Beast Bonded Witch fix

[Arden Oakwald]

The Witch's Beast Bonded archetype runs into an issue if you take an Improved familiar. Essentially, they lose their 8th level hex in to gain an SLA that gives them a limited Beast Shape II in regards to taking on an animal shape of the same type as their familiar.

Spoiler:

Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Ultimate Magic wrote:

Familiar Form (Sp)

At 8th level, a beast-bonded witch may take the shape of her familiar (or a giant version of her familiar or a similar kind of animal) as if using beast shape II. For example, a witch with a rat familiar can turn into a Tiny rat, Small dire rat, or a larger rodent; one with a cat familiar can turn into a Tiny cat or a Large feline such as a tiger or lion; one with a monkey familiar can turn into a Tiny monkey or a Large gorilla, and so on. The witch can remain in animal form for a number of minutes per day equal to her level.
This ability replaces the witch’s 8th-level hex.

The consensus in the rules board seemed to be that it is incompatible with most Improved Familiars, since they no longer are an animal that would qualify under Beast Shape II.

However, I feel like this was probably just an oversight, and I'm disappointed that it hasn't been formally addressed yet. I feel like Paizo actually already has a working solution right under their nose now, since 4 years after introducing Beast Bonded, they came out with the Synergist witch archetype.

I think we could use the following verbage from that archetype to solve the issue:

Spoiler:

Pathfinder Player Companion: Familiar Folio wrote:

At 1st level, during symbiosis the synergist gains darkvision or low-light vision if the familiar possesses it.

At 5th level, during symbiosis the synergist gains any abilities the familiar possesses that are listed under beast shape I, except flight.

At 8th level, during symbiosis the synergist gains any abilities the familiar possesses that are listed under beast shape II. If the familiar can fly, the synergist can fly for a total of 1 minute per witch level she possesses per day while in symbiosis. This duration need not be consecutive, but it must be spent in 1-minute intervals.

Emphasis mine.

This simple change of phrase would solve the whole issue while keeping things balanced and the end result would look something like this:

Spoiler:

Quote:

Familiar Form (Sp)

At 8th level, a beast-bonded witch may take the shape of her familiar (or a giant version of her familiar or a similar kind of animal) as if using beast shape II gaining any abilities the familiar possesses that are listed under beast shape II. For example, a witch with a rat familiar can turn into a Tiny rat, Small dire rat, or a larger rodent; one with a cat familiar can turn into a Tiny cat or a Large feline such as a tiger or lion; one with a monkey familiar can turn into a Tiny monkey or a Large gorilla, and so on. The witch can remain in animal familiar form for a number of minutes per day equal to her level.
This ability replaces the witch’s 8th-level hex.

Is this worth trying to bring to Paizo attention, and if so, how do we suggest such a specific edit?