How do levels stack for purposes of familiars for a Wizard with the Eldritch Heritage feat?

[shaxberd]

The Eldritch Heritage chain of feats is supposed to give you Sorcerer Bloodline powers as if you were a Sorcerer of your actual level -2. So for example, if you took this feat as a 9th-level Wizard for the Arcane bloodline, you could also gain a familiar with the powers of a 7th-level Wizard through the Sorcerer bloodline. Does that mean your familiar would have its powers calculated as if you were a 16th-level caster? Thoughts?

You're not actually multiclassing, and the ability isn't supposed to grant you access to both a familiar and a bonded object so I can't see any other possible benefit to taking Eldritch Heritage (Arcane) if you belong to a class that already grants familiars.

[ryric]

I'm pretty sure they don't work together. Not every legal feat actually provides a benefit to the person taking it. Don't choose a dud option.

[Elicoor]

Well... according to the wording of Arcane bond (Sorcerer)

Arcane Bond (Su): At 1st level, you gain an arcane bond, as a wizard equal to your sorcerer level. Your sorcerer levels stack with any wizard levels you possess when determining the powers of your familiar or bonded object. Once per day, your bonded item allows you to cast any one of your spells known (unlike a wizard’s bonded item, which allows him to cast any one spell in his spellbook). This ability does not allow you to have both a familiar and a bonded item.

I suppose it's the bolded part that makes you think it stacks.

But in reality, you have n Wiz levels converted to n-2 Sorc levels again converted to n-2 Wiz levels. The arcane bond only considers your non-Wiz levels to stack with Wiz levels.

[AbsolutGrndZer0]

Actually they would stack, because of the following line on familiars...

Familiars wrote:

Levels of different classes that are entitled to familiars stack for the purpose of determining any familiar abilities that depend on the master's level.

When it comes to familiars, wizard is the "default" that everything goes to. In this case it all stacks (because that above quote says it does) unless it says it doesn't (which no familiar granting ability to my knowledge does.)

Some people say that the Serpentine bloodline is the one exception, but I am in disagreement with that because it doesn't specifically say it allows you to have two familiars, something you cannot do normally. It just says you get a viper familiar. So it would stack normally.

[LazarX]

It's an overlapping effect, so assuming a single class wizard, your familliar is not advancing ahead of your wizard level.

[AbsolutGrndZer0]

LazarX wrote:

It's an overlapping effect, so assuming a single class wizard, your familliar is not advancing ahead of your wizard level.

Well, yes but if you were to multiclass into another class then you would be able to retain your full familiar progression (or well -2 in Eldritch Heritage's case) which is kind of what I was thinking when I did my answer...