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Do druids/rangers/wizards get to physically control their animal?
Like, does it basically function as another character for them to do combat with.
If they are, I assume I should roll seperate inititive for them?
Generally sdpeaking, yes, but the DM should check the tricks the animal knows to ensure its being used correctly. Also remember that commanding the animal is a move action.
You probably should, but it will increase the complexity of the combat slightly.
EDIT: Also remember the animal is still just an animal. Complex plans are not going to work very well.
In case of Animal Companions (druid and rangers) they are useful in combat and as for rules act in the same initiative of their masters.
Wzards familiars are usually small and weak creatures, not suitable for combat.They give their masters skill or save bonuses and other stuff,like exchanging info from a distance, cast spells through the animal and mentally talking with it (depending on level)
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Do druids/rangers/wizards get to physically control their animal?
Like, does it basically function as another character for them to do combat with.
If they are, I assume I should roll seperate inititive for them?Generally sdpeaking, yes, but the DM should check the tricks the animal knows to ensure its being used correctly. Also remember that commanding the animal is a move action.
You probably should, but it will increase the complexity of the combat slightly.
EDIT: Also remember the animal is still just an animal. Complex plans are not going to work very well.
Commanding an animal companion to perform a trick that it knows is a free action (due to the Link ability). It still requires a DC 10 Handle Animal check, which gets a +4 bonus, so with any ranks in the skill it's more or less guaranteed.
Pushing an animal companion to do something not included in its known tricks is more difficult and potentially can fail.
If the animal acts on a different initiative, someone has to remember what action it's meant to take on its next turn (and it might try to do that trick even though events have moved on), so it's much simpler for it to carry out the order immediately.
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Familiars are intelligent enough to follow a plan...animal companions can do tricks. So while you can pretty much control a familiar, the animal companion is limited in what they can do somewhat. Also they are NPC and as such the DM can just flat out say no...like if you try to move make an unprotected familiar or animal companion swim in lava.
One thing a druid can do is assign his or her companion's ability increase to intelligence. This gives any normally 2 int animal a 3 in intelligence, which allows them to understand the Common tongue, and removes any need for 'tricks'. Speaking is a free action in most situations, so this allows the ability to change plans on the fly, and include the companion in evolving battle strategies. As a fan of druids for quite a while, I can tell you that this plan is tried and true.
One thing a druid can do is assign his or her companion's ability increase to intelligence. This gives any normally 2 int animal a 3 in intelligence, (...)
While I agree with the idea, some might argue (and have done so) that a creature with Int 3+ is not a regular animal anymore and therefore doesn't qualify to be an Animal Companion anymore (and you lose it).