Domiated Druid and Animal Companion behaviour

[balthus247]

So, in the current campaign I'm playing, my paty ecountered a group of vampires, and my character (rogue) and the druid have been dominated. My question is: The druid's companion acts under the dominated druid's commands or not?

[Rajnish Umbra, Shadow Caller]

You can make a sense motive check DC 15 to check if someone is dominated. The GM might allow an animal companion (especially if it's smart enough) to do that check and notice that its druid is acting "off" and shouldn't be listened to.

But in general? Yeah, dominate the pet master and you get two for the price of one.

[Azothath]

a group of vampires (!!!) run!

Animal companions will follow the instructions given by their master. Some commands require the master 'pushing' the animal and some commands the animal won't do (GM gray area).
Animals won't normally attack unnatural creatures which is why you have to train the animal with the attack trick twice.
I'd agree (GM's gray area) that with time or unusual circumstances the animal would gain a Sense Motive check.

[Philippe Lam]

Would depend of a couple of factors :

- Is the new order given to the AC reasonable or not
- Who it might be directed to attack/protect/etc
- If it previously sensed any odd sign or niot

I don't know what else could be brought from the rabbit's hat, but given sense motive isn't what the players would usually put on an AC, there's a fair chance that it will also be turned back on the party. Nearly happened to me one or two times, could have been disastrous.

[BigNorseWolf]

I bet the fighters wishing he'd shared his chicken wings with the velociratpor now...

[Melkiador]

The animal companion is basically just a well trained animal, so it will do whatever you want if it's got a trick to do that. The more intelligent pets, like familiars and eidolons, could potentially object to your dominated actions.

[Redelia]

I would probably allow the sense motive to the animal, and then give a +2 circumstance bonus to the difficulty of the handle animal check if the animal detected something was off, if this was a very 'by the rules' game. In a more flexible home game, the animal companion might simply refuse to attack people it has come to love almost as much as its master.

[QuidEst]

If you expect the animal companion to attack a doppelgänger of a party member when ordered to, or protect the Druid if the party were dominated instead, then yes, the companion will attack the party at the Druid’s command (and likely of its own volition if the Druid just starts attacking the party without issuing a command).

[Melkiador]

There is also the greyer area of intelligent animal companions, like the paladin mount. Those animals should act appropriately for an animal of their intelligence and wisdom.

[Fuzzy-Wuzzy]

As Sense Motive is a Wis skill, not an Int, I would definitely give the animal a Sense Motive roll no matter how stupid it is, with a circumstance bonus for being ordered to attack creatures previously established as friends. But success just means the Handle Animal DC goes up by maybe +5 at most, not that the a/c flat-out refuses to obey its master.