Animal Companions

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The Druid & Ranger Animal Companion

A druid's or a ranger's animal companion is superior to a normal animal of its kind and has special powers, as described below.

Class Level	Bonus HD	Natural Armor Adj.	Str/Dex Adj.	Bonus Tricks	Special
1st-2nd	+0	+0	+0	1	Link, Share Spells
3rd-5th	+2	+2	+1	2	Evasion
6th-8th	+4	+4	+2	3	Devotion
9th-11th	+6	+6	+3	4	Multiattack
12th-14th	+8	+8	+4	5
15th-17th	+10	+10	+5	6	Improved Evasion
18th-20th	+12	+12	+6	7

Animal Companion Basics: Use the base statistics for a creature of the companion's kind, but make the following changes.

Class Level: The character's druid level. The druid's class levels stack with levels of any other classes that are entitled to an animal companion (like the Ranger) for the purpose of determining the companion's abilities and the alternative lists available to the character.

Bonus HD: Extra eight-sided (d8) Hit Dice, each of which gains a Constitution modifier, as normal. Remember that extra Hit Dice improve the animal companion's base attack and base save bonuses. An animal companion's base attack bonus is the same as that of a druid of a level equal to the animal's HD. An animal companion has good Fortitude and Reflex saves (treat it as a character whose level equals the animal's HD). An animal companion gains additional skill points and feats for bonus HD as normal for advancing a monster's Hit Dice.

Natural Armor Adj.: The number noted here is an improvement to the animal companion's existing natural armor bonus.

Str/Dex Adj.: Add this value to the animal companion's Strength and Dexterity scores.

Bonus Tricks: The value given in this column is the total number of "bonus" tricks that the animal knows in addition to any that the druid might choose to teach it (see the Handle Animal skill). These bonus tricks don't require any training time or Handle Animal checks, and they don't count against the normal limit of tricks known by the animal. The druid selects these bonus tricks, and once selected, they can't be changed.

Link (Ex): A druid can handle her animal companion as a free action, or push it as a move action, even if she doesn't have any ranks in the Handle Animal skill. The druid gains a +4 circumstance bonus on all wild empathy checks and Handle Animal checks made regarding an animal companion.

Share Spells (Ex): At the druid's option, she may have any spell (but not any spell-like ability) she casts upon herself also affect her animal companion. The animal companion must be within 5 feet of her at the time of casting to receive the benefit. If the spell or effect has a duration other than instantaneous, it stops affecting the animal companion if the companion moves farther than 5 feet away and will not affect the animal again, even if it returns to the druid before the duration expires.

Additionally, the druid may cast a spell with a target of "You" on her animal companion (as a touch range spell) instead of on herself. A druid and her animal companion can share spells even if the spells normally do not affect creatures of the companion's type (animal).

Evasion (Ex): If an animal companion is subjected to an attack that normally allows a Reflex saving throw for half damage, it takes no damage if it makes a successful saving throw.

Devotion (Ex): An animal companion gains a +4 morale bonus on Will saves against enchantment spells and effects.

Multiattack: An animal companion gains Multiattack as a bonus feat if it has three or more natural attacks and does not already have that feat. If it does not have the requisite three or more natural attacks, the animal companion instead gains a second attack with its primary natural weapon, albeit at a -5 penalty.

Improved Evasion (Ex): When subjected to an attack that normally allows a Reflex saving throw for half damage, an animal companion takes no damage if it makes a successful saving throw and only half damage if the saving throw fails.

Alternative Animal Companions: A druid of sufficiently high level can select her animal companion from one of the following lists, applying the indicated adjustment to the druid's level (in parentheses) for purposes of determining the companion's characteristics and special abilities.

4th Level or Higher (Level -3) Ape (animal) Bear, black (animal) Bison (animal) Boar (animal) Cheetah (animal) Crocodile (animal)1 Dire badger Dire bat Dire weasel Leopard (animal) Lizard, monitor (animal) Shark, Large1 (animal) Snake, constrictor (animal) Snake, Large viper (animal) Wolverine (animal)

7th Level or Higher (Level -6) Bear, brown (animal) Dire wolverine Crocodile, giant (animal) Deinonychus (dinosaur) Dire ape Dire boar Dire wolf Elasmosaurus (dinosaur)1 Lion (animal) Rhinoceros (animal) Snake, Huge viper (animal) Tiger (animal)

10th Level or Higher (Level -9) Bear, polar (animal) Dire lion Megaraptor (dinosaur) Shark, Huge (animal)1 Snake, giant constrictor (animal) Whale, orca (animal)1 13th Level or Higher (Level -12) Dire bear Elephant (animal) Octopus, giant (animal)1 16th Level or Higher (Level -15) Dire shark1 Dire tiger Squid, giant (animal)1 Triceratops (dinosaur) Tyrannosaurus (dinosaur)

Companion Type

A companion can develop along one of three typologies: Steed, Beast or Scout. The type can be choosen at level 6 and cannot be changed after. The class ability for the companion will be added to other ability that the creature can have.

