Resources
Druid
Class Overview
A Druid is a master of the wilderness who can conjure and communicate with animals and harness the raw power of nature and the elements.
People tell legends of the faerie folk; diminutive magical creatures that guard the secret powers of nature. But these creatures, their magic, and the powers of nature are quite real, although largely forgotten or abandoned by most of civilization. However, a few rare shamans, mystics, and secluded tribes have remained true to mother nature, respecting her power and defending her beauty from the decay and greed of civilization. These loyal guardians of the wilderness are rewarded with the immense power of the fae; able to transform into mighty beasts, heal grievous wounds, alter the landscape, or call upon nature’s wrath to fend off foes. These practitioners of natural magic have had many names over time, but they are known to us now as the Druids.
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This class can be used to portray any sort of shaman, mystic, oracle, mysterious hermit, wanderer, or any other magic-wielding character with a deep connection to nature and the wilderness.
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In a party, Druids are valued for their exceptional survival skills, unique shape-shifting abilities, awareness, terrain mastery, magical healing and enhancements, and their ability to communicate with and control animals and other beasts.
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Druids may choose to gain the support and friendship of an animal companion who can act as a scout or combatant, or instead gain the supernatural ability to modify their bodies with animalistic traits depending on their needs.
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A Druid generally gains their power through devotion to a nature deity or the earth and the wilderness itself. Depending on your story and the world you create, Druids may devote themselves to other nature-related powers such as animal spirits, animalistic gods or demigods, legendary beasts, powerful faeries, or majestic natural locations.
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Druid characters from fiction & history: Gaea, Allanon, Beorn, Radagast the Brown, Poison Ivy, Malfurion Stormrage, Blackbriar Thorn, Sylvanus, Demeter
Hit Rating (HR): Medium
Saves: Good Fort / Bad Ref / Good Will
Skill Ranks: 10+INT Mod
Weapon Proficiency: Simple, Sling
Armor /Shield Proficiency: Simple, Light Armor, Light Shields
Hit Points Per Level: 4+CON Mod
Initiative Rating: Slow (+1 per 5 levels)
Morality & Motivations: A Druid must take either Protection or Benevolence as a motivation, with it specifically directed towards nature and its creatures.
DRUID – Class Level Table
Daily Spell Slots per Spell Level
Crysta & Barry (Spriteling Druid with Animal Companion)
Natural Caster: You can easily channel magic through organic materials such as cloth, leather, wood, animal hides, & the like. If you wear natural gear with which you are proficient, you can cast Druid spells without hindrance.
-If proficient, you do not need to make a Perseverance check to cast Druid spells due to the Mobility Penalty caused by wielding, wearing, or carrying armor or shields made of cloth, leather, hide, or wood.
-Because processed and treated metals are not commonly found in the natural world, your Druid magic does not easily flow through these materials. If you wear metal armor (or mostly metal armor such as chain mail, brigandine, etc), there is a 20% chance that any spell you attempt to cast will fail and be wasted (Roll a d10, 1-2 fails). This increases to a 50% failure chance if you wear heavy armor made of metal.
-Note: Metal buckles, fasteners, and accents on leather and cloth items do not hinder your spellcasting abilities.
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Druid Spells: Your magic is drawn from a deep connection with the earth, fae creatures, & nature deities. You serve as a natural avatar, working to protect the harmonious balance of nature and its creatures.
As a Druid, you cast Divine spells from the “Druid” spell list. You have access to a wide variety of spells and can change which spells you have available daily. You may spontaneously cast any of these spells so long as you have Daily Spell Slots remaining. You must have some sort of connection to natural terrain, plants, or animal life to be able to cast your spells properly (See Natural Conduit). You regain your spellcasting powers by resting and meditating in nature once per day.
To cast a Druid spell, you must have a Wisdom score equal to at least (10+Spell Level). The Difficulty Class (DC) for a Saving Throw against one of your Druid spells is DC(10+Spell Level+WIS Mod).
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Like other spellcasters, you can cast only a certain number of spells of each Spell Level (SL) per day, as listed in the table above. You begin play with four daily SL0 Spell Slots and two daily SL1 Spell Slots. At each new Druid level, you gain access to one or more new spells, as indicated in the Druid Class Table.
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When preparing your daily spell list, you have access to all Druid spells up to the highest SL you can cast, as shown in the Druid Table above. If the number of spells per day is blank in the table, you cannot use this Spell Level; you are not yet strong enough to harness their power!
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Once your daily spell list is prepared, you may cast any one of these prepared spells so long as you have a Daily Spell Slot of the appropriate SL available. (This makes a Druid more versatile on short notice than other casters.)
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When you cast a spell, make a mark indicating that one of your Daily Spell Slots for that SL has been used. When the number of tallies matches your number of Daily Spell Slots, you cannot cast any more spells of that Spell Level until you complete a Long Rest and meditate in nature.
