 10.83 (13.83 with power attack) on average and attacks six times a round. The Spirit instead deals 10.5 average damage and attacks five times each round. It's difficult to quantify this data, but the Spirit again seems to fall between the two in terms of offense. The dino exceeds both by a significant margin when buffed with Nature's Avatar.

Utility: This is one area the dino happily sits out. The wyrmling has high ranks in listen, spot, and search. It also has both kinds of vision. The spirit however has high ranks in hide and move silently making it useful for builds that pursue HiPS. It also boasts knockdown which is very useful for all but archery-based builds.

So, to wrap this up, here's what we've learned. While significantly more fragile than either of the druid "uber" pets, the spirit shaman's Spirit of the Land holds its own in terms of offense. It also supplements its offense with utility and stealth to support different build types. While the companion is clearly inferior to both druid pets, it excels in its own ways and remains a strong addition to the Spirit Shaman class.

Hope this helps any of y'all.

Yes, it does help. I think for my next run-through of the OC-MoTB, it's been maybe 9 months now, I'll finally try the spirit shaman. Maybe a fey spirit shaman, it seems to fit better in my mental fantasy world.