Support United Paizo Workers! Click here for more details!
Player > Equipment > Companions
The solitude of space can prove tough to bear for even the
most hardened soloist. It’s no wonder, then, that across the
entire galaxy, members of countless species take up creature
companions ranging from show pets to emotional support
animals to combat-ready mounts. Whether such a pairing
is born of cultural tradition, lucky happenstance, or even
reluctant necessity, few bonds are stronger.
This section presents rules for creature companions in
Starfinder. Whether you want a pet that primarily participates
in roleplay, a combat-ready tactical ally, or some blend of the
two, this system has you covered! First, Gaining a Creature
Companion explains how to secure your own companion. Next,
Creature Companions in Combat and Creature Companion
Mounts introduce the feats needed to control your companion,
as well as rules for utilizing it in combat and as a mount. Click here, Creating Companions provides statistics for a creature
companion of any level, followed by a number of common
creature companions in the Pact Worlds. Finally, Creature
Companion Equipment right here has equipment you might
find useful in conjunction with your creature companion.
Characters can obtain creature companions in countless
ways, but the most straightforward is through purchase. This
section explains the most common ways that a PC can gain
and bond with a creature companion, as well as rules for how
it can increase in power.
Purchasing a Companion: The Creature Companion Statistics
table on here lists the price for a creature companion at
every level; purchasing one follows the same level guidelines
as purchasing equipment.
Obtaining a Companion: Your GM might provide a creature
companion as part of allotted treasure or as a story award, such
as if you rescue an experiment from a genetics lab.
Bonding with a Companion: However you obtain a creature
companion, you can bond with it by attempting Survival
checks to handle an animal (even if it has a different creature
type and regardless of its Intelligence score) to improve its
attitude toward you to helpful. The DC of this check is equal
to 10 + 1-1/2 × the companion’s level, and you can attempt
this check once per day. Most purchased creature companions
start with an attitude of indifferent, but the GM might
determine that a companion instead starts with an attitude of
friendly, unfriendly, or even hostile. If you purchase a creature
companion at character creation, it automatically begins
with an attitude of helpful. All the special rules of creature
companions function only with a creature companion you
have successfully bonded with. No matter how many creature
companions you purchase or otherwise acquire, you can be
bonded to only a single creature companion at a time.
Creature Companion Level: Your creature companion does
not have a separate pool of experience points. It is eligible to
gain a level whenever you do, but its level doesn’t actually
increase until you spend the time and effort training it to match
your new, greater degree of expertise. This requires you to pay
credits equal to the cost of buying a new creature companion of
the creature companion’s new level on the Creature Companion
Statistics table, minus the cost of its previous level. If you are
more than 1 level higher than your creature companion, it
can gain multiple levels, each requiring the appropriate credit
expenditure, until its level matches yours. Normally a creature
companion cannot gain more than 1 level in a week.
Replacing a Companion: You can have only one creature
companion at any time. If your creature companion is lost
or killed, or if you release it (see below), you can purchase
(or your GM can provide you) a new one.
Releasing a Creature Companion: Sometimes you must part
ways with even the most stalwart companion. Perhaps you
reunite an orphaned creature with others of its species, or
maybe you don’t want to endanger your friend on a dangerous
journey. Whatever the reason, you can end the bond with your
creature companion at any time by rolling a Survival check with
a DC equal to 10 + double the companion’s level. If you succeed,
your companion understands and complies, remaining friendly
toward you for 1d10 years. If you fail the Survival check, your
separation is less amicable. The creature becomes indifferent
to you immediately, and its attitude toward you is unaffected
by your past relationship after 2d10 weeks. Regardless of the
check result, you are then free to bond with a new companion.
Languages: Creature companions don’t speak any language
and are immune to language-dependent effects, unless their
description says otherwise.
The following are the only actions a creature companion can take unless otherwise stated.
Attack
Fight defensively
Total defense
Crawl
Guarded step
Move your speed
Stand up
Drop prone
Charge
Fight defensively
Full attack
Run
Withdraw
Attack of opportunity
*These actions are available only if you have the appropriate creature companion feat.