Example: A Level 1 Druid has 2 SL1 Daily Spell Slots. The Druid prepares Entangle and Acid Ray with the 2 Daily SL1 Spell Slots. In one day, the Druid may cast Entangle twice OR Entangle once and Acid Ray once OR Acid Ray twice. (After a Long Rest, this Level 1 Druid could prepare Alarm and Charm Animal for their next day of adventuring.)
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How do I get my spells back?
Long Rest+Meditation
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Daily Meditation: During a Long Rest, you must spend 1-hour meditating in nature to regain your Daily Spell Slots and to refresh all other Druid powers. This meditation may only be completed once per day.
When you meditate, your mind is focused on the souls of the trees, the blood of the earth, the fae spirits, and more. This meditation must take place in a natural area and may not take place inside any man-made structure or upon man-made roads, streets, or patios (although a large park or garden is acceptable). While meditating, you are Distracted, and may not converse with anyone. Your animal companion (if you have one) will wait by your side and protect you, and will awaken you from your meditation (as a Big Action) if serious danger appears.
-After your rest and meditation are complete, you are granted your new daily allotment of spells and all of your Druid abilities refresh for the day. You may develop your new daily spell list at this time.
-If you do not complete your rest and meditation, you do not regain any Spell Slots or daily Druid abilities.
-You may meditate while in a Wild Shape form.
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Druid Spell Materials & Components – Natural Conduit Focus:
Your spell-casting ability is derived through a connection to the earth, nature, and its creatures. This is represented by using a type of Natural Conduit to draw and focus your magical powers.
-A Druid requires a Natural Conduit Focus to cast Druids spells with a listed Focus (F) component.
-All components (V/S/F/U) listed for a spell must be supplied to properly cast a selected Druid spell.
-For Natural Conduit use, “touching” refers to any part of your body in contact with the conduit, and “touching” functions through your own clothes. If you are standing in a forest, swamp, or jungle, you are touching a Natural Conduit.
Acceptable Natural Conduits: A 10’x10’ or larger garden or grassy outcropping or naturally fertile soil, a living large-sized plant or animal (tree, horse, etc), a naturally flowing stream/river at least 5 feet across, or a natural pond at least 100 square feet in area (10’x10’+).
Note: Deep desert sand & huge rocks are NOT Natural Conduits: fertile soil means dirt capable of sustaining new life!
-If you wild shape into a large animal, you do NOT serve as your own Natural Conduit!
-Your Animal Companion is NOT an acceptable Natural Conduit.
Life Force Conduit: If you are unable to touch a proper Natural Conduit Focus, you may spend your own life force to serve as your casting Focus. As you begin to cast your spell, you may expend an amount of Hit Points equal to (2xSpell Level), which serve as your Natural Conduit Focus (F). (SL0 spells do not require HP loss)
-You may use the Life Force Conduit to drop yourself to 0 or fewer Hit Points. If this occurs, you automatically stabilize at the appropriate negative HP. You cannot kill yourself by using the Life Force Conduit.
-If you spend 10 or more HP as a Life Force Conduit, you gain +1 Weakened Stage.
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Arcane Exhaustion/Divine Exhaustion: Casting powerful spells of SL3+ is an exhausting process.
Whenever you cast a spell of SL3+, you must make a Perseverance Check DC10+[2xSL]. If you fail, the spell is cast, but you also suffer +1 Weakened Stage.
-Once you gain access to SL6, you no longer need to make this check for SL3 spells.
-Once you gain access to SL8, you no longer need to make this check for SL4 spells.
Animal Conjuring: You may use a Daily Spell Slot of any Spell Level to spontaneously cast a Conjure Animal spell of the same SL. (See Conjure Animal spell, Ch11.4)
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Sylvan: You learn to understand the language of the Fae creatures; Sylvan. You are granted this language as a bonus spoken language when you take your first level as a Druid (writing a language requires Craft[Academia]).
Wild Mastery (Ex): You gain a +3 Class Bonus to Handle Animal, Survival, and Knowledge(Nature). This bonus increases by +1 per 3 Druid Levels. You take half the standard time to teach or domesticate an animal.
You must choose between either Natural Selection or an Animal Companion at Druid Level 1:
-Animal Companion: You have a powerful bond with a special creature that you befriended in the wild. This creature is a specially chosen companion with unique abilities.
-For full information, see the Animal Companion description in section 3.3a, below.
-Natural Selection (Su): Your bond with nature grants you additional powers. You gain an Innate Bonus of +1 HP per Druid level and +1 Bonus Feat for which you possess all prerequisites. You also gain access to special powers that can change daily, known as Adaptations. (Adaptations are fully detailed later in this section.)
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Woodland Stride (Ex)-Lvl2: You treat any naturally occurring Difficult Terrain as standard terrain. This generally includes rough gravel, undergrowth, briar patches, knee deep water, and the like. You never take any damage from moving through naturally occurring briars, thorns, or similar natural hazards.
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You may pass through your own Entangle spell AoE without hindrance.
