Druid animal companion and bonus HD.

[Fenlock]

hi all, sorry if this has been brought up before...

when an animal companion gains enough bonus hit die, do they advance as their base type?
f.x the wolf is advances to a large creature at 4 hd. so would the wolf animal companion (a magical beast) become large when the druid becomes 3rd level? which would mean that the wold gains +8 str, -2 dex, +4 con, +1 natural armor and -1 ac/attack.

/F

 

[Li Shenron]

hi all, sorry if this has been brought up before...

when an animal companion gains enough bonus hit die, do they advance as their base type?
f.x the wolf is advances to a large creature at 4 hd. so would the wolf animal companion (a magical beast) become large when the druid becomes 3rd level? which would mean that the wold gains +8 str, -2 dex, +4 con, +1 natural armor and -1 ac/attack.

/F

I am not sure about the size.

Everything else advances with HDs: BAB, saves, feats, skills and ability score increases.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

The animal's size does not increase.

Source: numerous posts by Andy Collins.

 

[Fenlock]

thx olgar

its hard enough to juggle 7 10th level pc through rtotee without adding an menagerie of large animals.

/F

 

[Li Shenron]

The animal's size does not increase.

Source: numerous posts by Andy Collins.

I didn't know, but I think it is good ruling. Usually HD/size advancement is used to create creatures born exceptional for their species, rather than advanced by experience, while the Druid's animal companion improves in time. I don't think it would make sense for it to grow bigger...

 

[Deadguy]

I didn't know, but I think it is good ruling. Usually HD/size advancement is used to create creatures born exceptional for their species, rather than advanced by experience, while the Druid's animal companion improves in time. I don't think it would make sense for it to grow bigger...

In honesty, considering who the creature's master is (either a Druid or Ranger) then their skills and nature inducing it to grow isn't unreasonable. It's one of those things that I think could be called either way, but ought to be clarified pretty quickly in a FAQ.

 

[Li Shenron]

In honesty, considering who the creature's master is (either a Druid or Ranger) then their skills and nature inducing it to grow isn't unreasonable. It's one of those things that I think could be called either way, but ought to be clarified pretty quickly in a FAQ.

In 3.0 it was quite an open issue how the animal companion could be advanced. Someone let it increase HD and size, someone let it become a dire or legendary animal, and someone even used Awaken and still kept it as a companion. I think 3.5 advancement with bonuses for Str and Dex are already covering the empowering of the companion enough. But I also have the feeling that this topic may come out in errata, sage advice, customer service, etc. with different ruling every time...

 

[Ridley's Cohort]

I concur that the best reading of the rules as written would be to not increase size.

That said, it perfectly within the spirit of fantasy for a companion to improve in size on the basis of a prolonged relationship with a powerful druid.

 

[mikebr99]

And I would think that most small sized Druid's wouldn't want their medium sized companions (ie. mounts) to go to large... then they couldn't ride them into most dungeons.

YMMV


Mike

 

[Spatzimaus]

Right, this debate has come up before, but the only "official" word has been that mounts/companions/familiars don't advance in size.

As written, the creature isn't gaining an Animal HD, it's gaining some untyped HD that gives explicit BAB, HP, etc. boosts. The fact that these boosts seem to be almost identical to those from an Animal HD is irrelevant.

Also, there's the other rationalization, that most creatures don't actually "advance", per se; if you take a Medium wolf and a Large wolf and compare them, it's not that the Large is older, it's that it's a different, larger subspecies. The problem is, this logic doesn't work for many creatures (Dragons being the obvious one).

But, all rationalizations aside, for game balance reasons it'd be really bad if creatures increased in size. Having a mount that can advance in size can be very inconvenient for the rider. Not only does the barding you bought last month no longer fit, the creature can't go with you into dungeons any more.