Hi there,
So, I' re got a bones oracle, and that oracle has the 'raise the dead' ability. So far, so good.
Now, the summoned skeleton or zombie has hit dice equal to my level. That's not so bad either, but I'm wondering about possible size changes. They can kick in when the hit dice of the original creature doubles, and I'm now there.
Is it my call? Or the GM's?
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I'm not sure what the question is? Are you asking if the creature's size changes at appropriate Hit Die advancement?
Your undead companion doesn't "advance" like an eidolon or animal companion. They are instead summoned each time, whole cloth, with appropriate Hit Dice. As with any other summoned creature, you're using an existing creature's stats out the appropriate source (usually a Bestiary). Further, because this is PFS, you cannot "advance" an existing creature's hit dice through the advancement rules in the Bestiary. You have to use them as they are written in their stock Bestiary entry.
What Raise the Dead DOES do is increase your HD limit for the creature you summon (any previously non-undead corporeal critter). This means your options expand at each level and allow you to be creative. You can always summon something at your HD, but it will always need to be a stock monster stat block with the appropriate template applied.
There is no official answer to exactly how "Raise the Dead" works. It can be argued to death whether you can make it only a human skeleton/zombie or not, or some other form since it is summoned, but without any sort of precedence for what exactly you can make with this revelation, it is pretty much up to GM interpretation how this ability works.
Some GMs may say that you can get any base creature from the Bestiary and make it a skeleton/zombie, and that you can't "advance" human skeletons because they are just 1 HD and that doesn't change.
Other GMs may say that you can ONLY make a human skeleton/zombie and that you just increase the HD, which increases things like saves, BAB, etc. to the base human skeleton/zombie template.
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I don't really see the argument.
RAW, there is no mention of advancing any creature or otherwise making a custom humanoid one to apply the template to. Only that you summon a creature up to your level in HD with one of the listed templates (meaning the creature could be anything the template would apply to). A GM in PFS doesn't have the leeway to allow a player to advance (and in turn, make custom) a creature when the ability doesn't tell them explicitly they can. The same goes for a GM telling them they can't apply it to X creature or just to Humanoids.
RAW, there is no mention of advancing any creature or otherwise making a custom humanoid one to apply the template to. Only that you summon a creature up to your level in HD with one of the listed templates (meaning the creature could be anything the template would apply to). A GM in PFS doesn't have the leeway to allow a player to advance (and in turn, make custom) a creature when the ability doesn't tell them explicitly they can. The same goes for a GM telling them they can't apply it to X creature or just to Humanoids.
Oh, I'm of the same opinion. Just not everyone shares that opinion. There was another thread (my search fu is failing me...) where there was an argument about how people would rule it in PFS and there were people who argued both ways for it.