Animal Companions_Command an Animal rules

[JOSEPH ROSA]

I love all the rules regarding animal companions in this playtest. Animal Companions have real growth which is great, and so far they seem to have a fair effectiveness in combat which is pretty diverse depending on the animal you choose.

One question that arises is regarding the Command an Animal rules and explanations as they apply to Animal Companions. While it is clear that a player CAN use the Command an Animal action to control the pet, it is not very clear on whether or not it is required every time it comes to the player who commands the pets turn. For example, if a player "lets say a Ranger" commands their Animal Companion to move to an enemy creature and then attack as its two actions and the Animal Companion does not kill the enemy, is it required to command that animal to continue the attack the next turn?

It does seem that the Command the Animal action is the tool designed to allow the players the control of Animal Companions in combat and it functions well as a tool for combat in that regard, however it seems that some confusion could arise as to when it is appropriate or not. Command an Animal does not seem to have function outside of combat and yet it is a common RP thing with classes who use pets to use them to help them track prey, or listen for enemy ambush, or sniff out wild berries and food. There is no explanation as to how Animal Companions function in this regard either.

I suppose in summary it simply seems that there are considerations and rules in place for using the Animal Companion as a combat pet but not as a RP element. Thanks for reading the wordy post. Hope to be of help.

[Fuzzy-Wuzzy]

JOSEPH ROSA wrote:

One question that arises is regarding the Command an Animal rules and explanations as they apply to Animal Companions. While it is clear that a player CAN use the Command an Animal action to control the pet, it is not very clear on whether or not it is required every time it comes to the player who commands the pets turn. For example, if a player "lets say a Ranger" commands their Animal Companion to move to an enemy creature and then attack as its two actions and the Animal Companion does not kill the enemy, is it required to command that animal to continue the attack the next turn?

Yes (unless you have the spiffy ability some classes can get to let your companion take a single Stride or Strike action w/o being commanded), because they have the minion trait:

Glossary wrote:

Minion A creature with this trait can use only 2 actions per turn and can’t use reactions. A minion acts on your turn in combat when you spend an action to issue it verbal commands (this action has the concentrate trait). If given no commands, minions use no actions except to defend themselves or to escape obvious harm. If left unattended for at least 1 minute, mindless minions don’t act, whereas intelligent ones act as they please.

Kinda sucky and unrealistic, but they want to avoid the gross action economy increase of A/Cs in PF1.

[Bardarok]

Doesn't continuing to fight something they are engaged with count as defending themselves though? That's how I interpreted it.