Query: Is there a way for a druid to have an undead animal companion?

[TheifofZ]

Like the thread title says. I thought I recalled a feat about that, but I've been having a bear of a time finding it.

I figured I'd ask the playground for help.

[Knitifine]

In DnD 3.5e or Pathfinder?
3rd Party Allowed or only the primary publisher?

[Name1]

Like the thread title says. I thought I recalled a feat about that, but I've been having a bear of a time finding it.

I figured I'd ask the playground for help.

...I never heard of that, sadly... I know there are Vermin animal companions, fiendish animal companions and undead familiars, but I haven't heard of an undead animal companion yet. I know there is a homebrew blighter variant that does that, but other than that I'm clueless...

[TheifofZ]

3.5; and yeah. After spending about an hour on google, I've confirmed that the only method of doing this is through homebrew, which is unacceptable.

Which is a shame.

[Zanos]

Druids in most settings consider undead an anathema, so I'm not really surprised this is unsupported.

[Thurbane]

Blighter with Undead Leadership? Not exactly an undead animal companion for a druid, but vaguely similar in flavour. I recommend Blighter over druid as it seems more of a fir for the class...

[Gnaeus]

Pathfinder Blight Druid can get a familiar instead of an animal companion. If you read "may call a familiar as a wizard of your Druid level" as allowing the improved familiar feat (which requires an arcane caster level), then you can get an undead familiar like a beheaded.

[Psyren]

The Vampiric Companion (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/general-feats/vampiric-companion) feat in Monster Codex can do this. It is Dhampir / Vampire only, but since Dhampirs are humanoid/human-based, you can get into it on other races (Human, Half-Elf, Half-Orc, and Scion Aasimar) via Racial Heritage.

[Jay R]

Like the thread title says. I thought I recalled a feat about that, but I've been having a bear of a time finding it.

I figured I'd ask the playground for help.

No, a druid cannot have a familiar who is unnatural and a mockery of everything druids stand for.

[eggynack]

Talontar blightlord gives your companion the blightspawned template. It makes the companion into a plant, but the flavor of the class and template reads very undead. Disease spreading attack, self propagation through infection, plant traits which are kinda similar to undead traits, and they have to make fortitude saves every month to avoid dying and animating into a juju zombie. Really, if you're going to be running a necromancy themed druid, a lot of your pseudo-undead creation is going to actually be plants anyway. Myconid sovereign and whatnot. Might as well have your companion be that way too. Not a bad class either, though I could do without the feat tax.

Edit:
No, a druid cannot have a familiar who is unnatural and a mockery of everything druids stand for.
Feh. Unnatural is in the eye of the beholder. Literally, in some cases, as while many druids would consider aberrations the way you've described, some can actually become a beholder (and, y'know, other aberrations). Druids don't get the best necromantic abilities out there, but they can do a good amount, and do it natively. Maybe your theoretical druid doesn't consider these things natural, but that doesn't mean that every druid must think that way.

[Necroticplague]

No, a druid cannot have a familiar who is unnatural and a mockery of everything druids stand for.

What about undead fit that description? Undead occur naturally in nature (in DnD, at least), and are as much a part of the world as any other animal.

[Name1]

What about undead fit that description? Undead occur naturally in nature (in DnD, at least), and are as much a part of the world as any other animal.

Well yeah, but in the same way you could argue that many aberrations are simply the next step of evolution and that all animals were "alien and aberrant" to the world when they first emerged, but druids still dislike them. Druids are just weird dudes that believe they alone speak the will of everything they believe to represent ([enter obvious political joke here]).

[TheifofZ]

Well the druid is undead too, and I don't think an unholy abomination will be able to get a normal animal companion.

Also the DM has ruled no leadership, due to cheese.

[eggynack]

Well yeah, but in the same way you could argue that many aberrations are simply the next step of evolution and that all animals were "alien and aberrant" to the world when they first emerged, but druids still dislike them. Druids are just weird dudes that believe they alone speak the will of everything they believe to represent ([enter obvious political joke here]).
Correction: they might dislike them. Aberration wild shape is still very much a thing, one that means that some druids are totally cool with aberrations.

[Thurbane]

For 3.5, there Urban Companion (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/we/20070228a) ACF. If you can meet the reqs, you may be able to have it be undead with the Stitched Flesh Familiar feat in Libris Mortis.

...although a druid really won't get much benefit form the feat, unless he creates and controls undead.

