Geeze, I've been busy.
Anyways, I'm looking to see if there is an official ruling for what happens with an animal companion or familiar during a charm or possession event. More interested in yall's RAI suggestions vs RAW litigiousness.
So what happens?
- To the player?
- to the companion?
- Different for a highly intelligent/improved familiar
- Alchemist's Tumor Familiar?
I have an Alchemist with a mauler tumor familiar and also an intentionally bad Will save. The character/familiar combo is pretty powerful and I have decided to rule that the familiar while functional is extremely dangerous and essentially only under tenuous control of the alchemist at best, so he really only comes out to "play" in dire circumstances.
Now the Tumor Familiar is both its own creature, but also the same creature as the alchemist (especially) when burrowed inside the alchemist's chest cavity.
During (let's say a dominate person effect) happens while mauler is sleeping inside. Does it reject the idea of foreign control and eject itself, or does it also succumb to the effect as "part of the original 1 humanoid target".
I know this may be subject to table variation & GM ruling, but I wanted to get some opinions before we discuss a ruling.
|
Oooh! The PC with a Familiar is affected by Dominate Person. Terrific situation that's charged with dramatic potential! Here's my two cents.
What happens next depends upon the relationship of the PC and the familiar, the capabilities and outlook of the familiar, and possibly other details. This is a subtle situation that seems more about RP than rules. If the familiar is completely subservient it will likely remain so. If the familiar has its own identity then it may act out.
Who plays the Familiar? The Player or the GM? This is not crucial, as both should attempt to do justice to the Familiar's personality.
Either way, it seems totally reasonable for some familiars to get the party's attention and warn them of the Domination. After all, this might be the most effective way to protect the PC. What does that tumour familiar want? What are it's capabilities?
Also depends upon the nature of the familiar. Can it talk? Does it have a relationship with other PCs? E.g. If the other PCs don't even know about the Tumour Familiar, then they probably won't react well if it burrows out of the alchemist's chest and begs for their help. E.g. The bird familiar Blackwing from Order of the Stick has his own adventures [see extreme bottom frame for the beginning of Blackwing's battle against a vampire], talks with other PCs, uses the Vulcan mind meld, and would certainly try to warn V's allies were V ensorcelled.
To start with, I think it depends on the type of charm/possession that's in play. Does the alchemist know he's being charmed/possessed? If he is aware of it then the familiar would also be aware of the possession thanks to the empathic link between them. Once the familiar is aware it would probably do whatever it could to break the charm/possession.
If it's an effect where the character isn't aware they are being charmed/possessed I think it would depend heavily on what the character is doing. If the character is acting highly erratic the familiar would probably get a sense motive check to realize something is wrong. If it passes that check it would probably then get a spellcraft check (assuming it has the skill) to figure out the specific nature of the effect. Again once it becomes aware that something is wrong it would probably do whatever it can to break the charm/possession.
In the case of a charm effect I don't see the character "losing control" of the familiar. Possession on the other hand might as the character's class abilities, etc may be "suppressed" as a result. If the ability being used doesn't allow the possessor to use extraordinary abilities (which is what the familiar is IIRC) of the body then the familiar would immediately become aware of the link being suppressed.
At this point, I can see one of two things happening.
1. The loss of the link allows the familiar to act independently until the link is re-established.
2. The familiar reverts to it's original form as per dismissing a familiar until the link is re-established.