Awakened Animals as Cohorts

[Count Arioch the 28t]

<Hefts his +6 greataxe of Anarchy>

Bring it, lawboy!

 

[Stalker0]

I just base it on teh hd. If the guy can have a cohort of 5th level let's say, that's a 3HD animal + 2 HD from being awakenened. Once you can have a cohort of 6, that animal can start taking class levels.

We've used it in a couple of games, and it seems to work out well.

 

[Conaill]

Seems like you would have to assign at least a +1 Level Adjustment. Check my Awakened Animal thread for some examples of awakened animals that are similar to other intelligent creatures with a known LA. For example, an awakened wolf is pretty darn close to a worg, which has a +1 LA. On the higher side, an awakened dire bear is similar to a stone or frost giant (+4 LA).

Not sure how it would work out for, say, an awakened mouse, but so far all the equivalencies I've found were +1 LA or more.