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Campaign Systems / Companions / Companion Plot Hooks

Animal Companion

Source Ultimate Campaign pg. 144
Unless you raised your animal companion from birth, it has its own history and secrets that are likely important and could surprise you. A druid’s wolf companion might have been saved by a famous ranger, fought in an orc tribe’s arena, or escaped a wizard’s experimental lab. What happens when that wolf recognizes that helpful ranger, savage orc, or mad wizard? Is the wolf aggressive when the druid isn’t around? Does it have behavior quirks like not letting anyone touch the druid when she’s sleeping, even allies trying to wake her? What if the companion was once a humanoid, but was cursed or polymorphed into a different shape and lost its memory about its original identity? What if another druid previously cast awaken on it, and it has been pretending to be a common animal so it can watch over or spy on a PC? The answers to these questions are the seeds to side plots or entire adventures.

Animal companions can also incite fear or prejudice among ignorant townsfolk. Most villages don’t want rowdy adventurers bringing wolves, bears, lions, giant snakes, and especially dinosaurs into the town square, and innkeepers don’t usually want the larger animals staying in rooms with guests. Stables might charge more to board exotic animals or entirely refuse to do so, and might not have appropriate food for them. If a village is experiencing attacks on its livestock, angry people might be quick to blame a carnivorous animal companion. Conversely, innocent children could have a circus-like fascination with exotic animal companions and help break the ice between visiting adventurers and suspicious locals.

Archives of Nethys

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Animal Companion