Elemental companion and level

[Keral]

I have a very quick question. I found the Elemental companion variant in complete mage (pag 33).

It says I can choose an elemental companion (duh) instead of an animal companion. Furthermore it says that at specific levels the companion grows.

Whose levels? My druid levels? Character levels? The companion's levels?

I'm new to the concept of companion and would like a clarification.

Y o u g a i n t h e companionship of a Small elemental (air, earth, fire, or water; your choice). You must peak the language of your chosen elemental companion(Auran, Terran, Ignan,or Aquan, respectively).Your elemental companion has the normal statistics of an e l e m e n t a l o f i t s k i n d .It does not gain any
A druid and her air elemental companion extra HD, natural armor adjustment, Strength or Dexterity adjustment, or extra tricks (it is intelligent enough to follow your spoken commands and thus needs no tricks). It gains all other special abilities normally granted to an animalcompanion, with the exception of Multiattack. At 4th level, your elemental grows into a Medium elemental of the same kind. Its statistics change appropriately. At 10th level, you can choose for your elemental companion to grow to a Large elemental of the same kind, with the appropriate changes to its statistics. If you choose for your elemental to remain Medium, it instead gains 2 HD, +2 Strength, +2 Constitution, and damage reduction 5/—. At 16th level, you can choose for your elemental companion to grow to a Huge elemental of the same kind, with the appropriate changes to its statistics. If you choose for your elemental to remain at its current size, it instead gains an additional +4 HD, +4 Strength, +4 Constitution, and damage reduction 5/—. All these benefits stack with existing statisticsexcept for the damage reduction.

On a side note, would it be better to not have it gain size but gain bonus statistics instead?

[DrMotives]

It's based on druid level, not character or caster level. If some class says it advances animal companion, it should advance elemental companion. And as for stats instead of size, elementals of different sizes have different sizes have different entries in the Monster Manual. Things about them change besides the normal size up effects, like mental stats, DR, other things.

[Keral]

That's what I feared, and I forgot to mention it before: how does that work with Prestige class? Lots of prestige classes have a table saying "+1 of existing class" but it's listed under "spells". Would that do? Or are we saying pure druid levels?

If not it seriously hinders my vision of an elemental archon druid with an elemental XD

[torrasque666]

That's what I feared, and I forgot to mention it before: how does that work with Prestige class? Lots of prestige classes have a table saying "+1 of existing class" but it's listed under "spells". Would that do? Or are we saying pure druid levels?

Those typically mention things along the lines of "does not gain any other benefit a character of that class would have gained (turn undead, wildshape, etc)". You'd likely need something that stacks for Animal Companion as noted above.