| 2 people marked this as FAQ candidate. |
I got a player who is plays a female gnome witch with a Squirrel as her familiar with the archetype Pilferer. It is great familiar for laughs and witch does plan to find a way to give her familiar the ring of evasion so it off sets the archetype.
However problem occurs when she was thinking of getting the improved familiar feat. She would like to get a Faerie yet problem is with familiar archetype that don't mesh with the part about archetype replacing the "Speak with Animals of its kind".
If the question has already been answered, it would be nice to be pointed to answer. However if there is none I must admit it would look like the archetypes could use some errata.
I guess I will just BUMP this. It would be appreciated if someone could answer my question.
What exactly is your question?
If a character with familiar gets the improved familiar feat and you want to apply an archetype to it like Pilferer then what to do about the part where the archetype replaces the "speak with others of its kind" ability that all familiars can normally gain.
It is indeed a perplexing question because what Juju Tiki is referring to is the familiar ability: Speak with animals of its kind.
If the master is 7th level or higher, a familiar can communicate with animals of approximately the same kind as itself (including dire varieties): bats with bats, cats with felines, hawks and owls and ravens with birds, lizards and snakes with reptiles, monkeys with other simians, rats with rodents, toads with amphibians, and weasels with ermines and minks. Such communication is limited by the Intelligence of the conversing creatures.
Then if you get the Improved Familiar feat, you can wind up with as an example; an Imp (Devil), Sprite (Fae), Nosoi (Psychopomp), or even a Shinkigami (Kami).
None of the examples above and several others that can be gained from the Improved Familiar feat are not in fact an animal. As that is the point of Speak With Animals of its Kind.
However the familiar-tailored archetypes known as Valet, Pilferer, and Infiltrator each require to trade away the ability to Speak With Animals of its Kind and a few other things for different roles a familiar could serve. The archetypes can each be found in the PF companion book called Animal Archive.
However an Improved Familiar that is not an animal loses this ability.
Improved familiars otherwise use the rules for regular familiars, with two exceptions: if the creature's type is something other than animal, its type does not change; and improved familiars do not gain the ability to speak with other creatures of their kind (although many of them already have the ability to communicate).
Which means say you want a Imp Valet for your Chelaxian pathfinder, you cannot have it as the RAW rules for Improved Familiar directly conflict with the familiar archetypes.
Valet Familiar:
http://archivesofnethys.com/ArchetypeDisplay.aspx?FixedName=Valet
Pilferer Familiar:
http://archivesofnethys.com/ArchetypeDisplay.aspx?FixedName=Pilferer
Infiltrator Familiar:
http://archivesofnethys.com/ArchetypeDisplay.aspx?FixedName=Infiltrator%20% 28Familiar%29
Each one modifies a familiar so it can do something else. Whether or worse or good I won't say, but they do make a familiar unique from your regular kind.
