Bismuth the Triceratops

[seeker1]

So two things I noticed about this critter you invoke from the triceratops statue:

1. He's a "permanent" animal companion, but not really. You summon him at the beginning of a day, he disappears when you rest, you resummon the next day. But unlike other summons, he's a real animal companion, fully controllable. (Also 4 levels less than who summons him.)

2. However:
You have zero control over leveling him up unlike other animals.
Seems like you can give him equipment, but it just goes back into your inventory stash when he despawns. (That's really kinda annoying.)

[Conquista]

compared to a normal animal companion he is quite bad, but its a free pack mule so still decent value

[seeker1]

I just wish he would hold on to his equipment till the next time he respawns.

[The_Gay_Agenda]

Think of Bismuth as the poor man's animal companion.

He is arguably useful as a mount and to body block for your casters. He rarely hits anything but the lowest of AC targets, and goes down fast if attacked so he isn't reliable to fill a missing melee spot for the party. I mostly use him as an expendable meat shield in difficult fights.

Gear can help him survive a tad longer against weak attackers but as you said it's really annoying to equip him after every death so I just leave him naked.

[Super Cosmic Space Magnet]

I just sell the statue :s He is super useful to have around even just as a free way to sponge a few hits, but otherwise he's just a big blob that gets in your way and doesn't do anything.

[Myrmicus]

Have you tried to use Bismuth as a living torpedo ?
One of the first Lich spells is "Corrupted Blood". It causes nauseated and, upon dying, the victim explode for 6d6 damage and apply Corrupted Blood. Now, cast it on Bismuth and send him to die into a group of ennemies.

[revan1229]

Animal companion feats affect him (not sure if that's intended), which makes him a lot more useful.

[Jalmari H.]

Bismuth is great bodyblock especially when he grows. With little standard buffing (mage armor, barkskin, magic vestment, shield of faith, blur etc.) he makes a great meatshield. I am not sure if boon companion feat works with him, if someone knows please lets us know.

It's annoying his equipment goes back to inventory when he dies though so I gave up using equipment on him he doesn't hit anything except casters/archers anyhow.

I usually put him last in formation so he doesn't get in a way and he can protect casters in case of ambush whatever.

[Bonusgold]

hi, my name is ember. let me touch you from the back of my free mount.

[IlluminaZero]

Bismuth is actually amazing on party members with sneak attack - Particularly Greybor - As it allows alpha strike full round sneak attacks even if the enemy is not flat footed.

The mount will give flanking to its rider. 😏 It’s pretty silly in practice and is a good illustration of the likely reason that all mounted classes tend to lack secondary functions like sneak attack.

[Conquista]

Originally posted by IlluminaZero:

The mount will give flanking to its rider. 😏 It’s pretty silly in practice and is a good illustration of the likely reason that all mounted classes tend to lack secondary functions like sneak attack.

animal domain sanctified slayer,
ranger with sense vital,
nature spirit shadow shaman,
sylvan sorcerer with sense vital

have access to animal companions and sneak dice

[IlluminaZero]

Originally posted by Conquista:

Originally posted by IlluminaZero:

The mount will give flanking to its rider. 😏 It’s pretty silly in practice and is a good illustration of the likely reason that all mounted classes tend to lack secondary functions like sneak attack.

animal domain sanctified slayer,
ranger with sense vital,
nature spirit shadow shaman,
sylvan sorcerer with sense vital

have access to animal companions and sneak dice

I really should try out Sanctified Slayer at some point then. The class sounds amazing.

From an action economy standpoint “wasting” a turn casting round/level buffs tends to be a huge downer for me. But yes it’s certainly true than any class with access to sense vital can sneak in sneak attack dice ~

[Sockpooper]

Bizmuth always ends up being a great contributor to all my gameplays. I use him as a mount usually for greybor or woljif so they can move more than 2 feet and still use full attack.

[Bruxae]

I liked using him, he wasn't a powerhouse but he'd occasionally finish someone off for me and he was decent tank which is cool considering you lose nothing by using him. I only got rid of him towards the end of the game when he really fell off because he slowed me down and occasionally got in the way.

[The1Kobra]

One thing I should mention about Bismuth, if you use him when you are on the Legend Mythic Path, then he uses your MC's level with the legend, whereas for other paths he doesn't include mythic ranks in his level calculations. It does mean that a Legend MC can get a L36 Bismuth. Naturally this makes him a lot stronger.

[Conquista]

wasn't that nerfed some months ago