familar life span

[Nessa Ellenesse]

This is a question for really long term campaigns, is a creature's lifespan changed or increased when it becomes a familiar.

[Ettina]

Others have asked this question, including myself. As far as I can tell, there is no RAW data either way.

[Honest Tiefling]

I would assume that the natural life span is equal to that of the caster, else those familiars keep taking bits of the caster's soul to the underworld and that seems like a bad idea overall. (Could make a good campaign setting if all casters were forced to be pathfinder witches and then they start acting kooky if they get ahold of immortality)

[Bulldog Psion]

Yes, it makes sense for them to live as long as the magic-user. Anything else would be a pretty rotten deal.

[Keltest]

Now I had an idea for a campaign where an immortal wizard who was developing the Familiar ability Eventually lost his soul to the familiars who died before he figured out the longevity part of the ability and turned evil.

[Tvtyrant]

I always enjoyed the idea that they lived as long as thebcaster and then their normal life span. Familiars whose caster dies have the option to die soon or go find a new caster to bond with.

[Troacctid]

Do the rules even define the lifespan of a normal animal? As far as I'm aware, it's mostly only PC races that have actual maximum ages listed.

[Nessa Ellenesse]

not that I can find, but irl cats usually live about 10 to 20 years. To be honest, the Pseudodragon seems a bit short lived, for a minature dragon you would think it would live at least 100

[heavyfuel]

Do the rules even define the lifespan of a normal animal?

Never directly as far as I know. But we should always remember this passage from the either the PHB or the DMG (don't remember which, and don't have the time to search right now. If anyone coulp post it, I'd appreciate it) that the in game world, or at least the material plane, is generally like our real-life world.

In our real life world, cats don't get to live for 400 years, and being a Magical Beast doesn't change that.

[Grod_The_Giant]

Others have asked this question, including myself. As far as I can tell, there is no RAW data either way.
I dunno, there's no listed maximum age for most animals... heck, they don't even take aging penalties.

[WhamBamSam]

Tome and Blood does actually have something to say on this topic.
If the familiar has a shorter lifespan than the master, it ceases aging at its normal rate and instead ages at the standard rate for the master. If dismissed, it resumes its normal rate of aging but suffers no immediate ill effects. If the familiar has a longer lifespan than the master, it continues aging at its normal rate.I don't know if any 3.5 sources make any statements in regard to this, but probably not, so this is probably still RAW.

[Ruethgar]

AFB but find the Tibbit max age. They are unbound cat familiars and their desendants so that age should be appropriate.

[Bronk]

There aren't any rules that specifically call out a familiar's life span but...

A: They aren't animals anymore, they're magical beasts.

and

B: Per "Tome and Blood" under 'Death of a Master', familiars survive their masters death and keep all their familiar abilities as if they had a master two levels below that of their former master when they died.

They may very well be immortal, and they do keep a 'part of the master' with them...

[heavyfuel]

A: They aren't animals anymore, they're magical beasts.


This doesn't matter. A humanoid that becomes a magical beast doesn't have its lifespan increased. Such a thing isn't a property of the Magical Beast type.

Tome and Blood is still the only source of RAW we have, though being 3.0 material, it's subjected to each DM's purview.

[Ettina]

I interpret the Tome & Blood rules to mean that:

a) a familiar with a short lifespan stops aging as long as they remain a familiar. So, if Wizard Joe acquires a 2 year old cat as his familiar, his cat is stuck at age 2.
b) if the familiar is dismissed, he resumes aging where he left off, and reverts to a normal creature of his kind. So, if Wizard Joe, ten years later, decides to give up his cat in favour of an ice mephit, the cat resumes aging, but is effectively a 2 year old cat for aging purposes, even though he's actually lived for 12 years. However, he has lost all his familiar abilities and reverts to a normal cat in every way.

