I played the game through with a female fighter/ranger (I wanted to be really good at dual weilding and it seemed to work), but now I've created a pure ranger. I wanted to know what animal companian I should have. i've got Tomi for traps and unlocking, using a shortbow, but what animal companian shoul;d I have?

Get the panther i say. I made a pure Ranger, named him Drizzt Do'Urden, the drow. Choose the Panther, and name him Guenhwyvar, hehe. No but 2 get back to your question. Get the panther, it is much more deadly than the others.

With my first char, a fighter/ranger, I had a familiar called Guenhwyvar, actually, and yes, it was a panther, lol.

I dont know if bear is an option for rangers, but my druid has gone with the bear and its nice! Gets the knockdown and power attack feats plus tons of hp at higher levels.

Bear is an option for rangers.

Personally, I want a Dire Wolf for my ranger, unless there's a compelling reason not to use them.

and beer is an option for dwarves!!!! more beer...

Just out of curiosity, what's the point of the other animal companions? Take the bear for brute attacking power, the panther for sneak attacks, what's the point of the others? What makes the badger, the boar or some of the smaller animals worth taking? I understand the purpose of a bird in a PnP game, but they aren't implemented as scouts in NWN, just as combat creatures.

Roleplaying, I guess. Badgers get style points too, who uses a badger? You'd be unique.

<font color="lawngreen" face="trebuchet MS"> Try the Dire Wolf... they are oddly powerful.... they are fast and have quite a lot of HP... but the panther is quite good also... as it has those great sneak attacks... but IMO the Panther doesnt get enough HP in the end... Thats why I like the Bear and Dire Wolf for Animal companions... for Familiars I almost always go Panther [img]smile.gif[/img] </font>

*Fills his keg o' ale*
No, seriously, most of the companians are poor. :(