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You reduce the penalty for using a Space Needed or Large Space Needed weapon in natural terrain, such as a dense forest, by 2.
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Difficult Terrain caused by magic still affects you, slows you, or damages you normally.
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You may walk through very thick hedgerows by spending 2 hexes of movement to enter each hex.
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Your Woodland Stride ability is also granted to your Animal Companion whenever it is within 20 feet of you. If your companion is outside of this radius, it will be affected by the terrain as normal.
Trackless Step (Ex)-Lvl3: You leave no trail in natural surroundings. This includes tracks such as footprints, broken twigs, and the like. This functions on any natural terrain, including grass, leaf-litter, soil, sand, ice and snow. Tracking you with the Survival Skill is impossible. You may choose not to use this ability when traveling.
-You still have a natural scent, but it mixes with the natural scents of the land very quickly, making you impossible to be tracked by scent in natural setting if your trail is over 5 minutes old.
Wild Shape X/Day (Su)-Lvl4: You can transform into animals and other creatures as you increase in power.
-For full information, see the Wild Shape description in section 3.3b, below.
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Blessing of the Fae (Ex)-Lvl5: Your connection with natural magic and the fae creatures becomes more apparent.
-You gain DR1/Metal (You resist 1 damage from all physical strikes unless struck by a weapon made of metal.)
-You are Fortunate on all Saves against Guile & Glamer spells, plus all spells & SLA cast by Fae creatures. You may be considered a Fae creature type if advantageous for purposes of using a magic item or other ability.
-Your spells that can normally only affect Animals can now also target creatures of the Plant type.
-At Level 11, your Damage Resistance improves to DR2/Metal
Cantrips - Lvl7: Your most basic magic spells are easily refreshed. You need only 1 minute of concentration to regain one of your expended SL0 spell slots. You must remain still & undisturbed to do so.
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Depending on the situation, you may be required to make a Concentration check. (DC at GM Discretion)
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You must still select which SL0 spells you wish to have available during the day.
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If you take a Short Rest, you automatically refresh all SL0 spells you have expended that day.
Venom Immunity (Ex)-Lvl9: You gain immunity to all poisons.
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Expert Casting - lvl 11: You may cast an SL0 or SL1 spell as a Swift Action. You may cast a single SL0 or SL1 spell on the same turn as another spell of any SL.
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Timeless Body (Ex)-Lvl15: Your physical body no longer deteriorates with age. You cannot be magically aged. Any penalties already incurred from aging remain in place. Bonuses granted to mental ability scores from aging still accrue. Your natural lifespan is increased by +50%, but you will eventually die of old age when your time comes.
Nature’s Own (Ex)-Lvl20: Nature has accepted you as one of her own.
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Your base Creature Type changes to Fae. You may still be affected by your own spells that normally only affect humanoids, as well as by any beneficial spells cast by allies that normally affect humanoids.
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Your Damage Resistance improves to DR5/(Iron or Steel).
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You gain Evasion and Uncanny Dodge (as the Rogue Abilities).
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You heal +1HP per round whenever in an outdoor, natural environment.
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When you finally die, if buried or left in the wild, a massive tree will grow in the spot where you lay. These enormous trees sprout within a week, and reach huge size within a month. These trees live for millennia, and will slowly grow even more, up to Colossal size after about 100 years. These trees often serve as the centers of groves for dryads, nymphs, and other fae-folk. The wood harvested from these trees is darkwood.
Natural Selection & Adaptations – Full Details:
You select your Adaptation upon completion of your Daily Meditation, at which point it becomes active for the remainder of the day. Each Adaptation makes you more adept in certain aspects common to survival in the natural world.
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A Druid who selects Natural Selection gains an extra +1 HP per Druid level and +1 Bonus Feat.
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When you acquire Natural Selection, you also gain +1 daily use of your druid Wild Shape ability. (Until you reach Druid level 4, you cannot use Wild Shape, but you may us this to change your selected Adaptation.)
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Adaptations cause very minor physical changes that are not easily noticed. Most people that you pass would have no idea that you were any different (GM’s Discretion: you may use a Spot check DC20 to have someone notice these minor physical features, such as very rough skin, elongated ears, short claws, mild skin color changes, etc – only use this if there is a reason these features would be unexpected or problematic!)
Unless otherwise indicated, all bonuses granted by Natural Selection adaptations are Innate Bonuses.
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Adaptations do not function while you use Wild Shape or any other full-body polymorph effect, but resume normally when your Wild Shape ends.
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Your Adaptation stops functioning after you have been asleep (or unconscious) for 1 full hour, after which you must complete a Long Rest and your meditation to again gain its benefit.
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If you wish to change your active Adaptation, you may expend one of your daily Wild Shape uses to activate a different Adaptation. Doing so is a Big Action that provokes AOO. The new Adaptation remains for the rest of day (or until you change it again) as normal. You cannot use your Wild Shape ability to start an Adaptation if you do not already have a different Adaptation functioning.
