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For most GMs familiars have two modes
1) Not actually doing anything. In which case they provide their static bonuses (not to be sneezed at) and essentially have plot immunity
2) The familiar is actively participating in the game (maybe in combat, maybe by scouting) in which case its a fair target.
But a familiar is rarely going to be the PRIMARY target (unless the GM is frantically trying to NOT kill the characters :-)). And its got pretty good defences so its not THAT fragile. Buff spells can help it out (shield companion, false life, etc). But be ready to get it to run away if it takes a solid hit (callback is VERY good for this)
So, bottom line, with care an active familiar can be a very viable and useful asset. But, unless you invest (money, spells, etc) its best just left as some static bonuses together with possibly some roleplaying hooks
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The answer depends on how you frame the question, which depends on what you wish the familiar to do.
Is a familiar worth the exploit to give you Alertness, another bonus, some extra Perc. checks, and so forth?
For most builds, yes, it is a competitive option.
Keep the familiar on your person, occasionally letting it loose within your eyesight (such as when outside and sending it high up, or in emergencies to get help). Just not forward! Most of the time, just forget about it except when an area of effect hits you both.
Is a familiar worth sending into combat for a touch spell or acting independently?
No. Exceptions exist, especially if you build for this, but even so, just take a 'no' until you learn how for some other PC later.
They are Cleave bait, practically free kills for the enemy.
Is Improved Familiar worth taking?
In PFS, very much so. The extra gold of PFS and the 2PP wands/potions make a wand-using/potion-giving familiar affordable. Even familiars with DR or Fast Healing or Invisibility/high Stealth need to be protected. The warrior PC often have a tough time taking full attacks, so of course your familiar will!
The extra action, even from a minor wand, can make a huge difference.
The list of wand users is limited, and you'll want your UMD pumped (esp. since it's a class skill for you), but it's useful to the point that some people intentionally avoid it because it's too good.
Hope that helps,
Cheers, JMK
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Have at least 1 rank of stealth so that your familiar is trained in Stealth. Stealth is a class skill for familiars. A tiny familiar likely has a decent Dex and a +8 size modifier to stealth. So even with just 1 rank, your familiar likely has at least +14 Stealth or more.
Three of my characters have familiars, two of which are always out and about in combat, and one mostly stays in his familiar satchel (get one) unless he needs to come out in an emergency. None of them have ever died. One got caught in an AoE effect once, but he happened to be immune to the damage type.
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1) A familiar does not appear to be a familiar. They appear to be animals. Take the disguise skill if you are worried that your GM will say they don't act like animals(fair call). Take stealth to hide them.
2) They actually have decent defenses so long as you don't throw them into combat. Just don't forget to cast mage armor on them. Any attack against a familiar is an attack not being thrown at the much heavier hitters in the party.
3) I find familiar's to be very useful so long as you keep in mind what they are good at and what they are not.
4) Get an improved familiar if you want more than the static bonus. It greatly increases their ability to be useful. Except in the case of classes like Fighter(Eldritch Guardian).
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Familiars are great, but typically you don't want them exposed to possible combat at low levels, especially when they have half your hp and you are a d6 hit die class. There are exceptions, such as the tumour familiar with protector archetype (my melee alchemist has one, a monkey).
At higher levels you can get a lot of mileage from a familiar, even one as "mundane" as an owl. For example, a trick I heard about recently: a wizard (level 9 or thereabouts) decides to send his hawk familiar scouting a set of caves that the party is going to explore. They know there are trolls in the caves. Wizard casts Caustic Blood on the familiar (and a few other spells besides). It flies into the caves, sees trolls, and basically kites them. It gets hit a few times, but each time a troll hits it the poor troll gets 9d6 acid damage. When the hawk has taken too much damage it retreats and the party storms in to finish the trolls. There was certainly risk in this strategem, but it would not have been an option without the familiar.
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Venture-Lieutenant, California—Los Angeles (South Bay)
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In general, I have found a bonded item to be more useful. At times, I have had characters use a bonded item to cast a very useful spell that my character had not memorized. (In one instance, being able to cast an unprepared Life Bubble truly helped save a few characters.) While I try to plan ahead, there is usually the unexpected to contend with in PFS play.
The bonuses from a familiar can be useful, but I have mostly used the familiars of a few spellcasters as scouts or something that stays hidden. So far, I've found familiars to be useful, but not as useful as a bonded item. (I now mostly GM for my group, so I may not be the best person to address this issue.)
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I have a level 11 Witch who has made great use of her familiar. In combat,it would go into delay, and come out of delay whenever a party member dropped. Then, it would fly over to them and perch on their chest, allowing my character to deliver a Heal hex at range. The familiar has died once before, but that was due to a combination of scenario hazards and a failed Will save that ended with the poor psychopomp suffocating itself within another party member's Handy Haversack.
There are two PFS characters that are alive today solely because of that delay-heal tactic, by the way. I'm pretty proud of that.
I speak with the GMs beforehand. I know that the standard "gentleman's agreement" is now void, and the familiar is a viable target. But the risk is often worth it.
I have another familiar, a Tumor attached to my transhumanist Alchemist. I make sure to tell GMs at the start of the scenario that said familiar will be out in the open and a perfectly viable target for AoE and targetted attacks throughout the entirety of combat. But in return, I have a handy bodyguard with Fast Healing 5.
