I used my Druid power to turn my animal into an anthropomorphic one, and a spell of permanency to make it permanent. Is it possible for my animal take levels in an NPC or PC class?
[RPG] Can a permanently anthropomorphic animal companion take levels in an NPC or PC class
animal-companionsclassdruidnpcpathfinder-1e
Related Solutions
Gaining an animal companion wasn't a thing druids could do any better than any other class in 2nd Edition, at least not without using kits* and other options from non-core books.† (This was more the province of 2e rangers, who acquired animal companions instead of human followers at higher levels.)
To get an animal companion in 2e as a druid you had to do it the hard way, by roleplaying out the relationship with the animal and taking the risks inherent in dealing with wild beasts (which are somewhat easier to mitigate as a druid). This is much like how you get ahead in every other aspect of the game though: you play it out and reap the rewards of your efforts, rather than have things just kind of happen as you level up. Pursuing goals in that way is definitely an adjustment coming from later editions, but it's satisfying.
Gaining an animal companion in the 2e style of game rules, then, is just like making friends with any other NPC, except for the communication challenge. Do things that will make them like and trust you, and don't do things that will make them dislike you. Animal friendship is a useful spell for getting past the initial hurdle of making that first connection. Animal Lore is useful to understand animals' behaviour so you can act appropriately. Insist that your DM uses Reaction rolls, so that not every beast you meet is automagically hostile to you; when you meet a friendly animal, build that connection to try to make it lasting.
Once you have befriended an animal enough that it now considers you a friend and companion, Animal Training can help to teach your new friend tricks and skills, but with the caveat that the skill as written only works on one type of animal, chosen when you take the skill, so it's unlikely to be useful for whatever kind if animal you've befriended. Animal Handling won't be useful unless you have befriended some sort of pack animal; I suppose meeting a friendly feral donkey is a possibility, but I wouldn't choose skills based on that chance.
Finally, realise that an animal companion is a friend who has chosen to accompany you as an equal. They will only fight if it makes sense for them to fight, so they're not the disposable muscle that some players and DMs treat them as in later editions. Because of this, don't overlook the helpfulness of having small friends in high places – an owl that spots an ambush is as useful, if not more so, than a wolf who might only die if they tried to protect their friend from a couple of bandits.
* The Beastfriend druid kit from The Complete Druid's Handbook gives a druid bonuses to Reaction rolls with animals, but still doesn't have a "and now you have an animal companion" mechanic. It simply states that Beastfriends tend to befriend animals and accumulate friends and pets, and even that is put firmly in the domain of roleplaying it out.
† The "2.5e" book Player’s Option: Skills & Powers offered elves an optional racial feature that gives a bonded animal companion. It also included a kit, the Animal Master, that included a bonded animal companion.
I'm not sure if you could raise your animal companion level past your Druid level, but you could always be a Pack Lord Druid and take Boon Companion twice to buff the level of each companion, and have two max level companions until level 9.
If you are an Aasimar, you could take the feat Celestial Servant to give your animal companions the celestial template.
I don't think as it stands there is a way to do this via Druid, but a Lunar Oracle should fit what you're looking for just dandy. Just take the primal companion revelation:
Primal Companion (Ex): You gain the service of a faithful animal of the night. You can select from a bear, boar, crocodile, shark, tiger, or wolf. This animal functions as a druid's animal companion, using your oracle level as your effective druid level.
After that, use the favored class bonus of an Aasimar Oracle:
Oracle Add +1/6 to the oracle's level for the purpose of determining the effects of one revelation.
The original version of this (before a July 2015 errata) let you have +1/2 instead of +1/6. Despite that, you can use the spells Righteous Might and Divine Power (which stack and can be cast on your animal companion via the Share Spells feature). Also look into Divine Vessel for a disgusting display of animal companion power.
Best Answer
Animal companions advance only as animal companions; NPCs (including former animal companions that are permanently anthropomorphic) gain levels only by GM decree
A druid's animal companion advances only as an animal companion. An animal companion that's the target of the spell anthropomorphic animal advances as an animal companion. (The spell doesn't change the creature's type, and the rules for animal companions with Intelligence scores greater than 2 can be found here.) So far as I am aware, only PCs gain XP and, therefore, class levels: "As player characters overcome challenges, they gain experience points" (emphasis mine). Once introduced into the campaign, NPCs' levels and Hit Dice are fixed unless the GM intervenes. (Although some options—like the spell awaken—are available to player-characters for mucking about with NPCs , these are rare.)
A former animal companion who's been the victim of the spell anthropomorphic animal and the spell permanency would be, with the GM's permission, an interesting choice as a druid's cohort gained from the feat Leadership, although the looming threat of reversion due to an errant dispel magic can't be ignored.
You can read more about anthropomorphic animal companions in Paizo messageboards threads from 2011 and 2012.