Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="Lord Pendragon" data-source="post: 6472" data-attributes="member: 707">A simple answer via the rules as I understand them:Should the druid possess an animal companion, whose race is one of those listed as possible familiars in the Sorcerer section of the PHB (pg 51), then yes, the companion could become a familiar.&nbsp; A sorcerer's familiar is always a normal animal which becomes a magical beast through a magical ritual, (T&amp;B pg 10).&nbsp; How you get the animal before you perform the ritual doesn't matter.&nbsp; So starting with an animal companion and transforming it into a familiar is perfectly all right.However, if you have an animal companion which is not on the familiar list, then no, you can't make it into a familiar.&nbsp; The reason for this is simple:&nbsp; familiars weren't meant to be combat animals.&nbsp; They gain bonuses which allow them to be survivable (bonuses to AC, improved evasion, etc.) but do not allow them to be combat animals.&nbsp; A druid's animal companion, on the other hand, is meant to be a combat machine already.&nbsp; Giving it a familiar's bonuses would make it far more potent than either an animal companion or a familiar were ever meant to be.Consider a Druid10/Sorcerer1.&nbsp; As a druid, he can have a 10HD animal as his companion.&nbsp; He choses a tiger.&nbsp; Then he decides to make it his familiar, giving it a bonus to AC and improved evasion.&nbsp; This is quite powerful, and was never meant to be.A viable option, though, would be for the druid/sorcerer to take the feat Improved Familiar, also from Tome and Blood.&nbsp; This allows for an expanded list of familiars which are more powerful than standard familiars.&nbsp; If a druid/sorcerer were to take the Improved Familiar feat to make his animal companion (which is not on the normal familiar list,) into his familiar, I'd allow it, so long as the creature wasn't more powerful than the creatures listed on the Improved Familiar list.&nbsp; (A Dire Tiger familiar...uh...maybe not. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin&nbsp; &nbsp; :D"&nbsp; data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" /> )</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Lord Pendragon, post: 6472, member: 707"] A simple answer via the rules as I understand them: Should the druid possess an animal companion, whose race is one of those listed as possible familiars in the Sorcerer section of the PHB (pg 51), then yes, the companion could become a familiar. A sorcerer's familiar is always a normal animal which [i]becomes[/i] a magical beast through a magical ritual, (T&B pg 10). How you get the animal before you perform the ritual doesn't matter. So starting with an animal companion and transforming it into a familiar is perfectly all right. However, if you have an animal companion which is not on the familiar list, then no, you can't make it into a familiar. The reason for this is simple: familiars weren't meant to be combat animals. They gain bonuses which allow them to be survivable (bonuses to AC, improved evasion, etc.) but do not allow them to be combat animals. A druid's animal companion, on the other hand, is meant to be a combat machine already. Giving it a familiar's bonuses would make it far more potent than either an animal companion or a familiar were ever meant to be. Consider a Druid10/Sorcerer1. As a druid, he can have a 10HD animal as his companion. He choses a tiger. Then he decides to make it his familiar, giving it a bonus to AC and improved evasion. This is quite powerful, and was never meant to be. A viable option, though, would be for the druid/sorcerer to take the feat Improved Familiar, also from Tome and Blood. This allows for an expanded list of familiars which are more powerful than standard familiars. If a druid/sorcerer were to take the Improved Familiar feat to make his animal companion (which is not on the normal familiar list,) into his familiar, I'd allow it, so long as the creature wasn't more powerful than the creatures listed on the Improved Familiar list. (A Dire Tiger familiar...uh...maybe not. :D ) [/QUOTE]

Verification