This item is important because witches learn their spells from their familiars, not the other way around. A witch communes with her familiar in the morning to 'prepare' spells for the day. If a witch's familiar dies, the spells it knew are lost to the witch unless they are the bonus spells gained by level or patron. Using this item, you can store spells, such as those learned by scrolls, in the rock so that they can be recovered if the familiar dies.
you can also use it to share spells between witches.
My question here is if a witch makes this what good is it since there living familiar is there "spell book". Is it intended to work like a "pearl of power" and recall spell energy or can it "cast" spells like a ring of spell storing?
It stores spells so you can teach your new familiar the spells the old one new if it died(new ones come with 2 spells per witch level, not every spell the old one new). The item is a response to people claiming the familiar was too fragile. The downside is that its 6000 gold, and only holds 500 levels of spells, rather than making the familiar more durable or giving a less expensive alternative.
I thought of a use of this item, but was unsure if it was legal:
Say I am a level 2 witch in possession with this statue traveling with a level 4 witch and we elect to trade spells. My companion has access to spells of a level I do not, and therefore cannot learn. Could he, in theory, tech them to my statue so that, when I reach applicable level, I can learn them from the statue and teach them to my familiar? This would allow the statue to function as a 'magical flashdrive' to retain information until later use.
The higher level spells could certainly be placed in the stone... I do not see any restrictions on what spells can be learned by a witch's familiar other than that the witch must have high enough int. As far as I can tell a 15 int 1st level witch could have a familiar that knows 5th level spells. The witch could not memorize them or cast them until they had a 5th level slot but the spells would be there.
I am wondering if "teach" in the magic item description refers to the spellcraft check that the witch has to make when teaching their familiar a new spell from a scroll or another familiar. If so it would cut down on the number of 5th level spells in 1st level familiars.
I also note that there appears to be no way to remove a spell from the stone familiar once it is stored. It is 'written in stone' so to speak. So less of a jump drive more a CD burner.
Not that this wouldn't be possibly more expensive depending on circumstances, but couldn't you cast raise dead or other resurrection magic on the deceased familiar to restore it and all the spells it knows to your withc? Depending on the number of spells known and the limited amount of spell slot the rock can hold it could potentially be cheaper to revive the familiar than have stones to hold all the the possible spells known.
I thought of a use of this item, but was unsure if it was legal:
Say I am a level 2 witch in possession with this statue traveling with a level 4 witch and we elect to trade spells. My companion has access to spells of a level I do not, and therefore cannot learn. Could he, in theory, tech them to my statue so that, when I reach applicable level, I can learn them from the statue and teach them to my familiar? This would allow the statue to function as a 'magical flashdrive' to retain information until later use.
There's nothing in the rules preventing you from learning a spell you are not able to cast yet. As long as you can make the spellcraft check to learn the spell, that's all that matters. Of course you can't cast the spell until you reach the required level.
Not that this wouldn't be possibly more expensive depending on circumstances, but couldn't you cast raise dead or other resurrection magic on the deceased familiar to restore it and all the spells it knows to your withc? Depending on the number of spells known and the limited amount of spell slot the rock can hold it could potentially be cheaper to revive the familiar than have stones to hold all the the possible spells known.
Yes, you should be able to raise a familiar from the dead since there is a spell that does exactly that.
Raise Animal Companion is even better. You could pay someone to cast that a few different times before you reached the Stone Familiar's cost.
That stone is quite nifty for a cheesy way to gain additional spells cheaper than normal:
- Backup your familiars spells with the stone
- Kill your familiar
- Get a new familiar for 500 gp per level.
- Enjoy your free pick of two new spells per level in the familiar, before loading it with your previously known spells.
- Repeat as much as you like.
Does raise animal companion work on outsiders?
Nope, it works like raise dead. Since raise dead doesn't work on those guys, raise animal companion doesn't either.