While designing an awakened wolf, I noticed that the type changes to "Magical Beast (Augmented Animal)". My DM told me he interprets this that animal-based spells still affect this character as he remembers it from some FAQ entry having read in the past. I was under the impression that creatures have only one main type, that changing the main type renders one immune to spells targeting only the old main type and susceptible to spells targeting the new main type.
My reasoning was that magical beasts may not be used as animal companions, familiars or special mounts. Unfortunately, Awaken does state it in its text, without stating why this is true. So one can also interpret this situation that Awaken makes an exception for augmented animals there.
The crux of Awaken seems that it uses mechanics of applying templates, without stating that it effectively does apply a special template. If Awaken would apply a template, the type pyramid detailed in Savage Species seems to infer that an awakened animal receives a complete type change. But I haven't found in a FAQ a clear-cut statement which interpretation is the correct one (or at least the official one). Can anyone cite a source which dispels this confusion?
My reasoning was that magical beasts may not be used as animal companions, familiars or special mounts. Unfortunately, Awaken does state it in its text, without stating why this is true. So one can also interpret this situation that Awaken makes an exception for augmented animals there.
The crux of Awaken seems that it uses mechanics of applying templates, without stating that it effectively does apply a special template. If Awaken would apply a template, the type pyramid detailed in Savage Species seems to infer that an awakened animal receives a complete type change. But I haven't found in a FAQ a clear-cut statement which interpretation is the correct one (or at least the official one). Can anyone cite a source which dispels this confusion?