Dragonne Animal Companion

[Stephen Ede]

I was looking at the Dragonne from the bonus beastiary as a possible Animal Companion but found the rules somewhat confusing.

It has 2 sections - "Dragonnes as Mounts" and "Dragonne Companions".

In "Dragonnes as Mounts" it says a character with the leadership feat can take the Dragonne as a mount using the animal companion rules. They have to have an effective Druid lev (EDL) of 10. The EDL countes as 4 levels lower for determining the abilities and statistics of the Dragonne. Taking the Dragonne in this way counts as the character Cohort.

In "Dragonne Companions" it just gives the starting stats and the advancement at 10th lev.

1) So are the "Dragonnes as mounts" just the rules that a Druid uses if he has Leadership and wants to have a Dragonne as a Cohort, on top of the Animal Companion he already has.

2) Or are they the rules the Druid has to follow if he wants to have a Dragonne as an Animal Companion.

3) And can a Druid or Ranger simply have a Dragonne as an Animal Companion without taking Leadership or using the rules from "Dragonnes as Mounts".

Thanks
Stephen E

[Morgen]

This might be something that gets a bit more of a solid answer when the Beastiary comes out in a month or so.

[lostpike]

Morgen wrote:

This might be something that gets a bit more of a solid answer when the Beastiary comes out in a month or so.

From my reading of this it is a Cohort and therefore requires Leadership. Doesnt seem to be a choice for a druid sadly...

[RicoTheBold]

I read it as:

1. Because a Dragonne is (always) intelligent, taking one as an animal companion requires the leadership feat and qualifies as your cohort, regardless of how you qualified for an animal companion (Druid class feature, Cleric with Animal domain, Paladin mount class feature, and maybe Ranger if your GM is nice).
2. Stats for taking Dragonne as an animal companion, regardless of how you qualified for one.

To support this idea, reference the Axe Beak description, which covers its animal companion stats with no mention of anything else. Also, the Leadership feat does not grant an "effective druid level" for the animal companion rules, so you must obtain those independently of the Leadership feat.

I think they were more intended for Paladins than Druids, but I would rule anyone with the Leadership feat and an effective druid level of 10 (with regard to animal companion rules) could take one as their animal companion/magical mount and cohort.