Description:

This mod contains a series of tweaks to the abilities of the Ranger's Animal Companions and the 'Bonded Grief' mechanic. The eventual aim of this is to improve the survivability and usefulness of the animal companions.

So far I have not been able to find a way to change an animal companion's innate deflection values, so instead I have added a deflection bonus property to some of the companion's passive abilities. Note that this does not replace the ability, just adds the deflection bonus on top of it.

Currently the following abilities/talents have been changed:

Faithful Companion: +8 deflection added
Resilient Companion: +8 deflection added
Merciless Companion: +8 deflection added
Vicious Companion: +8 deflection added
Predator's Sense: +8 deflection added

Additionally, animal companions have also been given a +3 innate damage reduction bonus.


Bonded Grief (Optional)

The Bonded Grief penalty that Rangers suffer when their companions die has been changed to a 'rage' mechanic, where the Ranger gains might and resolve at the cost of accuracy.

Bonded Grief now gives:
+3 Might (originally -2)
+3 Resolve (originally -2)
-6 Accuracy (originally -10)


Installation:

Choose which component(s) you want to install (Animal Companion Changes or Bonded Grief or both)

Extract the files to:

Pillars of Eternity\PillarsOfEternity_Data\assetbundles\prefabs\objectbundle

Always be sure to make a backup of your original files.


Feedback:

As this mod is in beta, please provide feedback, whether there are bugs, or you think the changes are too much/not enough etc. in the comments. Remember, I can't really improve this mod without feedback.