1 - THE STEED

STRENGTH AND TRUST At level 6, the Steed has learned to trust its riders, and has grown strong bearing their burdens. The Companion counts as one size larger for the purposes of carrying capacity. Additionally, when an ally trusted by the Steed mounts, the Steed accomodates them, and mounting/dismounting costs only 1 Hex of movement for either one. It is also possible to mount in the middle of movement. When mounted, the Steed takes its turn on the turn of the rider.
SURE OF FOOT At level 12, the Steed suffers no penalty due to naturally occuring difficult terrain unless that terrain costs more than double movmenet (1 Hex costs 2 Hex), such as due to the Wall of Sand spell. Also at level 12, while the Steed is using the Dash action, opportunity against it and its riders have disadvantage, and the Steed has advantage on saves or checks to prevent being grappled or restrained.
INTO THE FRAY At level 18, the Steed becomes stalwart in the face of even the fiercest foes. When the Steed Charges a creature by moving at least 4 Hex straight towards it before its rider makes an attack, that attack may add 2d10 of that weapon's damage to the attack. Also at level 18, if the Steed is reduced to 0 HP while within 2 Hex of an ally, once per day it may choose to fall to 1 HP instead. For this round mounting and dismounting cost 0 movement to the Steed and Rider.

2 - THE WAR BEAST

MENACE At level 6 the War Beast has mastered the masic skill of a fighter - striking fear into their foes. As an action, the War Beast can use Menace, and force one target who can see them to make a wisdom saving throw or become frightened of the War Beast until the start of the War Beast's next turn. They may repeat the save at the end of each round. The DC is 8+ the modifier for the Companion's Strength or Charisma. War Beasts may also use Constitution modifier to calculate their AC in place of their Dexterity modifier.
BRED TO BATTLE At level 12, the War beast learns to strike with savage efficiency. The all damage dice for their attacks increases by 1 size. (d4s become d6s, d6s become d8s, etc.) The Beast may also make an attack as a reaction when they are hit with a melee attack.
BORN TO WAR The War beast at level 18 has become as good as any soldier. They may add one attack to their multiattack. When the War Beast is dropped to 0 hit points, it may, as a free action before it falls, make an attack at advantage. If it has its reaction strike available, it may take that attack (without advantage unless otherwise granted), also before it falls to 0 hp.

3 - THE SCOUT

Some animal companions are not brave steeds or mighty warriors, but clever little sneaks. They are the Scouts.
INCOGNITO At level 6, the Scout learns how to behave subtly and take advantage the lapses in insight of the party's foes. When not directly following orders, the animal looks wild but harmless. Also at level 6, the Scout gains proficiency in Dexterity saving throws. If it already has proficiency in that save, it gains STR or CON saves instead.
UNCANNY AGILITY At level 12 the Scout has learned to avoid danger, even when it seems inescapable. The scout gains the Uncanny Dodge reaction, allowing it to expend a reaction to take half of the incoming damage from a single attack. At level 12 the Scout may also use a bonus action on its turn to take the Hide or Disengage action.
UNTOUCHABLE By level 18 the Scout is truly a master of staying alive. While they remain immobile and lightly obscured by cover or dim light/darkness, they are invisible to creatures without blindsight. At level 18, the Scout may use its reaction upon being made the target of an attack to disengage and move half its speed towards an ally.

Raising a Companion

The realistic way to get a better than average animal is to raise it from infancy. An animal that never goes hungry and gets ample exercise is likely to grow up stronger, tougher, and slightly more intelligent than the average creature of its kind. To reflect this, the DM may allow an animal companion that a character has raised and trained from birth to have 2 bonus hit points per Hit Die, an extra 3 points for its ability scores (distributed as the player sees fit), and the ability to learn one additional trick per point of Intelligence.

