[3.5] Couple of "Cohort" Questions

[Thurbane]

Couple of questions I asked the the Q&A thread, but maybe a bit too complex.

1.) Would a Skeletal Minion (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/specialistWizardVariants.htm#skeletalMinion) (specialist Necromancer ACF, UA) be eligible to receive an Awaken Undead spell? If so, would being awakened make it independent of the Necromancer, or would it continue serving as a Skeletal Minion?

2.) Can you apply training to a Wild Cohort (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/re/20031118a) to give it the Warbeast template (MM2) without affecting it's ability to be a Wild Cohort?

No "ask the DM" answers please, looking for as close to RAW or RAI as possible.

Cheers - T

[ganondorf50]

I would say yes the undead would be able to be eligable, I am reading several sources, including MM they are mindless so yes they would receive awaken undead as to being Seintent, I would say its smarter and it would follow you as you already command it.

[Coidzor]

Skeletal Minions are mindless, so should be eligible targets for Awaken Undead. I don't recall anything in the text of Awaken Undead that would make it cease to be a Skeletal Minion or cease to be controlled by the caster if it was part of the caster's animate dead control pool or Command Undead control pool.



I believe that there's two different readings of the RAW on Warbeast. The first is that it's a template that they have to be born as(or otherwise magically altered to become such) and the other is that it's something that can be added to any creature.

If it's an inherited template rather than an acquired one, then a Wild Cohort can't come as a warbeast and can't become one later. With a grey area as far as earning a boon that turns the wild cohort animal into a warbeast animal.

If it's an acquired template then it can be applied with the necessary training time to any animal, and as long as the animal wasn't a warbeast *before* they were an animal companion or wild cohort, things are hunky-dory.

[Bronk]

I believe that there's two different readings of the RAW on Warbeast. The first is that it's a template that they have to be born as(or otherwise magically altered to become such) and the other is that it's something that can be added to any creature.

Yes, the problem stems from the opening description, which describes Warbeasts as being specially bred, but then later on including rules for training a regular animal into a Warbeast as long as you 'rear' it. It isn't a very well written and/or edited template.