Unnatural20's page

I was under the impression that the section for barding and neck slot being always available was only for animal companions and not familiars. Even then, it seemed to go off of a body type when using the horse, pig, and snake comparison.

The faq entry does make some distinctions in each paragraph between animal companion and familiar.

I realize this is more of a rules related question, but I am curious how pathfinder society play implements things.

With the feat improved familiar, you gain access to several nonstandard familiars, such as a brownie,a carbuncle, or even an arbiter, provided you meet the requirements listed both by the feat and in the monster entry.

My confusion starts when I look at this faq entry on magic item slots for familiars. It clearly states that the brownie uses the biped (hand) section, and that the carbuncle uses the serpentine section. It leaves many improved familiars like the arbiter out. Do familiars not listed by this faq entry not gain the benefits for item slots?

From what I've found, it looks like improved familiars are supposed to gain access to magic item slots related to their body type without needing to use the extra item slot feat. (source)

So my question is, for any improved familiar not listed in the FAQ entry, how are body types and item slot availability handled in society play?

I'm trying to get hands on a specific improved familiar that doesn't already have them with pathfinder society rules. Best option I've found that will work for any familiar and let me keep the bonuses of improved familiar is polymorph familiar, and the duration is on the short side.

Thanks for the link Byakko, I hadn't even thought of the stat limitation for mauler.

So from what I understand from that thread, we cannot take Improved Familiar with any archetype that modifies speak with animals of its kind because we no longer have the class ability.

Polyglot Familiar grants the ability to speak with animals of its kind, but it is not gained as a class ability, it is a feat. Though it adds the same ability, it does not count for archetypes due to its source as a feat.

There is language in the rules to support this, as class features are specifically called out in the archetype section, and all of the class listings include 'class feature' sections.

Not the answer I was looking for unfortunately, so now I'm back to square one on getting an improved familiar with a nonstandard body to gain hands for using wands, but I appreciate the help.

Yes, the feat grants the ability to speak with its kind, just as the normal familiar ability does.

If this works the way I'm currently reading/understanding it, the feat would no longer grant the benefit if we used it to qualify for an archetype. It would be a kind of dead feat, granting no benefits other than allowing us to meet the requirements for the familiar archetype.

The wildblooded/crossblooded scenario is like the alchemist mutagen scenario- both involve using two archetypes altering the same ability. This is explicitly not allowed in the rules for archetypes. For the familiar, we are using only a single archetype.

As far as protector and actual combat, I was just using it as an example. We could use any of the other archetypes that replace/modify the speak with animals of its kind ability.

I guess using the current interpretation we could take it twice, but that might be jumping a bit too far ahead. I'd really like to know if just using polyglot familiar will allow us access to archetypes first.

An alchemist replacing mutagen with an archetype then using the mutagen discovery is a close example, but isn't exactly the same. With that, we still wouldn't be able to use another archetype, because we already have an archetype that modifies the class ability.

Improved Familiar is a feat, not an archetype, so the 'no two archetypes can modify the same ability' part of archetype rules don't apply.

A character can take more than one archetype and garner additional alternate class features, but none of the alternate class features can replace or alter the same class feature from the base class as another alternate class feature. For example, a fighter could not be both an armor master and a brawler, since both archetypes replace the weapon training 1 class feature with something different.

I'm looking at the feat polyglot familiar and how it interacts with improved familiar and familiar archetypes .

For example, lets say I have Polyglot Familiar, and at 7th level I take Improved Familiar. Can I then select an improved familiar with a familiar archetype such as protector? Can we use the feat to re-establish the ability to qualify for the archetype when we get the new familiar?

I'm trying to find a precedent in the forums or other examples of similar situations in the rules that would say otherwise, but I haven't been able to find another situation where one feat removes a class feature and another feat adds the same class feature.