Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Mobius Man 01-07-08, 11:46 PM	I know there's a obtain familiar feat, but is there an equivalent to getting an animal companion? If not, is there some other way other than as a class feature?
dman11235 01-08-08, 12:38 AM	No.
Airos 01-08-08, 01:01 AM	yes (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/re/20031118a)
CmdrCorsiken 01-08-08, 01:37 AM	The title of that article says it all: Animal Companions for Any Character While not as good as the Animal Companion class feature, the Wild Cohort feat does advance your animal in a similar way. Any character can have an animal friend that has a chance of surviving and even contributing in a fight. The second part of that article has some additional, and quite useful, tricks to teach your animal.
Orenmir 01-08-08, 10:26 AM	The Wild Cohort feat is kinda like Animal Companion Lite. It is not nearly as powerful as an animal companion; and it shouldn't be. I think it's really a fluff feat. My Fighter has one -- purely for fluff. The DM let me obtain a Winter Wolf with a +3 LA. She's only slightly useful in battle against easy foes; but, very useful because she can track by scent.
dman11235 01-08-08, 10:43 AM	*blinks rapidly in disbelief* What. Well, I guess it's not an animal companion, per se. And the worst part is that I knew of this feats existance. Well, here's (http://realmshelps.dandello.net/cgi-bin/feats.pl?Wild_Cohort,Web) a working link, as wizards seems to not want to display that page.
Silverthumb 01-08-08, 12:53 PM	The Wild Cohort feat is kinda like Animal Companion Lite. It is not nearly as powerful as an animal companion; and it shouldn't be. I think it's really a fluff feat. Its also a really good way to get a freebie Mount if you need one. Or, just for the heck of it, use this and Animal Companion together. Having a scout and a mount, its just about too good(not overpowered, IMO) to pass up. :D
Orenmir 01-08-08, 01:04 PM	Its also a really good way to get a freebie Mount if you need one. Or, just for the heck of it, use this and Animal Companion together. Having a scout and a mount, its just about too good(not overpowered, IMO) to pass up. :D If you just want a mount, you don't really need the Wild Cohort feat. If you want to get more out of your mount, it might be worth it.
Silverthumb 01-08-08, 01:53 PM	If you want to get more out of your mount, it might be worth it. Of course. Anyone could just go buy a horse, but I think without this feat(and a couple others), it'd be very difficult to convince, say, a Worg to just let you ride it around.
Fireclave 01-08-08, 08:28 PM	You can't use Animal Cohort to get a Worg since it's not an animal. Ditto for a Winter Wolf. Leadership would work in both cases though.
ObscureInfo 01-08-08, 09:34 PM	I think that is where the "talking about it with your DM" part of Jesse's description of the feat. It does allow for some flexibility.
Argaud 01-09-08, 06:01 AM	Wild Cohort is better than the ranger's animal companion class feature, how is that "Animal Companion Lite" or "not an animal companion, per se"?
Silverthumb 01-09-08, 10:23 AM	You can't use Animal Cohort to get a Worg since it's not an animal. Ditto for a Winter Wolf. Leadership would work in both cases though. Yes you can with Savage Empathy & Monstrous Animal Companion. Those two feats apply both to Animal Companion & to Wild Cohort.
Orenmir 01-09-08, 10:24 AM	Wild Cohort is better than the ranger's animal companion class feature, how is that "Animal Companion Lite" or "not an animal companion, per se"? Good point -- I was thinking of the Druid's Animal Companion. I guess a Wild Cohort is slightly better than a Ranger's Animal Companion. The Ranger already has some good features of his own; plus, he (and the Druid, for that matter) can have both an Animal Companion and a Wild Cohort!
Silverthumb 01-09-08, 10:36 AM	plus, he (and the Druid, for that matter) can have both an Animal Companion and a Wild Cohort! I also found this, which would allow for three more companions of the Magical Beast subtype, on top of the two you could have from AC & WC: http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ex/20070209a&page=4 Then, of course, there's Leadership, which just gets even crazier. I have a related question: I doubt it would be possible, but if you had Druid & Ranger levels, could you get 2 Animal Companions? Like I said, I doubt it, but I'm curious.
dman11235 01-09-08, 11:14 AM	And it's not an animal companion per se because it's a wild cohort. I don't see the words animal or companion in that title! It was me stretching.
Silverthumb 01-09-08, 11:19 AM	And it's not an animal companion per se because it's a wild cohort. I don't see the words animal or companion in that title! It was me stretching. But it does say in the feat's description that you choose from the Druid's companion list. With those two feats, Worg, among others, becomes added on, and thus, are available with WC, so it is ok by RAW. :D
Necromas 01-09-08, 05:56 PM	There are trained beasts as well, which require no feats or class abilities. There are plenty of books where you can find trainable animals, but here's one from the SRD, a giant eagle (they make awesome mounts for archers). You can buy a giant eagle egg (2500gp), or a giant eagle chick (4000gp) and pay a professional trainer to rear and train it for you (1000gp). Or, you can go out in the wild and use diplomacy or maybe magic to make a giant eagle friendly towards you, and train it yourself with handle animal (DC 25).
dman11235 01-10-08, 12:02 AM	Like I said, I was stretching due to my earlier comment, it is an animal companion even though it is an "animal cohort".