| 1 person marked this as FAQ candidate. |
Does the Spirit Animal count as a familiar?
Spirit Animal (Ex): At 1st level, a shaman forms a close bond with a spirit animal tied to her chosen spirit. This animal is her conduit to the spirit world, guiding her along the path to enlightenment. The animal also aids a shaman by granting her skill bonuses. This spirit animal functions like a familiar using the wizard’s arcane bond class feature, except as noted in the Spirit Animal section.A shaman must commune with her spirit animal each day to prepare her spells. While the spirit animal does not store the spells like a witch’s familiar does, the animal serves as her conduit to divine power. If a shaman’s spirit animal is slain, she cannot prepare new spells or use her spirit magic class feature until the spirit animal is replaced.
Don't have a bone in this either way, since whichever way it is ruled, I will want to do something with it:
1. If it counts as a familiar, I should be able to replace it with an improved familiar later on, right?
2. If it does not count as a familiar, I should be able to take eldritch heritage: Arcane bloodline and get a bonded item, right?
Don't have a bone in the sense that either option is good for me, but I need to know which is the legal option!
The silence is deafening.
Owner - D20 Hobbies
|
Ask your GM
But this looks like it might be in an awkward place.
1) You wouldn't be able to take Improved Familiar because you have Spirit Animal not a familiar.
2) You may not be able to take Eldritch Heritage for Arcane Bloodline to get a bonded item because you already effectively have Arcane Bond class feature for a Spirit Animal.
Yes, the Spirit Animal is a Familiar.
This spirit animal functions like a familiar using the wizard’s arcane bond class feature, except as noted in the Spirit Animal section.
But, no, you can't replace it with an Improved Familiar later on, because that last part, "except as noted in the Spirit Animal section."
The new spirit animal must be of the same sort of creature as the previous one.
Since you can't change the type of familiar you have, you can't change to an Improved Familiar.
Samasboy has it right, and James Risner is wrong. If it works as "an X except for Y", you can take option Z that modifies and requires X, as long as Y doesn't prevent it. In this case Y prevents Improved Familiar.
What if you make it a celestial version of the same animal. That seems to be a "same sort of creature" thing to do.
I would think that Ryan Freire has the right idea. As a GM I'd probably rule celestial or fiendish being ok.
I do have a question though, since it is a spirit animal, could a player take an aquatic familiar, without fear of it dying out of water? Such as a Fire Shaman with a flaming octopus?
The other problem with improved familiar for a shaman is that the improved familiars require arcane spell caster levels.
It is a little unclear how that fact interacts with this line from Spirit Animal.
A shaman uses her shaman level as her effective wizard level when determining the abilities of her spirit animal. A shaman can select any familiar available to wizards to serve as her spirit animal, although her spirit animal is augmented by the power of her chosen spirit.
So I think Ryan Freire's point about celestial (and fiendish/entropic/resolute) versions of an animal could be fair game is a good one.
After all, a fiendish rat is still a rat.
But MichaelCullen is also right, that as written, Shaman may not be able to benefit from Improved Familiar at all since it requires "arcane spellcaster levels."
That said, I don't think James was wrong. You should ask you DM. There are threads of disagreement on what "arcane spellcaster level" means or should mean, and your DM's reading of it is what matters.
I do have a question though, since it is a spirit animal, could a player take an aquatic familiar, without fear of it dying out of water? Such as a Fire Shaman with a flaming octopus?
Only if it could normally survive out of water.
Spirit Animals are still animals (like all Familiars) and nothing in the ability gives it special protection to live in a different environment.
A familiar is an animal chosen by a spellcaster to aid him in his study of magic. It retains the appearance, Hit Dice, base attack bonus, base save bonuses, skills, and feats of the normal animal it once was, but is now a magical beast for the purpose of effects that depend on its type. Only a normal, unmodified animal may become a familiar. An animal companion cannot also function as a familiar.
So, Familiars are animals. Aquatic animal breathe water and not air.
They are magical beasts for the "purpose of effects that depend on type." Being able to breathe air as an aquatic creature is not an "effect that depends on type" and being treated as a magical beast does nothing to help here.
Spirit Animals are instead treated as Outsiders for the "purpose of effects that depend on type." Again, this grants no ability for an aquatic creature to breathe air.
Since animals, magical beasts, and native outsiders all need to breathe, and aquatic creatures breathe water and not air (unless amphibious), an aquatic spirit animal breathes water and not air.