- If you want to hand someone an item in combat what does that take? Move action for the giver and free for the receiver? Do you have to ready the give for their turn? Move action for both?
This is not covered in the rules.
Generally, I would have the creature that wants the item spend a move action to take it. The creature that has the item could either drop it as a free action, or just hold it and let it be taken.
- It says retrieving a stored item is a move action but it doesn't say anything about simultaneously retrieving multiple items stored in the same location. Can you retrieve as many items as you have free hands? It seems like manipulating the pack is the justification for the time and free hands is the limit on items to me.
Manipulate an Item: "Moving or manipulating an item is usually a move action. This includes retrieving or putting away a stored item, picking up an item, moving a heavy object, and opening a door."
All of those are singular. I believe that means retrieving one potion from your backpack is a move action. Retrieving two potions from your backpack is two move actions.
- Can animals retrieve stored items?
I don't see any reason why not, assuming it's intelligent enough to do so and possesses the appropriate appendages.
Say you have a familiar of some sort. Can it dig through your pack and hand you an item?
Same as above. I would require the caster to use a move action to take the item from the familiar. I would not allow this to circumvent the rules in the case of an oracle's haunted curse or something like that.
I wish there was some middle ground like "move for the giver, immediate for the receiver" but I guess without a real rule you can't just make that kind of thing up huh?
Actually, you can.
The Most Important Rule: "The rules presented are here to help you breathe life into your characters and the world they explore. While they are designed to make your game easy and exciting, you might find that some of them do not suit the style of play that your gaming group enjoys. Remember that these rules are yours. You can change them to fit your needs."
If your gaming group would enjoy some rules about handing objects to people, make them up, use them, and have fun. All with the blessings of the developers. There's an entire section of the forums dedicated to this. They could probably tell you if your new rule might be abused (peasant rail-gun, etc.).
What kind of appendages do you consider appropriate? Are hands a must? Or thumbs? Like a monkey could do it but not a cat?
I would say it depends on all the factors. A bird familiar, which is intelligent, pulling a wand out of a handy haversack with it's beak, that's probably OK. Even a very small bird could probably manage to drag it out of the bag, even if it couldn't fly around with it. Ravens can hold fair sized sticks pretty easily. I assume a cat could grab a wand with it's mouth? They carry around other cats that way sometimes I guess.
What about a suit of leather armor? Probably not the birds, but a cat or pig might be able to drag it out of a pack. Full plate? Not likely. Scroll? Sure, no problem. A viper or a toad might have problems with some of those. I guess that's more about size than appendages, though. Anyway, talk to your GM about how to handle it at the table.