RAW only explicitly address the case where your A/C has died or been dismissed, but it's pretty clearly meant to cover any way of losing them, so the 24-hr ritual should work.
Your old companion loses all the benefits of being a companion, including archetypes, stat boosts, feats, etc. It's a big power-down. But hey, sentience!
Agreed with Fuzzy. Yes, you get a new one. No, your old companion doesnt retain any benefits from archetypes, feats, anything. you're not really meant to keep them around after awakening them, imo, as a combat thing. just my opinion
you're not really meant to keep them around after awakening them, imo, as a combat thing. just my opinion
Agreed on that, unless you take Leadership and make them your cohort. Then they'll get class levels (usually fighter) to power them back up some.
Yeah, it's not intended for you to be able to keep them around and use them in combat.
How exactly their stats are affected hasn't been explicitly covered to my knowledge, but certainly they should lose the benefits of anything specific be being bonded to you (because the bond is broken) and this would definitely include things like archetypes or extra feats.