Animals out of control?

[WolfVibes]

This is my first forum post! Yay! Please be gentle...

So Ive been playing PFS for about a year now and have been puzzled by a couple of concepts therein involving the purchase of animals.

First, I've noticed some players with some kinddda crazy animals they've bought. A combat trained tiger? Wooly Mammoth? Surely this cant be legal in PFS, can it? Can the Handle Animal skill be use in combat, as a Free Action?

Secondly, I was planning on purchasing a Figurine of Wondrous Power. But is there a point when I can buy a Cheetah for 500g and just sink my next Levels worth of skill points into raising Handle Animal? Does Paizo intend to ever maybe buff the Figurines to make them worth buying? I know that you can command them to shrink back to the figurine, so that's a plus...I guess?

Would someone care to offer me some clarity on how Handle Animal was intended to work and maybe if there just some facets to this that I am just not understanding?

[Funky Badger]

Have the read the CRB (Core Rule Book)?

[Avianfoo]

Handle Animal

Animals that arn't animal companions are not that good since they don't scale with a characters level and they require a move action on your part just to get them to do something. However animal companions can be handled as a free action.

Also elephants are not PFS legal.

[Kolokotroni]

Are you certain these were not animal companions but purchased animals? Because only an animal companion can be handled as a free action.

[WolfVibes]

I am certain they weren't. Fighters and Monks don't get companions. Ive read the CRB, and I have mentioned that I thought It was a move action and that things such as Flanking with a pet is a trick with a decent roll,but I didn't have it on hand, and was told that since speaking is a free action, commanding a pet was as well. Its certainly a thing that I wont sit on anymore. And Also, whats stopping a person from just buying a new animal when their old one isn't cutting it anymore?

Also, thanks for the quick responses, they were very helpful.

[pauljathome]

As long as the GM follows the rules purchased animals aren't all that powerful except at low levels.

They CAN be abusive at low levels, however. Eg, Dire bat, tiger. But they come at a considerable downside so its probably no huge deal.

[NikTheAvatar]

There is a Paizo Blog post from Adam Mogyordi (VC for Ontario, Canada) with a great summary of the rules and restrictions, released around the same time as Animal Archive. It may help clarify a few things for wayward players.

Animals and Their Tricks