Animal Companions

Please help improve this if you can. The Discussion page may contain suggestions.Reason: "*Some stats may not be accurate.*"

**This article may need cleanup to meet quality standards.**
Please help improve this if you can. The Discussion page may contain suggestions.
Reason: "*Some stats may not be accurate.*"

Various classes and archetypes are able to acquire an animal companion, an additional companion who will increase in power as the character takes additional levels in classes that have access to animal companions.

## Classes, Levels and Boon Companion

The following classes receive animal companions:

* On lvl 1 in the class: Mad Dog Barbarian, Druid (except for Blight Druid) that chose animal companion over a domain, Sylvan Sorcerer, Sacred Huntsmaster Inquisitor.
* On lvl 4 in the class: Ranger (base class only), Druid (not Blight Druid)/Cleric/Inquisitor with Animal Domain.

Animal companion's level depends on its owner's total level in relevant classes. Because Rangers and Druids/Clerics/Inquisitors with Animal Domain only receive their animal companions when they reach lvl 4, their animal is 3 levels weaker than usual. It can be fixed by taking the Boon Companion feat (can only be taken once) which compensates up to 4 levels. The same feat can be taken by other classes who wish to multi-class up to 4 levels. In other words, Sacred Huntsmaster 10, Ranger 9/Fighter 1 with Boon Companion and Mad Dog 6/Fighter 4 with Boon Companion all have animal companions of the same level.

When heroes first receive their animal companion, its level is 2. When the owner gains a new level, their animal companion usually levels up as well, but over time their progression slows down a bit and in the end a lvl 20 hero can only have a lvl 16 companion. *This* gap cannot be bridged in any way.

## Animal Companions

A total of 10 different animal companions are present in the game, each of them having their strengths and weaknesses. Their stats at level 16 are presented below:

* Bear
	+ Size: Medium
	+ Speed: 40ft
	+ AC: +6 Natural Armor
	+ Attacks: Bite (d6), 2 Claws (d4)
	+ Ability Scores: Str 15, Dex 15, Con 13, Int 2, Wis 13, Cha 6
	+ 7th Level Upgrade: Large, Str +4, Dex -2, Con +4, +4 Natural Armor, Gains Rend
* Boar
	+ Size: Medium
	+ Speed: 40ft
	+ AC: +9 Natural Armor
	+ Attack: Gore (d6)
	+ Ability Scores: Str 13, Dex 12, Con 15, Int 2, Wis 13, Cha 4
	+ 7th Level Upgrade: Large, Str +8, Dex -2, Con +4, +2 Natural Armor, Gains Ferocity
* Dog
	+ Size: Medium
	+ Speed: 40ft
	+ AC: +6 Natural Armor
	+ Attack: Bite (d6) plus Trip
	+ Ability Scores: Str 15, Dex 13, Con 15, Int 2, Wis 12, Cha 6
	+ 7th Level Upgrade: Large, Str +8, Dex -2, Con +4, +2 Natural Armor, Gains Ferocity
* Elk
	+ Size: Medium
	+ Speed: 50ft
	+ AC: +6 Natural Armor
	+ Attack: Gore (d8), 2 Hooves (d4)
	+ Ability Scores: Str 12, Dex 17, Con 14, Int 2, Wis 15, Cha 5
	+ 7th Level Upgrade: Large, Str +8, Dex -2, Con +4, +2 Natural Armor, Gains Powerful Charge (2d6)
* Giant Centipede
	+ Size: Medium
	+ Speed: 40ft
	+ AC: +6 Natural Armor
	+ Attack: Bite (d6) plus poison 1d2 Dex damage Fortitude Save
	+ Ability Scores: Str 9 Dex 13 Con 13 Int - Wis 10 Cha 2 Immune to Trip
	+ 7th Level Upgrade: Large, Str +8 Dex -2 Con +4, +2 Natural Armor
* Leopard
	+ Size: Small
	+ Speed: 50ft
	+ AC: +4 Natural Armor
	+ Attack: Bite (d4) Trip, 2 Claws (d3)
	+ Ability Scores: 12 21 13 2 12 6
	+ 4th Level Upgrade: Medium, Dex +2 Con +2, Gains Pounce, replaces STR modifier for damage with Dex modifier
* Mastodon
	+ Size: Medium
	+ Speed: 40ft
	+ AC: +7 Natural Armor
	+ Attack: Gore (d8) Slam (d6)
	+ Ability Scores: 14 14 13 2 13 7
	+ 7th Level Upgrade: Large, Str +8 Dex -2 Con +4, +3 Natural Armor, Gains Trample (2d6)
* Monitor Lizard
	+ Size: Small
	+ Speed: 30ft
	+ AC: +4 Natural Armor
	+ Attack: Bite (d6) plus Trip
	+ Ability Scores: 13 17 12 2 12 6
	+ 7th Level Upgrade: Medium, Str +4 Dex -2 Con +4, +2 Natural Armor, Gains Poison - 1 Dex damage Fortitude to save
* Smilodon
	+ Size: Medium
	+ Speed: 40ft
	+ AC: +4 Natural Armor
	+ Attack: Bite (d6) 4 Claws (d4)
	+ Ability Scores: 13 17 13 2 15 10
	+ 7th Level Upgrade: Large, Str +8 Dex -2 Con +4, +2 Natural Armor, Gains Pounce
* Wolf
	+ Size: Medium
	+ Speed: 50ft
	+ AC: +5 Natural Armor
	+ Attack: Bite (d6) plus Trip
	+ Ability Scores: 13 15 15 2 12 6
	+ 7th Level Upgrade: Large, Str +8 Dex -2 Con +4, +2 Natural Armor, Gains Ferocity

