In the bestiary, Leopards are listed as having speed 30 and climb 20, and cheetahs are listed as having speed 50 and a sprint ability that gets them to speed 500 once per hour. Both are medium size.
In the CRB, one of the Druid's choices for animal companion is "cat, small (cheetah, leopard)". This cat has speed 50 and does not gain sprint until the druid reaches fourth level. Is this correct, or is the companion either a cheetah or a leopard, with different movement abilities depending on which it is?
The stats don't change based on whether you state it's a cheetah or leopard.
Animal Companions are their own set of rules, unrelated to the Bestiary creatures despite the names.
Okay, thanks.
On Earth, cheetahs and leopards are not the same species. They're not even in the same subfamily. Leopards are Pantherinae Pantheris Pardus, cheetahs are Felinae Acinonyx Jubatus. The latter are more closely related to cougars (Felinae Puma Concolor) than to leopards. Not that that should make any difference to Golarion, I suppose. :-)
In D&D/Pathfinder, nonsensical things, relative to reality, happen. Either it violates people's sense of...whatever, or you just ignore it and move on. :)
