D&D 3E/3.5 [3.5] Awakened animal companions aren't companions anymore!

But we knew that BEFORE we bought the books. Here's my question about the whole situation though:

1) Presuming you *do* awaken your animal companion at the first level possible (level 9 for the player -- my animal companion is a black bear, however, so that it is effectively level "6" [adjusted for type on the new AC table]), what then becomes the effective level of the creature when you awaken it?

At 9th player level, The creature will have 3HD + 4 bonus Animal Companion HD, + 2 HD Awaken

That comes out...9 HD? Does the creature keep the animal companion HD if its been awakened? Does it keep the bonus feats? Does it keep the feats its learned as a result of animal companion HD adjustment? Tricks aren't a big deal anymore....

2) Does that make it a "character" of Bear 9 according to the MM, right? (or only Bear 5) At this point, if you have the leadership feat, would you allow the player to take the animal as a cohort? If you could attract a 6th level cohort at level 9, would you allow the Bear its first player level?

3) If the bear *already* qualified for a PrC due to feats, would you allow it its first level in a PrC w/o a core class?

I'd say that, if the companion stops being your companion, the extra HD it has is lost. It is essentially a normal, non-magically enhanced animal of it's kind.

It likes you better, though.

Here's how I'd rule it.

1) Presuming you *do* awaken your animal companion at the first level possible (level 9 for the player -- my animal companion is a black bear, however, so that it is effectively level "6" [adjusted for type on the new AC table]), what then becomes the effective level of the creature when you awaken it?

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9HD. It's gotten bigger and tougher thanks to your druidic rituals.

That comes out...9 HD? Does the creature keep the animal companion HD if its been awakened? Does it keep the bonus feats? Does it keep the feats its learned as a result of animal companion HD adjustment? Tricks aren't a big deal anymore....

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Yes, it'd keep everything it had gained with its extra HD.

2) Does that make it a "character" of Bear 9 according to the MM, right? (or only Bear 5) At this point, if you have the leadership feat, would you allow the player to take the animal as a cohort? If you could attract a 6th level cohort at level 9, would you allow the Bear its first player level?

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Bear9. And yes, you could take it as your cohort provided your Leadership score was high enough to allow for a 9th-level cohort. Then, of course, it wouldn't gain any xp until you were 11th-level, since cohorts don't gain xp unless they are at least 2 levels below their masters.

3) If the bear *already* qualified for a PrC due to feats, would you allow it its first level in a PrC w/o a core class?

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Yes. There's no racial requirement to take PrCs as far as I'm concerned, nor does the source of a PC's feats and skills have any meaning. If the bear qualifies, the bear qualifies.

Of course, if the animal companion is a magical beast, it's immune to the spell.

It's a good thing the spell is Instantaneous instead of Permenant, because the creature only has to be an animal at the time of the casting (note: only going by 3.0 knowledge, if this has been changed, please ignore).

ThirdWizard said:

Of course, if the animal companion is a magical beast, it's immune to the spell.

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I'm in the "magical beast was a typo" camp, and think they should remain animals (which is what Andy Collins had originally said). Clarification pending; here's the response to this question the Sage gave me (take with the usual salt, I hope the final decision isn't in line with his preference, myself):

<< Are animal companions of type "animal" or type "magical beast"? On page 36 of the PHB, in the "Animal Companion" sidebar, is says animal companions are magical beasts. In the same sidebar, under "Share Spells", it says "... even if the spell's don't affect creatures of the companion's type (animal)." Then on page 205 of the DMG, it says "The animal is still an animal. It's not a magical beast ..." >>

I suspect that the DMG text was written after the animal companion text and the latter was never updated. Frankly, however, I'm inclined to call an animal companion a magical beast with the augmented animal subtype and I'm also inclined to say that the speak with animal spell works on animals and on magical beasts with the augmented animal subtype. I doubt WotC will go for that however, since just dropping the references to magical beasts in the animal companion sidebar would be simpler. This latter answer also has the virtue of allowing many other of the druid's animal-affecting spells to work on the druid's animal companion, so I suspect it's the correct answer.

Look for an official answer in "Sage Advice" issue #313.

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Call me "gimptard", but where can I find the next issue of Sage Advice?