[Help with Game Mechanics] Animal Companions

[Yoven]

sorry to bother you, but the forum-search didnt turn up anything.

Its stated that additional Hit-Dice give extra Feats like Levels do for PCs. Which means to me an Animal Companion has 1 + 1/3HD Feats i can choose for him. now in the PHB there is this list of special stuff a Companion gets when advancing in Hitdice, like Multi-Attack etc. do these count to the max. number of feats? so i could only choose a feat the two times he doesn't get one automatically? or are the feats extra.

Also, a riding Dog has 2 Feats listed. Alertness and Track, but he only has 2HD which means to me he only should have one Feat until at least lvl 3 like all the PCs...

please explain these strange mechanics to me. Also, can i choose feats for him from the PHB or only from the MM

Thanks, Yoven

[killem2]

sorry to bother you, but the forum-search didnt turn up anything.

Its stated that additional Hit-Dice give extra Feats like Levels do for PCs. Which means to me an Animal Companion has 1 + 1/3HD Feats i can choose for him. now in the PHB there is this list of special stuff a Companion gets when advancing in Hitdice, like Multi-Attack etc. do these count to the max. number of feats? so i could only choose a feat the two times he doesn't get one automatically? or are the feats extra.

Also, a riding Dog has 2 Feats listed. Alertness and Track, but he only has 2HD which means to me he only should have one Feat until at least lvl 3 like all the PCs...

please explain these strange mechanics to me. Also, can i choose feats for him from the PHB or only from the MM

Thanks, Yoven


Alot of those feats you see on small hd creatures when they normally would not have the ability to gain them are usually bonus ones to accent the type of creature.

You are correct though every 3rd HD they get another feat on top of everything else they have.

[hymer]

The abilities gained specially are bonus feats, and are gained only by appropriate ACs. A wolf, e.g., doesn't get multiattack, as it doesn't have secondarty attacks. As such, they don't count towards the total number of feats allowed to the AC.
The Riding Dog gets Track as a bonus feat as well (signified by a little 'B' next to the feat when it's mentioned in the Riding Dog's entry).

[Pilo]

Regarding the second part: Riding dog having 2 feats:
A first-level human has 2 feat too!
Some races and classes have more feats than the regular HD rules but the hd rules concern progression. Don't bother with that.
Animal compagnon is an animal so it progress as described in this table for the animal type : http://www.d20srd.org/srd/improvingMonsters.htm#increasingHitDice

[Yoven]

thanks!
but i'm pretty sure a wolf companion gains multiattack as the PHB says on the page about animal companions that eveyone gains the multiattack feat to work like it normally does if they have 3 or more nat. attacks. however if they havent, they get a second one of their primary attack with a malus of -5

...
Animal compagnon is an animal so it progress as described in this table for the animal type : http://www.d20srd.org/srd/improvingMonsters.htm#increasingHitDice
Base-Attack bonus comes from the table of the druid of the same level as the ACs hit-dice i think, not from the monster-list. Not sure if its not the same though

[hymer]

It gets a secondary attack instead of the feat, yes. :)

[Yoven]

which only leaves me with the last part of the question. can i give the animal feats from the PHB? or only from the MM (we're playing core only so suggesting anything else wont work)

[Yoven]

you might have already noticed that i'm new to playing a druid.
i read in the D20srd that riding Dogs that are trained for War gain the Trip ability. What does beeing trained for war require? one of the Fighting-tricksets? proficiency with armor?
is there a template, AND of course, is it core 3.5? (otherwise my chances to use it are very low)

[Andvare]

By RAW you can give it any feat it is eligible for.
You could give it point blank shot, if you for some reason wanted too, provided it had enough dex.

[Darrin]

you might have already noticed that i'm new to playing a druid.
i read in the D20srd that riding Dogs that are trained for War gain the Trip ability. What does beeing trained for war require? one of the Fighting-tricksets? proficiency with armor?
is there a template, AND of course, is it core 3.5? (otherwise my chances to use it are very low)

By default, domestic animals can't participate in combat (outside of running away/defending themselves) unless they are "trained for war". This means either the animal has been trained to know the "Attack" trick, or that "War" is already part of the animal's name, such as "Warhorse", "War pony", or "War camel". In general, the "War" version will have a separate entry/stat block, and the description should state that it can be directed to fight in combat with a successful Ride check.

Riding Dogs, like horses, come in both "riding" and "war" versions, but for whatever reason there is no separate entry/stat block for the "War Riding Dog". Unlike the horse/pony, they also cost the same (150 GP), so you specify which version you want when you acquire the riding dog by just saying "I want the War version". Most DMs won't get nitpicky about this, and just assume all riding dogs are trained for war, but if yours gets all prickly about a "wild animal" already being trained for war, then you just sink a few skill points into Handle Animal and tell the DM "I already trained it before the campaign started".

There are two other ways to train an animal that can fight in combat:

1) Handle Animal skill, teach it the "Attack" trick. This only works against humanoid opponents. If you want it to attack non-humanoids, you need to teach it the "Attack" trick twice.

2) The "War Beast" template in MMII that can be applied to any domestic or wild animal which, among other things, includes "training for war". This essentially creates the "War" version for that animal. As such, it can't be used on animals that are already trained for war, which would include Warhorses, War ponies, War camels, and presumably riding dogs. But if you really need a War Platypus... go for it.

Note: Many DMs might consider the War Beast template overpowered, or at the very least, way too horrendously cheap for what it does. If you want to use it, check with your DM on the availability/cost.

[Yoven]

i don't want to OP the poor dog, and as a riding dog the handle animal section in the PHB already says the dog is trained to attack and some more..
so i don't need a template on the dog, i just state it is war trained as i can make it attack everything and everyone, stop the attack when said or ride it in battle (PHB says i dont need to train a riding dog for this, it is already trained).

And as beeing trained for war it gains the trip special attack.

Also since i'm talking about an animal companion here, the dog costing more due to a template isnt going to nerf/balance this issue.. it would just make the dog stronger than saying its already trained, it can trip.