Does Raise Animal Companion inflict negative levels?


Rules Questions

Scarab Sages

The thread title is the question. My Cavalier and his Mount both just died, and I'm wondering whether 4 restorations will be necessary, or just 2.


Nothing in the spell indicates it wouldn't.


Sometimes going without your mount for a week isn't really an option...

(Edit: was in reply to a post saying it shouldn't as it makes passing on the spell and getting a new mount more attractive than the spell.)


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I'm Hiding In Your Closet wrote:
The thread title is the question. My Cavalier and his Mount both just died, and I'm wondering whether 4 restorations will be necessary, or just 2.

Your animal companion generally won't get negative levels; it will have a Con drain instead (it is considered level 1). This makes the restoration much cheaper (100 gp rather than 1000 gp). If you somehow had an animal companion with character levels, it would gain negative levels, as per raise dead.

The relevant rules text:

Reviving a Dead Companion wrote:

A lost animal companion, cohort, familiar, or follower can be raised or resurrected with spells such as raise dead, resurrection, or true resurrection. For a cohort or follower with character levels, these kinds of spells give the character one or more negative levels—a price worth paying if the alternative is death. Creatures with no character levels (such as animal companions and familiars) count as 1st level for the purpose of these spells, and therefore they take Constitution drain instead of negative levels. A nonsentient companion is assumed to be willing to return to life unless you were cruel to it or directly responsible for its death.

In most cases, the companion probably remembers its last moments alive and understands that you're the reason why it is alive again. For a lower-level cohort or a non-adventuring follower, the gift of a second chance at life is something very treasured and earns you great respect and devotion. You can gain the reputation of "fairness and generosity" for the purposes of the Leadership feat.

Using reincarnate is an alternative option, but has a similar effect on a companion's loyalty and affection. Few humans would choose to be reincarnated as a bugbear or kobold, but if the choice is that or death, a new life in a new body is generally preferred. For an animal companion, the GM should create a random table of creatures similar to its original form—for example, a lion might be reincarnated as a leopard, cheetah, or tiger. [emphasis added]


Wow. Good call Cheburn. I didn't even know that was there. This is from Ultimate Campaign though, so it lives in a quasi-house-rules place. So, I'd ask your DM before using this.


Melkiador wrote:
Wow. Good call Cheburn. I didn't even know that was there. This is from Ultimate Campaign though, so it lives in a quasi-house-rules place. So, I'd ask your DM before using this.

Fair enough. Though in that case I'd be tempted to argue that the Animal Companion doesn't actually have any class levels -- rather, it inherits its level from the 'Druid'. As such, it can't have its own negative levels (though I'd also guess that RAI it would inherit negative levels from the Druid). :-)


There does seem to be a lot of Rules as Intended sprinkled throughout Ultimate Campaign. I wish they would have went and made some of that stuff completely "official".

Scarab Sages

If nothing prior directly contradicts it, I'd say it's official.

It also depends on where in the book it was, but this doesn't sound like an "optional rules" kind of thing, this reads like a clarification of something that was never clear before.

It also makes sense from the standpoint of "otherwise it would be too much of a burden on the class compared to classes that don't have companions as a prominent class feature."


It's in the Campaign Systems section, which has an introduction that says:

Quote:
This chapter presents a variety of small tweaks for your campaign, each one focused on giving life to moments and depth to activities in your game. You can use these systems individually or mix and match them together to taste.

The Companions section says this:

Quote:
This section addresses common issues for companions and the characters who use them.

Not sure if that makes it optional rules or clarifications though.


I'm Hiding In Your Closet wrote:
The thread title is the question. My Cavalier and his Mount both just died, and I'm wondering whether 4 restorations will be necessary, or just 2.

The closest answer appears to be 3.

Because even when averages really shouldn't work, they do.

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