
Korthis |

So I am trying to make a master thief (sleight of hand expert) and I have been bouncing ideas around a lot. I came across this combination and was wondering if it works as I think it does.
Basically my question is this;
If I have a familiar with me (Squirrel) and have it bluff to feint someone while walking down the street (say I'm walking by and the squirrel moves around or motions toward them to get their attention) does that grant me a sleight of hand check to try and steal an item with a +4 bonus?
The reason that I think this works are because the srd says the following:
Familiars can use their master's skills
A Familiar can have an archetype, valet familiars get their master's teamwork feats
Animal archetypes modify familiars' standard abilities, similar to how class archetypes modify player characters' class features. These archetypes function by swapping out certain abilities that are common to standard familiars and replacing them with new abilities tailored to a particular theme. Where levels are referenced in archetype descriptions, they refer to the class level of the PC master in whichever class grants the familiar as a class feature.
Teammate (Ex)
A valet is considered to have all the teamwork feats its master has.
And the teamwork feat in question
You distract a mark with friendly conversation while your partner robs the victim blind.
Prerequisite: Bluff 1 rank, Sleight of Hand 1 rank.
Benefit: Whenever an ally with this feat succeeds a Bluff check to feint an opponent, if you are adjacent to that creature, you can spend an immediate action to make a Sleight of Hand check to pickpocket that opponent and gain a +4 bonus on that attempt.
The only issue I see is that it'll be hard to get a high enough feint on a useful familiar (because they use their ability modifier, the squirrel's 8 is the best for this build that I see so -1 to bluff to feint). I'll be level 3 so my bluff will be +3 ranks, +3 class skill, -1 mod, +3 skill focus, +2 deceitful so 10 with a major investment (5 with just skill ranks and class skill). The DC could be rough, but failure would only mean that they think the squirrel is up to something. I doubt anyone'd be like "Hey! this squirrel is trying to trick me!" *attack
So what do you guys think? can you eek out a better feint that I did? (I did see one or two familiars with a positive cha but the bonuses don't really mesh with the build.)

cruise |

The squirrel only gets the benefits of ranks not everything else (I think). So only a +3 from ranks unless valet archetype makes it a class skill for your familiar.
You could try the bluff while the squirrel steals- it has nice Dex bonus and great stealth from size modifier, but won't be able to lift much, again, size mods.
However you could try the evolved familiar feat, choose "skilled" evolution for a whopping +8 to bluff on your squirrel