Binding "for ever"

[PhilHibbs]

Splitting off from another thread...

RQG p.249:

Quote

The bound entities are bound to the physical world by
the life force of the binder. If the binder dies, all their bound
entities are immediately freed.

So, how do you bind something in a way that isn't released when you die?

I can see the argument that binding to the middle world needs to be done by a native middle world entity. So no using spirits to bind other spirits for ever.

I'm sure there are ways around it, but they aren't documented in the rules. You could presume from this that it isn't easy, there isn't a well-known technique for it. You have to figure out something creative if you want to bypass this limitation.

[Joerg]

6 minutes ago, PhilHibbs said:

I can see the argument that binding to the middle world needs to be done by a native middle world entity. So no using spirits to bind other spirits for ever.

When it comes to binding a spirit into a dead crystal, one may argue that the binding is into a Godtime object that transited over into the Middle World.

Can a spirit volunteer to bind themselves? The Humakti "Bind Ghost" seems to suggest such a thing. And the reason for ghosts is lingering attachment to the Middle World, isn't it? 

 

6 minutes ago, PhilHibbs said:

I'm sure there are ways around it, but they aren't documented in the rules. You could presume from this that it isn't easy, there isn't a well-known technique for it. You have to figure out something creative if you want to bypass this limitation.

As usual, the rules keep a number of options away from the player characters because the designers don't think of these as enhancing their and/or their main audience's game fun. If there was a sustainable way of producing powered magical artifacts that survive the death of the maker, certain players would latch onto that idea and possibly flood their environment with such.

A non-sustainable method might be an artificer master's "dying breath of bestowal", transiting part of his life to a small range of to-be-finished master pieces which then would indeed be pieces of the master. Something like that would be harder to exploit.

 

[Shiningbrow]

On 2/15/2023 at 8:10 PM, PhilHibbs said:

Binding doesn't take POW. Creating the enchantment takes POW, but binding something into it does not. You can also bind into a crystal which takes no POW.

Apologies for the topic drift.

 

On 2/16/2023 at 1:30 AM, Joerg said:

Rules exploit achieved.

Yes, exploit indeed!

Thanks for both of you for pointing out the difference!

 

However, to me it just seems wrong that the 2min spirit spell that controlled the spirit to enter the crystal would still effectively be in play for the next 30 years, until the caster dies. (or, are you thinking that Binding Enchantments work differently to crystals?)

[Shiningbrow]

53 minutes ago, PhilHibbs said:

So no using spirits to bind other spirits for ever.

But, what actually is the 'binding'?

I thought it's referring to when a controlled (dominated/commanded) spirit is told to enter a binding. That's a spell lasting a while (2 mins/15 mins, or X Duration). Given a spirit is likely to use the Controll (Entity), or even Command (eg, Cult Spirit), I can't see why the nature of the caster should have any bearing on how long the spirit is trapped in the binding.

[French Desperate WindChild]

In my opinion we should answer other questions before :

why does someone bind for ever an entity ?

 

what could be the cost (Pow, mp, etc…) to do it only with spells against the will of the bounded entity ?

 

For the cost, as @Joerg says, the only spell we know (or I know 😝)  is the humakti binding ghost spell BUT it seems to require the acceptance of the target. , same for cult spirits bound in a temple or sacred object..

So let’s focus on a spell forcing the entity. If we forget the life duration rule, we have extension for rune spell and the duration sorcery system. Both add a defined time, there is not a limit saying « ok now it is for ever ». So the cost for a « for ever » duration is easy to define : it is infinite…

so in my opinion if you want a for ever binding it cannot be done with a spell. You must find another way, heroquest or other.

 

however there is another option for spell… and somewhere a « low cost » and in my opinion interesting dramatic option. And this is provided by the first  question :

why you the creator, why do you want to do it for more than your life (so not only for you but for others even some you don’t know ) ?

The simpliest answer would be « because you want to offer it to a community (family, clan, cult, spirit society, malkioni organisation, etc…) »

and then the answer is easy: this community must have at least one spiritual leader (ancestor worship, priest, shaman, sorcerer, etc…) if not the community disappear and the heirloom with it.

so now we have a spiritual leader… once dead or near it a new one will be appointed to this charge. Then the rules applies: call the bounded spirit, control it and order it to be bound again (so you transfer the duration to the new leader life duration)

i would consider that you have one week to do it after the death of the previous one (one week =the time the soul stays near the body, not totally lost from the living world.)