You can take the following actions while mounted; those with a listed DC require a successful Survival check to ride. These are in addition to the actions you can normally take. Your mount’s speeds replace your speeds, and you can’t crawl or drop prone while mounted.
Dismount
Ride
Cover (DC 15)
Fast dismount (DC 20)
Fight with a combat-trained mount (DC 10)
Soft fall (DC 15)
Stay mounted (DC 5)
Controlling a creature companion in combat requires focus and
coordination. You can control only one creature at a time, giving
it commands it follows to the best of its ability, and it must be
within 20 feet of you. The actions a creature companion can
take are severely limited; granting it other actions requires the
Creature Companion Adept feat (see page 140).
Actions: On each round you control your creature companion,
after you act and only if you didn’t grant your creature
companion any actions, it can take one move action (this does
not require you to take an action). If a creature companion is
able to take other actions (such as those you grant it using the
Creature Companion Adept and related feats), it can take only
the actions listed in the Creature Companion Actions sidebar on
page 140, unless specified otherwise. Each action is described
further on pages 244–249 of the Core Rulebook. However it’s
controlled, each turn a creature companion can at most take a
standard, move, and swift action, or take a full action. It can
also take one reaction. A companion takes actions as soon as
they are granted unless otherwise stated.
If you’re riding your creature companion as a mount, it may
also have other options in combat (see Creature Companion
Mounts on page 140).
Injury and Death: Creature companions don’t have Resolve
Points or Stamina Points. Effects that would restore Stamina
Points to a creature companion restore Hit Points instead.
When you spend a Resolve Point to recover Stamina Points
during a 10-minute rest, your creature companion regains
Hit Points up to half its total. When a creature companion is
reduced to 0 Hit Points, it is knocked unconscious and begins
dying. Three rounds after it was knocked out, it dies unless it
is stabilized or regains at least 1 Hit Point.
If you become unconscious or otherwise unresponsive, or if your creature companion is ever out of range, your creature companion can’t take any actions except the following until you are again able to command it or it is once more within range. At the beginning of each of your turns, your creature companion attempts a DC 15 Will save. On a success, it takes a move action to move its speed toward you, unless it’s already adjacent to you, in which case it takes the total defense action. If it fails its save, it uses one move action to flee to the best of its ability, using any special abilities that help it do so.
Your creature companion can carry you as a mount if it is at
least one size category larger than you. Mounting your creature
companion requires you to be adjacent to it and takes a move
action. You can attempt a DC 20 Survival check to mount your
companion as a swift action instead; failure wastes the swift
action. If you are knocked prone while mounted, you fall off
your mount. The GM might determine that you can use other
creatures as mounts, possibly with a DC that’s 2–10 higher for
Survival checks while mounted. Riding a creature without a
saddle (see page 147) imparts a –5 penalty to your checks to ride.
Bulk: You can mount your creature companion as long as
the total amount of bulk you’re carrying doesn’t exceed your
carrying capacity. If you have the encumbered condition (or
gain the overburdened condition) while mounted, your creature
companion gains the same condition while you are riding it.
Combat: To use your creature companion as a mount during
combat, you must either have the Combat-Trained Mount feat
(see page 140) or succeed at a DC 20 Survival check to ride
for each action you attempt to take (or have your creature
companion take; see control mount in battle on page 149 of
the Core Rulebook). The actions you can take while mounted
are listed in the Actions while Mounted sidebar; these are in
addition to the actions you can normally take. Further rules
for the ride task of the Survival skill are referenced here and
are detailed on page 149 of the Core Rulebook.
Speed and Movement: While you’re riding your creature
companion, your mount’s speeds replace your own speeds,
and you use them in place of your own when moving your
speed, including when using abilities that allow you to move
your speed (such as the operative’s trick attack). When you use
an action that includes movement, your mount uses the same
action (even if it couldn’t normally take that action otherwise).
This counts as granting your creature companion an action.
If you can grant your mount additional actions (such as with
a creature companion feat), it’s still limited to its maximum
number of actions per turn (see Actions on page 138).
Space and Reach: If your mount is exactly one size larger than
you, you treat its space as your space for the purpose of reach.
