Can a wolf take class levels without being awakened?

[Storyteller01]

Don't have my copy on me, but an OGL book called masters at arms had a PrC for critters called the Alpha Beast. Gave fighter like bennies to animals, and the available feats were geared toward animals. I'll keep an eye out...

 

[LordBOB]

i did indeed use enough Smileys 100 to be exact

 

[frankthedm]

I would say animals could take certain classes, but only certain class features; Like a dog trained to attack while wearing a muzzle would be represented by a level of barbarian.

 

[Ogrork the Mighty]

Where can I find the rules restriction on low Int and class levels? (non-animal companions)

 

[Tonguez]

Just Do IT!!!

I've had wolf rangers and dog barbarians imc in the past. I've given rats a rogues sneak attack

I've had a dolphin ranger as a PC (albeit that dolphins are intelligent imc (Int 10))

 

[William_2]

Where can I find the rules restriction on low Int and class levels? (non-animal companions)

Well, under Improving Monsters, the SRD notes that:
"Class Levels
Intelligent creatures that are reasonably humanoid in shape most commonly advance by adding class levels. Creatures that fall into this category have an entry of "By character class" in their Advancement line."

So there is no need to calculate whether a creature can advance by class - if they can, it says so.

Under Monsters as Races, the SRD also notes that:
"The separate table for Intelligence ensures that no PC ends up with an Intelligence score lower than 3. This is important, because creatures with an Intelligence score lower than 3 are not playable characters."

Under the ability score entry for Intelligence, there is this, which relates to the rest of the thread:
"An animal has an Intelligence score of 1 or 2. A creature of humanlike intelligence has a score of at least 3."

Does it say anywhere that a creature can't advance by level without an intelligence of at least 3? I'm not sure. It is implicit in the rules, but perhaps not stated explicitly.

edit: Don't really see it in the non-SRD stuff on leveling, either.

 

[Nim]

An animal companion that has been awakened is no longer an animal companion. You can then treat it like any other NPC, like a cohort (assuming Leadership), or have it leave the group. But, it is no longer an animal companion.

Animal companions don't gain XP so they can never gain class levels.

Awaken says: "The awakened animal or tree is friendly toward you. You have no special empathy or connection with a creature you awaken, although it serves you in specific tasks or endeavors if you communicate your desires to it." Also, it has an XP cost.

Between the two, I don't think it'd be necessary to take Leadership in order to retain it as a party member, so long as you didn't alienate it and your goals and interests matched its...just like any other ally you might meet in the course of play. Unlike a cohort, it would count as a party member for the purposes of calculating XP, and could leave if it ever had a reason to. Now, you COULD take Leadership and use it as a cohort, if you chose - but it wouldn't be required.

 

[Infiniti2000]

I agree, Nim, and that's exactly what I said.

 

[Ogrork the Mighty]

Well, under Improving Monsters, the SRD notes that:
"Class Levels
Intelligent creatures that are reasonably humanoid in shape most commonly advance by adding class levels. Creatures that fall into this category have an entry of "By character class" in their Advancement line."

Thanks. I thought I had missed something.

 

[Ridley's Cohort]

Does it say anywhere that a creature can't advance by level without an intelligence of at least 3? I'm not sure. It is implicit in the rules, but perhaps not stated explicitly.

This would be a pure DM judgement call under the RAW. It is discouraged, but it is not difficult to imagine why a DM would want to give an animal a class level.

Note that animal intelligence creatures are presumed to be NPCs. Therefore the DM is the official authority on how that creature advances in levels. Most DMs allow the player to make advancement decisions for any Animal Companion, Paladin Mount, or Cohorts "possessed" by his or her PC. But that is just being polite. The DM ultimately decides, and he can decide which class the creature in question advances as.