Animals gaining levels in PC classes

[Celebrim]

Essentially, our group is throwing around the idea of an elephant with a few levels in druid.

In my game, communities of animals are led by spirit beings that looks after their interests. Actually, all animals are spirits of a very minor sort, but collections of them produce expectional beings. It's for this reason that hunters must be very careful to apologize to animals that they slay and to explain the need that they had in hunting them. Otherwise, the animal spirits will become hostile, and in addition to this ensuring future poor hunting, they can be quite powerful and wreck a terrible vengeance.

It wouldn't at all be unusual in my game for the matriarch of a herd of elephants to have 2-4 PC levels. The chief of the elephants world wide is among other things a 16th level character.

we're not even completely sure if it'll play a part in one of our campaigns, if it'll be a pc, npc, monster, or who will dm.
But either way it's become a topic of conversation, with a lot of "does that even work?" In the mix.

Again, what works is whatever the DM wants to work. I want a world where it makes sense for lumberjacks to apologize to trees they cut down and to make offerings to the forest, and where hunters have a legitimate reason for performing rituals after slaying a deer. So I make what I want in the setting work. This isn't a violation of the rules. Even without invoking Rule Zero, you could formally create a template like 'Wise Animal', with the extraodinary abilitiy: "This animal can gain class levels as an exception to the normal rules for animals." That would be fully within a DM rights and expected purview.

 

[RUMBLETiGER]

Who says the creature has to have a humanoid shape to take class levels? The monster entries specifically call out several such as the unicorn with cleric levels. It's even wearing bracers of armor.

Nagol's reference in the 2nd post.
But yes, there are clear exceptions to the stated rule.

 

[Grogg of the North]

In one of the first games I ran, the druid awoke an animal. We agreed that it could take levels since it was above animal intelligence. It took levels in Fighter I think. It didn't really cause any major issues.

 

[Arduin's]

So, I want to know if there is any rule that specifically says animals (normal animals, in this case an elephant) CANNOT take levels in a PC class.

Sure. It's the same rule that says that a turtle can't become a fighter pilot...

 

[RUMBLETiGER]

In one of my games I had an Awakened Sand intelligent construct NPC that took 1 level in Artificer to have access to Repair Light Damage.
Sure you can't do this by strict RAW, but feel free to set aside the rules if everyone thinks it's cool. If an amorphous blob construct can do it, why not an Elephant?

 

[EnglishLanguage]

This seemed relevant.

 

[Jacob]

a dolphin paladin is at least twice as cool a concept as sharks with frickin' lasers on their heads.

I find this to be exceptionally relevant as well. Plus I just enjoy sharing it whenever I get the chance. Feels like it spreads The Happy, you know?

 

[nijineko]

i recall an orangutan or maybe a chimp that was taught martial arts... could beat the crap out of most humans. some dogs can read and paw words to communicate. i read about some birds that could do math and even talk about a limited set of things. not to mention the sign language gorillas. dolphins count in binary. whales have been beating out mozart, beethoven, and bach for millennia. cats have finagled humans to wait on them hand and foot and even on occasion to worship them as gods - or at least god-touched.

i think rules wise, if they have at least a 3 int, you're good to go, regardless of type or form. this can be accomplished by adding an outsider type, or by awakening, or simply by lucky mutation or some such. who's to say those summoned creatures don't occasionally take some lowly mortal counterpart out on a date? planet of the apes all over again.

 

[MoonSong]

There is also the spellwarped template from MM2 (or was it MM3?). With it I once made a quirky miniboss squad of rogue monkeys, they were named Stan, Kyle, Kenny and Eric guess who was the first one to fall and what the others said at that point, and who was the first to run away?

Yeah animals with PC classes, the most fun thing in the world. I also noticed though is there a way to make a familiar gain class levels?

 

[nijineko]

There is also the spellwarped template from MM2 (or was it MM3?). With it I once made a quirky miniboss squad of rogue monkeys, they were named Stan, Kyle, Kenny and Eric guess who was the first one to fall and what the others said at that point, and who was the first to run away?

Yeah animals with PC classes, the most fun thing in the world. I also noticed though is there a way to make a familiar gain class levels?

i have an emancipated familiar prestige based off the emancipated spawn prestige for exactly such situations.

speaking of monkeys... you may enjoy this read:
Variorum of Victoria: Chapter the First: A Twisted Schema
Variorum of Victoria: Chapter the Second: Into the Darkness

monk/ninja monkeys that only speak in haiku... drove the player nuts. ^^