Creature companion

Creature Companions, also known as Familiars or Pets, are little creatures following the character through dungeons and public areas. They can be summoned or dismissed at will and have no effect on game play. Creature Companions can be purchased through the DDO Store. Special Companions types can be obtained as prizes or through special means only (like pre-ordering the Menace of the Underdark Expansion).

Mechanics

 * All characters in the same server of a given player share the same "stable" of Companions.
 * A character may only have up to one active Companion at any point in time. Selecting another dismisses the first.
 * Creature Companions are available through "Certificate of Ownership" items. These items are usually unbound and can be auctioned and traded freely (exceptions are noted below). The actual ownership of the Creature Companion is only granted when the item is activated.
 * Companions are delivered with a set of tricks that can be activated to temporarily change the companion attitude (a Wolf Pup companion could howl, for example). Additional tricks can be purchased from the DDO Store.
 * Companion Tricks are bought from the DDO store, but can be auctioned and traded freely.
 * Companions can also receive cosmetic changes, like a Magician's Hat, colored collars, or leave a path of colored glittering dust in their trail.
 * Cosmetic changes to companions are bought from the DDO store, but can be auctioned and traded freely.
 * When used, the cosmetic item is added to the currently-summoned pet's inventory, where it can be selected (a pet can have no item equipped or a single item equipped at a time).
 * Pets cannot share the same item: you have to get a new copy of the item if you want to put it on another of your pets.
 * Companions can't be selected through the Focus Orb, have no hit point and are not affected in-game by any means. At the moment, they exist only for entertainment purpose.

Companion names
Upon activation, each Creature Companion has a generic name. The companion owner can change the creature name once for free (further changes must be made via a creature name change certificate purchased from the DDO Store).
 * The name must be a single word. People usually use mixed case strings ("MyNewCutePet") to circumvent this limitation.
 * Companion Names must follow usual naming rules for DDO (no profanity, etc.)
 * Hyphens, dashes, numbers, accented vowels, and underscores are not possible.
 * There is no exclusivity over Companion Names. Different people may use the same name for their companions, and several companions from a given player may share the same name.

Companions currently found in game

 * UAV means no longer available using normal means (excluding limited time store pets, which usually return).
 * BtC means the Ownership Certificate for this pet is, meaning it cannot be traded or auctioned (the pet itself is accessible by any character on the account on the server once the Ownership Certificate is used). All Ownership Certificates not so noted are unbound and can be traded or auctioned before use.