Starting at level 4 and every 2 levels after (6,8,10,12,14,16) animal companions receive the Tough Skin ability. Every level of Tough Skin gives +2 Natural Armor AC, thereby giving +14 Natural Armor AC at the max level 16. Tested with Wolf and Monitor Lizard, also confirmed here.

**Pounce**, **Ferocity** and **Rend** are hidden feats, they are not listed among feats but they're present and they work.

## Benefits of having an animal companion

Animal companions are arguably the strongest feature present in the game. Because of their high stats, special properties and excellent buff potential they can easily compete with the very best of melee builds.

### General Strengths

* ***Immortal Tanks*** - while the death of a humanoid companion is a serious issue, animal companions are virtually immortal. Resting is enough for them to be resurrected (if they died), fully healed and cleansed of any negative attributes, diseases, negative levels and other permanent effects regardless of difficulty settings. Even if its master is dead, the animal will return to life after every rest.
* ***Pack Mules*** - all animal companions have excellent Strength which is taken into account when the game calculates the total weight of items your party can carry. By the middle of the game 2-3 animal companions in the party make it almost impossible to get over-encumbered. As with all characters, they still contribute this carrying capacity when dead.
* ***Tireless*** - animal companions never get Fatigued or Exhausted from travelling for too long. Even when every humanoid member in the party is on the brink of collapsing from exhaustion, animal companions feel great and can always be relied on in case of ambushes.
* ***Perceptive*** - all animal companions have fairly high Perception skill and are capable of finding traps, hidden objects and the like. Even if the party's main scout fails the Perception check, there is always a pretty high chance that one of the animal companions passes it.
* ***Fast*** - most animal companions move a lot faster than humanoids which makes them very mobile on the field of battle and allows them to quickly reach enemy archers and spellcasters.
* ***Sturdy*** - all animal companions have fairly high AC which can be easily made even higher with spells such as Mage Armor, Shield, Shield of Faith, Barkskin, Magical Vestment all of which stack with their natural AC. They also have good **Reflex** and **Fortitude** saves and receive Evasion at level 3 and Improved Evasion at level 12 which makes them highly resistant to AOE spells. Their Will save is not particularly high, but at level 6 they receive Devotion feat which increases their Will saving throws against enchantment spells and effects by 4. Finally, thanks to their size and high Strength *and* Dexterity, they have excellent Combat Maneuver Defense.

### Particular Strengths

* **Dogs**, **Wolves**, **Monitor Lizards** and **Leopards** attempt to Trip their enemy during the attack. **Mastodons** do not do that but when they grow up they get the ***Trample*** ability, which allows them to charge across the field of battle knocking down everyone on their way who failed to pass a CMD check.
* When performing a full attack, **Smilodons** hit 5 times, **Leopards**, **Bears** and **Elks** - 3 times, **Mastodons** - 2 times. All hits are made with maximum attack. Attacks of other animals work the same way as those of humanoid NPCs: the higher their BAB is, the more times they hit, but the 2nd and the 3rd hits have penalties to the attack roll.
* **Giant Centipedes** and **Monitor Lizards** poison their enemies and reduce their Dexterity (if said enemies fail the Fortitude save).
* **Leopards** have a few features that make them different from the rest of animals. While everyone else relies on Strength, Leopards prefer Dexterity. As the result, they have the best Reflex saves and the highest average Armor Class (average between AC, Flat-Footed AC and Touch AC). They also never grow too big and while other animals in their grown-up form can be hard to maneuver in small rooms or narrow corridors, leopards (and monitor lizards) are more convenient for dungeon crawling due to their medium size.
* **Giant Centipedes** cannot be knocked down.
* Grown-up **Mastodons** are so big they can easily attack enemies from behind the backs of small creatures such as humanoid NPCs.
* Grown-up **Smilodons** and **Leopards** gain a rare feat called ***Pounce***, which allows them to perform a full attack (5/3 hits respectively instead of 1) when charging.
* Grown-up **Bears** gain *Rend* which allows them to hit the enemy 1 more time per round when they successfully land 2 hits.
* Grown-up **Boars**, **Dogs** and **Wolves** gain ***Ferocity*** which allows them to stay alive even with their HP below 0 (but not below their Constitution).
* There is a special scimitar in the game called Thundering Claw of the Bear God which - when wielded by their owner - makes the **Bear** deal more damage.

## Bug Abuse

If a character takes the Animal Domain as its first Cleric domain, subsequent Sacred Huntsmaster levels will contribute both to the animal domain advancement and the companion's own advancement. This allows the animal companion to advance faster than the rules intend. However, it still cannot exceed the maximum animal companion level of 16.