List of Adaptations:
Claws (Ex): Your fingernails lengthen and harden into vicious claws. These claws have no negative effect on your ability to hold or manipulate objects. You must have at least 1 hand free to use this attack.
You gain a Basic Claws Natural Attack as follows: Claw: 1d4+STRMod [s]/20/x2 (medium size)
If both hands are free, this functions as a Strong Claws Heavy Natural Attack: 1d6+[1.5x]STRMod [s]/20/x2
-At Level 10, your Claw attacks increase damage by +1 die size (1d4🡪1d6🡪1d8, etc).
Superior Vision (Ex): You gain the benefits of both Diurnal and Nocturnal vision when using your Alert adaptation. You may use the best vision type for any situation, and ignore the drawbacks of the other.
Evasion (Ex)-lvl2: You can deftly avoid dangerous blasts and sudden effects. If you make a successful Reflex Save against an attack that normally deals partial damage or lessened conditions on a successful save, you instead take no damage and suffer no ill effects. Evasion can only be used if wearing light armor or no armor and no more than lightly encumbered. A helpless or pinned creature cannot use this ability.
Note: In extreme circumstances, the GM may have a character with Evasion take minimum damage, even on a successful Save. (Ex: If a character trapped inside a solid steel cube 10’ on each side has a Fireball spell explode in the center, they cannot logically avoid ALL of the damage) The situations which qualify for this damage are left at the GM’s discretion.
-If you already possess Evasion from another class, you gain Improved Evasion instead.
Hold Breath (Ex): You can hold your breath for a number of minutes equal to (3 x Constitution Score) before you risk drowning or suffocation.
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Advanced Stealth (Ex): While sneaking (using Hide & Move Silently), you can move up to your normal Move Speed without suffering a penalty. You may sneak while running with a -10 penalty.
Natural Stealth (Ex): You can use the Hide Skill in any sort of natural terrain, even without Cover or Concealment or while being directly observed, but you take a -10 penalty on your Hide check for this situation.
True Fortitude (Ex): Whenever subject to a FORT Save, a successful save indicates that you suffer no ill effect, even if the spell or ability normally causes an effect on a successful save.
Uncanny Dodge (Ex): You react to danger faster than most other characters.
-You cannot be Flat-Footed. You gain a +2 Innate Bonus on opposed checks vs Combat Feint & Dirty Tricks.
-If you already have Uncanny Dodge from a different class, you gain Improved Uncanny Dodge instead.
-This ability does not function if Heavily Encumbered or wearing Heavy Armor.
-You may still be Flat-Footed if immobilized or tricked by a successful Feint in Combat.
Slick n’ Stick (Ex): The majority of your skin is extraordinarily slick and difficult to hold, while the bottoms or your hands and feet have excellent grip. You are Fortunate on any check to escape a grapple or physical bonds. You gain a natural Climb Speed of 20 feet with a +8 Innate Bonus on Climb checks. These bonuses do not apply if you wear boots or gloves that fully cover your hands/feet. (Fingerless gloves and ankle-wraps are acceptable!)
Scent (Ex): You are able to detect approaching creatures, sniff out hidden foes, and track a quarry by sense of smell. You gain the Scent ability. See the Vision & Senses section in Ch 8.4 for full details.
Wild Shape – Full Details:
Wild Shape - X/day (Su): You gain the ability to transform into an Animal and back again X times per day. As you increase in level, additional creature sizes and the Plant Creature Type become available to you as follows:
-The form chosen must be that of a creature you are familiar with. This means that you must have seen a real version of the creature for more than 10 minutes AND have either read a book about them, lived in an area where these are common, or have a number of Ranks in Knowledge(Nature) equal to the desired creature’s Level+3.
-Changing form (to Animal or back) is a Big Action that provokes AOO. Each time you use Wild Shape, you spend one daily use of this ability. Turning back into your standard form does not expend a daily use. You may transform while grappled by passing a DC15 Perseverance check.
-The selected Animal or Plant creature must have a number of Levels less than or equal to your Druid level.
-Transforming into a creature of Tiny, Small, or Medium consumes 1 Wild Shape use per Day. You may remain in this form for 1 hour per Druid Level. You may choose to end your transformation at any time as a Big Action (AOO).
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Transforming into a Large Creature consumes 2 of your Wild Shape uses per Day. You may remain in this form for 1 hour per 2 Druid Levels. Transforming into a Huge Creature consumes 3 of your Wild Shape uses per Day. You may remain in this form for 1 hour per 3 Druid Levels.
-Any gear you are wearing/carrying melds into your new form and becomes nonfunctional. When you revert to your true form, these objects reappear in the same location on your body and are once again functional. Any new items equipped while in your Wild Shape form fall off and land at your feet when you return to normal.
*Exception: Necklaces/Collars worn function in your normal form and Wild Shape.
