Best animal companion - Giant Centipede for caster

[mudakonn]

Immune to web and grease
Immune to mind affecting spells

Enjoyable in the beginning of the campaign - stand behind the buffed up vermin and fire mind affecting control spells.

Looks cute too - better than Lann;)

[AnemoneMeer]

Doesn't have the offensive or defensive ability of a Leopard, which will do more damage, has pounce, has trip, has better AC and reflex saves.

There are good reasons to take a number of the animal companions. Giant Centipede has its immunities. Leopard has its versatility. Dog is a trip machine. Horse can be mounted easily. Velociraptor is an attack machinegun. Smilodon is a damage monster. Bears are tanky.

[Jiroa]

You really shouldn't need immunity to web and grease if you are plancing them yourself since as you put the enemies at the edge of them and considering that 95% of enemies that use mind effecting spells are evil and you have access to protection from evil from the start of the game it doesn't mean much.

Then by the time you have Freedom of movement you have a Animal compagnion that as no bonus over the others.

[MjKorz]

Can't beat the pig.

Nope, can't beat the pig.

[mudakonn]

I just remind that Giant Centipede is more cute than Lann and Pig:)

[Schlumpsha]

I am still saddened by the fact Owlcat didn't gave us the Giant Fly as animal companion.

[Immortal Reaver]

Big problem is the poison immunity of enenemies. That makes it the worst animal companion.

[mudakonn]

Originally posted by Immortal Reaver:

Big problem is the poison immunity of enenemies. That makes it the worst animal companion.

It is not about poison immunity, it is
1) 4 skill points - all other have 2 and high INT so no need to increase it like other companions
2) mind and movement immunities - can use movement impair and mind spells without selective metamagic with him
3) Looks better than Lann

[Chester]

I don't think the centipede ever gets big enough for you to ride (unless you're a halfling I guess). In the latergame when pets start to fall off that can be a bother and selective metamagic stops being much of a downside pretty quickly. Metamagic does require a full turn and no movement though, which can be a pain when your character isn't positioned properly - but riding a pet can completely eliminate that problem since you'll be using their movement. Very early game centipede can be convenient, mostly in the shield maze, but I don't know if that balances out their later shortcomings.

And lay off of Lann. You should be thanking Lann. He's so awesome.

[Immortal Reaver]

Originally posted by mudakonn:

It is not about poison immunity, it is
1) 4 skill points - all other have 2 and high INT so no need to increase it like other companions
2) mind and movement immunities - can use movement impair and mind spells without selective metamagic with him
3) Looks better than Lann

1) Does not matter for me honestly. Outflank can be taken after you get stat point. And companions get skills higher than animals can.
2) I can do that too without Selective.
3) Not fair, bar is set too low

[Veganleader1]

Originally posted by chester.longdon:

I don't think the centipede ever gets big enough for you to ride (unless you're a halfling I guess). In the latergame when pets start to fall off that can be a bother and selective metamagic stops being much of a downside pretty quickly. Metamagic does require a full turn and no movement though, which can be a pain when your character isn't positioned properly - but riding a pet can completely eliminate that problem since you'll be using their movement. Very early game centipede can be convenient, mostly in the shield maze, but I don't know if that balances out their later shortcomings.

And lay off of Lann. You should be thanking Lann. He's so awesome.

Centipede says right in description that it is not a mountable pet, so regardless of size.

While I love the idea of mounting pets, and am playing on core not higher, I also like to use super-size spells which in turn make my characters too big to mount up even with animal growth. My Lann has been specced this go-round as a primal druid and even with his triceratops has never been able to mount up sadly. Only Seelah has been able to mount for most of the game with her horse, but if I want her bigger than +1 she is walking again. This scenario makes it such that the melee character you want in there with the pet can only increase size so much and still be mounted, while the ranged dps (which might have -1 size reduce person) may have to use snap shot and point blank master.

That said I am using a ton of pets:

1)Lann primal druid SS tank with Bulwark Triceratops pet
2)Seelah with Daredevil specced Horse pet
3)MC alchemist trickster --> legend using Bismuth, eventually going to get boon companion
4)Sosiel at Mythic 6 just picked up the Animal Domain for an Agressor Smilodon pet speccing into the full improved critical line for claws (4claw attks), will get Boon at 19.
5)Camellia at Mythic 6 just picked up Nature Mystery for identical Agressor Smilodon pet that doesn't even need boon companion. Both of them will pick up Mythical Beast at Mythic rank 7.

To top off the 2 focused Smilodon pets, Nenio is casting Polymorph Greater Smilodon on Lann, Lann's pet, and Seelah's horse so they will all have pounce and a minimum of 5 attacks each.

To get on topic with the OP, does Mythic Beast allow the centipede to get off it's poison? I know Lann in Shambling Mound form gets his poison off a lot.

To

[SmallGespenst]

Originally posted by Veganleader1:

To get on topic with the OP, does Mythic Beast allow the centipede to get off it's poison? I know Lann in Shambling Mound form gets his poison off a lot.

no amount of bonuses can make Poison actually useful since almost every significant enemy will be immune.

[Chester]

There is a way to mount pets once your characters have grown due to buffs. Animal Growth! Spread the increase size around!

[Homer Morisson]

Black Smilodon or bust!

[Schlumpsha]

Originally posted by Homer Morisson:

Black Smilodon or bust!

Why not both? Switch its model to that of a plagued smilodon. Perfectly busted appearance of necrotic wretchfulness.