Handle Animal with Animal Companion For Druid

[Venom007]

Level 6 druid with animal companion Ape.
druid wildshapes into dire tiger form but has wild speech and can talk normally

Now our group MAY have been playing this incorrectly, does an AC trained already in the Fighting group tricks need the druid to make a handle animal check at DC10 to attack what the druid attacks? Or is this an automatic free action to communicate to the AC "Hey big ape, hit what Im hitting!"

When does handle animal come into play for a druid+his AC?

[DeltaOneG]

Every group I've been in has ignored the handle animal portion of an animal companion.

That said, as long as the companion knows a given trick it is always a free action for the druid to handle animal on his/her animal companion.

This rule is under the 'link' ability animal companions get when the druid is first level.

If the animal companion does not know a given trick (and must be 'pushed') it requires a move action.

[N N 959]

Technically, the Druid must make HA checks whenever she wants the ACom to do something. As long as the druid has been putting points in HA, with a 14 WIS, I think a DC10 is automatic by level 1. This is a a free action. But remember, a character has a limited number of Free/Swift actions per round. If the animal has not been trained on a trick, then it's a Move action and takes a DC 25. If the animal is wounded, the DC goes up by +2 for both trained and untrained tricks.

Being able to speak with the animal or raising the animals INT to 3, does not change the requirements for HA checks.

ACom's can be extremely powerful for a Druid. They also clog the battlefield and steal thunder from other PC's. The need to make HA checks is part of what keeps the animals from being too good. If the GM doesn't impose or require checks when appropriate, the ACom can be more powerful than intended, particularly if that animal is doing a lot of fighting.Most GM's just let the player do whatever they want with the animal and this contributes to the animals+druid overpowering the other PC's.

For example, if the animal does not know the Stay or Heel command, the GM should have the ACom wander around in combat if not given a command. Forcing the Druid to burn a Move action to order the animal to Flank, will prevent the Druid from getting in a Full Round of attacks. If the animal is ordered Down, that doesn't mean it will return to the Druid.

Outside of combat, a Druid can take 20 to push an animal to do a trick it doesn't konw. But this still takes time and would be noticeable by nearby creatures.

Also remember the Druid cannot see through the animal's eyes/ears. So unless the Druid can speak with animals, it won't know what the animal perceives.

In practice, most GM's don't to deal with it.