Taming, feeding and raising companions

In Adventure, carry a Beast Whistle and choose Tame on an eligible wild creature within five tiles. One creature can offer more than one companion species. Read the species, bait and chance on the choice before trying. Livestock uses a taming rope instead, and young creatures with Befriend use their own offering.

Bait is spent on every attempt

The whistle stays with you. Each attempt spends the required food whether it succeeds or fails. A failed attempt makes the creature flee. Common companions have a 70% chance, Uncommon 50%, Rare 30%, Epic 15% and Legendary 8%. Mythic companions cannot be tamed with the whistle. A full companion roster refuses the attempt before spending bait.

Which food gets used

Taming can take food from your backpack or quick slots. An exact food match is chosen first, checking the backpack before the quick slots. Only then does the game look for substitutes in the same order. Cooked meats can answer a raw meat requirement. A well-cooked version can answer its matching plain cooked requirement. Better food does not improve the chance. Protect any stack you want to keep out of this automatic selection.

Feeding from the Companion Panel

Feed gives food to an active companion. It takes one unprotected food item from your backpack and spends one turn. It checks Companion Treat, Cooked Meat, Raw Meat and Bread in that order, then their accepted well-cooked forms. A Companion Treat gives 8 happiness, Cooked Meat 5, Raw Meat 4 and Bread 3, stopping at 100. Each feeding also grants 3 XP. The matching well-cooked food gives the same happiness as its plain form.

Training and permanent supplements

Use Supplements in the Companion Panel to give a Training Treat, Ironhide Salve, Mighty Marrow or Heartwood Tonic. A successful use spends one item and one turn. Training Treats give 25 XP and 2 happiness. The other three permanently add armour, damage or maximum health, with separate lifetime caps for each companion. An unconscious or recovering companion refuses supplements. At a limit, the item stays in your pack.

Young companions grow

Eggs and befriended young can grow through hatchling, juvenile and adult stages. The usual growth work is 1,000 per stage, with species exceptions. Each growth tick normally adds one work. It adds two while happiness is at least 80, or while the companion has been fed within the last 500 turns. These bonuses do not combine into four work. Young companions keep growing in the stable. Reaching a new stage restores health to their current maximum.

Happiness, loyalty and a larger party

An active companion with at least 50 happiness gains one loyalty on each 100-turn boundary, up to 100. After going unfed for more than 500 turns, it can begin losing happiness at 100-turn intervals. An active companion near a Pet house pauses that neglect loss and can regain one happiness on each 25-turn boundary. A bond that reaches 100 loyalty or level 10 unlocks one extra active companion slot. That unlock stays with your character.