Really confused about leveling animal companions/wild cohorts

kennyhughes · Sep 24, 2010

Hi there, first thread here.

So I'm playing a human werebear with a brown bear cub (DM just watered down the stats for a brown bear and made it medium) as a cohort from the the Wild Cohort feat.

Does the bear effectively level with me? Like when I hit 2 does he advance to 2 also? Or does he only gain extra HD based on the chart (1 bonus HD when I hit level 3, +3 at level 6 etc etc)

Also, I've read that some cohorts can take class levels instead of animal HD, does that apply to animal companions/wild cohorts?

gmnemo · Sep 24, 2010

Companions and wild cohorts do not level with you. They advance as you level, but only according to the corresponding chart. (For companions, you go by your druid level; for wild cohorts, your character level.)

Companions and wild cohorts cannot take class levels unless they are awakened to human Intelligence. (And even then, I don't think you can sub class levels for the provided HD.)

krupintupple · Sep 25, 2010

however, it should be noted that when the bear does gain a boost to its HD, i'd wager that it should be treated as any other monster, under the "improving monsters" heading in the DMG. except for the size-increase, somewhere, i do recall that bit was supposed to be ignored, because it's not actually a larger species, but merely the original, but has become more savvy in combat, which explains its better abilities.

also, as a DM i take a hard-line against people saying "Well, my wolf just hit 6HD, so i'm going to select bind vestige/shape soulmeld/hidden talent." my rule is that it has to be something that an animal with a 1 Int could've learned/gained through its travels - like improved bullrush, power attack, improved trip, improved natural attack - and not anything wonky.

kennyhughes · Sep 25, 2010

thanks

okay thanks guys, that clears up a lot of confusion.

jefgorbach · Sep 28, 2010

An animal's base stats (hit dice, bab, &etc) advance as per the Improving Monsters section. A Druid's animal companion remains an "animal" so continues advancing its basic stats, hit dice, size, &etc as a Cleric per the Improving Monsters section. This base improvement is separate and stacks with the bonus hit dice gained from being a companion.

Since a druid's animal companion retains its animal intelligence, it does NOT become sentient and thus remains unable to select a Class.

akbearfoot · Sep 28, 2010

Animal companions don't increase in size when they gain hit dice because of druid levels.

Their base attack bonus, ability scores, and feats increase based on their bonus hit dice though. If you want a bigger version of your animal, you can trade in the wolf for the dire wolf when you are high enough level, for instance.

The part in the monster manuals that show size increases for monsters is NOT related to animal companions or their level-based advancement. It is only for when a DM decides to advance monsters to make them tougher to fight.