Animal Companion Effective Character Level

[kyrt-ryder]

There are some feats out there that reference the bearer's character level.

How is this treated when an animal companion [with at least 3 Int] takes such a feat?

Is it equal to their respective 'Companion Level' [the level which calculates their companion abilities]?

Or is it treated according to their Hit Dice?

[David knott 242]

Hit dice.

[kyrt-ryder]

Do you happen to have a reference for that anywhere, or is that your own interpretation David?

[DM_Blake]

It looks like a vote.

I've been seeing that a lot lately, where someone asks a rules question and then some people post replies with no rule or FAQ or even reference to a dev blog.

(hint: these terse replies with no rule support don't help ANYBODY understand the rules so they don't actually answer the question at all).

[dragonhunterq]

I agree with David, but cannot find any conclusive support, but in various places throughout the rules "hit dice" is synonymous with "level"
such as here and here as a couple of examples.

Nothing immediately strikes me as undermining that presumption.

[James Risner]

Character Level is how many Hit Dice do you have.

[David knott 242]

Look in the Magic or Spells section of either the Core Rulebook or the PRD:

'Hit Dice: The term “Hit Dice” is used synonymously with “character levels” for effects that affect a specific number of Hit Dice of creatures.'

If an effect is supposed to be based on the character level or the effective druid level of the animal companion's master, there would be a specific reference to that effect -- see the Eidolon evolutions under the Summoner class for examples of that sort of reference.

[kyrt-ryder]

Interesting.

So although it would be a ridiculous infinite loop [and one I would never attempt to use to that degree, because it's ridiculous. Perhaps set a limit to the chain of command equal to the Pack Leader's Charisma Score] there seems to be nothing RAW stopping an Animal Companion with at least 3 intelligence from taking Nature Soul, Animal Ally and Boon Companion to have a pack with a built in pecking order of who bosses whom.

Granted everybody not on the bottom is out three feats to make it work.

[Nefreet]

Character Level is the sum of a character's class levels.

Using the more strict interpretation I've encountered sometimes in PFS, abilities that reference "character level" do nothing for Animal Companions or Familiars, as they cannot have a character level unless Awakened.

The more liberal interpretation is to treat Hit Die as Character Level when determining the effects of feats and whatnot.

I am unaware of any further clarification on the matter.