If your mount is more than one size larger than you, you must
decide which square or squares of the mount’s space you occupy
and calculate your reach normally. You choose this location when
you mount the creature companion, and you can move 5 feet to
a different space on your mount as a move action.
The following are move actions you can take while mounted.
Dismount: You dismount, moving into an empty space
adjacent to your mount. This movement provokes attacks of
opportunity as normal. This does not require a Survival check.
Ride: You move your speed using the mount’s speed (or one
of its speeds, if it has more than one). This does not require
a Survival check, but it does require you to use two hands,
which you can’t use to hold or wield items unless you succeed
at a Survival check to use the guide with knees action (Core
Rulebook 149). As part of this move action, you can attempt
to increase your mount’s speed using the spur mount action,
or you can attempt to jump using the leap action; both are
detailed on page 149 of the Core Rulebook. If you attempt the
leap action, you use your Survival skill bonus to ride instead
of your creature companion’s Athletics bonus.
The following are swift actions you can take while mounted.
Cover (DC 15): As a swift action, you can drop to the side of
your mount and gain cover; see page 149 of the Core Rulebook
for more information.
Fast Dismount (DC 20): As a swift action, you can dismount
from your mount. If you fail the check, the swift action is
wasted and you do not dismount.
Fight from a Combat-Trained Mount (DC 10): If you and
your mount are both able to attack in the same turn (if you
have the Creature Companion Expert feat, for example), you
must succeed at a Survival check to ride before either of you
attempt to do so. If you fail this check, either you or mount
can attack that turn, but not both.
The following are reactions you can take while mounted.
Soft Fall (DC 15): If you are knocked prone, you can attempt
a Survival check to ride to reduce the damage you take from
the fall by 1d6.
Stay Mounted (DC 5): If you would fall off your mount for
a reason other than being knocked prone, you can attempt a
Survival check to ride to avoid falling off.
During your travels through the galaxy, you may seek out
a creature to accompany you. Use the Creature Companion
Statistics table (see page 143) in conjunction with one of the
stat blocks in the Creature Companions of the Pact Worlds
section (see pages 142–147) to generate statistics for your
creature companion.
At the GM’s discretion, you can work with them to create
a custom creature companion. The GM should use the
Creature Companion Statistics table for your companion’s
basic statistics, and then give it at most one free special
ability and one standard special ability as outlined for
NPCs in Step 6: Special Abilities on pages 141–142 of the
Starfinder Alien Archive. The GM can also use the Companions
of the Pact Worlds section (see below) to get a sense of
appropriate abilities.
Use the following information to determine your creature
companion’s statistics. Use the statistics presented on the table
without applying ability modifiers unless otherwise stated.
Level: Your creature companion’s statistics, and sometimes
its abilities, are based on its level.
Price: This is the price in credits for a creature companion
of the listed level. This might represent the cost of advanced
training, basic supplies, food used to win the creature’s
friendship, or licenses and vaccinations. The GM might waive
the price for creatures you gained during adventures.
Hit Points: This is the creature’s Hit Point total. A creature
companion doesn’t have Stamina Points or Resolve Points.
Attack Bonus: This is the total attack bonus for any of the
creature’s melee or ranged attacks.
Damage: This is the damage the creature deals with its
natural weapons. It adds its Strength modifier to this damage
for melee attacks.
EAC and KAC: These are the creature companion’s Energy
Armor Class and Kinetic Armor Class.
Good Save Bonus and Poor Save Bonus: These are the
creature’s saving throw bonuses. Each creature companion
lists which one of its saving throws uses the good bonus and
which two use the poor bonus.
Ability Modifiers: These are the creature’s two highest
ability modifiers, as determined by its specific stat block
(see pages 143–147). Unless otherwise noted, its Intelligence
modifier is –4 and its other ability modifiers are +0.
Skill Bonus: This is the total bonus for the creature’s skill
checks. Unless otherwise noted, creature companions can
attempt only Acrobatics, Athletics, Perception, and Stealth
checks, and Survival skill checks to endure severe weather,
follow tracks, live off the land, and orienteer.
Website owned by Mark von Drake. All content on this website owned by Paizo Inc. Privacy policy can be found here.
Contact: markvondrake@thehiddentruth.info