familiars, animal companions, and collar of the true companion.

[P=NP?]

Can the collar of the true companion (p.257 ultimate equipment) be used on a familiar or an
animal companion? The description for the collar states in part, "the creature is raised to
human like sentience as though by the awaken spell" However, the awaken spell (p.246 core)reads,
an awakened animal can't serve as an animal companion, familiar, or special mount. Using the
collar seems like an end run around this rule. So can it be used on a familiar, animal companion, or special mount, and if so can they still serve in that capacity.

[Melkiador]

It’s not that you can’t awaken a familiar or animal companion. Heck, because of share spells, they don’t even need to be a legal target for awaken. It’s that once they are awakened, they are no longer your familiar or animal companion. I don’t see how the collar gets around this.

Edit: I just realized that the collar won’t work on familiars, because their type isn’t animal, but magical beast.

[Meirril]

It will work on familiars...but not in a good way.

Collar of the True Companion

"If worn by a creature of the animal type with an Intelligence less than 3, a collar of the true companion grants a +2 enhancement bonus to Intelligence."

Familiars start with a 6 int. So there is no positive effect. If you have improved your animal companion to have a 4+ int this item doesn't raise the animal companions int further.

Worse, after a week "If a collar of the true companion is worn for more than 1 week by a creature not of the animal type, the wearer is feebleminded until the collar is removed."

So your familiar gets dropped to 3 int and stops understanding its master. Lovely.

All in all, this is a horrible item.