Or the standard "can swap it when you gain a level." Either way, simplicity is undervalued in good game design.
New companion rules are up. Tried to clean up a few things, as well as make them easier to deal with.
Necromantic CompanionsThe Necromant is a scavenger, constantly hording parts of undead beings and building them together to form servants, warriors, and traveling companions, each with their own purposes and utility. Most often, that is the simple brute force application of combat, but other times, skillful or intelligent creatures are needed, and are crafted at that time.
As directed by the chosen base class, the Necromant may have one or more necromantic companions. These are generally treated like cohorts from the Leadership feat, except as follows. The companion must be a type of undead creature or undead associated creature, chosen from the list of companion classes. Necromantic companions, who use the elite array for statistics, must choose a companion class, and take levels in that class until the class is complete. Once the necromantic companion has taken all the levels of its companion class, it is free to multiclass into any class desired, although most will do better in melee oriented classes.
An intelligent companion can disagree with any order which he is given, provided it can be reasonably assumed to send the companion into serious danger of its unlife. If such is the case, the Necromant and the companion have an opposed Charisma check. If the Necromant wins, the companion obeys, otherwise, the companion refuses and cannot be forced into the order. Mindless creatures always follow orders to the best of their abilities.
If a necromantic companion is destroyed, it takes a Necromant one day per hit dice of the companion to reassemble the companion. It returns with the same class levels as it had before it was destroyed. In order to bring the companion back to life, the Necromant must undertake a ceremony that is one hour long, and as part of the ceremony, pay a number of grave tokens equal to three times the companion's hit dice. If he cannot pay, the ceremony fails and the companion remains dead. However, the Necromant may retry the ceremony later.
Any necromantic companion who is not naturally undead is treated as a corporeal undead for the purposes of all necromantic abilities, including ones that would normally heal undead creatures only.
Characters that have multiclassed into non-companion granting classes count only their companion granting classes when determining the maximum level of the necromantic companion. Characters that have multiclassed into other companion granting classes count
all of their companion granting classes when determining the maximum level of the necromantic companion. However, they may only have a number of companions equal to the maximum granted by their highest level necromantic companion granting class. Thus, if a character was an Overlord 8/Necromancer 12, he would determine his necromantic companion as if he was level 20, but could only have 1 companion, as that is all Necromancer allows. All necromantic companions have an ECL of the total level of companion granting classes -2 (minimum companion level 1), unless otherwise specified.
Regardless of class, feat, or ability taken, a necromantic companion never gains a cohort, familiar, animal companion, or other type of follower. This includes created undead and summons.