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I have a wizard who'll be playing 'The Library of the Lion' this weekend, and it occurred to me that this might be important for that scenario.
I have a bird familiar who has an int of 6, 1 rank in Linguistics, and can speak common. I don't think he can turn the pages for a book, but can he fly around and read the spines, either to find a particular resource with Perception checks or Aid Another in some way?
With that rank of linguistics, the only thing that stops your familiar from prevents your familiar from making forgeries is that it can't hold a pen and write worth a damn.
I never found it spelled out anywhere, but since a familiar gets all of its master's skills, I've always assumed that extended to literacy.
If you have a penalty, you can still read and speak your racial languages unless your Intelligence is lower than 3.
As Bizbag said, yes if they have 3+ int and have a racial language.
With that rank of linguistics, the only thing that stops your familiar from prevents your familiar from making forgeries is that it can't hold a pen and write worth a damn.
I never found it spelled out anywhere, but since a familiar gets all of its master's skills, I've always assumed that extended to literacy.
Interestingly, Nosoi (little bird-y psychopomps that you can take with improved familiar) are called out as being able to use writing tools meant for medium creatures without taking a penalty.
So does that imply that a normal bird could pick up a pen and forge documents, but they would just have massive penalties?
Anyway, back to the topic: For the most part, there seems to be little distinction between knowing a language and being able to read it according to the rules. I'm sure there might be some common sense situations where it might be different (animal companion given ability score increase to get an Int of 3 and given a rank in linguistics?), but since the familiar is a magical beast, this does not really apply. Feel free to do this idea (perception check might still be needed since you are conducting a search and all; technically, it is kind of doing aid another anyway if it is next to its master, due to the alertness feat)
I have a bird familiar who has an int of 6, 1 rank in Linguistics, and can speak common.
Does the bird or its master have that rank?
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Does the bird or its master have that rank?
Both! Whenever a wizard takes a rank in a skill, the familiar is given the same rank.
Skills: For each skill in which either the master or the familiar has ranks, use either the normal skill ranks for an animal of that type or the master's skill ranks, whichever is better. In either case, the familiar uses its own ability modifiers. Regardless of a familiar's total skill modifiers, some skills may remain beyond the familiar's ability to use. Familiars treat Acrobatics, Climb, Fly, Perception, Stealth, and Swim as class skills.
Admittedly, that leaves my bird with a -1 Linguistics bonus, after the -2 for 6 int, since it's not a class skill for him, but he is trained in it.
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Interestingly, Nosoi (little bird-y psychopomps that you can take with improved familiar) are called out as being able to use writing tools meant for medium creatures without taking a penalty.
As a matter of fact, my wizard is a devout Pharasman, and she fully believes that her bird familiar IS a Nosoi Psychopomp, using it's ability to alter shape into a songbird. At level 7, she'll be taking Improved Familiar so that the familiar will be able to show his true nature.
If you have an int of 3+, you can read, write and speak any language that you know. Though it may be a bit hard for a bird to write something.
Interestingly, Nosoi (little bird-y psychopomps that you can take with improved familiar) are called out as being able to use writing tools meant for medium creatures without taking a penalty.As a matter of fact, my wizard is a devout Pharasman, and she fully believes that her bird familiar IS a Nosoi Psychopomp, using it's ability to alter shape into a songbird. At level 7, she'll be taking Improved Familiar so that the familiar will be able to show his true nature.
Oh yes, that is nice. If I remember correctly, they get a limited form of blindsight that detects the living an undead, right? I know, that doesn't sound limited...until you get jumped by a golem. Still a fairly decent upgrade though.
I don't think you can. What language does your rank in linguistics pertain to? The bird can speak and read in *that* language.
I do not think you can choose "Common" as your rank in linguistics, because (presumably) your character already knows common. You must choose a new language.
I don't think you can. What language does your rank in linguistics pertain to? The bird can speak and read in *that* language.
I do not think you can choose "Common" as your rank in linguistics, because (presumably) your character already knows common. You must choose a new language.
Certain familiars like ravens or thrushes know/speak/read 1 language of your choice.
incorrect, it says they speak one language of your choice. It does not say they can read it.
it does seem odd, yes. But that's how it works as far as I can tell.
incorrect, it says they speak one language of your choice. It does not say they can read it.
That doesn't mean that a familiar can't understand a language.
Sentient Companions: a sentient companion (a creature that can understand language and has an Intelligence score of at least 3) is considered your ally and obeys your suggestions and orders to the best of its ability. It won't necessarily blindly follow a suicidal order, but it has your interests at heart and does what it can to keep you alive. Paladin bonded mounts, familiars, and cohorts fall into this category, and are usually player-controlled companions.
So by RAW, all familiar's can understand languages. But there are still two questions: 1.) Does understanding a language mean you can read it and 2.) Which languages does it know?
