Animal Friends and Companions

[Ruethgar]

I’m looking for information on what, if any, relation Animal Friends have with Animal Companions. Was there a line somewhere that specifically made them count as the same thing(if so score) or was it pretty much just the ‘replaced with Animal Companion class feature’ bit in the PHB 3.5. This is only really relevant for the Animal Friends feat which I’m trying to leverage for some shenanigans, but would need the above or similar correlation to make it work without additional hoops.

[Hiro Quester]

I can't see any reason a gnome druid could not have an animal companion with all the class features that brings, and also 2HD of other animal friends that you can teach tricks to (like a hawk for scouting, or whatever).

But if you want, as it seems you might, to have your animal friends gain other benefits of being an animal companion (sharing spells or something like that), I can't see that being within the rules.

[Ruethgar]

The rules always seem to specify Druids and Rangers. So a Gnome Druid's Animal Friends are Animal Companions and thus could benefit from some things, but the specific limits would still apply so no automatic advancement, but you could take Arcane Hierophant with your Animal Friends. Unfortunately it does seem to require you to be a Druid or Ranger to be considered companions, so that one race that gets trackless step taking Stoneblessed to take Animal Friends could not use their friends for their familiar companion.

[Darg]

As a druid advances in level, the animal’s power increases as shown on the table. If a druid releases her companion from service, she may gain a new one by performing a ceremony requiring 24 uninterrupted hours of prayer
There is nothing in the rules that say the power increase is beholden to being in the service of the druid. Bonus HD are not HD. Therefore all you need to to is release them from your service, befriend them and repeat. At the same time your animal companion could be limited to receiving the bonuses only on level up so stock up on those temporary negative levels.

I say feel free to have an army of friendly critters. No one would play a serious game that way, but carnival rides can be fun.

Edit: Just thought of an idea of an Ex-druid that stays friends with their animal companion.

Also, based on the wording: link, share spells, evasion, and devotion would most likely cease function as they are reliant on being an animal companion at the time of use.

[Curelomosaurus]

I’m looking for information on what, if any, relation Animal Friends have with Animal Companions. Was there a line somewhere that specifically made them count as the same thing(if so score) or was it pretty much just the ‘replaced with Animal Companion class feature’ bit in the PHB 3.5. This is only really relevant for the Animal Friends feat which I’m trying to leverage for some shenanigans, but would need the above or similar correlation to make it work without additional hoops.

Where is this feat? Are you referring to the 3.0 spell "Animal Friendship" that was folded into the animal companion class feature?

[Ruethgar]

Races of Faerun page 161.

While companionizing, releasing and befriending would be neat, it doesn’t really grant much of anything for the friends since they have to be 2HD max. They might retain Share Spells and Link, but text in MotW effectively grants Link to all companions anyway, need to go back and look at the type bonuses to be sure. You can Awaken animal friends though and never have to have the HD cap to support them. Can also ritually boost them to 2HD before you do so.

The text that requires friends to be druid or ranger is in the 3.0 books(even ignoring the defunct Animal Companion class features) and was obviously not updated because apart from the Animal Friends feat, Animal Friendship is no more.

Because of the Awaken Allowance, if you could simultaneously add them all, you could potentially grant HD adding templates such as War and Titanic. Two wishes cast on the same contingency(whether through a contingency, trap, or readied actions) should do it. Expensive, but a 28HD friend could be fun.

[Darg]

The permanent side of Baleful Polymorph reduces the target's HD to 1. All you have to do is is make sure the transformation is of an animal native to your home and then dispel the polymorph after befriending them. Because the friendship is permanent the return of memories won't take that away. I suggest getting 2 animals you want before dispelling as you you will be capped for that instance of the feat once you dispel. This should also allow you to bypass the higher HD from the companion bonus HD as they can't get the companion bonuses back until you gain a level.

This brings up a question. If the classification of your animal companion is from your class feature then wouldn't the polymorphed creature still be your animal companion? If so, then once you level up again your companion regains all the companion bonuses. At this point you could dispel the polymorph and now have doubled up on your companion bonuses. Loop hole broken Beastmaster

[Ruethgar]

Fractional HD work, go with Bat and you can Baleful Poly 8 targets.