Rearing a wild animal takes one year and requires one Handle Animal check (DC 15 + HD of animal). No skill check is required if the creature has already become an animal companion to a druid or ranger, but most adventurers choose to befriend animals only after they are old enough to be helpful. Paying someone to raise an animal may be a more feasible option for adventuring characters. A professional trainer charges 250 gold pieces per Hit Die of the animal to rear it.

This method of acquiring animal companions requires more planning than just searching for one does, but it's also useful for non-adventuring druids who aren't likely to gain levels (and thus require new animal companions) very frequently.

Shopping for an Animal

Since having animal companions is a core ability o: the druid and the ranger, the DM shouldn't make it particularly difficult or challenging to find one. The simplest option is to allow the character a couple of days between adventures to find the desired companion. As long as he or she searches in a terrain that is home to that species, it takes only a day or two to find an appropriate creature. (Of course, it's impossible to find a lion in polar regions or a shark on land.)

To play this out a bit more, have the druid or range: make a Survival check (DC 10 for most animals to discover the creature's regular territory, then use the Track feat to locate one specimen. The detect animals and plants spell allows the character to focus the search on single species within range. Power sight can reveal the exact Hit Dice of: target animal and thus whether or not the character can befriend it. Assume that with the use of Survival and a detect animals or plants spell, the character has a 30% chance to locate an animal for each day spent searching in an appropriate terrain and climate.

If the DM wants to center a campaign around individual heroes and their quests, the party could have a good time seeking out the lair of the evil sorcerer who has n prisoned animals for diabolical purposes, or rescuing bear from a frost giant's kitchen before it lands on the supper table. A few such quests could be interesting give the animal companion a special place in the party but it may not be appropriate to reserve game time for this sort of activity if the character is changing animal companions frequently.

Better than Average Animals

It's simplest to assume that the druid and the ranger always find animal companions that are average for their species, with the ability scores and average hit points given in the Monster Manual. But some creatures deviate from this norm, with hit points above or below the average, or even unusual ability scores. Wolves with 18 hit points instead of 13 exist, and so do lions with Strength 25 instead of 21. While it may be simplest assume that all animal companions are average, it's in character's best interest to seek out creatures that exceed the norm.

The obvious way to do this is to generate an animal's hit points and ability scores randomly whenever the character encounters one. Rolling for hit points is easy and generating ability scores isn't tough (see Ability Scores for Monsters on page 173 DMG). The disadvantage of this method is that it involves a lot of dice-rolling and could result in day after day of searching for the picky character.

The best solution is not to reveal an animal's ability scores or hit points. After all, while it may be easy to identify a sick animal, it's tough to differentiate between two animals whose Strength scores differ by 2 points. And no animal is likely to tolerate a barrage of tests designed to determine whether it's a worthy companion before the character has magically befriended it. Intending to perform such tests after casting animal friendship is a violation of the spell's parameters, since it functions only for a caster who has a true heart and actually wishes to be the animal's friend. Only after the character has adventured with the animal for weeks or months (assume 2d4 weeks as an average) should the DM consider revealing its ability scores and hit points. At that point, the character can abandon the animal and begin anew, if desired. However, doing this too often may call the character's "true heart" into question.

Two ability scores actually have limitations. First, an animal's Intelligence score never exceeds 2 without the assistance of magic. Most mammals, lizards, and birds have Intelligence 2, while snakes, fish, and lower-order animals have Intelligence 1. Second, only one normal animal (the wolverine) has a Charisma score greater than 7, and no dire animal has a Charisma greater than 11.

The Bond

The bond created by an animal friendship spell is not a magical one. It cannot be dispelled, though dominate animal or some other magical compulsion could cause the animal to act against the character's wishes. The animal acknowledges the character as its friend - something like a special denmate or a member of the pack. The animal may realize that the character isn't really one of its own, but true conscious thought along those lines is beyond most animals' ability.

As the Animal Companions sidebar (below) states, a companion is still only an animal. It cannot understand human speech. Other than following its friend and performing the tricks it has been taught, it cannot respond to directions. An empathic link exists between the wizard and her familiar land between the paladin and her mount, but not between a druid (or a ranger) and an animal companion, plus, an animal companion makes a poor scout, since it s no way to communicate what it sees - and even if it did, its low Intelligence prevents it from knowing what look for or how to analyze what it finds. The animal expects its friend to either provide it with sustenance or give it adequate time to find food and water on its own. In addition, though the animal naturally defends its friend, and may even attack his or her enemies, it doesn't enjoy combat. While the druid and the ranger can accept that some pain is necessary in the service of good or the defense of the land, these concepts are lost on the lion, hawk, or lizard that is being struck, mauled, or energy drained. The animal expects its friend to try to keep it safe, so painful fight after painful fight may cause it to grow weary of the punishment.

