Can A Ghost Have A Familiar?

[Palanan]

If a sorcerer dies and becomes a ghost, can his familiar come along for the ride? Would the familiar be considered so much a part of the sorcerer that the same ghost-inducing trauma would have the same effect?'

And, if so, what could you do with an incorporeal familiar? Delivering touch spells with impunity, I'd expect, but anything else?

[metabolicjosh]

Well you are a ghost...

So that means you're on the ethereal plane and manifesting onto the material plane.

There is a way to manifest through a spell.

You could also kill your familiar. (exp loss is bad)
http://www.wizards.com/dnd/article.asp?x=dnd/sb/sb20011209a
Ask your dm if he can be a ghost.

[metabolicjosh]

Undeath: A ghost is the undead spirit of a slain person. Thus, at 1st level, her type changes to "undead (augmented humanoid)," and she gains all the normal benefits and drawbacks that go with that type. She no longer has a Constitution score, so she loses any Constitution bonus or penalty to hit points, saving throws, and skill checks, though she uses her Charisma score for Concentration checks. She also becomes immune to many attacks (including critical hits and sneak attacks), but she is subject to turn or rebuke undead attempts and is immediately destroyed if brought to 0 or fewer hit points (but see Rejuvenation, below). All of her Hit Dice (current and future) increase to d12s. (Rather than rerolling all her Hit Dice, just add 4 hp for every d4 she previously had, 3 hp for every d6, 2 hp for every d8, and 1 hp for every d10).

Familiars and animal companions have the normal reaction to the character's death. If such a companion encounters her as a ghost, it feels uncomfortable around her and refuses to continue its former association with her.


Never mind, you cannot...

[Malroth]

but you can later grab improved familliar and snag an imp or quaist i'm pretty sure they wouldn't care if you're a ghost or not.

[Necroticplague]

I think the familiar becoming a ghost brute (ghost without as many special abilities or requirements) would be o.k., the entry says they're often animal companions who accompany their masters to the grave (this is all IIRC). Of course, this would require him to die, so you would get the penalty for that.

[Endelehia]

The Emancipated Spawn is a prestige class from a 3.0 book,in its 3 level you recall class features from your past life,feats/class features/spellcasting etc.You can get your familiar back at level 2(it remains the same).
As the class name implies you have to be created as spawn by another undead creature,which was destroyed in the meantime.

The base class Eidoloncer from Ghostwalk,is also pretty similar with the extra benefit that all its level further advance spellcasting.Although it doesn't implicit says so,you regain your familiar which once again remains the same ( no undead/ghost templates ).

[Palanan]

Thanks for the suggestions. I should mention that I'm the DM, and this will be for an NPC in a campaign I'm running.

I'm still working out the basics of ghost-creation. In the PHB sidebar on familiars, it begins by noting, "...the familiar and the master are practically one being."

With this in mind, if both familiar and master perished in the same catastrophe, with the same great task left undone, would that experience be enough to create them both as ghosts, and retain the bond?

[Telonius]

Ghostwalk has a "Ghost Companion" spell. It kills the familiar; it returns as a ghost for days per level. When the spell expires, the familiar dies for good; but you can also raise it in the meantime, preventing it from going away completely. (Although it doesn't make this explicit, I suspect that the XP loss due to familiar death probably wasn't intended to count unless the spell expires).

Eidoloncer explicitly says that spellcasting is the only thing advanced by the class. The examples all refer to what happens if the Eidoloncer is later raised from the dead - the familiar (assuming it's still alive) is your familiar again, with abilities equal to a normal familiar for that level.

@Panalan: I'd say that's absolutely an occasion for the familiar to return as a ghost. Rule of cool.

[Endelehia]

Indeed the Eidoloncer does not advance the familiar,but that doesn't mean it has stopped servicing him,rather that it doesn't get the extra abilities due to increased master level.
In the web enhancement you can find a ghost sorcerer/eidoloncer who still has access to his familiar.That should have been more clear at the class features,but since it was 3.0 none actually cared to clarify.

