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Mar 15, 2012 -- 3:31PM, Uknits wrote:

I don't know...

First of all, the ability to buff your animal companion is one of their main points.

Definitely.  But in this case that was more the result of Stoneskin being a very powerful buff than the general ability to buff an animal companion.

Also, aside from the hawk, look at Vathilia's companion.  You had entire fights where Vathilia did next to nothing and the dog did it all.

Usually, Vathilia was providing support in the form of buffs or healing, and Vathilia is someone better at that than most due to having access to a +4 AC buff that most druids can't get.  (Two, actually, but one overlaps the barding).  But yeah, animal companions are definitely a valuable asset, if not one that would itself be overpowered.

I bet I could make a character who was a druid who did nothing but buff the animal and send it frontline and never engage himself. 

I doubt it.  There are some encounters where the companion is the right choice, and some where it's the wrong choice.  Part of a druid's strength is the ability to attack in so many different ways, which is of course most powerful outside a balanced party (as a balanced party already has that ability).

Mar 15, 2012 -- 5:12PM, The_Fred wrote:

Heh, perhaps. Certainly at L1, though at L3+ the animal starts to get pretty neat stats. You can have a hawk with better base HD than the rogue (d8 vs d6, same 3/4 BAB, good Fort as well as good Reflex), the same evasion, and an NA bonus on top of what a normal hawk would get.

Note that level 1 and level 3 are the only levels where that holds, though, as past that the rogue's superior hit dice will cause the difference.

Perhaps more importantly, you're comparing to a class that is primarily focused on out-of-combat matters.

Hence the quote: "I have special abilities which are more powerful than your entire class".

And yet his action was merely a minor part of Nale's general plan (a plan that a rogue could pull off far better than a druid.)

Mar 15, 2012 -- 5:23PM, Uknits wrote:

I think the real broken-ness comes from how every book felt the need to add an entire full list of spells to classes which already have enough spells.  With over 100 spells a level to chose from, it isn't suprising a few broken ones got through.

Also, with so many spells and the ability to add them relatively cheaply, it's not too hard to be prepared for any occasion you have advance warning of.  Restricting to Core only helps a lot there too.

Mar 15, 2012 -- 5:31PM, The_Fred wrote:

True.

Also, new monster lists make things like polymorph way more powerful.

Quite.

Anyway, we digress. How about "make the most cheesy and overpowered character you can think of"?

That's easy: Twinned Bestow Power (high augmentation) on yourself for an infinite pp loop.  Combine with manifesting powerstone powers from your own pp for added versatility.

Mar 16, 2012 -- 9:16AM, TelinArtho wrote:

In order to make an effective harrier for casters, you need something with the ability to threaten at least to 5ft and to fly with good maneuverability. Air elementals are great for this; hawks - much less so. If you can't threaten, then the caster can cast with impunity.

An air elemental parked overhead of a caster can use AoO to grab scrolls or to attack for damage, etc. Granted - the damage potential is low - but at early levels it is all about getting that forced concentration check (either from casting defensively or because you dealt damage).

That concentration check is also something that hawks are bad at; until pretty far along, you're not going to be doing enough damage to have a particularly difficult check.