Familiar hp?

[Dark Dragon]

Perhaps this was discussed before, but I can't find it...

What happens to a familiar when the wizard gets an Endurance spell (say from his cleric friend)? Do the familiar's hp rise accordingly? Same for damage.

From the SRD: Hit Points: One-half the master's total, rounded down.

 

[Thanee]

Hmm... I'd think so, yes.

You could also cast the Endurance on yourself and the Familiar at the same time (share spells), but the familiar would not gain additional HPs from its Endurance, since it doesn't use its own hit dice, so it sounds reasonable to use the master's increased total.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Zhure]

(Doing this from memory)

Temporary changes to your hit points don't affect the familiar's hit points. See T&B for the full explanation, about page 10, right side about half-way down, if memory serves me correctly.

Greg

 

[JacktheRabbit]

Nothing more irritating than errata that is located within non-core books.

 

[Christian]

That's not an errata, it's a clarification. Actually, a fairly obvious one, to me. After all, if it worked this way, then a familiar would be immune to Endurance spells itself ...

 

[Dark Dragon]

Thanks for the answers!

Dark Dragon

 

[Thanee]

So, an Endurcance cast on a familiar will be worked off the hit dice (usually one) of the familiar then?

Bye
Thanee

 

[Dingleberry]

So, an Endurcance cast on a familiar will be worked off the hit dice (usually one) of the familiar then?

No, the familiar uses the master's character level as hit dice for effects related to hit dice - or its normal total hit dice if higher than its master's level (e.g., Improved Familiars). See PHB p. 51.

 

[Thanee]

Ah, cool, thanks!

Bye
Thanee

 

[Christian]

No, the familiar uses the master's character level as hit dice for effects related to hit dice - or its normal total hit dice if higher than its master's level (e.g., Improved Familiars). See PHB p. 51.

Actually, I don't agree. Endurance doesn't have any hit die effect-it increases the target's Constitution. This will affect the familiar's natural hit points, usually by +1 or +2; and if this total is higher than half its master's hit points, it will temporarily have that higher amount.

For example, take a 2nd level wizard with a 10 Con and 6 hit points with a cat familiar. A typical cat has 1/2 d8 hit dice and a 10 Con, for a total of 2 hit points; so the familiar will have 2 hit dice and 3 hit points. An Endurance spell cast on the cat for a total of +4 Con raises it's standard hit points to 4 (1/2d8 +2), so it will have 4 hit points until the duration expires. The fact that it effectively has two hit dice does not affect this calculation, as the familiar's normal hit point total is compared to half of its master's, and the cat's normal hit point total (with a 14 Con) is 4.