[RPG] Do familiars and animal companions earn XP

animal-companionsdnd-5eexperience-pointsfamiliars

Rules as Written, experience is split evenly in adventures between all creatures that meaningfully participate.

Dungeon Master's Guide (1st printing, pg. 260):

When adventurers defeat one or more monsters-typically by killing,
routing, or capturing them-they divide the total XP value of the
monsters evenly amongst themselves. If the party received substantial
assistance from one or more NPCs, count those NPCS as party members
when dividing up the XP.

So if there's a warlock with a familiar, that's an NPC, to my mind. Do Familiars gain levels? What about beast companions, or unofficial beast companions gained via magic or animal handling?

UA Ranger Beast Master companions seems to level up, since it gains proficiency, ASIs, and hit dice… But that's tied to the Ranger's level

Best Answer

No. They are part of a class feature of the character, and considered as "part" of that character. They are not NPC, they are creatures under the control of the PC with strict guidelines.

The stats of those creatures are therefore bound to the controlling player's stats, proficiency and level in general, as they are part of that player's class features, just like a spell save DC.

They also don't act on their own. The ranger's beast companion must be instructed to attack every single round, for example.

The difference between those creatures and a real NPC is that an NPC has its own will and motivations. An NPC cannot be dismissed when convenient like a familiar can (and the familiar will never complain or rebel against the warlock). An NPC is under the control of the DM at all times, but the familiar and beast companion are under the control of the player. The DM should refrain from describing actions for those, as it would violate player agency.