Jokon Yew's page

Howdy! I have two questions about the valet archetype for familiars and day jobs. It's a pretty grey area, so I figured I'd ask first and get shot later. Anyway, here's the questions:

1.) Does a familiar with the valet archetype provide a circumstance bonus to day jobs, or does the restriction on the cooperative crafting feat for players also apply to the Able Assistant feature of the familiar?

2.) Assuming the first is valid, does this mean that a valet familiar can double the amount of gold earned for a day job check made for a valid crafting skill(per the expanded text of Able Assistant)?

Here's the full text of the Cooperative Crafting feat and Able Assistant archetype feature:

A valet's master treats the valet as if it possessed the Cooperative Crafting feat and shared all Craft skills and item creation feats he possesses.

This ability replaces Alertness.

You can assist another character in crafting mundane and magical items. You must both possess the relevant Craft skill or item creation feat, but either one of you can fulfill any other prerequisites for crafting the item. You provide a +2 circumstance bonus on any Craft or Spellcraft checks related to making an item, and your assistance doubles the gp value of items that can be crafted each day.

The grey area for me comes from knowing that Cooperative Crafting is not a valid feat choice for a player character, as well as the duration restrictions on spells/effects that improve crafting skills. Before I get too invested into this line of play, is there any further input/rulings that can help me make the legal decision?

Howdy! I'm attempting to build a valet familiar that can take advantage of the flyby aid another feature. Here's the scenario I want to cover:

Most familiars are tiny or smaller, meaning that to use aid another in combat they have to enter the square of their target (to make a melee attack) and thus provoke attacks of opportunity. An approved improved familiar (brownie, faerie dragon, imp, lyrakien azata, mephit, quasit, and sprite) can be given a *tiny* whip, which has a 10' reach at that size. Imps, lyrakiens, mephits, and quasit familiars can get proficiency for this whip using a Cracked Opalescent Pyramid Ioun Stone (they are proficient with martial weapons), and the others can get this proficiency with a normal opalescent pyramid (at a hideously expensive price for the privilege). This means they can make aid another attempts at 10' AND use the flyby-aid feature of the valet without provoking those nasty attacks of opportunity. Heaven forbid you try this with an animal familiar at home.

My problem is that none of the good-aligned familiars get Weapon Finesse. The requirement of Weapon Finesse limits the cheaper build to imps and quasits - both creatures of dubious character, neither of whom I'm inclined to give a whip, and both invalid improved familiar choices for good characters. If you can shell out 10,000 gold for the better stone you can add other familiars, but that's a serious opportunity cost for the alignment choice.

My question is this - is there a way in Pathfinder Society to get Weapon Finesse onto a familiar whose base form does not possess it? The familiar's normal feature that adds dexterity to attacks only applies to natural attacks, which will trigger attacks of opportunity. A normal reach weapon isn't ideal for any of these creatures due to their poor strength scores (although an imp with a ranseur is neat). Just to reiterate, this would not be as big a problem if I weren't limited to good/neutral familiars.

I've been searching the forum for about 30 minutes now and haven't found an answer for my question. Does a familiar count as a member of its master's faction? I am asking in reference to Taldor Boon on the Year of the Risen Rune bonus chronicle. As a refresher, the boon reads "Increase the bonus of any aid another action you receive from any member of the Taldor faction by 2."

As you might guess, this would make familiars (particularly with the valet archetype) quite a bit more interesting for select characters.