Help me understand how cohort/mount/An.Comp. evolve..

[Kerilstrasz]

I tried to read books, sites, and handbooks but the info either is vague enough
either gets you to run across dozens of different pages on different books so
i got a bit overwhelmed... i just need some specific answers and/or a guide on
how to understand/read/create these things...

Cohorts, mounts, an.companions, familiars can be trained and evolve...
1) How does that happen? they have their own XP score? or just by PCs lvl?
2) I understand they could have skills.. which skills? can i train them? how many
ranks? They get points as they lvlup? if yes i am the one who assign em to skills?
3) Feats??? they get feats? When? How?

I realize that some of the above may "lvl up" differently...
for example a familiar gains some new abilities as its master lvlup..
but a mount? not a paladins mount... a warhorse that i bought at lvl1 and i
have it with me in combats and travels till now that I am lvl18.. does it evolve?can i teach it smthing? feats skills or otherwise?
Are An.comp. the only "follower" that can be taught tricks (handle animal)?
and at last, cohorts.. i consider them as NPCs that get XP, skills, feats etc
as normal pcs that i can control & command?

[Matticussama]

Each of these different creatures "level up" differently depending upon the class. There is usually a chart that explains it for each class that gains an animal companion, mount, etc.

1) Animal companions, mounts, etc do not gain separate XP. If they improve over time, they do so based upon their owner's level according to their entry in the class (if given by a class) or feat (in the case of leadership, etc).

Ex. 1, the Druid Animal Companion: As shown here (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/classes/druid.htm#theDruidsAnimalCompanion), the Druid animal companion gains new Hit Dice ("levels") as the Druid levels up. HD count as levels for the purposes of feats, skills, etc. The Druid write-up details the animal companion's HP, BAB, and saves.

2) Assuming they are a normal animal and not something strange or different, they gain skills according to the Animal Type (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/typesSubtypes.htm#animalType) entry; 2+Int mod per HD. Every 3 HD, the animal companion gains a feat just like player characters and NPCs do. If the companion/mount isn't of the animal type, refer to that creature's type entry (dragon, plant, etc) for the relevant info on skill points per level.

Any animal can be taught tricks, according to the Handle Animal skill chart. (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/skills/handleAnimal.htm)

3) As stated above, companions, mounts, etc gain feats every 3HD just like normal characters. Unless they receive it as a bonus racial feat, animals still must meet all prereqs for the feats they take; for example, your war pony cannot take Combat Expertise unless it somehow has 13 Int. However, you could give it Weapon Focus (Hooves).




Mounts only gain additional HD if a class or feat gives it to them. If a class advances animal HD it will say so; for example, the Halfling Outrider advances a mount's HD progression, and thus their skills, feats, HP, etc. Feats like Leadership can also be used to gain a "mount" that level up as the player does, but in this case the creature would progress by class level and not animal HD.

[Darrin]

Cohorts, mounts, an.companions, familiars can be trained and evolve...
1) How does that happen? they have their own XP score? or just by PCs lvl?


Cohorts gain a percentage of the XP gained by the Leader character. This is not a "cut" of the XP gained by the party, which is calculated normally. The XP gained by th cohort is a percentage equal to the Cohort's effective character level (ECL) divided by the Leader's effective character level (ECL). That is, for a 4th level Cohort following a 6th level Leader, the Cohort gains 66.6% of the Leader's XP. There's another rule that prevents the Cohort from leveling up to within 1 ECL of the Leader, but the practical upshot of all this is the Cohort essentially gains XP at a rate that levels them up two ECLs below the leader. Many DMs dispense with the XP calculation altogether and just allow the Cohort to be leveled up whenever the Leader levels up, so long as they are both at least 2 ECLs apart. (Item crafting may skew this calculation, however, so keep that in mind.)

Special Mounts do not gain XP. They gain additional HD based on the chart in the PHB (p. 45), or by whatever special PrC rules gave you the special mount class feature. These additional HD do not increase the creature's size, but they gain HP, skill points, and feats just like any other creature that gains additional HD. They gain a feat every third HD (1st, 3rd, 6th, 9th, etc.). For the purposes of skill points, special mounts have a higher Int than animals, but typically gain only 1 skill point per HD. Figuring out what are class skills can be a bit tricky, but if you take the skills listed in the creature's stat block and subtract their racial and ability score adjustments, that will tell you what they have ranks in, and thus what are their class skills. There's an optional rule in the DMG that allows a Paladin to take Leadership and treat his Cohort as his Special Mount. This adds LA +2 to the Cohort's ECL. The mechanics of how you level up a Special Mount Cohort are not described (do you use the Cohort XP rules or the +HD rules?), but I imagine any method that keeps the Cohort/Special Mount at least two ECL below the Paladin should work.

