animal companion stats and attack roll questions


Rules Questions


Ok I have an animal companion and I have some questions on it. First is when it comes to the attack roll on its natural weapons.

According the rules of natural attacks

Most creatures possess one or more natural attacks (attacks made without a weapon). These attacks fall into one of two categories, primary and secondary attacks. Primary attacks are made using the creature’s full base attack bonus and add the creature’s full Strength bonus on damage rolls. Secondary attacks are made using the creature’s base attack bonus –5 and add only 1/2 the creature’s Strength bonus on damage rolls. If a creature has only one natural attack, it is always made using the creature’s full base attack bonus and adds 1-1/2 times the creature’s Strength bonus on damage rolls. This increase does not apply if the creature has multiple attacks but only takes one. If a creature has only one type of attack, but has multiple attacks per round, that attack is treated as a primary attack, regardless of its type.

And the rules to attack bonus you get on a attack roll are:

Your attack bonus with a melee weapon is:

Base attack bonus + Strength modifier + size modifier

Your attack bonus with a ranged weapon is:

Base attack bonus + Dexterity modifier + size modifier + range penalty

I would consider my animal companion's natural attacks to be melee, so does that mean I use my animal companion's full bab(only on primary attacks, -5 for secondary), strength modifier, and its size modifier when determining the total hit to enemy's ac after I make the attack roll and add them into what I rolled on the d20. This is under normal conditions and does not include bonuses and penlites to the attack roll due to special circumstances or actions.

Also according to the rules up top my animal companion would take a -1 when it becomes large to it's attack roll and ac. And let's say if an animal companion became huge(taking first lvl dip into mammoth rider) then it would take another -1 for a total of -2 to it's attack roll and ac.

Can anyone tell me if I am reading the rules right or is there something I am getting wrong or forgetting.

Grand Lodge

You're right.

But you're thinking about "another -1 for becoming huge" is wrong. You look at the size modifier table and that is the number you use. You have a total of -1 for being large. A total of -2 for being huge. This is important because if you go up another size it doesn't add another -1. At this point it would be a total of -4 for being gargantuan.

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