Having a familiar is all about knowing when and how to use it. If it scouts, try to scout in areas where that type of animal won't cause an alarm if seen. Rats are king at that. Improved Familiars with Invisibility also help, but some higher level hazards and creatures are not fooled by that. Getting to effectively roll twice on Perception and Knowledge skills is a great feature in its own right. If it ties into your combat strategy, make peace with the fact that it might die. As long as you're not playing a Witch, it isn't the end of the world.
It could be worse. Did you know that the Bonded Object of a Wizard/Sorcerer/Etc loses all of its crafted magical properties when the owner dies? Raise Dead feels like a much harsher cost when you need another 20k gold to re-enchant that Ring of Freedom of Movement.
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I have a level 11 Witch who has made great use of her familiar. In combat,it would go into delay, and come out of delay whenever a party member dropped. Then, it would fly over to them and perch on their chest, allowing my character to deliver a Heal hex at range. The familiar has died once before, but that was due to a combination of scenario hazards and a failed Will save that ended with the poor psychopomp suffocating itself within another party member's Handy Haversack.
There are two PFS characters that are alive today solely because of that delay-heal tactic, by the way. I'm pretty proud of that.
I took the Scar hex on my witch, to be able to use my buff/heal hexes on my allies from up to a mile away. All they have to do is let the cute widdle bunny wabbit bite them and leave a little scar at the start of the adventure (having my familiar bite them is how I explain the scar in character).
But my witch is also totally focused on buffing and healing hexes. With the Extra Hex feat, I've already got Ward, Healing, Fortune, and Cackle at level 4. I call her my cheerleader witch - a cute, friendly, cheerful teenage girl with a rabbit familiar. Also, she giggles instead of cackling, and refuses to use the word "witch". She introduces herself as an arcane specialist.
Personally I don't see much point in giving an Arcanist or a Wizard a familiar, they borrow from your stat-profile, so unless you have a good profile, or lots of skills which benefit form getting two chances to succeed at, a familiar is simply a liability.
If you are getting a familiar, a Valet Familiar is great for abusing Teamwork Feats (Escape Route for the Win!), and a Figment Familiar is much, much less expensive to replace.
To Fromper:
If you are in PFS, you should know they FAQed it such that Witches have to actually cackle like a b-list villain to use the Cackle Hex.
For a home game, the GM can rule it in your favor. I would let my players choose a similarly audible replacement to cackling (such as chanting or babbling loudly).
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I have a level 11 Witch who has made great use of her familiar. In combat,it would go into delay, and come out of delay whenever a party member dropped. Then, it would fly over to them and perch on their chest, allowing my character to deliver a Heal hex at range. The familiar has died once before, but that was due to a combination of scenario hazards and a failed Will save that ended with the poor psychopomp suffocating itself within another party member's Handy Haversack.
There are two PFS characters that are alive today solely because of that delay-heal tactic, by the way. I'm pretty proud of that.
I took the Scar hex on my witch, to be able to use my buff/heal hexes on my allies from up to a mile away. All they have to do is let the cute widdle bunny wabbit bite them and leave a little scar at the start of the adventure (having my familiar bite them is how I explain the scar in character).
But my witch is also totally focused on buffing and healing hexes. With the Extra Hex feat, I've already got Ward, Healing, Fortune, and Cackle at level 4. I call her my cheerleader witch - a cute, friendly, cheerful teenage girl with a rabbit familiar. Also, she giggles instead of cackling, and refuses to use the word "witch". She introduces herself as an arcane specialist.
I have a similar idea in the works. A healing Witch who dedicates the vast majority of her feats to buffs, playing up how nice and sweet she is, but her spells are all unpleasant thanks to her heavy spider motif. Scar would be flavored as her "weaving her web" around the party. Actual spells will involve things like Vomit Swarm and Web.
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To Fromper:
If you are in PFS, you should know they FAQed it such that Witches have to actually cackle like a b-list villain to use the Cackle Hex.
I don't have the cackle hex as my PFS witch because of this ruling - I don't care how good the hex is, the flavour is wholly inappropriate.
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I don't have the cackle hex as my PFS witch because of this ruling - I don't care how good the hex is, the flavour is wholly inappropriate.
To Fromper:
If you are in PFS, you should know they FAQed it such that Witches have to actually cackle like a b-list villain to use the Cackle Hex.
My witch still giggles. It may be louder than a normal giggle, and some people might think it sounds like cackling. But she's giggling.
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We have more familiars than bonded items here. They just aren't that active in combat most of the time.
We do have one guy who has an imp with a wand of invisibility. It stays invisible using its racial ability, then uses the wand on the caster every round using UMD. So the arcanist casts an offensive spell, becomes visible, and then the imp turns him invisible again in the same round. Then, he moves with his move action, so the enemies don't know where he is. At least, that's how it works in theory. The UMD check isn't guaranteed.
My chosen one paladin has a familiar that goes around healing people in combat, but only if the situation is really dire, since it costs two of my daily lay on hands for the day. It can cast Guidance at will, though, so it's constantly helping out in combat.
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Venture-Lieutenant, California—Los Angeles (South Bay)
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One question is what option best fits a player's style. For example, I try to have characters who prepare for everything. I even go so far as checking my character's spell list with those of other party members when possible.
So far, I find that the arcane bond item works well for my characters. However, I have tried a familiar at times -- mostly keeping them hidden for bonuses to the character or rarely using one as a scout.