And every thing is ok in my opinion:

no missing rule, reason why there are so few « heirlooms » from other ages, another activity to spiritual leader, hook for adventure (we have just one week to get back the family sword or we will lose the spirit) 

@Shiningbrow i think the enchantment is the answer (full personal interpretation) :

the enchantment doesn’t welcome « only » the spirit.

It needs too a door to close it. Without a door, the place (aka the enchantment) is always open and the spirit can leave it. I would say that the door is the echo of the binder will

So the door is only open by a living person. Those who can use the enchantment (aka condition)

but the door is too bounded to the last one who put the spirit in its jail, the binder. when dead, the door disappears (like the will of the binder )

 

[Joerg]

14 minutes ago, Shiningbrow said:

However, to me it just seems wrong that the 2min spirit spell that controlled the spirit to enter the crystal would still effectively be in play for the next 30 years, until the caster dies. (or, are you thinking that Binding Enchantments work differently to crystals?)

In case of an orderly transition from owner to heir and a spirit in an artifact or a crystal, all it takes is a "Control entity" spirit spell and a "Bind Spirit" spell. The Control Entity" spell could be cast by just about anybody, calling the spirit out of the object and to stand ready for a binding (perhaps even "don't resist the re-biniding"?), while the Binding needs to be cast by the "heir" whose life now is supposed to maintain the enchantment.

With animal companions, this does not seem to be feasible.

[radmonger]

Applying the theory (see recent thread)  of the three magical categories;

- a perfected binding works forever; it is a matter of debate as to whether it even counts as magic.

- a maintained binding works according to the applicable spell duration rules; it may be recast.

- a created binding works for the lifetime of the source of the living entity that donated the POW. Plot points happen if, like Buffy, they temporarily die.

If you want a long lasting binding, that doesn't require continual renewal, use a long lasting POW source. Someone such as Ironhoof, who has been around since at least the resettling of Dragon Pass, and the Dwarf of Dwarf Mine, who is immortal. I suppose the 'living' qualifier would exclude wyters and Delecti.

 

 

 

 

[Joerg]

I still need to be convinced that "living" requires a permanent physical body. Take a spirit to the Dead Place and it will manifest physically.

POW is the measure of the magical productivity of an entity's life force. Spirits do produce magic, that's why people are eager to bind them. If not life-force, what do they draw the energy from? Can't be the spirit plane if they are imprisoned in the mundane plane, or can it?

Living doesn't require biology, either - "the living land" or "living rock" aren't impossible in Glorantha. And microbial activity often translates as elemental activity.

22 minutes ago, radmonger said:

Applying the theory (see recent thread)  of the three magical categories; <snip>

- a created binding works for the lifetime of the source of the living entity that donated the POW. Plot points happen if, like Buffy, they temporarily die.

A Binding other than storage in a crystal or a purpose-made matrix? Putting a spirit into one of these doesn't require POW, just highly ephemeral MP or rune points.

Placing such an enchantment on a physical biological being (such as an animal or a tree) removes the "object" from the enchantment. If it is this kind of animal companion that you mean with your category "created binding", I am with you.

[radmonger]

1 hour ago, Joerg said:

A Binding other than storage in a crystal or a purpose-made matrix? Putting a spirit into one of these doesn't require POW, just highly ephemeral MP or rune points.

Creating a spell matrix or binding enchantment costs POW, so if you accept the lifetime limitation, that is where it comes from. 

Crystals are a special case, presumably as they were created by/from the gods when they were alive. So for those gods not entirely dead, they still function. As per weapons and equipment, standard 'unpowered'  crystals function as combined magic point/binding enchantments[1]. However to use them they must be attuned, and attunement is specifically called out as going away on death (W&E, p120). A spirit also can't share space with MP, and so presumably POW. So merely using a living crystal doesn't work[2].

This does leave open the option of taking a powered (aka living) crystal and extracting the POW. This would allow creating a binding enchantment that works for the lifetime of the corresponding god. However, any such magic would be a deep cult secret,or exotic sorcery technique.

There is also the vampiric option: it works so long as _I_ am not fully dead. After that, who cares? 

1. although they are somewhat annoyingly called pow storage/spirit trapping, presumably due to copy and paste from one or other pre-RQ:G rules.

