Does anyone know how multiple animal companions would advance in level if I get them from different classes? For example if I am a level 8 Druid, a level 7 Cleric with the animal domain, and a level 5 Ranger. Would I be able to get 3 companions? How would leveling for them work, would it matter what order I took my own levels?
Thanks
You don't get multiple companions. You add up all of your effective druid levels to determine the animal companions abilities. They all say something similiar to the following:
If a character receives an animal companion from more than one source, her effective druid levels stack for the purposes of determining the statistics and abilities of the companion.
So your Druid 8/Cleric 7/Ranger 5 is treated as a 14th level druid for his animal companion abilities. (Both Clerics and Rangers are treated as a druid of their cleric or ranger level -3 for animal companion abilities.)
That's actually not true anymore Jeraa (or perhaps has never been, 100% not sure on that). There is nothing in any of the class feature descriptions to indicate they stack. And there is an explicit example in the Guide to Pathfinder Society (Druid5/Ranger5) stating you would have two animal companions.
That said, in a home game I would most certainly allow them to stack - it really seems silly they don't.
Assuming they don't - each one progresses according to whichever class level (-3 for Ranger & Cleric) the companion came from.
That's actually not true anymore Jeraa (or perhaps has never been, 100% not sure on that). There is nothing in any of the class feature descriptions to indicate they stack. And there is an explicit example in the Guide to Pathfinder Society (Druid5/Ranger5) stating you would have two animal companions.
That said, in a home game I would most certainly allow them to stack - it really seems silly they don't.
Assuming they don't - each one progresses according to whichever class level (-3 for Ranger & Cleric) the companion came from.
It says that in my copy of the rulebook, the SRD on this site and this one, and the official errata makes no mention of changing it, so the levels do stack. The rules clearly do state you add all of your effective druid levels together to determine your animal companions abilities.
Unless you meant the part about only getting one companion. That part isn't clear, and therefore you probably could get multiple companions. (I would never allow it, but that is what the rules seem to indicate.) But if you did have multiple companions, they would all use your effective druid level for their abilities. So the Druid 8/Cleric 7/Ranger 5 would (or could possibly) have 3 companions, all at level 14 for their abilities.