As for the main subject,a ghost familiar could worth a feat ( since it is meant for an NPC it wont matter either way ).
You can create a feat ( Supernatural Bond or something ) that recreates the connection with the familiar in the afterlife,or simply taking the improved familiar feat and adjusting it.

[Palanan]

I've seen the Ghost Companion spell, although it won't work here for a couple of reasons--primarily because the trauma that created the ghost would have also killed the familiar, so the spell wouldn't apply. (I think it only works on companions and familiars which are alive at the time of casting.)

And Telonius, thanks for the feedback on the rule of cool, which is what I'm leaning towards. I'm thinking the familiar itself won't have any particular ghostly abilities (no draining touch or frightful moan, etc.), just incorporeality and the ability to deliver touch spells. (This might be the "ghost brute" mentioned earlier, although I can't find that term in Ghostwalk.)

Speaking of ghostly abilities, is there a way to determine how many special attacks the ghost has, and which ones? The MM says that a ghost "gains a manifestation ability plus one to three other special attacks," but I'm not seeing anything that scales number of special attacks with HD, or otherwise gives any guidance on how to select these. Clearly there's some ghost-rule I'm not seeing....

[Telonius]

The Monster Manual doesn't have specific guidelines on how to choose them, but there is a savage progression on the Wizards' website here (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/sp/20040117a). It divides the powers into lesser and greater. You'd end up with either one lesser and a greater, or three lessers.

[Palanan]

Outstanding, thanks very much for the link. Not something I ever would've found.

So, let's say I have a second-level sorcerer who becomes a ghost. Do the first two levels of the Ghost Template Class apply retroactively to the two levels of sorcerer? Or would the creature have to gain additional levels to get anywhere as a ghost, say Sorcerer 2/Template Ghost 2?

[Necroticplague]

And Telonius, thanks for the feedback on the rule of cool, which is what I'm leaning towards. I'm thinking the familiar itself won't have any particular ghostly abilities (no draining touch or frightful moan, etc.), just incorporeality and the ability to deliver touch spells. (This might be the "ghost brute" mentioned earlier, although I can't find that term in Ghostwalk.)


Ghost brute is in Savage Species or Libris Mortis.

[Palanan]

Okay, thanks; turns out it's on p. 118 of Savage Species.

So, here's a situational question that will probably come up in my next session. Let's say a character with a cold iron rapier (nonmagical) makes a head-on attack at a ghost, thus having absolutely no effect on the ghost. His momentum carries him straight through the ghost. (This happened before with what he thought was a ghost, so I'm predicting he'll do this again.)

Given that he'll be inside the ghost, can the ghost use that juxtaposition to use something like corrupting touch? Can the ghost ready an action, for instance, to use that ability if a character charges right through it?

[silverwolfer]

You both die...you both become ghosts....


TO THE ROLEPLAY MACHINE!!!!!!

[KillianHawkeye]

So, here's a situational question that will probably come up in my next session. Let's say a character with a cold iron rapier (nonmagical) makes a head-on attack at a ghost, thus having absolutely no effect on the ghost. His momentum carries him straight through the ghost. (This happened before with what he thought was a ghost, so I'm predicting he'll do this again.)

Given that he'll be inside the ghost, can the ghost use that juxtaposition to use something like corrupting touch? Can the ghost ready an action, for instance, to use that ability if a character charges right through it?

Yes, he can try to do that if he readies an action to do so. By RAW, I think you'd still need to make the touch attack, but as the DM you can choose to waive that considering that they're going through each other.

I'd caution against doing this because it reeks of metagaming to me, unless the ghost knows that somebody charging straight through him is likely to happen.

[Palanan]

Yar, I see what you mean, and it would probably take the ghost completely by surprise.

The first time, anyway. Second time is fair game.

:smallbiggrin: