[RPG] Does the animal provided by the Wild Cohort feat count as an Animal Companion

animal-companionsdnd-3.5efeatsoptional-rules

Feat in question:

Wild Cohort [General]

Benefit: You gain an animal cohort. The animal cohort is generally friendly to you and is willing to follow you and adventure with you. If given proper training, the animal cohort will willingly serve as your mount, guardian, and companion.

Provided the DM gives her approval, […]. These alternative animal cohorts work like the alternative animal companions available to a druid, but they are available as cohorts later than they are available as animal companions. When selecting an alternative animal cohort, use the list of alternative animal companions on page 36 of the Player's Handbook, but treat yourself as a druid three levels lower than your character level.

Like a druid's animal companion, your wild cohort improves as you gain experience. Although the animal cohort improves significantly compared to others of its kind, its abilities do not rival those of a druid's animal companion.


There is mentioning of it as a cohort as well as mentioning it as a companion.

  • Does it count as a companion for the purposes of other feats that
    interact with animal companions?
  • Also, does this replace, or is it in addition to, the cohort provided
    by the Leadership feat?

Best Answer

Not by RAW

Simply because the rules written, which you have quoted, say nothing about it being such. It doesn’t mention Leadership or Leadership’s cohort at all, and while it mentions similarities between Wild Cohort and Animal Companion, it does not actually state that Wild Cohort is or counts as Animal Companion.

It’s more than reasonable to houserule it, though

Allowing someone to qualify as having an Animal Companion or Cohort, because they have the Wild Cohort feat, is perfectly reasonable. I have done so in many games, and it’s never been an issue.

In this case, though, I would not actually state any interaction between these things. If you are a druid or ranger and take Wild Cohort, you just get both an Animal Companion and a Wild Cohort, as separate creatures. Same, too, if you take Wild Cohort as well as Leadership: you get a regular cohort as well as the wild one. The two don’t interact with one another.

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