Animal companion + Fox's cunning

[Slaved]

If an animal companion has a Fox's Cunning spell successfully cast on it does it stop being an animal companion? If so, is it only for the duration of the spell or must the ceremony be performed again? Does the animal companion lose all of its abilities from being an animal companion instantly?

 

[Nifft]

Yes. It spends the duration of the spell weeping for Algernon.

*sniffle*, -- N

 

[frankthedm]

If an animal companion has a Fox's Cunning spell successfully cast on it does it stop being an animal companion? If so, is it only for the duration of the spell or must the ceremony be performed again? Does the animal companion lose all of its abilities from being an animal companion instantly?

An Awakened animal suffers those issues. A temp boost might not need such dire concequences unless some Rules Rapist is going to try and claim said animal now understands common.

I would say the animal compainion can now break the link if it WANTS to. A animal used as a meat sheild a little to often should be leaving when it smartens up.

 

[akbearfoot]

...

It's rules rapeing to say an animal that gets fox's cunning cast on it can understand common?

I figured that was a logical extension of the way intillect worked...If I got hit with a feeblemind wouldn't I forget how to understand common?


I don't understand calculus very well, but I've been exposed to it quite a bit in my lifetime...If I suddenly became 5 times smarter, I'd probably understand all that stuff pretty easily.

An animal with foxs cunning would have a 5 intellect...thats smarter than some PC barbarians I've played with.

Besides, summoned celestial versions of the same animals on the SNA chart autimatically understand common...so its logical think that the same animal that's even smarter than the celestial version could also understand it?

 

[DiceGolem]

Summoned celestial creatures were always that smart, and had their natural life to learn Common the same way that Humans would. Even if an animal was suddenly gifted with 5 Int, it doesn't necessarily mean it can retroactively remember all that noise those silly creatures made and reconstruct it as language.

I'd say that Foxes Cunning is way too temporary to sever the animal companion bond.

 

[Jack Simth]

An Awakened animal suffers those issues. A temp boost might not need such dire concequences unless some Rules Rapist is going to try and claim said animal now understands common.

"Rules Rapist"?

Seriously - Fox's Cunning is a 2nd level spell, and animal companions aren't known for having intelligence-based skills; this will basically have no other meaningful effect. Meanwhile, Speak With Animals is on the Druid list, has the same duration, and is a 1st level spell. This hardly merits strong language; it's not exactly overpowered here.

As Fox's Cunning is not a Druid spell, it's more likely that a hostile Wizard will want to cast it on the opposing druid's companion, then claim it now understands common, in order to get "dire consequences" for the opposing Druid (or at least, be warned that this may happen the next time you have a BBEG Druid if you've put dire consequences onto the PC Druid for having this happen).

If we want to get silly, cast Tongues (cleric-4) on the animal companion. No rules-bendery at all (it explicitly states it grants the ability to understand and speak all languages of intelligent creatures, and makes no restrictions on what kind of creature it can affect), and now, not only does it understand common (and Celestial, and Fiendish, and Dwarven, and Elven, and...), but it can also speak it (and Celestial, and Fiendish, and Dwarven, and Elven, and...).