Animal companions and spell attacks of opportunity

[Dilarus]

Hi all, just going through the rules and running a training combat and I couldn't find rules for a few things:

Do animal companions roll initiative and take their own turns like player characters? I couldn't find anything in the Animal Companion or Initiative sections, so I assumed they acted on the Druid's turn, and then only when the Druid commands it (as it's two actions for one it seemed balanced). But then the Druid went down and now I'm left wondering if I was wrong in my assumption, as the Druid can't take actions so the animal companion essentially sits there and does nothing.

Also since it came up, does a spell like Fire Ray cause an attack of opportunity? It doesn't have the manipulate trait, but since it has a range of 60ft I treated it as a "ranged attack" even thought it doesn't have the ranged keyword and assumed yes. Sorry for the beginner question, I've come here from 5e and it'd be called a "ranged spell attack" there, so includes the "ranged" keyword and thus would qualify. I'm still getting used to the wording of this system :p

Thank you for reading!

[ofMars]

Yeah, it will provoke on account of being a ranged attack, even though it doesn't have the other tag. As for animal companions, they get 2 actions on their owners turn if the owner takes a "command an animal" action.

CRB pg 214 wrote:

An animal companion is a loyal comrade who follows

your orders without you needing to use Handle an Animal
on it. Your animal companion has the minion trait, and it
gains 2 actions during your turn if you use the Command
an Animal action to command it; this is in place of the
usual effects of Command an Animal.

[Dilarus]

ofMars wrote:

Yeah, it will provoke on account of being a ranged attack, even though it doesn't have the other tag. As for animal companions, they get 2 actions on their owners turn if the owner takes a "command an animal" action.

CRB pg 214 wrote:

An animal companion is a loyal comrade who follows

your orders without you needing to use Handle an Animal
on it. Your animal companion has the minion trait, and it
gains 2 actions during your turn if you use the Command
an Animal action to command it; this is in place of the
usual effects of Command an Animal.

Thanks for the answers! So what do animal companions do if their owner is downed? Do they just stand there and do nothing? It seems a little harsh, like it won't even try and defend its owner, or get out of danger itself :(

[ofMars]

This is sort of GM discretion territory

CRB pg 301 wrote:

If given no commands, by default

minions use no actions except to defend themselves or to
escape obvious harm. If left unattended for long enough,
typically 1 minute, mindless minions usually don’t act,
animals often indulge their creature comforts, and sapient
minions act how they please

Fleeing is pretty clear, but "defend themselves" is sort of up for interpretation. Do they continue to spend their actions attacking even if they haven't been told to this round? It's the GM's call. I currently have a ranger with a companion in a game I'm running, if she went down, her tiger would stay near her body and spend both its actions readying an attack against any perceived enemy that came near, but your table (or animal) might be different.

[thenobledrake]

Animal Companions keep themselves alive if not being commanded.

[Penthau]

When a spell has somatic components it gains the manipulate trait, so it would draw ops.

[Dilarus]

thenobledrake wrote:

Animal Companions keep themselves alive if not being commanded.

Do you have a ruling for this or is it just how you play?

@ofmars I like that interpretation. I don't mean to keep referencing D&D 5th, but an animal companion in that system uses its actions to protect its master, which seems to be the most logical response for a loyal animal. It is, as you say, up for the GM to decide then I guess.

@Penthau, ah that rings a bell! I found that rule, thank you very much!

[thenobledrake]

Dilarus, the rules citation actually ninja'd my post.

[Dilarus]

Ah, I missed the box in ofMars' post. If that's the rule in the book I can work with that just fine. I'd assume the DM can control the animal and have it react in an appropriate fashion given its personality, and relationship with the owner.

Thanks for the help!

[Dilarus]

Also for anyone else finding this p[ost, the rules on Pg 301 under "minion" state that the minion acts in combat on your turn :)

Also pg 214 states that animal companions have the "minion" trait, so that answers that.

Pg 301 also states that you can only use the command action once a turn I don't think this is mentioned elsewhere :/