MoTW: The Missing Rule

[Lord Pendragon]

*sigh* So after hearing about it for months, my DM finally got Masters of the Wild last week, and I got a chance to sit down with it and really look through it. We have a druid in the party (not me) so it's pertinent to our campaign. And I must say that, though the new classes, spells, and rules interpretations it presents are very, very powerful (I don't really have a problem with this, the DM can always adjust the rest of the party up if the druid becomes overly powerful,) it's well-written and interesting. I liked the section about animal companions a lot (again, I found the Legendary Animals to be quite...potent...but interesting)...

However, one thing really disappointed me: the Animal Companion section makes no mention of animal companions taking class levels. Not as a variant, not as a standard, not anything.

This makes me wonder, again, if the companion was meant to be able to take class levels. And if it was, whether the MoTW designers took this into consideration when designing the Legendary Tiger...

Clarification of the Animal Companion / Class Levels stuff was one of the rules I really, really wanted to see there...

*sigh*

 

[Pielorinho]

I hope I'm not opening a big can of worms, but my understanding was that this was resolved in the DMG somewhere:

-Relatively intelligent creatures can take classes
-Relatively nonintelligent creatures cannot.

Animals, vermin, really dumb beasts, mindless undead, etc. don't have the long-term-memory skills necessary to advance in a class. An awakened animal, however, can definitely advance in a class.

Daniel

 

[SpikeyFreak]

Um, no, they didn't intend for animal companions to take class levels.

That's what awaken is for.

--Snippety Spikey

 

[Artoomis]

I don't see an issue here.

Animal companions don't advance in class levels.

Awakened animlas can advance in class levels (I'd treat them as a cohort - either leadership is required or they count against your HD total for animal companions).

This seems simple and straightforward. Am I missing something? (Could be - I have before )

 

[Umbran]

Animal Friendship works on animals, which, as far as the MM is concerned, have an intelligence of 1 or 2. Similarly in the PHB (pg 9): "Animals have Intelligence scores of 1 or 2. Creatures of human-like intelligence have scores of at least 3." Learning a few tricks in one thing, learning enough to take a class level is another. Anything smart enough to take class levels won't be covered by Animal Friendship.

 

[Pielorinho]

Anything smart enough to take class levels won't be covered by Animal Friendship.

MOTW does clarify that while an awakened animal isn't subject to a new casting of animal friendship, it is subject to a casting that occurred before it was awakened. This is, AFAIK, the only exception to the above sentence.

Daniel

 

[Crothian]

Ya, the whole intelligence thing is rather limiting. I've been trying to convince the Driud to take on a Dire Wolverine, awaken it and have it take Barbarian levels and then eventually the Frenzied Beserker Prestige Class. He won't go for it , though.

 

[EOL]

Ya, the whole intelligence thing is rather limiting. I've been trying to convince the Driud to take on a Dire Wolverine, awaken it and have it take Barbarian levels and then eventually the Frenzied Beserker Prestige Class. He won't go for it , though.

Why not, sounds like a really cool idea to me. Is it the XP from teh Awaken spell or the idea that his animal companion might end up being more interesting to play than the druid?

 

[The Iron Mark]

I'm guessing it didn't talk about Animals(Awakened or otherwise) about taking class levels because they introduced the HD advancement ritual.

 

[Crothian]

Why not, sounds like a really cool idea to me. Is it the XP from teh Awaken spell or the idea that his animal companion might end up being more interesting to play than the druid?

He doesn't want to invest that much effert into his animals. He's a Shifter right now, so he has a lot more paperwork for all the new forms he has. Also, Awaken on an animal basical gives him another character. That's how he'd play it.