As I stated before, 1.) seems like it is splitting hairs, since I have not seen any reference of a difference. The distinction is usually between understanding and speaking. But that is for more experienced players to argue, I suppose.
Now, 2.) is more complicated, especially for the class most often associated with familiars: wizards. While we can all a agree that a familiar would at least know common (every PC starts with it, and not having it would just be silly when they can understand languages by RAW), a wizard, even without ranks in linguistics, knows more languages than that. They automatically get draconic as a bonus language due to their class, and they get more due to their intelligence bonus. The 6 int familiar doesn't get either of those bonuses. That could easily be a difference of 4-5 languages at level 1 if the familiar doesn't automatically get their master's languages.
1.. um. No, understanding a language does not mean you can read it! Small children understand their native languages just fine, that doesn't mean they can read!
2. The familiar doesn't know the wizard's languages. How is that difficult? It says right there that it can speak one language, ONE. It doesn't get to know all the languages the wizard knows. Now, if the Wizard puts ranks into linguistics then the familiar can learn the associated languages, but that is a consequence of the wizard/familiar sharing skills.
im sorry this simply is not the case. Let me try to illustrate by example.
Ezren the Level 1 wizard has a Raven familiar. Ezren has 0 (zero) ranks in linguistics right now. However, due to high Intelligence, Ezren knows common, elven, dwarven, and orcish. Ezren decides his Familiar will speak common. At this point Ezren speaks/understands/reads Common, elven, dwarven, and orcish. Ezren's familiar speaks only common, as per his choice for the ravens special ability. Ezren's familiar does not speak Ezren's other languages, and Ezren's familiar does not read common.
Ezren levels up and becomes a level 2 wizard. Ezren spends 1 skill rank in linguistics. Ezren learns Celestial. Now Ezren speaks/understands/reads common, elven, dwarven, orcish, and Celestial. Because of shared skills, Ezren's Familiar also learns Celestial, including how to read it, as per the Linguistics skill. Ezren's Familiar can now speak/understand/and read Celestial. Ezren's familiar still speaks common, but still can not read it.
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im sorry this simply is not the case. Let me try to illustrate by example. ... Ezren spends 1 skill rank in linguistics. Ezren learns Celestial. Now Ezren speaks/understands/reads common, elven, dwarven, orcish, and Celestial. Because of shared skills, Ezren's Familiar also learns Celestial, including how to read it, as per the Linguistics skill. Ezren's Familiar can now speak/understand/and read Celestial. Ezren's familiar still speaks common, but still can not read it.
Interesting. What if I were to choose COMMON as my language when putting a point into linguistics, even though both my familiar and I are already fluent in speaking it, expressly for the purpose of teaching my familiar to read.
I think Awp's got it slightly backward -- if Ezren picked up Celestial with linguistics, an animal familiar would be able to read and understand Celestial, but it wouldn't be able to SPEAK celestial because it's still an animal with animal vocal cords.
The Raven/Thrust/etc. ability where the birdie can actually speak 1 language of the master's choice is a work-around the normal "animals can't talk" restriction.
I.e., Ezren's familiar in Awp's example would understand common, elven, dwarven, orcish, and celestial. But it could only speak common, and if it wasn't a critter with the "speak one language" ability, it wouldn't be able to speak any of those languages.
At 5th level, your familiar gains Speak with Master, at which point it can start making animal noises at you and you understand it fine. Being able to easily communicate with people that aren't you requires that "speak one language" ability, magical assistance, or an improved familiar.
Your familiar can already read because you know how to read. Points in linguistics expands its ability by adding whatever languages you pick up with the ranks.
If your familiar didn't get your starting languages, you'd be required to use handle animal to train it and order it around, because you couldn't really communicate. And that is pretty much the opposite of how familiars should work.
I agree with Zhangar, partially because it makes a lot more sense. Also if you are trained in linguistics and were illiterate you would become literate and would not need to learn literacy in your native tongue in a separate way, as that's silly. If I'm wrong by RAW I see no reason to follow RAW in this case.
if Ezren picked up Celestial with linguistics, an animal familiar would be able to read and understand Celestial, but it wouldn't be able to SPEAK celestial
The Raven ability where the birdie can actually speak 1 language of the master's choice is a work-around the normal "animals can't talk" restriction.
but it can -because it shares the rank in linguistics. If you gave a toad familiar a rank in linguistics, the toad can speak too. There's a lot about familiars that are exceptions to the normal rules for animals.
Your familiar can already read because you know how to read. Points in linguistics expands its ability by adding whatever languages you pick up with the ranks.
Where does it say that my familiar can read because I know how to read? Nowhere. Now it says that if I pick up a rank in linguistics that my familiar shares the rank. But did you put a rank into Linguistics for common? No, you did not. So the familiar does not share the rank, it does not read common.
Keerawa; you would be able to, only you can't choose common because it's a language you already speak, therefore it's excluded from Linguistics.