[Necroticplague]

Well yeah, but in the same way you could argue that many aberrations are simply the next step of evolution and that all animals were "alien and aberrant" to the world when they first emerged, but druids still dislike them. Druids are just weird dudes that believe they alone speak the will of everything they believe to represent ([enter obvious political joke here]).

"Next step in evolution", while a fancy term, literally has no practical meaning, and makes no sense to apply to existing things. And many Aberrations are just as natural as many animals. Heck, quite a few are simple 'standard ambush predator+odd appearence' (mimic, darktentacle, cloaker), which just puts them at the level of some deep sea fish. Plus, there are two different methods by which a Druid can turn into an Aberration (master of many forms, Aberration Wild Shape), so clearly they're comfortable enough with it.

[Vizzerdrix]

Aberrations come from someplace. Nothing wrong with a few druids taking pity on them untill they can be returned home, or an acceptable niche in the ecosystem found for them. Rust monsters are a good example. They can be used to help return abandonded structures to nature or clean up old battlefields. Nothing cleans up an old fields barbed wire like a peckish rust monster!

[Darrin]

Cast the ghost companion spell (Ghostwalk) on it and you can turn your animal companion into a ghost. Duration is 1 day/CL, so... I'm not sure you could keep casting the spell every day, but maybe a continuous wondrous item? 2 x 3 x 2000 / 2 =6000 GP.

Death Master (Dragon Compendium) gets an undead minion that is similar to a companion/familiar, but I can't quite find anything that combines the two.

Here's an odd thought... So, your animal companion dies. At what point does it stop becoming your animal companion? Because if you cast animate dead on it (or turn it into a necrocarnum zombie), isn't it still your animal companion? I guess the type changes to undead, so it's no longer an animal... but there are spells that can change the type to something else.

Here we go... found something. Get a vermin companion (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/re/20040705a) or vermin servant (Vermin Lord, BoVD), then find or create a husk vermin (Drow of the Underdark). Husk vermin changes the type to undead, but it keeps "augmented vermin" as a subtype, so it still counts as vermin. It also gains an Int of 2, which solves the problem of vermin being mindless.

[Zancloufer]

Here's an odd thought... So, your animal companion dies. At what point does it stop becoming your animal companion? Because if you cast animate dead on it (or turn it into a necrocarnum zombie), isn't it still your animal companion? I guess the type changes to undead, so it's no longer an animal... but there are spells that can change the type to something else.

Was coming in to post essentially just that. While the animal companion is always of the animal type when you attract it there is nothing saying you can't raise it from the dead after it dies (there are even spells that do exactly that IIRC). So I suppose there is nothing wrong with turning it into an intelligent undead. I mean it wouldn't be effected by spells that target the [Animal] type.

Oddly enough it would actually gain +2 Skill points/level and have it'd HD increased to d12. While TECHNICALLY it has worse BAB and saves the druid's companion specifically calls out that it gains two good saves and medium BaB, while gaining HP and skill points based off it's total HD. Which are not specifically called out as being animal HD. Bonus points if you apply a fairly powerful undead sub-type to it that usually has a high LA or CR increase.

[ShurikVch]

Unless your undeath includes something like Unnatural Aura SQ, I really doubt there are any reason for your Companion to leave you.
Proof:
Animal Companion (Ex): As a 13th-level druid, this mummy king has an animal companion. The mummy king typically sets this animal to guard a location or object.




For 3.5, there Urban Companion (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/we/20070228a) ACF. If you can meet the reqs, you may be able to have it be undead with the Stitched Flesh Familiar feat in Libris Mortis.

...although a druid really won't get much benefit form the feat, unless he creates and controls undead.If we will go by the "Companion as Familiar" route, then there are also:
Undead Familiar (Dragon #280)
Darkness Familiar (Dragon #322) - possible creatures include some Undead
Improved Familiar - options in Dragon #329 allow to take swarm as Familiar, and 3 of possible swarms are Undead

[TheifofZ]

Here we go... found something. Get a vermin companion (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/re/20040705a) or vermin servant (Vermin Lord, BoVD), then find or create a husk vermin (Drow of the Underdark). Husk vermin changes the type to undead, but it keeps "augmented vermin" as a subtype, so it still counts as vermin. It also gains an Int of 2, which solves the problem of vermin being mindless.

This is workable.
... Could I apply animal companion to the 'vermin companion'?