Wizard dies and then is raised.... what happened to his familiar?

[nosig]

Kind of what the subject said...

If a day passed while the Wiz was dead (but less than 24 hours)?

If two days? (24-48 hours)

if a weeks time passed before you could get Mr. Wizard back together with his soul?

[Bandw2]

I always assumed they just kept their intelligence forever, but would go looking for someone else to learn magic with, so if they can understand common, and that he was getting raised, he would just stick around.

[LazarX]

If the player wants the familiar back, he gets it. I only worry about the details when doing so adds to the story.

Witches however are in a tougher spot, because the familliar only retains it's spellbook knowledge for 24 hours after their master dies. If raising the witch takes longer than that, it will have lost all spells, save the ones given for free at first level, patron spells, and the two freebies per class level beyond first.

[Autoduelist]

I found this post online, which discusses how the rules for familiars have evolved over time (your question wasn't covered in the 1st edition AD&D books I paged through either):

http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?550349-Pathfinder-What-happens-when-you r-familiar-is-killed

I'd imagine a familiar with human-level or better intelligence would stick around if it's aware there are active efforts underway to raise the wizard, provided their relationship with the wizard was good, or there's a way for the wizard to compel their service once the wizard is resurrected.

I'd suspect a normal animal would leave eventually, but it could be summoned again with the Find Familiar spell (it'd probably hear its master's call much more easily than similar animals.) Willingness to leave could be determined based on the type of animal, if you want. A dog might be very loyal to its owner, and refuse to leave the dead wizard's side (or the site of the wizard's demise), while a cat might depart even if its well-cared for by the surviving party members.

Sorry I couldn't be more help. It sounds like a good opportunity for a little role-playing. Perhaps the familiar is traumatized by the wizard's death, and needs to be consoled. Maybe it runs away and is cared for by a third party, and they require the wizard to perform some task before returning the familiar to the wizard. Perhaps they consider their partnership with the wizard "over" with the death of one of the parties, and returning requires some concessions from the wizard.

[deuxhero]

I've seen what happens to familiars of dead wizards discussed here before.

One thing I remember is someone mentioned that there were multiple Paizo written adventures that featured familiars of dead wizard who kept their intelligence long after the master's death, but I have no idea which these are.

[Scavion]

deuxhero wrote:

I've seen what happens to familiars of dead wizards discussed here before.

One thing I remember is someone mentioned that there were multiple Paizo written adventures that featured familiars of dead wizard who kept their intelligence long after the master's death, but I have no idea which these are.

Reign of Winter AP features a rather prominent one though it has rather interesting circumstances.

[Ciaran Barnes]

Talk to your GM. Maybe you can choose what happens.

[wraithstrike]

The rules dont say but once the wizard is alive he will likely keep the familiar so I would not change the familiar because it is not really worth the trouble. Avoiding rebuilding characters was one reason why negative levels was changed in PF.

[nosig]

Ciaran Barnes wrote:

Talk to your GM. Maybe you can choose what happens.

actually I am the GM for this one - but the Campaign is trying to run as close to PFSOP rules as we can (trying to stick to RAW)

Thanks for all your help people!