-You lose the ability to speak while in Wild Shape form because you are limited to the sounds that a normal, untrained animal can make. You can communicate normally with other animals of the same taxonomic class as your new form (reptile/amphibian/mammal/bird/plant/etc).
Note: The normal sound a wild parrot makes is a squawk, so becoming a parrot/raven/myna bird does not permit speech.
-You maintain your true Creature Type for purposes of spell targeting. However, a ranger’s “Favored Enemy” ability will treat you as the creature form you have assumed, not as your original form (due to new anatomy).
-You lose the natural weapons, natural armor, senses, and movement modes of your original form, as well as any extraordinary special attacks or abilities derived from your previous anatomy.
-You gain the size, reach, natural attacks, natural armor, movement modes, extraordinary (Ex) special abilities, Feats, and senses of your new form (such as dodge, grab, echolocation, trip, scent, etc). You must always select a color and/or pattern that can occur naturally for the selected creature! You may use the new forms Physical Skill Ranks in place of your own.
-You gain any natural Damage Resistances and Elemental Resistances of the new form. You keep any resistances provided by your character race or class levels. Overlapping resistances do not stack; only the stronger resistance applies. Resistances granted by magic items are lost when the magic items meld into your new form.
-You gain the physical Ability Scores (STR, DEX, CON) of your new form.
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If your CON Mod increases when you transform, you gain 1 Temporary Hit Point per level per +1 CON Mod increase. Temporary Hit Points are lost first in combat and disappear when your Wild Shape ends.
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You may never gain more than 20 Temporary Hit Points in this manner. You may never gain Temporary Hit Points by using Wild Shape more than once per hour.
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You do NOT lose any Hit Points if your CON Mod decreases when you take on your new form.
-You retain the mental Ability Scores (INT, WIS, CHA) of your original form.
-If you take the form of a Plant creature, you gain immunity to critical hits and all precision damage. You cannot take the form of a plant that isn’t a creature. (You cannot just turn into “a tree.” You must select a creature with the Plant Creature Type, such as a shambling mound or violet fungus.
-You retain the Spell-Like Abilities (SLA) and Supernatural (Su) abilities of your original form, assuming these are still physically possible with your new form’s anatomy.
-Except as described elsewhere, you retain all base game statistics of your original form, including (but not necessarily limited to) Level, Skill Ranks, Feats, Hit Rating, Base Save Rating.
-You cannot cast spells in your new form unless you can complete the required components: speak intelligibly (Verbal[V] components) and you have humanlike hands (Somatic[S] components).
-You cannot use this ability to look like a specific creature (For example, you cannot select to transform into a dog that looks exactly like the one King Ulrich has, but you could transform into “a brown dog”).
-You turn into a very healthy and impressive version of your chosen creature. You always bear a specific mark or pattern on your skin/fur/scales/etc when you transform. This symbol or pattern is chosen by you, appears on any form you take, and may be recognized by close friends or allies you show it to. Most average people who see you in Wild Shape in passing will think you are a perfect, healthy specimen of your chosen animal type. Any other Druid who gets a good look at you can recognize you as a Druid in Wild Shape. For other characters, a DC15 Knowledge(Nature) check could lead them to believe there is something “not normal” about this creature. If they beat this DC by 5+, they will realize there is a chance the animal is magically enhanced, an Animal Companion, or perhaps a Druid. This check should only be made if they have a reason to wonder about the animal they see.
-The Handle Animal Skill cannot be used against you while in animal form; you are still a player character.
-Wild Shape cannot be dispelled (it is a Supernatural ability).
Druid - Animal Companion Rules
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What is an Animal Companion?
An Animal Companion is a special animal which has bonded with the Druid, serving as a lifelong guardian, aid, & friend. The companions are brought forth by the primal powers of nature to work with you, protect you, & comfort you throughout your adventures. They begin as young & basic animals, but they grow in power as you do, evolving into ferocious fighting machines, nimble hunters, or talented scouts. They are not tiny pets like the Familiars of Sorcerers & Wizards; animal companions are all medium or large size when full grown. You choose how your companions grow, assigning them Feats & abilities as they improve.
Your Animal Companion is your best friend, confidant, and partner, not your slave. As long as you understand this, you may give your Animal Companion commands using your Handle Animal Skill. At the start of your relationship, your Animal Companion trusts you and will defend you. It will serve you faithfully so long as you treat it well and stay true to your connection with nature. After a few years of this connection with your creature, it would lay down its life to defend you, and you should be willing to do the same for it.
How do I get my Animal Companion?
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If you begin play as a Druid, you may start with your Animal Companion.
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If you gain the Animal Companion ability later, you must go out into nature to an area in which your selected animal lives. While in this area, you must wait calmly or meditate in one location, such as a small grove, for 24 hours without interruption. At the end of this time, the creature arrives. You never see where it comes from; but it arrives! You may select the creature’s name at this time, and it will respond to you and serve as your companion and friend from this moment on.
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What animals can I choose?
