Animal companions are a key component of druids and rangers, and through archetypes can be components of other classes. Selecting your animal companion is an important choice, and can have major effects on how your character functions on the table. With the right choices, your animal companion can be a scout, a striker, a defender, or a mount, depending on your needs.
Ultimate Campaign includes some wonderful content about how to handle pets in your game. If you would like help with Pathfinder options not covered here, please email me and I may be able to provide additional assistance.
Also note that many colored items are also links to the Paizo SRD. Red : Bad, useless options, or options which are extremely situational. Nearly never useful. Orange : OK options, or useful options that only apply in rare circumstances. Useful sometimes. Green : Good options. Useful often. Blue : Fantastic options, often essential to the function of your character. Useful very frequently. How Animal Companions Work First, familiarize yourself with the table below, taken from the Druid class entry.
As you gain levels, your animal companions abilities grow, and it adds additional hit dice, tricks, feats, and other useful stuff. Keep in mind that Rangers and most other classes will get an animal companion at a druid level equal to their class level Link Ex : Handling an animal to make them do something normally requires a move action, so if you like to train attack dogs or something, keep that in mind.
Allowing you to handle your animal companion as a free action allows you to order them around while still taking your full turn. Keep in mind that there is actually a DC of 10 to make your companion do something, and a strict DM might make you roll for that. Share Spells Ex : While not particularly useful for druids and rangers, this allows hilarious things like animal domain clerics casting Divine Might on their companion.
