Familiars and acquired templates

[Kennisiou]

I have a player in my game that took a dragon familiar. He is now asking me if he can take the dragon to the plane of chaos to get it to have the Arch-Dragon template and if it will remain his familiar after that. I am uncertain. How does this specific acquired template work with familiars and can other acquired templates be applied to familiars? If so, should people just template stack the **** out of their familiars?

[Urpriest]

Where is the template from?

[Kennisiou]

Dragon Magazine 321. I am asking if there's a specific ruling because I don't have access to that issue at the moment, although I would like to know if a broader ruling about acquired templates and familiars exists somewhere that I just haven't read/remembered.

[Crake]

well, the SRD says "Only a normal, unmodified animal may become a familiar." which I would assume carries over for dragon familiar (but limiting to dragons instead) however that only says that it must be unmodified when BECOMING a familiar, nothing about becoming modified afterwards.

I don't think I'd personally allow it, similar to how animal companions cant be awakened or the like and still remain an animal companion. Perhaps if they took the improved familiar feat, I would allow it?

[Vaz]

"A deity sometimes bestows arch-dragon status upon a dragon as a reward for exceptional service. Other times, dragons travelling to planes might find themselves overwhelmed or corrupted by the unbound planar energies existing there and unwillingly transform into an archdragon."

You could say in that aspect that "no, you've done a particularly exceptional service yet".

When your player states "plane of chaos" is this Limbo? If in Limbo, there are no major planar energies there, only little pockets of elementally dominant areas, which aren't really all that much to do with Chaos after all. The application of such a template is DM fiat, after all - either "unwillingly" or "deity gives it" says so either way.

There is no real provision for it either way, but it does just say any wyrmling dragon, while the sorcerer states normal animal, but you've already broken that rule anyway. There is no mention of having it available as a Familiar, as 141 of Draconomicon (it references that book only in regards to Dragons as cohorts, not as familiar) lists the only kinds of dragons available.

What kind of dragon is it, and what alignment is the sorcerer? Unless it's a White, Black, Brass, Copper, or Red Dragon with a Sorcerer of the correct, you'll get into some funky alignment issues. A LG Gold Dragon with a LG Sorcerer suddenly getting the Chaotic Arch Dragon template is going to be a little bit miffed at being stuck with an "old square" and fly off.