Animal Mood and Attitude

The player whose character has befriended an animal usually controls it. As long as that character continues to fulfill the obligations and duties of friendship, this is a fine way to run things. Should anything complicate or challenge that relationship, however, the DM may want to step in and control the animal's reactions.

When a character befriends an animal through animal friendship, its attitude toward its new friend automatically becomes helpful (see Diplomacy skill). Should the character ever abuse the animal physically or expose it to adverse situations that strain its loyalty, the DM can adjust its attitude appropriately - to friendly, indifferent, or worse as the situation requires. A friendly animal may or may not aid its friend, and an indifferent one certainly won't. An animal that has become unfriendly or hostile looks for the first chance to depart or lash out at the "friend" who has clearly abused its trust. However, through role-playing and judicious use of the Wild Empathy ability, a character may be able to repair such a breach of trust. Use Influencing NPC Attitude rules.

The animal has no special tie to its friend's fellow adventurers, so its initial attitude toward them is indifferent. It doesn't protect them unless ordered, but neither does it attack them unless provoked. Roleplaying and the use of Wild Empathy can adjust the animal's attitude about other party members in the same manner as described above.

Limitations and Problems

The presence of animal companions in an adventuring party can present a variety of problems. Wild animals are generally not accepted inside a city or within the lord's keep. To most peasants, a wild animal is something to be feared, driven off, or put down, just like a troll or a griffon would be. Only the most famous druid or ranger heroes can expect an urban population to accept wild creatures walking along the street-even in the company of humanoids.

Most characters solve this problem by simply asking their companions to stay in the wilderness outside town. An animal companion can accept such a parting of the ways as long as it remains short (less than a week), or the character's visits are frequent. Of course, leaving a wild animal outside town can present another problem - the creature may think that the domesticated cows, chickens, or horses on the nearby farms are meant for its consumption.

Another tough situation is the dungeon. Most animals (other than bats, lizards, rats, snakes, toads, and the dire versions thereof) are unaccustomed to dwelling underground. Bears, even though they live in caves, are not truly native to subterranean habitats. Surface-dwelling animals are reluctant to proceed into confined spaces and tight, sunless corridors. Even if they can be convinced to enter the dungeon, most animals have great difficulty dealing with pits, steep inclines, narrow crevices, and similar dungeon challenges. Without magical levitation or the ability to fly, a creature such as a dire tiger could easily get stuck somewhere in the Underdark. Because of this, some characters choose to leave their animal companions outside the dungeon. Alternatively, the calm trick can enhance a creature's ability to deal with dungeon environments.

Food and Care

A character with an animal companion must see to its care and feeding during adventures. The obvious option, of course, is to carry food for it. The biggest problem with doing this is typically the weight, not the cost. For an herbivore, a day's worth of feed costs a mere 5 cp and weighs 10 pounds; for a carnivore, it costs 5 sp and weighs 10 pounds. Each day, a Medium-size herbivore or carnivore drinks at least a gallon of water, which weighs about 8 pounds (plus the weight of the container), and a Large animal drinks at least 3 gallons a day. Given the typical horse's carrying capacity, it can be a real challenge to carry more than two weeks of food for an animal companion. On extended trips, a druid can rely upon create water and goodberry. One goodberry can provide sustenance for one Medium-size herbivore or carnivore; a Large animal requires two per day, and a Huge creature requires four. As a final option, a character may be able to convince a hungry carnivore to eat the flesh of a slain monster - particularly a beast, dragon, giant, humanoid, magical beast, or monstrous humanoid.

Another option is to allow the animal to graze or hunt for itself. It must eat at least once every third day, just like a human, or begin to suffer the effects of starvation (see Starvation rules). Grazing animals need only grassland or a hayfield; no skill check is required. To forage for water or to hunt, the animal must make a Survival check (DC 10). Success indicates that it has acquired a day's worth of food and water; failure means no suitable sustenance was found. If the animal is foraging in its native terrain and climate, it suffers no penalties on the check; otherwise, a circumstance penalty of at least -4 and as much as -8 applies. If the animal moves at one-half its overland movement rate or slower, it can hunt while traveling; otherwise, it requires 4 hours per day to hunt.

