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View Full Version : How long do basic wizard/sorcerer familiars live?


Particle_Man
2019-10-04, 12:22 AM
I am thinking of a Green Star Adept that is at least 1000 years old. A half-dragon (green) template on a half-ogre, with 3 levels of half-dragon racial paragon, 2 levels of sorcerer and 10 levels of GSA (so aging is no longer a thing). Not an optimal character, but not the point right now.

I want to give him a weasel familiar (his reflex save needs help). But then I got to thinking - could this be the original weasel familiar, given longevity through being a familiar of an extremely long-lived sorcerer? Or would this be the nth in a long, long, long line of weasel familiars (I don't even know how long weasels live. Maybe 5 years, so this could be about 200 weasel familiars, one after the other?

Is there any RAW on this or is it "whatever the DM wants" territory?
Vaern
2019-10-04, 01:10 AM
A quick look through the SRD, Complete Mage, and Complete Arcane isn't turning up anything regarding familiars and how/if they age. I'd say that this is a "DM's discretion" kind of thing.
I'd personally say that the familiar is able to survive far beyond its natural lifespan by drawing life force from its master through their magical bond, just as a bit of fluff to allow the familiar to survive for as long as your sorcerer is alive.
NNescio
2019-10-04, 01:12 AM
Tome and Blood (the Wiz/Sorc splatbook) has this line:


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.

It's 3.0e though.
RedMage125
2019-10-04, 06:37 AM
Tome and Blood (the Wiz/Sorc splatbook) has this line:



It's 3.0e though.

Anything 3.0 that was not specifically updated to 3.5 is valid.
Evil DM Mark3
2019-10-04, 06:40 AM
The Tome and Blood line makes sense to me. Firstly because not doing so makes having a familiar even more of a hazard considering what happens when they die. A familiar is also supposed to be, on some level, part of the mage.
Bronk
2019-10-04, 08:50 AM
The Tome and Blood line makes sense to me. Firstly because not doing so makes having a familiar even more of a hazard considering what happens when they die. A familiar is also supposed to be, on some level, part of the mage.

I agree, but I think it doesn't go far enough. Animal familiars become or even start life as magical beasts, so what are their base lifespans anyway? I treat them as having indefinite lifespans, especially because Tome and Blood also says they keep their familiar powers (at master level -2) when their master dies, so they remain magical beasts.
Particle_Man
2019-10-04, 10:26 AM
So if I get the weasel a Collar of Sustenance or something like that we are good to go for the immortal weasel! :smallcool:
HouseRules
2019-10-04, 03:14 PM
Anything 3.0 that was not specifically updated to 3.5 is valid.

How about the omitted parts?
Pretty sure that prestige classes must always meet the requirements at all levels. (3.0 DMG).
Pretty sure that prestige classes are exception to multiclass penalty. (3.5 pre premium is omitted, unless use SRD).