Do Druid Animal Companions count as magical beasts?

[Epametheus]

I could swear that I saw in the SRD that the companion's type changes to magical beast, but I was looking through it again and couldn't find that. Is an animal companion actually an animal, or is it a magical beast?

edit: I had a complete brainfart and forgot that animals get feats in 3.5.

 

[DrSpunj]

1) I could swear that I saw in the SRD that the companion's type changes to magical beast, but I was looking through it again and couldn't find that. Is an animal companion actually an animal, or is it a magical beast?

It's in the first few lines of the entry:

THE DRUID’S ANIMAL COMPANION
A druid’s animal companion is different from a normal animal of its kind in many ways. The companion is treated as a magical beast, not an animal, for the purpose of all effects that depend on its type (though it retains an animal’s HD, base attack bonus, saves, skill points, and feats).

Putting that together with the Augmented subtype entry in the back of the MM on page 306 clarifies quite a bit.

EDIT: Except for the errata which makes this moot! (see next couple posts!)

Hope that helps.

DrSpunj

 

[Epametheus]

So basically, what that means is that the druid can't use Speak With Animals to communicate with the companion or use Animal Growth on the companion? A druid with the Natural Spell feat can now use Animal Growth on himself when Wildshaped, so that's kinda screwy.

Granted, it also protects the companion from Hold & Dominate Animal, but a druid having an easier time communicating with normal animals than he would with his own companion seems a little weird.

Edit: Oh, hell. There's a serious oversight on my part. Is Handle Animal meant to be a mandatory Druid skill now (at least for a druid who wants his companion to actually be useful)?

 

[mikebr99]

From the phb errata...

It's just an animal... and so are you when you wildshape.

Animal Companion

Player’s Handbook,​

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page 36
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Contrary to the text, a druid’s animal companion is not treated as a magical beast; it remains an animal. Trim the first paragraph of the sidebar so that it reads as follows:
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A druid’s animal companion is superior to a normal animal of its kind and has special powers, as described below.
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[Caliban]

3.5 PHB Errata:

Animal Companion
​

Player’s Handbook,​

​

​

page 36
​

Contrary to the text, a druid’s animal companion is not
​

treated as a magical beast; it remains an animal.
​

Trim the first paragraph of the sidebar so that it reads as
​

follows:
​

A druid’s animal companion is superior to a normal
​

animal of its kind and has special powers, as described
​

below.​

​

 

[DrSpunj]

Ooo! Good to know. Thanks, guys. As soon as I saw Epametheus' later post I realized something was wrong as I thought both of those were doable.

Thanks.

DrSpunj

 

[Epametheus]

Cool. They must've changed the SRD to reflect the errata, then.

 

[Staffan]

The thing is that when they wrote the section on animal companions, they copy/pasted the section on familiars or paladin mounts as a starting point. Then they forgot to remove the part about it being a magical beast.