Familiar + Con Enlargement Bonus Q

[Kitha]

Ok so I have a query in response to a situation I am going to come up against this Sunday in a campaign I am a player in.

One of my party members is a Wizard who has a belt which grants him an Enlargement Bonus to CON. So from this he gets some extra Hit Points. The question is does his familiar's Hit Points increase as well? The PHB states it's one half the master's hit points rounded down but do temporary (i.e non permanent) CON bonuses from items increase the familiars Hit Points as well?

I'm going to need an official reference to this please or at least a very convincing argument. The scenario is that a Symbol of Death was triggered upon the entire party and if the CON bonus does apply to the familiar's Hit Points he will be unaffected by the spell (it had already affected enough HP worth of creatures to pass him over), but if the CON bonus does not apply his HP are below the remaining HP on the death effect and he will be affected.

Our DM is of the opinion the familiar's Hit Points are the master's BASE Hit Points... if it matters I can't recall if he had the belt before or after he received his familiar. Would that play a part of the decision?

Any help would be appreciated and an offical rule would be much, much better.

Thanks in advance guys.

 

[Vinyafod]

From the D&D FAQ:

The familiar gets half the master's (undamaged) hit points,
rounded down. Constitution bonuses and the Toughness feat
count, as does any other permanent hit point gain, such as from
gaining a level or a permanent increase in Constitution.
Temporary hit point gains don't affect the familiar's hit points.

The FAQ implies that only permanent increases in CON affect the familiars hitpoints and temporary hitpoints don't count at all.


PHB, page 130, top right:

Note that an increase in a character's Constitution score, even a temporary one, can give him more hitpoints (an effective hit point increase), but these are not temporary hitpoints. ...

Still... an increase in hitpoints due to an increase in CON are not temporary hitpoints. They are temporary in the sense "they go away after some time" but not in the sense of the D&D-Term "temporary hitpoints" which are gained by spells like Virtue or Aid.

Sorry, can't really answer your question but maybe I could give a hint in the correct direction.

 

[bret]

The quoted rules say Constitution bonuses apply, and the item gives a Con bonus. With the exception of the bonus from a Toad, I would allow it to apply.