2. and also you start to get the feeling the rule authors were onto whatever you are trying.

[Stephen L]

1 hour ago, Joerg said:

I still need to be convinced that "living" requires a permanent physical body. Take a spirit to the Dead Place and it will manifest physically.

I quite like Scotty's reply on a different thread (asking what a "living being" is for the purposes of second sight) it was elegantly simple:

Quote

 

• Those that have POW and a physical form are living beings
• Those without POW that have a physical form are undead
• Those without physical form that have POW are spirits

 

 

https://basicroleplaying.org/topic/18176-second-sight-question-regarding-living-being-rqig/#comment-277472

[PhilHibbs]

Quote

• Those that have POW and a physical form are living beings
• Those without POW that have a physical form are undead
• Those without physical form that have POW are spirits

...which leaves some things like dryads with a transient physical form in a grey area. But that's fine, I like grey areas. Rigidly defined areas of doubt and uncertainty, and all that.

Edited February 17, 2023 by PhilHibbs

[jajagappa]

1 hour ago, PhilHibbs said:

...which leaves some things like dryads with a transient physical form in a grey area.

When any nymph (dryad, naiad, etc.) manifests they are living beings, and when they withdraw into the Spirit World, they are spirits. It is a grey zone, but you just have to think about whether they have currently manifested a body.

[David Scott]

8 hours ago, PhilHibbs said:

So, how do you bind something in a way that isn't released when you die?

The key word in

Quote

The bound entities are bound to the physical world by the life force of the binder. If the binder dies, all their bound entities are immediately freed.

is their - belonging to them. If the binding is done selflessly for something other than the individual then the binding can be forever (and should be thematically correct). The releasing spirit section is clearly (to me) prevent the adventuring party from descending on powerful individuals or party members to grab their spirits when dead.

So binding spirits to power temple defences, aid the clan wyter, etc., is fine by me. I would also suggest that if you bind a spirit into matrix, that too is permanent as the spirit is part of the matrix. You don't benefit from it's magic points (although you may benefit from its effects).

[Scotty]

4 hours ago, PhilHibbs said:

...which leaves some things like dryads with a transient physical form in a grey area. But that's fine, I like grey areas. Rigidly defined areas of doubt and uncertainty, and all that.

There is actually more granularity:

• Those that have POW (spirit or soul) and a physical form are living beings
  • Discorporation allows temporary separation of Form and POW (spirit or soul)
• Those without POW that have a physical form are undead
• Those without physical form that have POW are spirits
  • Most are just spirits, but some may have Spirit Powers, that allow temporary physical form:
  • Elemental Form - may manifest a temporary physical form made of an element
  • Possession - may temporarily have someone else's physical form (can be overt or covert)
  • Shapechange - may temporarily have someone else's form and change that form to their preference
  • Solid Form - may have a temporary physical form and like Elemental Form, may or may not need substance to create it..

Note that temporary can vary from a moment to another being's lifetime.

This isn't intended to cover every instance of Spirit Powers, but covers most.

6 hours ago, Joerg said:

Take a spirit to the Dead Place and it will manifest physically.

The Dead Place is a unique magical place. I wouldn't use it as experimental evidence to draw any conclusions on how the (spirit) world works. It's a unique effect.

[Dragon]

4 minutes ago, David Scott said:

I would also suggest that if you bind a spirit into matrix, that too is permanent as the spirit is part of the matrix. You don't benefit from it's magic points (although you may benefit from its effects).

That would contradict the following RQ:RiG page 366:

"Spirits may be bound into a magic crystal, or into a specially prepared object or animal as described in the Binding Enchantment section (page 249). The binder of a spirit
can use any spirit magic the spirit possesses and the magic points of the spirit to fuel spells."

You specifically DO benefit from it's magic points (and spells).

 

My suggestion is that there are different types of binding enchantments that are all covered by the enchantment spell. Note this is not canon. Just my suggestion.

One is the usual one where one person binds a spirit into a matrix (this also works with unpowered crystals). That type of binding releases on the death of the binder. One person got the benefit. One person loses that benefit when they die, because it was very personal.

Another is the enchantment where you enchant an area of a temple. The temple priest is the primary, but not only person who can direct the bound entities, which are going to be cult spirits in most cases. There is a very different negotiation with these spirits. This type of enchantment will continue indefinitely as one priest replaces another. And each priest could benefit from the bound spirit.

