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Q: I've read that awakened animals can take classes just like a normal character. Now I have two questions, (1) is some sort of level adjustment required and (2) I have also heard of special classes for such creatures, and what would some of them be?
--Kyle
 A: Actually, if you’re looking to play the animal route, you might look beyond the awaken spell and check out pg. 214 of Savage Species: Anthropomorphic Animals. To quote: “Anthropomorphic animals are animals with humanoid characteristics -- or perhaps humans with animal characteristics. They retain many of the qualities of the animal on which they are based, but they are sentient and have a humanoid form.”
Can’t find a copy of Savage Species? That’s all right; we’ve included a PDF of Table A-58: Adjustments for Anthropomorphic Animals, which provides every animals’ level adjustment and preferred class. Granted, Savage Species is 3.0 material, and some of the animals may require your DM’s approval. (Baleen whales get +8 Strength, +4 Dexterity and +4 Constitution… for +0 level adjustment? To quote our friends over at magicthegathering.com: bah-roken!) But hopefully this will provide you some additional gameplay material for bringing animals into your party.
Ah, whales… to diverge even further from your original questions, we wanted to point out how mistreated these hefty critters have been in D&D. Before adjustments were made to the summon nature’s ally spells, stories abounded of unscrupulous druids calling forth whales to fill dungeon corridors, as effective as any wall. Hence, the 3.5 additional text reading: “Creatures cannot be summoned into an environment that cannot support them. For instance, a porpoise may only be summoned in an aquatic environment.” Porpoise was the example given… but they were really thinking of whales when they made this change. Of course, we'd love to hear your own summoning tales -- drop us a line at dndfeedback@wizards.com!
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