I am running a game at the moment and my group barely escaped an encounter which resulted in three deaths, my wizard, my ranger and his companion lion. The rest of the group do have a plan on reviving everyone but my ranger is wanting a new companion.
My group is level 14 (some with a neg level atm, mwahahaha) and my ranger has boon companion and all that good stuff. Since the players really only have about a weeks layover in the city, I would like my ranger to be able to buy a wolf companion already knowing around half his tricks. Is that possible? And if so how much would that cost them? I have absolutely no idea how to approach this as it is new territory for me as a GM so any advice would be appreciated.
Acording to this a Wolf costs 100 gp and a Dire Wolf (since a level 14 ranger's companion should already be large) 380 gp. As a rule of thumb a combat-trained animal costs half-again as much.
It's an animal companion. There is not cost to replace it, just a bit of time. 24 hours of prayer, to be exact.
It can have either the same tricks as your previous animal companion or a completely new load out. Player choice.
Another note: the animal companion doesn't have to die for you to replace it. Going into a desert for a few weeks? 24 hours of prayer and pick yourself up a camel for an animal companion. Done with the desert and going spelunking? Dismiss your camel, pray for 24 hours, and grab yourself a giant centipede companion. Out of the caves and going into a forest for a few weeks? Thanks, centipede, but you're done! 24 hours later and you have yourself a wolf for a friend.
Animal companions are supposed to be changed out often. That's why it's only 24 hours to get a new one, and no additional cost.
Compare that to a familiar, which takes a week to replace plus 200gp per class level.
It's an animal companion. There is not cost to replace it, just a bit of time. 24 hours of prayer, to be exact.
It can have either the same tricks as your previous animal companion or a completely new load out. Player choice.
Another note: the animal companion doesn't have to die for you to replace it. Going into a desert for a few weeks? 24 hours of prayer and pick yourself up a camel for an animal companion. Done with the desert and going spelunking? Dismiss your camel, pray for 24 hours, and grab yourself a giant centipede companion. Out of the caves and going into a forest for a few weeks? Thanks, centipede, but you're done! 24 hours later and you have yourself a wolf for a friend.
Animal companions are supposed to be changed out often. That's why it's only 24 hours to get a new one, and no additional cost.
Compare that to a familiar, which takes a week to replace plus 200gp per class level.
Are you sure? I was fairly certain that animal companion replacements only got the bonus tricks. That is the only line I see about skipping the need for training (and only for those tricks). That is one of the main advantages of the bonus trick ability.
Oh, and it is 5 bonus tricks atlevel 14-at least 1/2 (or 1/3 if you put 3 into int) of the tricks it could know. Which should help the original problem, I suppose. Unless he wanted half of the tricks it would know from intelligence.
Yeah; sorry. I was not assuming that the player taught their animal companion any new tricks above and beyond the free ones from bonus tricks. I rarely do with my animal companions.
And since an FAQ was brought up, do be aware that the FAQ is from PFS, which is essentially a type of house rule and should not be used as official outside of PFS. It's a good rule, but still a house rule.