Third, an enchanter should be able to make another type of enchantment specifically to bind a spirit without any powers derived from that spirit. Just to trap a spirit so it cannot do whatever nuisance it was doing. Because there is no personal use of the spirit, the spirit is not freed from the binding upon death of the person who bound it. e.g. trap Krampus or a succubus. This allows the epic story of something bound long ago by the ancestors and someone broke the enchantment.

YGMV

[radmonger]

Creating a box a spirit can't get out of is more a matter of crafting than spellcasting. Maybe unenchanted iron would work.  If not, truestone presumably would, as it has the demonstrated ability to trap even the devil. 

Which goes with the general Mostali perspective that magic is what you use to bodge together a quick repair when you don't have time to do the job properly.

[Shiningbrow]

15 hours ago, radmonger said:

Crystals are a special case, presumably as they were created by/from the gods when they were alive. So for those gods not entirely dead, they still function. As per weapons and equipment, standard 'unpowered'  crystals function as combined magic point/binding enchantments[1]. However to use them they must be attuned, and attunement is specifically called out as going away on death (W&E, p120). A spirit also can't share space with MP, and so presumably POW. So merely using a living crystal doesn't work[2].

Sorry, but you're mixing the rules for crystals here.

Powered crystals require attuning. Unpowered (dead) crystals can only be used to either put a spirit into or use its magic points. (and, yes, I know you did clarify that later)

Meaning, there is no attunement required for putting a spirit into a dead, unpowered crystal, and thus the 'lifetime of the 'binder'' doesn't really make sense here. Especially since it seems to merely be a 'just because' ruling.

However, I would suggest that the blood of Daka Fal (and perhaps a few other great spirits/gods) would be a living crystal that could trap a spirit permanently... although, ironically, the fact that the crystal would need to be attuned to work would have it make more sense that spirits are freed once the new holder dies... (not necessarily, but I can see greater reasoning).

[Shiningbrow]

One aspect that hasn't been discussed is when a Binding Enchantment is carried out by more than one person, and a number of people are supplying the Power (including for the conditions).

I think this form of ritual could allow for a situation where every time one of the original Enchanters dies, a new person is 'initiated' into the circle, and their lifeforce is then sort of added to the enchantment (even if POW is not sacrificed). I'd expect this to be a Condition. And, it works thematically with the group of Chosen who must safeguard the holy relic lest it fall into the wrong hands and release the evil it contains onto the world....

I'm still yet to be convinced that a spirit (bound or otherwise) can't cast a Bind Spirit spirit magic spell to force a spirit into a spirit binding enchantment (spirit spirit... just cos I didn't use the word enough times in that sentence).

[Shiningbrow]

@Scotty in W&E, p120 under "Binding a Spirit", it says "Once a spirit has been bound within such a crystal, the POW of the spirit is available for the use of the binder...  If the bound spirit’s POW is reduced to 0, the spirit is destroyed."

Should this be MPs? Or, should the first be MPs, and the second POW? Or, is it actually possible to command a spirit in a binding to sacrifice its POW? Or is it just a random line in a "What if...?" situation? (and, therefore, it could also say "If its CHA goes to zero", etc??)

Q&A doesn't clarify this.

[radmonger]

3 hours ago, Shiningbrow said:

Sorry, but you're mixing the rules for crystals here.

More fixing than mixing; the rules here are atrociously confusingly written, even by RQ;G standards.. They only discuss attunement under powered crystals, presumably because that is the only case for which attunement can fail. But nothing in the text says attunement is limited to powered crystals. For empty crystals, they instead talk about ownership. But ownership has most of the same properties as attunement, specifically including being limited to the lifetime of the owner.

So IMG empty crystals do require attunement, but that process is trivial and doesn't require rolling.

[Joerg]

22 hours ago, radmonger said:

Creating a spell matrix or binding enchantment costs POW, so if you accept the lifetime limitation, that is where it comes from. 

POW is expended to create a permanent magical effect. The existence of family heirlooms makes it clear that the creators of these items are long dead (whether they were part of the ancestors, or the beneficiaries of some non-ancestor enchanter). There is no requirement for the heir to re-spend POW to keep these going.

Also, this view leads to an interesting conundrum in case the enchanter receives voluntary POW contributions by a bunch of donors. Does the enchantment get weakened as these donors die off?

