Question about an Awakened Wolf 3.5

[sage20500]

So this is basically a 2 to 3 part question involving how the Awaken spell will change a wolf so that I know how to apply this to the pc character its being used on, when I tried to look up the information online, the closest thing i found that fully explained it was this: http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/a/awaken , except that its for pathfinder not 3.5 d&d which is what our group uses.

So for 3.5 D&D, the wolf pc's rolled intelligence score was an 11, which after the racial mod dropped it to 3, when the character was awakened the player rolled a 12 as the new Intelligence stat. For 3.5 D&D does the player add 12 to the animals current int for a total of 15, or is the intelligence score replaced with the old score for a new int of 12?

The two HD that the animal gains, are those hit dice treated as animal HD or Magical Beast HD for the two levels they take up.

And lastly for wolves, since those two HD actually advance the wolf by 2 levels, would the wolf actually be starting the game as size large for having 4 or more HD in Animal, or would the PC still have to later on down the road take another 2 levels of wolf to be able to increase from size medium to size large?

[KillianHawkeye]

So for 3.5 D&D, the wolf pc's rolled intelligence score was an 11, which after the racial mod dropped it to 3, when the character was awakened the player rolled a 12 as the new Intelligence stat. For 3.5 D&D does the player add 12 to the animals current int for a total of 15, or is the intelligence score replaced with the old score for a new int of 12?

The spell replaces the animal's existing Int with a roll of 3d6. It is not added to the existing score.


The two HD that the animal gains, are those hit dice treated as animal HD or Magical Beast HD for the two levels they take up.

I'm pretty sure those HD as well as the animal's original racial HD will all become Magical Beast levels instead of Animal.


And lastly for wolves, since those two HD actually advance the wolf by 2 levels, would the wolf actually be starting the game as size large for having 4 or more HD in Animal, or would the PC still have to later on down the road take another 2 levels of wolf to be able to increase from size medium to size large?

This is a bit questionable. It seems more like the spell is granting the target bonus HD (similar to the way animal companions get bonus HD). It would be a little weird if a spell that granted your pet human-like Intelligence also made it grow to twice its size, especially if the spell itself never mentions that as a possibility. I say that if it doesn't use the word "advancement" then those extra HD are just that: extra.

[Urpriest]

So this is basically a 2 to 3 part question involving how the Awaken spell will change a wolf so that I know how to apply this to the pc character its being used on, when I tried to look up the information online, the closest thing i found that fully explained it was this: http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/a/awaken , except that its for pathfinder not 3.5 d&d which is what our group uses.

So for 3.5 D&D, the wolf pc's rolled intelligence score was an 11, which after the racial mod dropped it to 3

Which then fell to 2 due to the animal type, making the character unplayable. The player then chose a race that actually has a listed level adjustment, in order to play a character that is capable of gaining levels.

Basically, if you're houseruling all of that, why not houserule the rest? You've got a made-up wolf race, it doesn't have to have any rules in common with the wolves that exist in normal 3.5.

[Gnome Alone]

Which then fell to 2 due to the animal type, making the character unplayable.

Wait a minute... I've heard that the type doesn't actually change to magical beast with Awaken; it's more like it's an animal chassis with magical beast jiggering under-the-hood... right? But even so, if the animal type automatically reduces INT to 2, does that mean that the Awaken spell doesn't actually work (as far as increasing the INT score goes)? I highly doubt that's what you're saying, but that is what it seems like you're saying.

Agree about the hefty dose of houseruling/handwavium being preferrable, btw. At the very least, could always just say that the caster researched a custom spell of Awaken that doesn't suck (for making PCs.)

[Urpriest]

Wait a minute... I've heard that the type doesn't actually change to magical beast with Awaken; it's more like it's an animal chassis with magical beast jiggering under-the-hood... right? But even so, if the animal type automatically reduces INT to 2, does that mean that the Awaken spell doesn't actually work (as far as increasing the INT score goes)? I highly doubt that's what you're saying, but that is what it seems like you're saying.

Agree about the hefty dose of houseruling/handwavium being preferrable, btw. At the very least, could always just say that the caster researched a custom spell of Awaken that doesn't suck (for making PCs.)

An Awakened animal explicitly becomes a magical beast (augmented animal), as per the spell description.