[3.5] An idea I had about Awaken. Help me determine the viability.

[rmg22893]

So my DM has houseruled in a "mule/apprentice" mechanic, where you get a secondary character that's two levels lower than you every time you gain two levels. So a 7th level character would have a 5th level apprentice, a 3rd level apprentice and a 1st level apprentice.

I had the idea to cast Awaken on my animal companion (playing a druid) and then make the now-sentient animal into my apprentice. Thoughts? Good idea? Bad idea? I like the concept of having an army of sentient animals with PC class levels :smallbiggrin:

[Diarmuid]

It seems like you'd actually be losing out at that point. As a druid you get the AC no matter what. At 5th level you'd also have a 3rd and 1st level apprentice. If you turn your AC into an apprentice, you're losing out on one of those.

Is the DM going to be designing and assigning the apprentices, or is he/she just letting the players stat them up as they earn new ones?

[rmg22893]

It seems like you'd actually be losing out at that point. As a druid you get the AC no matter what. At 5th level you'd also have a 3rd and 1st level apprentice. If you turn your AC into an apprentice, you're losing out on one of those.

Is the DM going to be designing and assigning the apprentices, or is he/she just letting the players stat them up as they earn new ones?

I can just get a new animal companion...?

You can get an apprentice at any time; you don't have to have them all at one time. So at 9th level (when I could first actually cast Awaken) I could use it on, say, a brown bear, and add it as my 7th level apprentice. (The main point of this houserule is to have a contingency plan if your main character perishes).

[Urpriest]

Which level restricts apprentices? Character Level? ECL? CR? Awakened Animals have only the first of those.

[rmg22893]

Which level restricts apprentices? Character Level? ECL? CR? Awakened Animals have only the first of those.

I'm not sure; I haven't gotten an answer back from him yet. The apprentices are restricted by character level, I believe (he doesn't apply LA for non-standard races, but you actually have to FIND the race and make them want to join your cause before you can use them). I'm thinking there would be two ways to go about it:

1. Convert the animal's HD into "racial" levels, and then progress in class levels until you hit the apprentice level.
2. Get rid of the animal's HD and all benefits thereof, and just give it x levels of a class, while retaining ability scores.