My party and I got into an extended chase with a group of bandits through the forest. As they were leading us through traps and shooting arrows at us the GM kept us in initiative/combat as we battled our way to them.
The rest of the party were using 2 or 3 actions of movement a turn, occasionally getting an attack in without too much trouble, but I am playing a ranger with an animal companion the GM said that I'd need to command my animal every turn to have it chase or attack the bandits. This meant I was only getting 2 actions to try to keep up and my animal companion only gets 2 actions even when I command it. This made it so we started to fall behind and I rarely got to do anything, which we all thought was odd because chasing things through a forest should be something that a ranger and an animal would excel at.
Is this right? If I don't continually compel my animal to chase something every few seconds does it slam on the brakes and sit there cross-eyed until I come back and tell it to keep running?
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Is this right? If I don't continually compel my animal to chase something every few seconds does it slam on the brakes and sit there cross-eyed until I come back and tell it to keep running?
Technically this is correct and has been implemented for the typical close range engagements found in your typical dungeon in order to not have pet or minion users break the action economy of the game.
Its wrong on many other levels including the one mentioned in your example.
Some people will disagree with me, and there is no RAW support for this, but an animal companion should follow on its own (and at full speed), without forcing the ranger to keep giving commands.
It makes no sense during encounter as it doesn't in other game modes, to have PCs with companions do nothing else than Command, or else their minion would be left behind.
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there is GM discretion towards Animal Companion behaviour but if your GM kept you in encounter mode for the chase there's really nothing to fix this imo.
Even if the companion acted on its own it's never intended to get 3 actions to do so in encounter mode.
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So, the group is going through the forest at the same speed; the GM switches to encounter mode for whatever reason, and now the ranger can only keep up with the rest of the party if their companion is left behind standing?
When a rule makes a situation absurd, it's not worth using.
Yeah, GM should have run it as the Chase subsystem, perhaps with some variant hazards thrown in. Encounter mode is supposed to be used when every action matters, but if everyone's spending 1+ actions every turn running away, that's not the case.
When a rule makes a situation absurd, it's not worth using.
Exactly, and with the addendum of "When a rule makes a situation absurd or causes people to have a lot less fun at your table, it's not worth using."
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When a rule makes a situation absurd, it's not worth using.
There's a rule for that:
The first rule of Pathfinder is that the game is yours....If any other rule gets in the way of your fun, as long as your group agrees, you can alter or ignore it to fit your story.
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Mature Companions get a free Stride action when not Commanded. Sounds like your Companion is Young. I don't necessarily think a Young Companion should have that much autonomy.
For a home game, though, ask your GM if you can Train your animal with some sort of "Heel" trick. Allows your Companion to follow you as a single Stride without being commanded. Or something. Then when it becomes Mature, you have a reason to explain its autonomy.
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Honestly it should have shifted to the Chase Sub-System. It's actually a pretty good system, and should have ended in an Encounter with the bandits when you caught up to them, or at the end of the chase when they get cornered or something. If I were running that I would say the AC keeps up on its own without your input, but it wouldn't be participating in the fight.
From the minion trait "If given no commands, minions use no actions except to defend themselves or to escape obvious harm."
It won't attack for you but it is reasonable to assume in a situation like this it would keep pace with you to the best of its abilities.
Chase scenes aren't meant to be run in combat rounds anyway, and minion rules are pretty specifically for combat.
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As a house rule, you could say that the animal keeps doing the last command as long as it's able to and doing so is not suicidal. So if you gave the order to chase/attack an enemy and you are running along right beside it, it makes sense that it keeps doing as you commanded as long as you are still there.
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Yeah, GM should have run it as the Chase subsystem, perhaps with some variant hazards thrown in. Encounter mode is supposed to be used when every action matters, but if everyone's spending 1+ actions every turn running away, that's not the case.
I don't think the transition is as clean as that. What happens when you catch the enemy but they simply move faster and run off the game board. What happens when a side simply can't break away.
Often the more mobile side will choose to set the range and stay engaged.
This is an area of the rules that should be fixed.
I normally do allow mounts and animals companions in particular the extra move in this type of situation.
It is really irritationg when being mounted on a horse is the slow option. It is rather frustrating that the horse you buy at the market is faster that the Champions trusty steed.