POW can be donated to spirits as part of a bargain. POW is donated to community wyters on a somewhat regular base. Does such donated POW dissipate when the donor dies? Would your wyter fall apart if all the most recent donors died?

Would you want to keep track of this donated POW in your game?

 

22 hours ago, radmonger said:

Crystals are a special case, presumably as they were created by/from the gods when they were alive. So for those gods not entirely dead, they still function.

By definition, Dead Crystals are the crystallized blood of deities that died in the Gods War. Gods that weren't around when Time was conceived, who then left the Underworld - a few earlier than others (Tolat, Lightfore), others in a great big bunch upon the Dawn.

Now Godtime is persistent, and deities that simply Died within Godtime without being returned to the Universe of Time still exist in that layered amount of Godtime. Their blood doesn't actively interact with the Source of Energy any more, though, and thus may only receive Life Force, but doesn't generate it any more.

How would a deity be "entirely dead"? Umath was dismembered beyond any ability to re-assemble. The Thunderstones that can be collected in Thunder Delta still are pretty much "alive". Vadrus wasn't heard of any more after some point in the Gods War, possibly having suffered Death and/or dismemberment, or possibly transformed into something (or rather someone) else.

 

22 hours ago, radmonger said:

As per weapons and equipment, standard 'unpowered'  crystals function as combined magic point/binding enchantments[1].

It's either/or. From a minimaxing point, adventurers would only use low MP capacity crystals to store spirits if given the choice, and probably seek the aid of a specialist in case they obtain a lower capacity crystal than the one they are currently employing to hose the spirit. (Unless they prefer to house another spirit.) 

22 hours ago, radmonger said:

1. although they are somewhat annoyingly called pow storage/spirit trapping, presumably due to copy and paste from one or other pre-RQ:G rules.

The hoary and very confusing RQ1/RQ2 chestnut of "temporary POW" rather than "MP".

22 hours ago, radmonger said:

However to use them they must be attuned, and attunement is specifically called out as going away on death (W&E, p120).

There is no information how long the "attunement" of an unpowered crystal takes, or what happens when you try to attune somebody else's unpowered crystal that contains either stored MP or a bound spirit while the former owner still is alive.

Spoiler

The Smokin Ruin p.60 has Daravala loaning the adventurers an unpowered crystal with a bound spell spirit. The spirit obeys the holder of the crystal and supposedly remains bound while Daravala is alive.

Even worse, it doesn't tell us what to do with spirits bound into a crystal while you re-attune a dead crystal you de-attuned in order to attune to an unknown crystal, and how long that re-attunement takes.

W&E p.119:

Quote

To attempt an attunement, first one must give up attunement to any crystals already attuned, because the new attempt will not work otherwise.

Does that mean that all MP and spirits stored in the collection of unpowered crystals are lost (or need to be expended if you want to make the best use of them, or temporarily be housed elsewhere such as binding enchantments or a shaman's fetch)?

 

Quote

If the new crystal is a POW storing crystal, they can re-attune their old crystals with no chance of failure, but no chance of a POW gain roll.

A POW gain roll only applies to attuning the powered crystal. How long does this process take for each unpowered crystal (and how do you take that MP out of a crystal designated to hold a spirit?), and how long does it take for your powered crystal that you previously were attuned to?

 

Quote

The adventurer may also abandon attunement of the new crystal and re-attune the old one(s). 

Without a chance of failure for the old one.

Essentially, a powerful character could own a small selection of powered crystals, abandon attunement of the currently attuned powered crystal and re-attune one of the others. How long does this take?

 

 

22 hours ago, radmonger said:

A spirit also can't share space with MP, and so presumably POW. So merely using a living crystal doesn't work[2].

No spirit is powerful enough to push aside a droplet of the living deity's life force.

22 hours ago, radmonger said:

2. and also you start to get the feeling the rule authors were onto whatever you are trying.

You mean you don't get the egg-laying lactating woolly sow?

The scenario authors have clearly disregarded limits put into crystals in the published scenarios (e.g. in the Smoking Ruins the crystals in Dera Zarka's harp with a capacity of 1 point each on p.18 or Urvantan's unpowered 17 points crystal on p.139).

The "Extra POW, roll again and add 1D6 POW" on a roll of 02 does allow unpowered crystals greater than 15 MP.

It also allows weird combinations of powered crystals.