Finally, animals aren't prepared for climates other than their own. Those adapted for the cold, such as bears, perform poorly in warm deserts, and cold-blooded animals such as snakes and lizards suffer in cold regions. When outside its native environment, an animal must make Fortitude saving throws at regular intervals to avoid taking subdual damage. The rules for this are the same as those given for characters in the Heat Dangers and Cold Dangers rules, except that the animal's Survival skill provides no bonuses on these saves. A character, however may provide bonuses to an animal companion with a successful Survival check, as noted in the Survival skill. Eventually, though, the character must make a choice: Take the animal out of the foreign environment, cast a protection spell such as endure elements, or watch the creature perish.

Breaking the Limits

Often, the best way to improve the abilities of animal companions and overcome some of their limitations is the use of spells and magic items.

Enhancing Magic: Magic fang and nature's favor enhance an animal companion's combat ability. Might of the oak, persistence of the waves, and speed of the wind each enhance one of an animal's ability scores at the expense of another. Animal growth improves an animal's combat effectiveness through increased Hit Dice, Strength, Constitution, damage, and hit points. Finally, nature's avatar increases an animal's hit points and grants it the benefits of haste, thus transforming it into a fearsome destructive machine. The lower-level spells, especially nature's favor are excellent for use in wands.

Barding: Horses, ponies, riding lizards, and riding dogs typically accept armor in the form of barding, but wild creatures simply refuse the burden. With the armor trick, a character can adapt any animal to the use of armor. Barding is available in all armor types (including masterwork and magical versions), but it always costs more than comparable human armor. See Chapter 7 of the Player's Handbook for additional rules on barding.

Communication: Adopting an animal form through wild shape or polymorph self doesn't impart the ability to communicate with that species (at least, not without the Speaking Wild Shape feat. The speak with animals spell is the one of the best ways to converse with animal companions, but a helm of bonding or a torc of animal speech also allows communication. Direct conversation lets the creature understand instructions beyond the tricks it has learned, but even so, the animal's intelligence places an obvious limit on the interaction.

Loyalty: Most animals have poor Will saving throws As friendly and loyal as an animal companion is to it druid or ranger friend, an enemy can all too easily use magic to control or dominate it. A druid with foresight: can either carry spells (such as dispel magic or calm animal) to neutralize this threat or equip her companions with collars of resistance.

More Animals: The obvious way to acquire additional animal companions is to gain class levels in druid o| ranger, but magic items provide a second option. One ring of animal friendship adds 12 Hit Dice to the character's limit, a second raises that to 24, and a hand of glory allows the use of a third such ring for a total of 36 additional Hit Dice of animal companions. At a price of only 9,500 gp per ring and 7,200 gp for the hand of glory, these items are cheap for their benefits.

Regardless of the total Hit Dice of animal companions an adventuring character can have, none of them can exceed his or her own Hit Dice. That is, an 8th-level druid wearing with a ring of animal friendship can befriend two dire lions (8 HD creatures), but not a dire tiger (16 HD creature), or any creature with more than 8 Hit Dice. On the other hand, two dire lions can pack quite a punch.

Abandoning a Companion

Characters want to replace their animal companions from time to time, and there is no penalty for doing so. Reasons for making a change abound - for example, a druid may not wish to expose comparatively weak animals to dangers they cannot handle, or she may need to travel to a region where her existing companions could not survive.

The real issue is the conditions under which a character abandons an animal companion. Leaving it in a foreign land, or worse, in the depths of some dungeon, is an evil act. Even neutral and evil druids should be loath to betray their companions in this way.

Improving a Companion

Some characters, abhorring the prospect of abandoning a trusted friend every level or two, seek a way out of this situation. Long ago, druids developed a magical ritual to deal with this problem. During this ritual, which takes a full day to perform at a holy site or natural glade, imbues one animal companion with additional strength. The druid loses 200 XP, as if she had cast a spell with that XP cost. Only animals with a listing for "advancement" in their statistics can improve through this ritual.

At the end of the ritual, the animal's Hit Dice increase by +1. As a result, it gains additional hit points and a bonus on attack rolls, if the new Hit Dice total warrants that. The additional Hit Die may also increase the animal's size (see the rules for advancement in the introduction of the Monster Manual). Since it is an animal, the companion gains neither feats nor skills as it advances.