Animal Companions gain additional HD as per the chart in the PHB (p. 36). The additional HD does not increase the animal's size, but they gain feats and skill points just like any other animal. The biggest difference with the Special Mount is a higher-level Druid can attract a much more powerful animal companion, but the additional abilities gained is restricted by lowering the Druid's effective level based on the power of the companion. Thus, a 4th-level Druid can attract a Fleshraker dinosaur as an animal companion, but is treated as a 1st-level Druid for the purposes of determining the animal companion's abilities (no bonus HD, 1 bonus trick, link/share spells). If the Druid goes up to 6th level and keeps the Fleshraker as an animal companion, then it gains HD +2, NA +2, Str/Dex +1, another bonus trick, and Evasion.

Familiars do not gain XP or additional HD. Their HD stays at whatever the creature was before, except their type is now magical beast, and their HP is equal to one half of their master's. Since they never gain any additional HD, they do not gain feats or additional skill points. They have whatever skill ranks the base creature would have, or the same ranks as their master, whichever is higher, and then adjusted per their racial/ability score modifiers. If the owner takes Improved Familiar, then the familiar may have more HD than the basic familiars, but it doesn't gain any more HD or feats by becoming an Improved Familiar.



2) I understand they could have skills.. which skills? can i train them? how many ranks? They get points as they lvlup? if yes i am the one who assign em to skills?


Take whatever skills are listed in the creature's stat block, and remove any modifiers due to racial bonuses and ability scores. This tells you what class skills the creature has ranks in. Those are considered class skills for that creature.

In general, when a special mount or animal companion gains HD, the player can select where the new skill points go, but you should check with the DM if you're trying to add points to a skill the creature didn't have before or would be considered difficult/impossible for an animal to learn. There were rules for training an animal with a new skill in Dragon Magazine #323, but many DMs are extremely leery of Dragon Magazine material.

If the creature has only animal intelligence, then a new skill should most likely be a simple skill that the animal could reasonably be expected to learn: Balance, Climb, Escape Artist, Hide, Jump, Listen, Move Silently, Search, Spot, Swim.

Cohorts generally level up with class levels, which will dictate what skill points they get, what class skills, etc.



3) Feats??? they get feats? When? How?


Familiars do not get feats.

Special Mounts and Animal Companions get feats as they gain HD, generally one every 3 HD (1st, 3rd, 6th, 9th, etc.). There are no rules anywhere that restrict feats based on type or Int, but most DMs will likely restrict animals to simple core-only feats that other animals typically have: Weapon Finesse, Weapon Focus, Improved Natural Attack, etc. Some sourcebooks, notably Savage Species, have feats with the [Monster] tag that are specifically intended for creatures with certain physical abilities, such as poison, flight, etc.

Special Mounts, however, are not like "typical" animals. They tend to have higher Int scores, and thus may have access to more "complicated" feats, or basically the same access to feats that PCs might expect. However, most anything dealing with special mounts/companions/cohorts is still subject to DM approval.

Cohorts are usually treated like "mini-PCs". According to the text in the DMG, the player can request a cohort of a particular race, class, and alignment, but the DM should be responsible for creating the cohort as an NPC. Most DM's pass off this responsibility to the player, partly so they can focus on other parts of the campaign, but mostly because detailed chargen is probably a chore better left to the players. The DM should probably also be in charge of advancing the cohort as far as deciding what class levels, feats, skill points, etc., but again, most DMs pass this on to the player.



a warhorse that i bought at lvl1 and i
have it with me in combats and travels till now that I am lvl18.. does it evolve?can i teach it smthing? feats skills or otherwise?


There's the Warbeast template in MMII, but in general, normal mounts don't work that way, and they generally don't get better, can't be trained additional tricks, or gain HD/feats unless you get the appropriate class feature that advances them. If you want a better mount, you trade in the old one (or bury it), and go out and buy a bigger/better one.



Are An.comp. the only "follower" that can be taught tricks (handle animal)?


Yes. Animals are restricted to Int 2, and thus their actions are constrained by what you can train them to do. Animal companions get a few perks (free action to tell them to do a trick they know, etc.), but are still animals.

Special Mounts have higher Ints, and thus can comprehend much more difficult instructions, and are essentially treated much like NPCs. If you need to make a roll to tell them what to do, you should use Diplimacy rather than Handle Animal or tricks.

Familiars are already as smart (or as not-so-smart) as their owners, and don't require any special instructions or actions from their masters to perform their actions.



and at last, cohorts.. i consider them as NPCs that get XP, skills, feats etc
as normal pcs that i can control & command?

In practice, most DMs allow the player to direct a Cohort's actions, but there may be certain situations or "plot developments" where the DM may want to dictate what the Cohort does. That and Cohorts are generally seen as a "privilege" that the DM can modify or remove if the player is deliberately trying to abuse something.

[Kerilstrasz]

both been very helpful :)
you really make it seems so easy :)

thnx a lot