22 hours ago, radmonger said:

This does leave open the option of taking a powered (aka living) crystal and extracting the POW. This would allow creating a binding enchantment that works for the lifetime of the corresponding god. However, any such magic would be a deep cult secret, or exotic sorcery technique.

Leaving aside that I disagree with your concept of "mortal enchantments" as the norm:

Essentially, how to kill (a portion of) a god? Tap Body (Tap SIZ) is the only sample "Tap <characteristic> spell in the rules, and it can reduce the target's SIZ down to 1. Tap POW might be able to go down to zero, killing the target. 

 

22 hours ago, radmonger said:

There is also the vampiric option: it works so long as _I_ am not fully dead. After that, who cares? 

The vampiric re-awakening is similar to a resurrection in this regard - the former body becomes Dead. Any previous bindings etc. are lost.

[French Desperate WindChild]

4 hours ago, Joerg said:

POW is expended to create a permanent magical effect. The existence of family heirlooms makes it clear that the creators of these items are long dead (whether they were part of the ancestors, or the beneficiaries of some non-ancestor enchanter). There is no requirement for the heir to re-spend POW to keep these going.

agreed, however, that's for enchantment, your ancestor did not give you any spirit in the heirloom table, just enchanted (matrix, etc...) gear

the only "sentient" heirloom is an animal, I assume some living (huhu) one so not from an ancestor, more from a direct parent, with the beast still alive

[radmonger]

3 hours ago, Joerg said:

POW is expended to create a permanent magical effect. The existence of family heirlooms makes it clear that the creators of these items are long dead (whether they were part of the ancestors, or the beneficiaries of some non-ancestor enchanter).

With 64 generations since the dawn, and minimal if any population increase since then, that's a lot of enchanted items kicking round. To say nothing of Dara Happa and Kralorea which have much longer histories...

I interpret the rq;g 249 quote as meaning that the binding enchantment, not the control spell, is actively powered by the life force (i.e. POW) of a living thing. And so not subject to the duration rules in the same way as an extended control spell would be. You put a little bit of your soul into the binding enchantment. And then, while you are alive, that soul portion regenerates mp, and feeds that into the spell. Once you are dead, most portions of your soul have other fates, and those that would still care cannot afford such a continual MP drain.

If that logic applies to binding enchantments, it surely applies to all enchantments. Hierloom items last as long as the person who enchanted them is remembered and revered by their descendants. Balastor's axe is still potent because his story is told at an annual worship ceremony in the Pavis temple. Which in turn is because the priests plan to get that axe back one day...

 

[David Scott]

On 2/17/2023 at 6:35 PM, Dragon said:

That would contradict the following RQ:RiG page 366:

"Spirits may be bound into a magic crystal, or into a specially prepared object or animal as described in the Binding Enchantment section (page 249). The binder of a spirit
can use any spirit magic the spirit possesses and the magic points of the spirit to fuel spells."

You specifically DO benefit from it's magic points (and spells).

That's not actually what I was suggesting.

For a disruption wand. Cast spirit binding on a stick (2 POW), bind a spirit into the stick, cast Spell Matrix Enchantment with disruption (1 POW), add Link Magic Point Conditions (1 POW). The magic points now come from the spirit. If your GM still says you can use the magic points too (I wouldn't), add the user condition, no access to the bound spirit (1 POW).

[Joerg]

3 hours ago, radmonger said:

I interpret the rq;g 249 quote as meaning that the binding enchantment, not the control spell, is actively powered by the life force (i.e. POW) of a living thing. And so not subject to the duration rules in the same way as an extended control spell would be. You put a little bit of your soul into the binding enchantment. And then, while you are alive, that soul portion regenerates mp, and feeds that into the spell. Once you are dead, most portions of your soul have other fates, and those that would still care cannot afford such a continual MP drain.

That is a Binding Enchantment using an animal to house the spirit. (Still something that can be given to a starting character "as a heirloom", btw.) Naturally you don't inscribe a spirit-housing matrix that can be re-used for other spirits of that type for an animal companion spirit. That kind of Binding will fade away with the death of the Binder.

Something like that could become a nasty plot element if the creator of your animal companion given at character creation dies - a possible but not really player-friendly way to introduce a plot, killing off a familiar sidekick without much a player can do about it. An NPC follower that will have become a fixture also in the other players' experience of the game. Just by GM fiat.