Magic Activation and Animal Companions


Pathfinder Society

Silver Crusade 2/5

So I just purchased Celestial Armor for my Ranger's wolf animal companion, who has light armor proficiency and an Int of 3 so that's not an issue. However, according to the PFS FAQ, animal companions cannot use command words, so he could not activate the fly ability on the armor. Could my Ranger activate the command word for him if I wanted to use the fly ability?

3/5

technically, i don't think there is a rule that you have to be wearing an item in order to activate it. i always have considered magic items you cannot wear to be activated like wands or rods, or one of those oddball magical fountains you find sometimes. nothing stops you from activating a magic item you know how to activate, assuming you are adjacent to it.

Grand Lodge 4/5 Pathfinder Society Campaign Coordinator

No, I don't believe you can activate an item your animal companion is in possession of. That is similar to you holding a wand and an ally activating the wand with the command word on their turn while it is in your hand so the wand could be used by you and all of your allies. Or it is similar to you wearing a ring of invisibility, you attack and an ally activates it on their turn to make you invis again. Sorry, but this won't work with activating an animal companions magic items.

5/5 5/55/55/5

I don' think you can get celestial armor barding (as per the ruling on rhino hide barding)

Could an animal companion with an active Anthropomorphic Animal spell activate an item?

Silver Crusade 2/5

BigNorseWolf wrote:
I don' think you can get celestial armor barding (as per the ruling on rhino hide barding)

I have no idea what this ruling is. Can you post the link please? Celestial Armor is a special +3 chainmail so I don't know why barding wouldn't work.

3/5

ok, i understand the concept of not allowing someone else to activate an item you are wearing/holding to affect you. it is your item, you need to spend the action to activate it.

but what about using it on yourself? what about items that you are in possession of, or at least holding? i would argue that if both you and an ally are both holding 2 ends of a wand, each of you in turn could activate it on yourselves, as if no one else was holding it.

if i am a small character, and i am holding a fortress shield made for a medium or large creature, can i activate it to encase myself in a protective cube even if i cannot normally use it as a shield?

do you actually have to be able to wield/wear something in order to activate it? there are many magic items that are activated and do not take up an item slot. why couldn't you treat an item normally worn in the same way if it doesn't fit you? if you are physically capable of touching a magic item, why wouldn't you be able to activate it in the normal way?

5/5 5/55/55/5

Tony Mills 954 wrote:
BigNorseWolf wrote:
I don' think you can get celestial armor barding (as per the ruling on rhino hide barding)
I have no idea what this ruling is. Can you post the link please? Celestial Armor is a special +3 chainmail so I don't know why barding wouldn't work.

coitenly. My apologies for being lazy.

Linky

You can just put your critter in regular old mithril barding (doesn't even take proficiency, since the acp on it is 0 and the non proficiency penalties go off of ACP) but celestial armor is a specific named armor.

1/5

The FAQ on Named Magical Items also backs up that linky.

From FAQ:
"Magic armor and weapons may be upgraded to named versions if they are the same basic material and shape as, and meet but do not exceed the enhancement bonuses of the named versions."

Barding is definitely not the same shape as the original armor made for a humanoid.

Silver Crusade 2/5

Thanks for the help, folks. As it turns out, I did my math wrong before and it looks like I'm best going with a mithril chain shirt anyway. I still like the idea of G'Mork flying through the air by himself while everyone scratches their heads. Oh well.

Lantern Lodge 3/5

Lab_Rat wrote:

The FAQ on Named Magical Items also backs up that linky.

From FAQ:
"Magic armor and weapons may be upgraded to named versions if they are the same basic material and shape as, and meet but do not exceed the enhancement bonuses of the named versions."

Barding is definitely not the same shape as the original armor made for a humanoid.

So, does this mean small creatures such as gnomes and halflings cannot purchase small-sized named armor/weapons?

3/5

i'm pretty sure by shape they just mean humanoid or non-humanoid.

Grand Lodge 5/5

asthyril wrote:
i'm pretty sure by shape they just mean humanoid or non-humanoid.

This.

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