Can a familiar deliver spells with range 'personal'?


Rules Questions


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Can a familiar deliver a spell with a target of "you" and/or a range of "personal"? Say the spell caster anticipated being tied and gagged. Can he cast alter self in advance and have his familiar deliver it to himself after he is tied/gagged?

Deliver Touch Spells (Su): If the master is 3rd level or
higher, a familiar can deliver touch spells for him. If the
master and the familiar are in contact at the time the
master casts a touch spell, he can designate his familiar
as the “toucher.” The familiar can then deliver the touch
spell just as the master would.


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Personal spells or spells with a target of 'you' are not touch spells.


Why is a spell with a range of personal not a touch spell?


Because they are not targeted by touch.


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Spells have the following Ranges

Personal, Touch, Static, Close, Medium, Long, Unlimited

The familiar ability specifies that out of all of those ranges a familiar can be the originator for spells with the range touch. In the same way a familiar can't deliver a spell with the range Personal, it can't deliver a spell with the range long, or even one with a static range of 15 feet.


It's very clear that the intent of this ability is to deliver Touch range spells and Touch range spells only.

In order for your familiar to deliver any spell in this manner, it must say "Touch" in the spell's range, otherwise it will not qualify.

However, if you want a certain spell to affect a familiar, you can use share spells:

Familiar Page wrote:
Share Spells: The wizard may cast a spell with a target of “You” on his familiar (as a touch spell) instead of on himself. A wizard may cast spells on his familiar even if the spells do not normally affect creatures of the familiar’s type (magical beast).

In your OP, you asked about Alter Self. This is a personal range spell, so no you would not be able to cast it on your familiar and then have him cast it on you later as a touch spell. You could however, cast "Contingency - Alter Self" with the contingency of "If I am tied and gagged, and left alone for over 1 minute, the spell Alter Self will be cast upon myself." Or something to that effect.

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