There's no hard rules for those situations, but the general idea is that the creature keeps its status as a companion creature for at least a short time after the master's death. Technically, a dead creature hasn't ceased to exist, but its soul has simply moved on to another plane. And a companion creature would maintain its abilities if its master was on another plane.
There's no hard rules for those situations, but the general idea is that the creature keeps its status as a companion creature for at least a short time after the master's death. Technically, a dead creature hasn't ceased to exist, but its soul has simply moved on to another plane. And a companion creature would maintain its abilities if its master was on another plane.
Sorry I don't agree with Melk, but my interpretation of it is, when the animal companion's owner dies that 'character' no longer has access to their class features, there by can not grant said feature to her/his companion
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For A, B, C, and D the reply is a clear YES, he keeps the features.
There is no rule saying that the animal companion loses its bonuses in those situations.
E is the tricky one and is a question for all animal companions and most familiars (the witch familiar maintain its knowledge of the witch spells for 24 hours).
Personally, I use Melkiador interpretation an let the AC/familiar keep its abilities for at least a 24 hours. Doing otherwise heavily penalize the dead character, as going under constitution during a battle and being revived by Breath of life would, very often, cause the death of the AC (if the master has received enough damage, it is probable he AC has received a good quantity of damage too).
Losing an AC that way could cause a loss of a major feature for a long time during some adventure as you rarely get the 24 hours to call a new one.
The rules in se don't say anything about that. RAW probably Mangon is right.
Wouldn't it be interesting to play it like Game of Thrones though? Pity this isn't Homerules forum. As written, everyone here has written reasonable responses to a muddy situation. Hard wargamers are going to write off the AC faster than the more narrative tables. It is after all merely an expendable resource to the character. Do you allow Lay on Hands to function after the Paladin dies? By RAW and a certain amount of fair play, I would rule that while the AC retains its enhanced abilities for a time, it won't be able to use them while separated because the shock of the bond with the master being lost. It still might be useful if someone remaining has Handle Animal, but only as an exceptionally tough example of its species, no non-native feats or powers.
I disagree that class abilities go away when a character dies. As others have pointed out there are no rules saying if you do or you don't. However, the druid archetype reincarnated druid demonstrates that you keep your class abilities even when dead. Since one of their abilities literally allows you to gain the benefits of a spell (reincarnate) after you'e been killed.
Don't think there is any RAW on this. People can say what they think is best, but ultimately, nobody is right, which in turn means, it is time for you to talk to your GM directly and for him to make a call on how this will work at your table.
As you can see per this thread, expect table variation on this.
Reincarnated Druid automatic is pretty much a trigger type effect. It goes off when the conditions are met, nowhere does it say the Druid can control the effect, say, let's hold off that reincarnation for a few weeks to let the messiness die down, and have the survivors clean up my "landing spot". The animal companion is not an extension of the character, it is an ally, however it's extra powers are an extension of the character. If you want to play it your way, no skin of my nose, but since this is the rules forum, you have not adaquately made your case.
I wasn't expecting to get so much push back on reincarnated druid's ability. The ability states
At 5th level, if a reincarnated druid is killed, she may automatically reincarnate (as the spell) 1 day later.
So, the druid does have control over the ability after death, since they could choose to not reincarnate.
I suppose it's possible this ability an exception to the rule, except there is no rule so we can only infer what is normal by looking for examples that demonstrate either:
A. Class abilities stop functioning when you die.
or
B. Class abilities continue to function even when you die.
Both the Brightness Seeker and Heavens Mystery have similar abilities with the seeker having more control over when they come back (compared to the reincarnated druid) and the Heavens Mystery having less control.
Sorry I don't agree with Melk, but my interpretation of it is, when the animal companion's owner dies that 'character' no longer has access to their class features
How are you reaching that interpretation?
Dead: The character's hit points are reduced to a negative amount equal to his Constitution score, his Constitution drops to 0, or he is killed outright by a spell or effect. The character's soul leaves his body. Dead characters cannot benefit from normal or magical healing, but they can be restored to life via magic. A dead body decays normally unless magically preserved, but magic that restores a dead character to life also restores the body either to full health or to its condition at the time of death (depending on the spell or device). Either way, resurrected characters need not worry about rigor mortis, decomposition, and other conditions that affect dead bodies.
But no rule says that a character's soul must be in his body for his class features to continue to function.
Does any other ability, not specifically a rebirth effect, function in any way after death. As rebirth abilities are specific to death, of specific classes who are attuned to rebirth thematically, using them as a general example is more of a stretch than I am willing to accept.
Balkoth as the GM, what works for your story is the big concern, but that would be advice over rules, and purely preference.
Oh, any character can chose not to come back from "normal" reincarnation etc. part of the spell descriptions actually. I believe the MAY quoted refers to that.
Does any other ability, not specifically a rebirth effect, function in any way after death. As rebirth abilities are specific to death, of specific classes who are attuned to rebirth thematically, using them as a general example is more of a stretch than I am willing to accept.
Balkoth as the GM, what works for your story is the big concern, but that would be advice over rules, and purely preference.
Oh, any character can chose not to come back from "normal" reincarnation etc. part of the spell descriptions actually. I believe the MAY quoted refers to that.
The Mute Musician Bard archetype has such an ability.
Even if the mute musician is killed, she can continue to take the free action to maintain her performance as long as she has rounds remaining.
I would agree with the part about reincarnate, except that the hex forced reincarnation by the RAI takes this choice away even though by the RAW the affected creature could simply choose to not to be reincarnated and just be killed instead.
From the witch:
If a familiar belongs to a witch that has died, it only retains its knowledge of spells for 24 hours, during which time it is possible to coerce or bribe the familiar into teaching its spells to another, subject to GM discretion.
Note that it doesn't say the familiar loses any of its other familiar abilities, but only it's ability to retain spells
And James Jacobs isn't a "rules guy", but he has stated what is intended to happen in Golarion.
So, to repeat the two questions:
1) what happen when the "master" of a familiar or animal companion die?
2) How fast it will happen?
1) The familiar or animal companion can no longer advance in power as a familiar or animal companion, but does not lose the bulk of its current powers, although those abilities and features dependent on the master no longer function. A witch's familiar's "expiration date" for spells it knows is an exception, and yes it does seem a bit harsh. My suggestion would be to ignore that rule, honestly. It doesn't really make sense to me, nor is it fair to the witch herself. In any event, the creature does not get to grant its powers or abilities to another person.
2) Immediately.
I'll go with JJ, I wouldn't have ruled it that way but I like it better.
Still don't agree with LKs arguments though, but have no problem with allies retaining their powers as a special case. I had it work that way in my fiction.
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I'll also add that, since the Player of said Hunter will probably be running his AC until the Hunter is brought back to life, why take any of the AC's abilities away? It's a bummer enough to be sitting at a table "dead" until you can get back into the fight. I'd at least let the guy play his animal until he returns since the rules are kind of ambiguous there. Just my 2 cents. Shrug.