[RPG] Are range personal and target you the same for purposes of animal companions and share spells

animal-companionspathfinder-1espells

I am working on an unusual animal companion character and I want to make sure that spells with range personal but dont specific target you are suitable for use with the ability of the animal companion since shared spells only directly mentions spells with target you.

Spells that are range personal and target you

Spells that are range personal but no target

Spells that are target you but not personal

Spells that are neither

Best Answer

A spell that doesn't have a target of You cannot make use of the Share Spells rules.

For our purposes, spells have two important parts to their entry, range and target and it seems you are getting the two mixed up. The relevant part (emphasis mine) of the Share Spells rule is that:

The druid may cast a spell with a target of “You” on her animal companion (as a touch range spell) instead of on herself.

The range of a spell only "indicates how far from you it can reach" and a range of personal means that the "spell affects only you." Note that this only determines who it can affect and not who it targets. An example might say:

Range personal

It is the next part of the information block that denotes what the target of the spell is however e.g.

Target you

Share Spells clearly states that the spell must have a target of "You". Merely casting a spell with a range of personal is not sufficient to meet these criteria.

This shouldn't be much of an issue however as whilst it might be theoretically possible to have a spell with a Range of Personal and a target other than yourself (with whatever out of body crisis this might imply) there are not many spells written that way.

To cover some specific examples:

  • Zone of Silence: No target is specified, so cannot be used with Share Spells.
  • Fire Trail: No target is specified, so cannot be used with Share Spells.
  • Covetous Aura: No target is specified, so cannot be used with Share Spells.
  • Lead Blades: Strange case as it only effects melee weapons you are carrying (not "You") and so has a range or personal but affects touched items (the weapons). Very clearly states that only you can benefit from the spell, so I would say not valid for Share Spells on two counts.
  • Enlarge Tail: Really unusual spell in that it targets your tail rather than yourself. As written it won't work but as it's from a splatbook and pretty quirkily written I'd recommend checking with your DM.

  • Paragon Surge: Actually works fine, despite it normall only affecting Half-Elves.

    A druid may cast spells on her animal companion even if the spells normally do not affect creatures of the companion’s type (animal).

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