Equiping Animal Companions

[Silentlee]

Beyond the normal saddle for horses and spur thingy for hawk/eagles/owls what other equipment can an animal companion be given?

[Tavar]

This Web Enhancement gives a full list. They get the following:
One skull cap or helm
One pair of lenses or goggles
One collar
One saddle blanket or vest
One saddle or jacket
One belt or strap worn in front of or over the haunches
One pectoral or harness worn over the chest or shoulders
One pair foreleg bracers
One pair of foreleg shoes or mitts -- hoofed creatures wear shoes and creatures with paws wear mitts
Two rings -- creatures with toes wear rings on the toes and creatures with hooves wear "rings" just above fore hooves
One pair of hind leg shoes or mitts -- hoofed creatures wear shoes and creatures with paws wear mitts

[Silentlee]

I assume it would transfer well into pathfinder

[Darrin]

Collar of Healing (MIC p. 89, 5000 GP). Only works for animal companion, familiar, or special mount, but you always know your companion's exact HP, and 1/day can heal them 50 HP as an immediate action.

Pearl of Speech (MIC p. 118, 600 GP). Ok, this one's probably not legal for animals/creatures that normally aren't capable of speech, but it might be worth a try. Need your mount to be able to activate command words, such as the Talisman of the Disk mentioned below? Try slipping this pearl under their tongue.

Shrink Collar (A&EG p. 80, 10000 GP). One of the big drawbacks of mounts is sometimes they just don't fit well inside a dungeon. With this collar, you can shrink your mount down at a moment's notice. And you don't have to use it on just mounts or animals, it works for humanoids too. Even odder, you could use this on a tiny-sized creature or smaller to bring them up to small size.

Talisman of the Disk (MIC p. 188). This requires a mount that can speak the command word or activate magic items. Once activated, you can use it as a "floating sidecar" to move alongside your mount and get a full-round attack even when it moves more than 5'. This also comes in handy if you've got a creature with a sizing problem which doesn't allow you to ride it, such as a raven.

Spare Hand (MIC p. 137, 12000 GP). Requires an Artificer infusion to get the most out of this item, but allows your animal companion to wield a light weapon or light shield.

Arms of the Naga (Savage Species p. 55, 56000 GP). Way more expensive than the Spare Hand, and difficult to use in combat.

Hands of Man (Savage Species p. 57, 42000 GP). Not much cheaper than the Arms of the Naga, but provides two fully functional hands (unless you had the bad luck to choose a snake as your animal companion). Expensive, but worth it in the long run, particulary if you spring for Awaken and want them to pick up class levels.

[ericgrau]

There are a couple horseshoe items in the DMG for speed and overcoming terrain. There was some sage question once where basically says that the rules aren't too specific and really the animal companion could use most magic items, though your DM might want to impose limits.

[Eldariel]

Also note that animals can wear armor, specifically Bardings from PHB. They cost slightly more and most animals are not proficient with them (War-Trained animals are so if you've got a War-Trained Riding Dog or Warhorse or similar [there's also the Warbeast template in MMII], they are proficient), but that's not a problem as long as the armor does not have Armor Check Penalty.

This means that any animal can wear:
- Leather Barding
- Mw. Studded Leather Barding
- Mithril Chain Shirt Barding
- Mithril Breastplate Barding of Nimbleness [MiC]

without penalty, and Mithril Fullplate of Nimbleness only has ACP of -1 (which means -1 to pretty much everything in exchange for lots of AC). Also, Celestial Armor of Nimbleness has no ACP, but that requires modifying Specific Armor, which might not always fly. And war-trained animals can wear any armor without penalties.

It's also worth noting that Animated Shields should be pretty trivially "Ok" for the ACs to wield given that it doesn't require wielding. Though for some reason they still have their normal ACP applied to the wielder so you have to get Mithril Heavy Steel Shield or Mw. Light Shield to avoid penalties.