You may choose from one of the following animals: Bear, Big Cat, Eagle, Ram, Wolf
Animal Companions are special versions of these animals, having different statistics than a normal version of these animals. All of their statistics and improvements are indicated in the following tables.
How do Animal Companions work?
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Animal Companions take their own turns, just like a player character.
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The player controlling the Druid also controls their Animal Companion.
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Animal Companions act on the same initiative as their Druid. They may go either before or after the Druid.
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If you want your Animal Companion to do something particular, you must give it a command using the Handle Animal skill. The commands you can give are called “tricks.”
Tricks: All Animal Companions know these 3 tricks: Defend (You only) / Down / Heel
-Animal Companions with a 4+ INT score also know the Attack trick.
-You may use the Handle Animal Skill to teach your Animal Companion additional tricks. An Animal Companion may know a total of 2 tricks per point of Intelligence. (For details, see the Handle Animal Skill, Ch4.6)
-Giving your Animal Companion a command is a Swift Action using the Handle Animal Skill with a +4 Innate Bonus (thanks to the Primal Link ability).
-Animal Companions follow your last given command, or they default to defending you if no command is given.
-Animal Companions cannot cast spells, speak, or use items.
-Animal Companions are still animals. They cannot speak your language, though they will likely learn to understand your language as they gain levels. While some Animal Companions may serve as your mount, they normally just follow you closely. When fighting starts, they will automatically defend you and themselves to the best of their ability. Your companion tends to remain nearby (within 30 feet) unless commanded to do go elsewhere.
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Optional Rule - Separate Companion Initiative: The GM may choose to allow your Animal Companion take turns on their own initiative. If using this option, your Animal Companion gains a +1 Innate Bonus to Initiative for every 3 levels it has.
-GM Note: While the player controls their Animal Companion, the GM serves as the companion’s “instincts,” and may decide that certain actions may be more difficult or require additional work. For example, maybe a ram companion doesn’t want to get close to the enemy tiger, or a blazing fire makes the animal nervous, so add +5DC to get the animal to attack. Likewise, a command such as “Attack the Wizard” may be too generic, as the Companion doesn’t know what a “Wizard” is, so the animal may not respond as desired.
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How do I figure out my Animal Companion’s Stats and Abilities?
-Don’t forget to add the +10 free Skill Ranks and +2 Hit Points for any creature at level 1.
-Hit Points: All Animal Companions gain (6+CON Mod) HP per Animal Level.
-Morals (Motivations): Balanced (Animalistic)
-Skill Ranks: Animal Companions gain (6+INTMod) Skill Ranks per level. As Animals, they do NOT suffer any penalty to the number of Skill Ranks they gain for having a negative INTMod.
Each animal has bonuses to particular Skills, as indicated in their description.
-Armor Class: Calculated as normal. Many Animal Companions have Natural Armor Ratings. All Animal Companions improve their Natural Armor Rating as they increase in level.
-Initiative: An Animal Companion takes its turn on the same initiative as the Druid.
-Vision & Senses: Senses for each animal are indicated in the animal descriptions.
-Improvement: Your Animal Companion increases in power whenever you gain a Druid level, as indicated in the “Animal Companion Leveling Table.” Each section of the table is explained below.
Animal Companion Leveling Table
Druid Level & Animal Level: Your Animal Companion gains levels at a slower rate than you do.
HR: The Hit Rating of your Animal Companion. All Animal Companions have a High Hit Rating.
Base Saves F/R/W: This indicates the Base Save Rating of the Animal Companion’s FORT, REF, and WILL Saves. All Animal Companions use the same Base Save Ratings.
Natural Armor Bonus: This is the total value of a single Innate Bonus to Natural Armor Rating. (non-cumulative)
Physical Bonus: Upon reaching a level where this is displayed, your Companion gains a +2 Innate Bonus to any one Physical Attribute (STR/DEX/CON). These may be applied cumulatively, although you may never surpass the Physical Attribute Maximum for your animal, as listed in the animal’s statistics block.
Mental Bonus: Upon reaching a level where this is displayed, your Companion gains a +1 Innate Bonus to any one Mental Attribute (INT/WIS/CHA). These may be applied cumulatively, although your Companion may never have an INT Score higher than your own (without magical enhancement).
-Upon reaching 7 INT, your Animal Companion can understand your primary language fluently, to the point where it can understand conversation. At 7 INT, they are allowed to gain Knowledge skill ranks, and are also capable of making advanced decisions on their own, such as who to attack, defend, or to move into a more advantageous attacking position.
Feats & Abilities
Animal Companions gain Feats & Ability Score points the same way players do as they increase in level, as indicated in the chart. You select which Feats to gain and which ability scores to improve. Your Animal Companion also gains the following special abilities at certain levels:
-Your Woodland Stride ability is granted to your Animal Companion whenever it is within 20 feet of you.
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-Primal Link (Ex): You can give your Animal Companion an order using Handle Animal as a Swift Action for tricks that it knows, or you can attempt to get it to do a trick it does not know as a Big Action. You gain a +4 Innate Bonus on Handle Animal checks dealing with your Animal Companion.
