ranger animal companion questions

[jk7275]

Hello
I am trying pathfinder for first time and I am a little unclear on using animal companion

Despite having link ability I still need handle animal correct?
If yes is 1 or 2 ranks enough? Would I always need to make a handle animal check every time I command the animal?

I haven't decided what animal yet. The DM is just using core so no boon companion feat.

[Daefos]

Correct. You are better at handling your animal companion because your Link ability gives you a +4 bonus and lets you do so faster, but you still need to control it just like any other animal.

Depending on your Charisma score, one or two ranks might not be enough. You'll want a modifier of at least +11 so that you can always order your companion to use a trick it knows even if it's been injured (normally, the DC to order the animal to use a trick it knows is a flat 10, but if it's injured then the DC increases by 2). This will generally speed things up in combat, since no sane DM is going to force you to roll a recurring check that you're guaranteed to make. You may also want a high enough modifier to reliably hit a DC 25 check, to "push" an animal to perform a trick it doesn't know, but that's more optional; generally, you'll teach your animal companion the tricks it needs to know in combat (Attack, Down, etc), and if you need it to do something else outside of combat, just keep trying until you succeed. Like a guide on animal companions said, the only thing you lose when you take twenty tries to make your dog sit is pride.

[Resileaf]

It's also worth asking your DM if he's going to play the animal companion rules straight or if he will allow you to control them like a second character to speed up play.

[Psyren]

You have to make the check but for tricks it knows, it's generally moot. Handling without Pushing is a free action for animal companions and there's no penalty for failure, so rather than roll you can effectively take 20 every single time. The roll only matters if you're pushing the animal or there's some extraordinary circumstance at play - beyond that, most of the time it should just do what you want (again, within the subset of tricks it knows.)

[Geddy2112]

My group has always allowed animal companions to be like mounts and always come pre trained, but if you must general purpose combat training you can just take 20 on and be fine. Hopefully your DM allows some downtime to do this or say the animal comes preconfigured.

Another hack is to increase your companions intelligence to 3 when they hit 4th level, then have them put a rank in linguistics so they learn a language. Teach them common so you can just tell them what to do, eliminating most of the need for handle animal. Plus they will understand your party and enemies speaking common.

[Psyren]

Another hack is to increase your companions intelligence to 3 when they hit 4th level, then have them put a rank in linguistics so they learn a language. Teach them common so you can just tell them what to do, eliminating most of the need for handle animal. Plus they will understand your party and enemies speaking common.

This reduces but doesn't actually eliminate the need for Handle Animal. Ultimate Campaign:


Even if an animal's Intelligence increases to 3 or higher, you must still use the Handle Animal skill to direct the animal, as it is a smart animal rather than a low-intelligence person (using awaken is an exception—an awakened animal takes orders like a person). The GM should take the animal's Intelligence into account when determining its response to commands or its behavior when it doesn't have specific instructions. For example, an intelligent wolf companion can pick the weakest-looking target if directed to do so, and that same wolf trapped in a burning building might push open a door or window without being told.