Garden Tool |
If I take Improved Familiar and gain an intelligent familiar companion - say, an imp, what happens to the imp's Intelligence score? By RAW, it looks like the Int score of the imp is whatever the familiar table says it is.
According to Improved Familiar:
"Improved familiars otherwise use the rules for regular familiars, with two exceptions: if the creature's type is something other than animal, its type does not change; and improved familiars do not gain the ability to speak with other creatures of their kind (although many of them already have the ability to communicate)."
It makes no mention of an exception to the table which normally dictates the Int score of a familiar. So am I missing something or does my imp's Int change to match the Int score on the familiar table, by RAW?
AlyxTheKitty |
Unfortunately by RAW: Yes, your Imp is not as intelligent as the average of it's kind. Really I would think that this is not what is intended though when Wizards created this feat. I have never seen a ruling on it in either D&D or PF though. If it's really a problem just remember rule 0 and ask your GM.
seebs |
I have never seen any dev posts about the interaction of improved familiar and the normal familiar power tables.
Also super curious: If you have a pseudodragon or faerie dragon, does it actually get "speak with animals of its kind"? If so, are there any animals of its kind? Not that it matters, since both are telepathic and can speak anyway.
AsheiraTharine |
@ seebs
Improved familiars otherwise use the rules for regular familiars, with two exceptions: if the creature's type is something other than animal, its type does not change; and improved familiars do not gain the ability to speak with other creatures of their kind (although many of them already have the ability to communicate).
David knott 242 |
I had hoped that the familiar folio would address this issue. Does anyone know if it does?
It doesn't. I searched my PDF for all occurrences of "intelligence" and "Improved Familiar" and found nothing on this subject.
However, I did pick up one item that implies that a familiar does not keep the intelligence of its original creature listing if it is higher. The Mauler familiar archetype has a MAXIMUM intelligence of 6, which means that if it is an improved familiar, it most likely lost intelligence.
On the other hand, the Sage familiar archetype has an intelligence of 5 + effective wizard level of master, so it is less likely to lose intelligence even at the lowest levels.
Of course, since both of these archetypes replace the "speak with animals of its kind" special ability, I am not sure whether either of them can be applied to most improved familiars in the first place.
DinosaursOnIce |
Gisher wrote:I had hoped that the familiar folio would address this issue. Does anyone know if it does?It doesn't. I searched my PDF for all occurrences of "intelligence" and "Improved Familiar" and found nothing on this subject.
However, I did pick up one item that implies that a familiar does not keep the intelligence of its original creature listing if it is higher. The Mauler familiar archetype has a MAXIMUM intelligence of 6, which means that if it is an improved familiar, it most likely lost intelligence.
On the other hand, the Sage familiar archetype has an intelligence of 5 + effective wizard level of master, so it is less likely to lose intelligence even at the lowest levels.
Of course, since both of these archetypes replace the "speak with animals of its kind" special ability, I am not sure whether either of them can be applied to most improved familiars in the first place.
I was wondering this myself.
Cleru |
Of course, since both of these archetypes replace the "speak with animals of its kind" special ability, I am not sure whether either of them can be applied to most improved familiars in the first place.
Unless I'm missing something, I don't think Sage Archetype replace "speak with animals of its kind" ability.
Saethori |
Maybe it should be. It doesn't excuse you having necro'd three different threads to ask the exact same question when you could have stuck to one, or, better yet, reading the threads you were about to post in, as at least two of them contained the answers to your questions.
And asking a designer to shine light isn't going to be any more likely now than it was any of the times the threads originally existed.