traps & familiar based aid other

[Melvin the Mediocre]

I am playing a seeker sorcerer with a blood line familiar. So is it fair for my familiar to take 10 to aid me on skills like perception and disable device?

for example at 4th level I would roll:
perception =
+4 (ranks)
+3 (class skill bonus)
+4 (wis)
+2 (from trap finding)
+2 (alertness from familiar)
+2 (assist other from familiar)
--------------------------------
+17 Total

[Heimdall666]

Aid Another:
"...You can also use this standard action to help a friend in other ways, such as when he is affected by a spell, or to assist another character's skill check."

A GM may rule the Alertness and Assist bonus are from the same source and you must take the better of the two, but a counter would be different methods of assistance, ie, vision versus smell on perception checks, or you use the familiar as a footstool to reach the keyhole.

[DM_Blake]

Don't forget this rule:

Pathfinder SRD, Skills, Aid Another wrote:

In many cases, a character's help won't be beneficial, or only a limited number of characters can help at once

So sure, a familiar could aid you while yo look around. I doubt it could aid you while you disable a trap; it would likely just get in the way. All of this is up to the GM to decide, but clearly some things don't benefit from being aided by somebody else. For example, if you wanted to lift a rock the size of a chair, you might invite a hundred friends to aid you, but you probably cannot get more than 3 of them around that chair where they're able to actually make a difference; the rest just grab pom poms and cheer for you (but unless they're bards, that won't help).

[BretI]

You can't take 10 on Aid Another.

CRB, pg. 86, Aid Another wrote:

You can help someone achieve success on a skill check by making the same kind of skill check in a cooperative effort. If you roll a 10 or higher on your check, the character you’re helping gets a +2 bonus on his or her check. (You can’t take 10 on a skill check to aid another.) In many cases, a character’s help won’t be beneficial, or only a limited number of characters can help at once.

I doubt that most GMs will allow your familiar to Aid Another on perception checks to avoid surprise rounds. Searching shouldn't be a problem. Expect a lot of table variation on if they can Aid Another on Disable Device checks.

[The Great Rinaldo!]

I would certainly allow a familiar that was capable of using thieves' tools to assist with disable device. Most improved familiars would be in that category. You could make a case for monkeys, if you had appropriately sized tools. Other than that, I would question exactly how the familiar was helping.

Other skills that are less specific, I think are generally appropriate. Active perception checks (where multiple individuals can look/listen and advise each other), escape artist to get out of certain kinds of bindings, etc.