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For the purpose of effects related to number of Hit Dice, use the master's character level or the familiar's normal HD total, whichever is higher.
So... if I have a faerie dragon familiar (3 HD, casts spells as a 3rd-level sorcerer), would it cast spells as a 16th-level sorcerer whan I am 16th level?
No, it casts the 3rd level Sorcerer's spells known/spells per day at 16th caster level.
I think. The other way seems way too powerful.
It casts spells as a 3rd level sorcerer with a CL of 3.
It is not an effect related to HD, it does not cause the fairie dragon to gain new abilities and certainly not gain sorcerer levels. The DC of the breathweapon would increase though.
Actually, I don't see anywhere it says the caster level ever goes up at all, from what I see, it casts 3rd level Sorcerer's spells known/spells per day at 3rd caster level regardless of your level. In fact I don't think it even gets that, as that would imply you get to pick its spell list. I think it gets the spells listed at caster level 3 period.
It definitely gets spells, since there is a default set of spells known in the stat block. I think that CL goes up since it is by definition linked to HD for a spellcaster.
What it does get you though, is the ability to use wands without UMD, since "casts as a 3rd level sorcerer" means that they have the sorcerer's spell list.
I see nothing that would suggest that his spellcasting ability would scale with HD. His CL for spell-like abilities would probably grow with his HD but that's all.
It definitely gets spells, since there is a default set of spells known in the stat block. I think that CL goes up since it is by definition linked to HD for a spellcaster. It does not get extra spells since the text says that it casts as a 3rd level sorcerer.
What it does get you though, is the ability to use wands without UMD, since "casts as a 3rd level sorcerer" means that they have the sorcerer's spell list.
it is not linked to HD, it is linked to class level, a creature can have 17HD, 23 HD or 16 HD and get the ability to cast spells as a 20th level cleric regardless of it's actual HD neither is a multi-class character.
I can find text stating that if you add levels in a class that has a class feature that the monster already has you advance that class feature, but nothing specifically linking caster level (or spell casting) to hit dice specifically.
The fairie dragon's Bestiary abilities don't change as the master advances as the Familliar is not gaining Hit Dice. The only way that the familliar changes is what's specfically granted by the familliar rules text.. The hit points grow at half the rate of the master's and the familliar abilities accrue as per the table, and of course the benefit of the master's base skill ranks and saving throws where they exceed those of the bestiary entries.
However things like the DC of abilities a familiar has does increase and the silvanshee gains more (and better) uses of its lay on hands ability.
The fairie dragon's Bestiary abilities don't change as the master advances as the Familliar is not gaining Hit Dice. The only way that the familliar changes is what's specfically granted by the familliar rules text.. The hit points grow at half the rate of the master's and the familliar abilities accrue as per the table, and of course the benefit of the master's base skill ranks and saving throws where they exceed those of the bestiary entries.However things like the DC of abilities a familiar has does increase and the silvanshee gains more (and better) uses of its lay on hands ability.
arguably that too goes beyond the RAI of the silvanashee though, it is certainly more powerful than other similarly powered familiars, might get a party full with silvanshee familiars through eldritch heritage just for that.
I'd probably allow the increase of the ability but not give it multiple uses.
The fairie dragon's Bestiary abilities don't change as the master advances as the Familliar is not gaining Hit Dice. The only way that the familliar changes is what's specfically granted by the familliar rules text.. The hit points grow at half the rate of the master's and the familliar abilities accrue as per the table, and of course the benefit of the master's base skill ranks and saving throws where they exceed those of the bestiary entries.However things like the DC of abilities a familiar has does increase and the silvanshee gains more (and better) uses of its lay on hands ability.arguably that too goes beyond the RAI of the silvanashee though, it is certainly more powerful than other similarly powered familiars, might get a party full with silvanshee familiars through eldritch heritage just for that.
I'd probably allow the increase of the ability but not give it multiple uses.
I won't argue Read as Interpreted with you, however I would say RAW is what it is, and it states that the silvanshee gets lay on hands as a paladin of level equal to its hit dice and as a familiar all effects determined by hit dice are covered by your character level.
Which does mean silvanshee can be a very strong option, but it's costing you at least 3 feats (if you don't get an arcane bond from some other source) and you still have to figure out how to get the arcane caster level requirement (arcane caster level 7th for silvanshee) as well.
So it's not like you can just grab it without any effort.
I would argue it isn't any stronger than other familiars with fast healing, at will invisibility, telepathy and polymorph capabilities along with flight, poison and so on.
The fairie dragon's Bestiary abilities don't change as the master advances as the Familliar is not gaining Hit Dice. The only way that the familliar changes is what's specfically granted by the familliar rules text.. The hit points grow at half the rate of the master's and the familliar abilities accrue as per the table, and of course the benefit of the master's base skill ranks and saving throws where they exceed those of the bestiary entries.However things like the DC of abilities a familiar has does increase and the silvanshee gains more (and better) uses of its lay on hands ability.No it does not. because the Silvanshee does not gain any hit dice, there is no avenue for progression of these abilities.
Remember this mantra Familliars DO NOT GAIN HIT DICE. They do not advance as their creature type.
They don't need to gain actual hit dice -- and the ability is from being an agathon.
It's not the first time we've covered this ground with the silvanshee either.
Yes they do need to gain actual hit dice to advance the ability. As familliars that simply does not happen.
I would say you are wrong, and that would be because you are wrong:
Technically, that should scale with HD, so as written, a wiz20's silvanshee improved familiar would have 7 uses of 10d6 LOH per day. Which is, of course, way too good. We're probably going to errata the silvanshee so the damage still scales up with HD but it remains capped at 1/day.
By RAW it advances with your character level since it is an effect based on hit dice and you use either your character level to determine all such effects.
They work the same way, whichever interpretation winds up being correct.