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Posing a hypothetical situation, if a Ranger was in a building without his companion present, and all doors are closed- how would said Ranger summon a companion? Or would it even be possible? While NWN mechanics leave room for a simple pressing of the button- what actually happens as a Ranger calls his animal companion? I can understand familiars being summoned on spot, but a giant Brown Bear appears before your face, from nowhere? Maybe a " *The wolf bursts through the window in a fantastic flourish of grace*" ?

To make clear, I've never seen this situation occur, I'm just trying to get a better grasp of what it means to have an animal companion, and any limitations so I could avoid strange situations like the one stated above.

I know it behaves like a summoned creature (for Engine reasons) but really, its supposed to be a regular animal (Which gains in power due to the bond it has with the Druid). It's always somewhere. If its not at the Druids side, assume its off in the woods taking a shit. You could only whistle, or something like, and if it would be reasonable (ie, theres a window open and its big enough for your furry buddy to fit through), it might come to you. It doesnt appear from nowhere, despite how it looks like it might.

There are a few exceptions that I can think of. I don't know if it would be reasonable to play the animal companion as if it were extraplanar or otherwise nonregular. Depends on the flavour of the character, I suppose. Spirit Shaman, whathaveyou. That could appear from nowhere. Request territory, maybe.

(slightly more awesomely, back in the day I had a Blink Dog companion reskin. Locked door, my arse. Bamf!

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Mr. Hackums wrote:

Posing a hypothetical situation, if a Ranger was in a building without his companion present, and all doors are closed- how would said Ranger summon a companion? Or would it even be possible? While NWN mechanics leave room for a simple pressing of the button- what actually happens as a Ranger calls his animal companion? I can understand familiars being summoned on spot, but a giant Brown Bear appears before your face, from nowhere? Maybe a " *The wolf bursts through the window in a fantastic flourish of grace*" ?

To make clear, I've never seen this situation occur, I'm just trying to get a better grasp of what it means to have an animal companion, and any limitations so I could avoid strange situations like the one stated above.

Hard call. Some people think you call the animal and it "magically appears through a portal"...but I agree with cloak and dagger and your take on it. It "busts in" if you are inside or was simply hiding out of view if like a panther.

I could go by the visual. They can be summoned. But like most, I assume they run from the woods or whatever nearby area.

There should really be no reason a Ranger couldn't summon their companion in a closed room. They get summoning spells to get random animals from the Beastlands. I'd see no reason they shouldn't be able to do the same thing with the one animal they would entrust their lives to. Of course, the au natural "my companion is always hiding in the shadows" is the classic for natural casters.

Animal Companions and Familiars are real creatures, and are not 'summoned' like the ones in a spell.
They can be injured and/or die.
Cloak&Dagger hit it right.

this is why, even though i summon creatures, i prefer to PREsummon them, hide them somewhere, and then dramatically have them enter at a later time. its better looking than the typical summoning VFX i think. also, you can say that the creature was in invisibility and has just dispelled it.

Kudark wrote:

Animal Companions and Familiars are real creatures, and are not 'summoned' like the ones in a spell.
They can be injured and/or die.
Cloak&Dagger hit it right.

But considering your familiar or companion will likely die dozens of times throughout your PC's career in Amia, is it not simply easier to say they are summoned like them? Instead of explaining how you manage to retrieve its body from all sorts of precarious situations, assuming it isn't eaten by whatever killed it.

For the purposes and the context of Amia, I think it's best to treat Animal Companions in a slightly more complex way than in D&D. They can be called, but they can also be summoned to the Druid or Rangers side.

Treating Animal Companions in this way helps with the issue that NWN mechanics presents and keeps the "stop metagaming your companion" OOC cries to a minimum. Enforcing something like "Animal Companions can only be called, not summoned" is more of a pain in the ass then it's worth. Not to mention, treating them in this more complex way keeps "Pooch" today from being named "Pooch XIV" by the end of September.

Keep in mind however that Animal Companion is an Animal Companion for a reason. That reason being that it's an animal. No magical beasts, no outsiders, only animals can be animal companions.

Gunz wrote:

...only animals can be animal companions.

Funny thing. Giant Spider is an arachnid, not an animal. Arachnids are from animalia kingdom sure, but so is human.

Dead wrote:

Gunz wrote:

...only animals can be animal companions.

Funny thing. Giant Spider is an arachnid, not an animal. Arachnids are from animalia kingdom sure, but so is human.

In a DnD context he's right. Spiders are vermin. They can't be animal companions.

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/monstrousSpider.htm

With Animal Companion, I think it's safe to assume that by "animal" they mean naturally occurring creatures of Toril and are "non-intelligent." In the real world, spider are animals, just as much as a deer, a scorpion and an owl. Sure, humans are animals too, but we're intelligent animals. In Toril, Human and all humanoids are simply too intelligent to considered appropriate as "animal companions."

While the point you make is true, it's being super nit picky.

I believe all Animals have an Int of 3 unless the creature is Awakened or in some exception cases which are exactly that: Exceptions.

Yep, but when an animal is awakened, it becomes a Magical Beast and no longer an Animal and is therefore no longer able to serve as an Animal Companion. Keep in mind that this is in reference to the PnP version of Awaken, not the NWN one.

Question on Animal Companions

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