-Companion Spell (Ex): You may cast any Druid spell with a range of “personal” or “self” on your Animal Companion instead by casting it while touching your companion. You may cast Druid spells on your Animal Companion even if the spell cannot normally affect creatures of the companion’s Creature Type (Animal).
-Light Armor Proficiency (Ex): Your Animal Companion gains the Light Armor Proficiency Feat.
-Evolution (Ex): Evolutions are powerful advancements that are specific to each animal. Each Animal Companion gains 3 Evolutions as they increase in level. The Evolutions are described in each Animal Companion’s statistics block (see below). Unless otherwise indicated, all bonuses granted by an Evolution are Innate Bonuses.
-Devotion (Ex): Companion is Fortunate on all WILL Saves against mind-effecting spells and abilities.
What gear can my Animal Companion have?
Animal Gear Slots: Animals have 2 Gear Slots: Neck and Other. The Neck slot is for collars and necklaces, using the same rules for player character necklaces. The Other slot is most commonly used for armor (barding) or a harness of some sort, designed to fit the animal properly. The Other slot may be creatively filled by things such as decorative wrappings of a mane or tail, a bracelet on a large bird’s leg, or decorative rings on a boar’s tusks. Only these two slots may be filled by items granting magic powers (including normally “slotless items”).
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Animal Companions cannot wield weapons or shields, wear normal armor, activate wands or scrolls, or wear any equipment normally designed for player characters.
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Saddles and packs do not take up one of the animal’s Gear Slots.
Animal Companion – Animal Creature Type Reminders:
-All Animal Companions have Animal Instincts, as per the Animal Creature Type.
-Animals have Balanced Morals, Animalistic Motivations, and do not have a spoken language.
-Animals may use their STRMod or CHAMod for the Intimidate Skill.
-Animals with INT less than 5 cannot suffer confidence failures nor gain confidence tokens.
-Animals suffer no penalty to number of Skill Ranks for having a negative INTMod.
-Animals are not normally proficient with any armor (Barding is armor designed for animals).
Special Notes on Animal Companions: A GM is encouraged to allow players to pick any animal remotely similar to one of the animals listed here, and to use whichever stat block most closely resembles the abilities of that animal. For example, the Big Cat could be any large feline, such as a Jaguar or Tiger, or it could even be a uniquely agile wolf or hyena.
-Do not make the stat block determine the Animal Companion; allow the player to find an animal fits their character, then choose a reasonable stat-block to use for the animal. If one or two skill bonuses can be swapped around to make it work without any balance issues, just get GM approval and make the animal you want!
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Player Advice: If you do not wish to deal with any drawbacks or role-play aspects associated with Animal Companions, you are advised to select the alternate class features that grant individual abilities instead of the Animal Companion: the Ranger class has the Nature’s Gift ability, the Druid class has the Natural Selection ability.
Druid - Animal Companion – List of Animals & Statistics
Animal Companions - Statistic Blocks: The following tables detail all the unique Ability Scores, movement speeds, sizes, senses, attacks, and Evolutions of all of the available Animal Companions.
Wolf - Animal Companion
Attacks: Strong Bite - 20 / x2 / 1d4+(1.5xSTR Mod) +Trip [s+p+b]
Physical Attribute Maximums: 20 STR, 20 DEX, 22 CON
Evolution 1: Size: Medium, STR+2, +10’ Move Speed, Strong Bite(1d6), Evasion
Evolution 2: Size: Large(5’ Reach), STR+4, Strong Bite(1d8), +10’ Move Speed, Cold Resist 5 & Endure Elements(Cold), Choose 1: Bonus Feat - Backstab or Look-Out
Evolution 3: +2 to any one Ability Score, Improved Evasion, +1 Natural Armor Rating
Big Cat - Animal Companion
Attacks: Strong Bite - 20/x2 / 1d4+(1.5xSTRMod) [s+p+b], Claw - 20/x2 / 1d3+STRMod +Grab [s+p]
Physical Attribute Maximums: 24 STR, 20 DEX, 20 CON
Evolution 1: Size: Medium, STR+2, Strong Bite(1d6), Claws(1d4), Rake Attack(1d4), Sneak Attack+1d6, Feat: Multiattack
Evolution 2: Size: Large(5’ Reach), STR+4, Strong Bite(1d10), Claws(1d6), Rake Attack(1d6), +10’ Land Move Speed, Improved Evasion, Grappling Bite
Evolution 3: STR+2, Climb +5’, Sneak Attack+2d6, Choose 1: Gain Expert Charge Bonus Feat or gain the Crushing Bite ability
Crushing Bite: Strong Bite Attack improves as follows: 20/x3/2d6+(1.5xSTRMod) [s+p+b], Anti-Armor.
