Can a familiar use bluff to feint?


Rules Questions


In or out of combat, like a misdirection type feint?
I was looking at
Team Pickpocketing (Teamwork)

You distract a mark with friendly conversation while your partner robs the victim blind.

Prerequisite: Bluff 1 rank, Sleight of Hand 1 rank.

Benefit: Whenever an ally with this feat succeeds a Bluff check to feint an opponent, if you are adjacent to that creature, you can spend an immediate action to make a Sleight of Hand check to pickpocket that opponent and gain a +4 bonus on that attempt.
And with a valet familiar and decent bluff and sleight of hand you could have some fun with this if it works out of combat.


It will depend on your GM not ruling out bluff because of this line.

PRD wrote:


Skills: For each skill in which either the master or the familiar has ranks, use either the normal skill ranks for an animal of that type or the master's skill ranks, whichever is better. In either case, the familiar uses its own ability modifiers. Regardless of a familiar's total skill modifiers, some skills may remain beyond the familiar's ability to use. Familiars treat Acrobatics, Climb, Fly, Perception, Stealth, and Swim as class skills.

Personally I'd raise an eyebrow at any GM that disallowed bluff. It might be limited in not using bluff to tell a lie (if the familiar can't speak). I wouldn't allow a many familiars to take a crafting skill or many forms of performance skills. But bluff for this purpose I'd have no problem with.

Shadow Lodge

In general, familiars can take any actions that PCs can take, including feinting or Aid Another. There are a few cases in which a familiar may be physically unable to take an action, but if you can justify what the familiar is doing, you're good to go. The feat you posted just represents a familiar distracting the target in some way (look at the pretty kitty!) while you pickpocket, so it's pretty straightforward.


Feint partner + improved feint partner + evolved familiar (skilled [bluff]) = happy rogue?

Community / Forums / Pathfinder / Pathfinder First Edition / Rules Questions / Can a familiar use bluff to feint? All Messageboards

Want to post a reply? Sign in.