MunchkinBoomer's page

I don't think that some of the posts above are necessarily agreeing with you. The example of Faerie Dragon isn't too useful here as it requires 6 abilities and grants 6 abilities so there is no discrepancy.

A Faerie Dragon is a great example as it really shouldn't matter which specific familiar we look at, my point is that they all have the same rules and act the same

Instead look at Spellslime which required 4 abilities and only grants 3 abilities. For the record, how it works in the app at the moment is:
1) If you have 4 actual abilities and take spellslime, you get 3 abilities awarded from spellslime, and 1 ability to assign as you want (4-3=1).
2) If you have 2 actual abilities and the Improved Familiar feat, the requirement for spellslime is reduced to 2, so you can take it. You get the 3 spellslime abilities and no extras to assign as you only had 2 abilities in the first place. (2-3=-1)

I don't agree with 1, you "buy" the Spellslime package for 4 points and you get all of it. You can't save up a point to use on other abilities since the Spellslime only gave you 3 abilities, otherwise it would have cost 3 points and not 4

MunchkinBoomer is arguing for the case that if you have 2 actual abilites, plus Improved Familiar, you take Spellslime and should have 4 abilities to assign in total. I can't see any text justifying this as Improved Familiar only reduces the entry requirement, it doesn't give actual abilities.

That's not what I'm saying, quite the opposite. If you have 2 actual ability points, plus Improved Familiar, and take Spellslime - you get 0 extra ability points to assign as you used your 2 (4 - 2discount) to buy the Spellslime package. Your familiar would be exactly what is stated in the Spellslime stat block without any modifications

The rules "If your familiar gains more abilities than are necessary for that specific familiar, you can use the remaining abilities to select familiar and master abilities as normal." doesn't apply here as the familiar hasn't actually gained 4 abilities, all that has happened is the entrance requirement has been reduced by 2.

Spellslime's necessary ability number is 4 (as stated in its stat block) if you gain 6 actual ability points (without Improved Familiar) you can buy the Spellslime package for 4 and use the remaining two on whatever you like

Thank you all for the answers!

This is how I read it as well but a debate started on reddit between the creator of Pathbuilder2e app and myself and it looks like they see it the other way around

As we disagree they wanted an official ruling in order to change the way the app works, which is very reasonable as changing it according to every whim of a random online would be ridiculous

The rules on Specific Familiars say the following:

Much like a familiar that naturally has a familiar ability (such as an owl with a fly Speed), you can never swap out any of these granted or unique abilities. If your familiar gains more abilities than are necessary for that specific familiar, you can use the remaining abilities to select familiar and master abilities as normal.

The rules on Improved Familiar says the following:

The number of abilities required to make your familiar a specific familiar is two lower than normal.

Let's take the [Faerie Dragon] as an example for our familiar

Assuming I have [Improved Familiar] feat as well as 6 abilities availalbe, and I want to take a [Faerie Dragon] as my familiar, do I use the entire 6 abilties to get it or just 4, leaving me with 2 free abilities to choose.
The first scenario means that [Improved Familiar] does reduce the entry point of taking a [Specific Familiar] but not the amount of ability slots they use. Leading to it only being meaningful when selecting a specific familiar above your current available number of abilities
(6 abilities, 4 used to take the faerie dragon which uses 6 of them, none available)
The second scenario means thet [Improved Familiar] reduces the overall cost and usage of abilities one need to allocate to a [Specific Familiar]
(6 abilties, 4 used to take the faerie dragon which uses 4 of them, 2 available)

I've searched the web and it looks like this topic is a source of confusion and debate in the community with both parties defending their arguements quite well, so I'm hoping to get an official ruling on the matter