Dismissing a Familiar
Sometimes a master wants to be free of a familiar, perhaps because it has suffered some debilitating injury or because the master simply wishes to acquire a new one. To dismiss a familiar, you simply will it so, although breaking the link that binds the two of you is a full round action.
Dismissing a familiar is not to be undertaken lightly, however. Not only is it rather callous, but the two beings have shared their existence for an extended period, and severing that connection leaves scars. Immediately upon completing the dismissal, you lose experience points as noted on page 51 of the Player’s Handbook and cannot call a new familiar for a year and a day. The creature immediately
loses all familiar abilities and becomes a normal creature of its kind. It suffers no other ill effects.
c) if the master dies with the familiar still in service, the familiar resumes aging where he left off, but unlike a dismissed familiar, he does not revert to normal. It is weakened, however, acting as a familiar of a master two levels lower than he actually was, and losing extra HP and skills. (Unless the master was level 1 or 2, in which case it acts like a level 1 familiar.) So if Wizard Joe keeps his cat instead of dismissing him, but goes on to die in his bed at 82, the cat resumes aging as a 2 year old cat, but is smarter than a regular cat and has some of the special abilities he gained as a familiar.

Death of a Master
If a master dies and the familiar survives, part of the master lives on in the familiar. It loses any extra hit points and skills it gained from the master but retains most of its familiar abilities. It is treated as having a master two levels lower (but never below 1st level). If the master is later brought back from the dead, the bond is reestablished, and the familiar gains whatever abilities go along with the master’s new level.
For example, Hennet has a cat familiar and has reached 11th level when he fails a saving throw against a lethal poison. His cat becomes a ½-HD magical beast with 2 hit points (average for ½ d8). It now has the special abilities of a 9th-level character’s familiar: +5 natural armor, Intelligence 10, and the ability to speak with felines (the other familiar abilities are irrelevant in the absence of a master). If Hennet is brought back from the dead, he returns as a 10th-level sorcerer, and his cat has all the familiar abilities for a master of that level.

[Tiri]

Never directly as far as I know. But we should always remember this passage from the either the PHB or the DMG (don't remember which, and don't have the time to search right now. If anyone coulp post it, I'd appreciate it) that the in game world, or at least the material plane, is generally like our real-life world.

In our real life world, cats don't get to live for 400 years, and being a Magical Beast doesn't change that.

In real life, cats don't get to become Magical Beasts.

[heavyfuel]

In real life, cats don't get to become Magical Beasts.

Doesn't change the fact that the Magical Beast type doesn't affect a creature's lifespam. If it did, it would be written.

[Lord Vukodlak]

Doesn't change the fact that the Magical Beast type doesn't affect a creature's lifespam. If it did, it would be written.

"They are magically linked to their masters, in some sense, practically existing as one being"
That description falls apart if one ages faster than the other.

Explain to me how ANY caster in existence would summon a familiar with a lifespan of only a few years given the damage it does when it dies? Especially those Vampires or Liches who have familiars. Previous editions were explicit in the fact Familiars had extended lifespan, and Tome and Blood stated that Familiars aged at there master's rate. Your familiar aging wasn't in the "update" packet for converting 3.0 characters to 3.5. So find the line in 3.5 that says how Familiars age or the 3.0 rules still apply.

[heavyfuel]

"They are magically linked to their masters, in some sense, practically existing as one being"
That description falls apart if one ages faster than the other.

Explain to me how ANY caster in existence would summon a familiar with a lifespan of only a few years given the damage it does when it dies? Especially those Vampires or Liches who have familiars.


This actually makes sense, and is a pretty good argument for saying that familiars get to live as long as their master, though "practically" is very undefined. Your DM might decide that they exist as one being doesn't mean that, much like it doesn't mean they both only have one turn per round.

The damage they do when they die is mostly just ot having them around for a year. The XP penalty is almost irrelevant. If you're in a campaign where having your familiar die of old age is an actual problem, then waiting a year to get a new one probably isn't that big of deal anyway.


So find the line in 3.5 that says how Familiars age or the 3.0 rules still apply.

This is not how 3.0 material works.


This is an upgrade of the d20 System, not a new edition of the game. This revision is compatible with all existing products, and those products can be used with the revision with only minor adjustments.

Each DM gets to make the call on what these minor adjustments mean. If you disagree with your DM's call, well, there's a thread (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?414951-BS-calls-by-DMs) for that.