[RPG] Command action for strike summons/minion

animal-companionsdruidpathfinder-2esummoning

Wonder if someone could help. I have created a pathfinder 2e Druid character with an animal companion (Bear) and a Summon Fey spell (Sprite).
Can the bear only attack my enemy when commanded?

From page 214 – Pathfinder 2e Core Rulebook:

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

while the summoned Sprite does not require the command

From page 637 – Pathfinder 2e Core Rulebook:

generally attacks your enemies to the best of its abilities

Best Answer

Summoned creatures are minions.

And therefore, they must be commanded to get actions.

The chain of looking this up for yourself:

  1. Summon Fey is a Conjuration spell that says you summon a creature
  2. The Conjuration School of magic notes that "creatures summoned by conjuration spells have the summoned trait."
  3. Summoned states that "It has the minion trait."

Note that for summoned minions, the Sustain a Spell action to keep the creature summoned doubles as the action to command it (as noted in the Minion trait)

And from this, Minions only get actions when you spend actions to command them, unless they have an ability which allows them to take some actions otherwise (like Rangers' Mature animal companions, who may be able to spend an action against the Hunted Prey):

Your minion acts on your turn in combat, once per turn, when you spend an action to issue it commands.

Which states that it only acts when you spend the action.

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