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I have a question about familiars, on page 83 of the core book it says:
"Use the familiar’s Dexterity or Strength modifier, whichever is greater, to calculate the familiar’s melee attack bonus with natural weapons."
In the Bestiary the stats for all the familiars with an attack lists Weapon Finesse for the one feat it can take which provides the same benefit as the text above describes although it does not specifically say that it is derived from Weapon Finesse.
My interpretation was that the core text is just describing the effects of Weapon Finesse but an alternate interpretation is that this is a separate ability that comes from being a familiar.
It would make a difference in the situation where you were attempting to deliver a touch spell via a toad which is the one familiar listed without Weapon Finesse and no natural attacks but presumably could use an unarmed strike to deliver a touch attack and thus the spell.
If using DEX over STR on natural weapons is an inherent attribute of being a familiar the toads attack bonus will be much better then if that benefit is derived from Weapon Finesse which it does not possess.
Any idea's?
I see where you're going with this, but you might be overthinking it.
If you assume the core text should say "Use the familiar’s Dexterity or Strength modifier, whichever is greater, because they're all supposed to have Weapon Finesse anyway, to calculate the familiar’s melee attack bonus with natural weapons" then toads have a problem.
But it doesn't say that, so let's not assume it does.
There's really three possibilities here:
1. The author assumed it without explicitly stating the assumption, but it turns out he was wrong about toads becaus toads don't have the feat and they are not supposed to.
2. The author assumed it without explicitly stating the assumption, but it turns out he was wrong about toads becaus toads don't have the feat BUT they ARE supposed to - it was accedentally left out of the bestiary (along with any kind of attack).
3. The author didn't worry about it because toads can never attack at all.
Option 1 and 3 kinda screw mages who go with Toad familiar. Maybe that's OK because arguably toads give the best side-benefit.
Option 2, however, makes all familiars mechanically equal-ish. Furthermore, while option two doesn't match the Bestiary entry, it does comply with the Core RAW regarding calculating familiars' melee attack bonus, so it isn't even a houssrule.
Ultimately, one of them is wrong, so a DM will have to make a judgment call. Me, I like to make the call in favor of balance.