Bear - Animal Companion
Attacks: Hefty Claws - 20/x2 / 1d6+(1.5xSTR Mod) [s+p+b], Strong Bite - 20/x2 / 1d6+(1.5xSTR Mod) [s+p+b]
Physical Attribute Maximums: 30 STR, 14 DEX, 30 CON
Evolution 1: Size: Large(5’ Reach), STR+4, Hefty Claws(1d10, Semi-Reach), Strong Bite(1d10), True Fortitude, +10’ Move Speed, DR1/-
Evolution 2: CON+2, +10’ Move Speed, Cold Resist 5 & Endure Elements(Cold), DR2/-
Evolution 3: STR+2, Claw(1d8), Cold Resist 20, +1 Natural Armor Rating, Gains 10’ Reach with Claws (Loses Semi-Reach)
Note: A player who desires a “Polar Bear” may trade out the Runner Feat & Survival Skill for a Swim Speed of 20 feet and a +6 Innate Bonus to Swim, Endure Elements(Cold) & Cold Resist 10, Ice Walker (Ignores icy difficult terrain).
Eagle - Animal Companion
Attacks: Talons - 20 / x2 / 1d4+(1.5xSTR Mod)+Grab [s+p], Bite - 20 / x2 / 1d3+STRMod [s+p]
Physical Attribute Maximums: 14 STR (22 Talons), 24 DEX, 16 CON - *An Eagle’s talons are incredibly strong; they are treated as having their own STR score compared to the rest of the bird. Attacks using the talons instead use this score.
-Eagles do not gain Light Armor Proficiency at Druid level 2
Excellent Vision & Crepuscular: An eagle’s Diurnal Vision is so good that it grants the listed +8 Innate Bonus to Spot checks. They do not suffer any penalties in Low Light conditions (They suffer normal penalties in Dim Light and Darkness).
Evolution 1: +10’ Fly Speed, Shove(Talons), +1 Natural Armor Rating
Shove(Talons): If eagle hits with its talons after moving at least 20 feet, it may attempt a Shove Wrestling maneuver.
Evolution 2: Size: Medium, +10’ Fly Speed, STR+4, Talon(1d6), Bite(1d4), Fly-by Grab(Talons)
Fly-by Grab: If the eagle hits with its talons & grapples a creature (or object) at least 1 size category smaller than itself, it can continue flying away while holding the creature (moving at normal speed, or less if encumbered).
-The eagle may choose to forego grabbing the creature to instead knock it prone if it wins the check.
-The eagle is not treated as grappled when it succeeds with this attack, but it is Unfortunate on Wrestling checks made to continue holding its foe while flying. Releasing a creature or object held in this manner is a Free Action. If the held creature desires, it may attempt an opposed Wrestling check against the eagle to give BOTH creatures the grappled condition; this causes both creatures to plummet from the sky!
Evolution 3: Improved Evasion, +20’ Fly Speed
Ram/Mountain Goat - Animal Companion
Attacks: Ram - 20 / x2 / 1d6+(1.5xSTRMod) [b], Sunder, Knockdown, Affect creatures up to 1 size larger, DC12+STRMod+HR
Physical Attribute Maximums: 26 STR, 16 DEX, 28 CON
Excellent Footing: A ram gains a +4 Innate Bonus on any check to resist falling prone. Rams ignore all difficult terrain except that caused by thick foliage (hedgerows/dense jungle). Rams treat up to a 60-degree incline as if it were flat terrain, and automatically succeeds on checks to purposefully jump downward up to 20 feet. A ram gains a +4 Innate Bonus on any sort of check to maintain balance or avoid slipping, and can walk on ledges as thin as 3” (8cm) without requiring a skill check.
Evolution 1: STR+2, CON+2, Endure Elements(Cold), True Fortitude, Feat: Concussive Strike
Evolution 2: Choose 1: Medium Size or Large Size
-Large Size(5’ Reach): STR+4, Ram(1d10), Feat: Expert Charge, +10’ Move Speed, +10’ Climb Speed, Leaper 10
-Medium Size: STR+2, CON+2, Ram(1d8), Feat: Expert Charge, +10’ Climb Speed, +1 Natural Armor Rating
Evolution 3:
If you selected Large Size at Evolution 2: CON+2, Ram(2d6), Cold Resist 10
If you selected Medium Size at Evolution 2: Ram(1d10), Feat: Spring Attack, +10’ Move Speed, Cold Resist 5
What happens if my Animal Companion dies?
-You are Unfortunate with sadness for 48 hours. The Unfortunate condition cannot be cured or healed in any way apart from waiting the full duration, unless your Companion is returned to life.
-Your Companion may be brought back to life just as though they were a fallen ally using spells such as Raise Dead or Resurrection.
-If you cannot (or do not desire to) bring your deceased Companion back, you may attempt to acquire a new Companion after 6 months of mourning. After this time, you may attempt to obtain a new Animal Companion through the same method used to gain your first Companion. If you do acquire your new companion, it comes in with all abilities matching your current Druid level.
