Familiar / Animal Companion Keep Watch?

[dougefersheezy]

Hi all. Just a quick question about familiars and animal companions. Our 3.5 group will likely be using the teamwork ability that takes advantage of allowing the elf of our group to share his 4 hour meditation with us and count it as a full nights rest. My question is, will the rangers animal companion and the sorcerers familiar be able to keep watch for our low-level party while we meditate? Is it possible to train them to wake us if they sense danger?

[Malruhn]

While it doesn't specifically address this in the rules, I would give a tentative, "Yes" - WITH a stipulation.

They will need rest as well.

This could mean that the critters are going to have to sleep at least eight hours during the day... which means that they are useless.

Come on - you expect your critters to be up all day AND night without getting sleepy?

I would go so far as to house-rule that if the familiar is allowed to join the sorcerer in the meditation, they would ALSO benefit from the ability and only need those four hours to gain a full night's rest. HOWEVER, the animal companion is purely a PET - a smart and eventually beloved one - but a PET nonetheless. This means that they can't benefit from the ability and would need a full eight hours per day.

I hope this doesn't screw things up too much.

[dougefersheezy]

Thank you very much for the reply. This MAY fit into our campaign as is since both the animal companion and the familiar could / should be considered nocturnal creatures anyway. The companion is an owl and the familiar is a bat. Up to now, they've also been left out of combat as, generally speaking, they could get killed quite easily.

[nijineko]

for the animal companion, see the tricks section. i believe one of them is guard. which would work nicely for your situation. the familiar can empathically communicate so as long as a strong emotion of danger or fear is able to wake the familiar's master, it should work. nocturnal is a big bonus.

[Skunkape]

There is one issue with your plan, the Elf still has to rest a total of 8 hours before being able to select spells for the day. While they don't have to meditate the entire time, they still need to...

The wizard does not have to slumber for every minute of the time, but she must refrain from movement, combat, spellcasting, skill use, conversation, or any other fairly demanding physical or mental task during the rest period.

SRD Referrence

So even though the Elf will be "unconscious" for 4 hours during meditation, they'll be able to watch for the next 4 hours, but won't be able to get into combat unless they wish to interrupt their resting cycle.

[dougefersheezy]

@Skunkape Thank you very much for bringing that to my attention. We were under the assumption that an Elf Sorcerer could get away with 4 hours rest and the necessary prep time afterward. Apparently MOST arcane casters, including the sorc need 8 hours of rest regardless of whether or not they sleep. Seems strange to me, but I'm not the rule-maker.

[nijineko]

for that matter, psionics and divine casters are no different.

see heward's handy bedroll, however.

[Skunkape]

@Skunkape Thank you very much for bringing that to my attention. We were under the assumption that an Elf Sorcerer could get away with 4 hours rest and the necessary prep time afterward. Apparently MOST arcane casters, including the sorc need 8 hours of rest regardless of whether or not they sleep. Seems strange to me, but I'm not the rule-maker.

You're welcome. I'm not sure either why the rules are like that, I just follow them or make a house rule overriding them depending on the game! Oh and it took us quite a while to notice that also, even after having read the rules!

[Talaeladar]

Everything that has been said above is true, however keep in mind one important thing: your DM has the right to bend, or even break any rule he/she deems fit. So if the DM says its ok for everyone to get by with the 4-hour meditation (including the Sorcerer), then for that particular group, that's how it is. All rules are always left to the individual DM's interpretation, so whatever the DM decides is the true rule for your group. Of course, the DM should always keep game balance in mind for these decisions, but I digress.

[Skunkape]

Everything that has been said above is true, however keep in mind one important thing: your DM has the right to bend, or even break any rule he/she deems fit.

That's a very good and important point!