| 1 person marked this as FAQ candidate. |
The Beast-Bonded archetype for a witch has the following ability:
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.
But the spell beast shape II says this:
This spell functions as beast shape I, except that it also allows you to assume the form of a Tiny or Large creature of the animal type.
*Emphasis mine*
So how does this ability work if a Beast-Bonded has a vermin familiar?
I beg to differ. The ability is poorly worded, and conflicts with itself:It doesn't work at all.
The power is very specific and unless you have a familiar of type animal this power doesn't work for you.
- Beast Shape II allows the caster to take the shape of an animal.
- A Familiar is never an animal.
- Therefor: the ability allows you to take the shape of your familiar, as per a spell that doesn't allow that.
A familiar is never an Animal -- but by default it does have the shape of one.
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I beg to differ. The ability is poorly worded, and conflicts with itself:It doesn't work at all.
The power is very specific and unless you have a familiar of type animal this power doesn't work for you.So how exactly the ability would work with a vermin familiar is just as much a GM-call as how it works with a "normal", magical beast familiar.
- Beast Shape II allows the caster to take the shape of an animal.
- A Familiar is never an animal.
- Therefor: the ability allows you to take the shape of your familiar, as per a spell that doesn't allow that.
Incorrect, a Familiar is ALWAYS an animal but is now considered a magical beast for the purpose of effects that depend on its type.
For everything else it's still considered of type Animal.|
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What about improved familiars? Are they animals?
(I know the answer, just wanted to play devils advocate :P)
If you were to actually read the feat you would see this line of information:
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).
All the answers to these questions are answered in the relevant entries in the core rulebook.
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What about improved familiars? Are they animals?
(I know the answer, just wanted to play devils advocate :P)
If you were to actually read the feat you would see this line of information:
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).
All the answers to these questions are answered in the relevant entries in the core rulebook.
No need to be rude Mathwei ap Niall, typically when someone puts a ":P" in their post, it means they are joking.
I wasn't referring to the feat, I was reffering to your previous post, which mentioned:
"Incorrect, a Familiar is ALWAYS an animal but is now considered a magical beast for the purpose of effects that depend on its type.
For everything else it's still considered of type Animal."
Which is only partly true. Base Familiars are always animal, but improved familiars also have outsiders included in the list.