Animal Companions
Pathfinder Core Rulebook (Second Edition), page 214
An animal companion is a loyal comrade who follows your orders without you needing to use Handle an Animal on it. Your animal companion has the minion trait, and it gains 2 actions during your turn if you use the Command an Animal action to command it; this is in place of the usual effects of Command an Animal. If your companion dies, you can spend a week of downtime to replace it at no cost. You can have only one animal companion at a time.
In this section
- Riding Animal Companions You or an ally can ride your animal companion as long as it is at least one size larger than the rider.
- Young Animal Companions The following are the base statistics for a young animal companion, the first animal companion most characters get. You make adjustments to these statistics depending on the type of animal you choose.
- Mature Animal Companions To advance a young animal companion to a mature animal companion (usually a result of one of your class feat choices), increase its Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, and Wisdom modifiers by 1.
- Nimble Animal Companions To advance a mature animal companion to a nimble animal companion, increase its Dexterity modifier by 2 and its Strength, Constitution, and Wisdom modifiers by 1. It deals 2 additional damage with its unarmed attacks.
- Savage Animal Companions To advance a mature animal companion to a savage animal companion, increase its Strength modifier by 2 and its Dexterity, Constitution, and Wisdom modifiers by 1. It deals 3 additional damage with its unarmed attacks.
- Companion Types The species of animal you choose is called your companion’s type. Each companion type has its own statistics. The Size entry indicates your companion’s starting size as a young animal companion.
- Badger Your companion is a badger, wolverine, or other big mustelid.
- Bear Your companion is a black, grizzly, polar, or other type of bear.
- Bird Your companion is a bird of prey, such as an eagle, hawk, or owl.
- Cat Your companion is a big cat, such as a leopard or tiger.
- Dromaeosaur Your companion is a dromaeosaur (also called a raptor), such as a velociraptor or deinonychus.
- Horse Your companion is a horse, pony, or similar equine.
- Snake Your companion is a constrictor snake, such as a boa or python.
- Wolf Your companion is a wolf or other canine creature, such as a dog.
- Specialized Animal Companions Specialized animal companions are more intelligent and engage in more complex behaviors.