I'm sure that this complaint is made far too often, but, I couldn't find it in either the searc or the FAQ sections of the site. Since I tend to get somewhat anal with tactics, the inability to control my pets is ruining the game for me. Does anyone know of a way that you can make animal companions controllable instead of using the ridiculous AI the game has implimented?
There is no way other than leaving them out of vision range of the combat. Other than that you should simply assume that they are going to rush in taking as many AoO's as they see fit to attack any and all opponents. *sigh* This is the flaw of not having the "Handle Animal" skill
I always arange the party formation to keep the animal companions at the back, save when I want them to go in first. It works wonders. Enemies that try to tumble through to get to my low HP wizard or sorcerer get jumped by the animals, and the animals rarely get in the way of early combat area spells.
or you can run a very high AC warrior through the midst of the enemy to 'soak' all the AoOs... or am i the only one that does that?
Once I used Hold Animal spell and then dismissed the spell. Sometimes I just leave the animal behnd so that he doesn't engage in combat. Then I may retreat to him and he will engage in combat.