Am I reading Polymorph Familiar correctly?


Rules Questions


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I saw this spell in the ACG, and I just want to make sure I understand it. The spell states:

"This spell functions as beast shape I, except it grants yourfamiliar the form of any Small animal" and "At caster level 7th, this spell functions as beast shape II. At caster level 9th, it functions as beast shape III. At caster level 11th, it functions as beast shape IV."

I am interpreting this to mean no matter what the Caster Level, the familiar can only ever change into a small animal with this spell, and the Caster Level only changes what abilities it may gain depending on what creature it turns into. Is this correct?

Followup question, anyone know of any small creatures that would be worth turning your familiar into at higher levels?

Sovereign Court

if you want to use your familiar to scout, eagle or hawk might not be a bad idea (if they're non-flying to start with).


That seems like the only use really. I scanned through bestiary 1-3 and couldn't find any small animal that would benefit from the abilities granted by beast shape 3 or higher


The first thing I notice is that this spell is the same level as Beast Shape 1, so I see no real reason for wizards to take this spell instead of that one for the purposes of morphing the familiar. Even if you were to Beast Shape your rhamphorynchus into a rat or something, that shouldn't affect the bonus the familiar gives you, AFAIK.

So really, it's better for witches and shamans, who don't have access to Beast Shape.

Utility? The first thing that comes to my mind is an easy way to grant your familiar the ability to breathe underwater.

Grand Lodge

Pathfinder Battles Case Subscriber; Pathfinder Maps Subscriber

Considering beast shape IV is limited to only magical beasts, it either is included to indicate you can use it like the spell itself (i.e. any shape) or because the author did not realize there is no extra ability for animals with that spell.


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An alternate interpretation would be that the limitation on small size is removed at the higher levels because it just says "this spell functions as beast shape N" without a reiteration of the limitations. Nor does it start out by saying "functions as above, except beast shape N". I would love to know the designers' intent on this language.

(Although I doubt a third level spell was intended to allow me to have a chimera deliver my touch attacks once I reach 11th level)


I have to say myself, I took it for granted that the spell does alter the size of the familiar at higher levels. It could work well in combo with a Mauler familiar from the Familiar Folio.

Designer

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Jayder22 wrote:

I saw this spell in the ACG, and I just want to make sure I understand it. The spell states:

"This spell functions as beast shape I, except it grants yourfamiliar the form of any Small animal" and "At caster level 7th, this spell functions as beast shape II. At caster level 9th, it functions as beast shape III. At caster level 11th, it functions as beast shape IV."

I am interpreting this to mean no matter what the Caster Level, the familiar can only ever change into a small animal with this spell, and the Caster Level only changes what abilities it may gain depending on what creature it turns into. Is this correct?

Followup question, anyone know of any small creatures that would be worth turning your familiar into at higher levels?

As usual, not an official answer, but it seems pretty clear to me that the size limitation is consistent at all levels, but what changes is you can pick up stronger abilities like pounce and blindsense.


I'm left wondering why not just cast Beast Shape I (or II, or III) on one's familiar to transform them into something else? After all, you can share any spell with "Target: You" with your familiar... and Beast Shape spells are all "Target: You". Right?


Lorewalker recently pointed out to me that i had missed the "Small animal" restriction in Polymorph Familiar, so I am opening up this question again.

Mark Seifter wrote:
As usual, not an official answer, but it seems pretty clear to me that the size limitation is consistent at all levels, but what changes is you can pick up stronger abilities like pounce and blindsense.

But what Small animals have pounce and blindsense? Bats have blindsense, but regular bats are Diminutive and dire bats are Large. Deinonychus, a Medium dinosaur, is the smallest animal I can find with pounce.

I am quite disappointing to read the list of abilities on magical beasts that Beast Shape III and IV grant and realize that my familiar cannot gain them because I cannot select a magical beast. I am even more disappointed to realize that I cannot transform my familiar into another tiny animal.

joeyfixit wrote:
So really, it's better for witches and shamans, who don't have access to Beast Shape.

It's time to scratch Polymorph Familiar off of my spell list. Beast Shape I is superior.

Scarab Sages

Mathmuse wrote:

Lorewalker recently pointed out to me that i had missed the "Small animal" restriction in Polymorph Familiar, so I am opening up this question again.

Mark Seifter wrote:
As usual, not an official answer, but it seems pretty clear to me that the size limitation is consistent at all levels, but what changes is you can pick up stronger abilities like pounce and blindsense.

But what Small animals have pounce and blindsense? Bats have blindsense, but regular bats are Diminutive and dire bats are Large. Deinonychus, a Medium dinosaur, is the smallest animal I can find with pounce.

I am quite disappointing to read the list of abilities on magical beasts that Beast Shape III and IV grant and realize that my familiar cannot gain them because I cannot select a magical beast. I am even more disappointed to realize that I cannot transform my familiar into another tiny animal.

joeyfixit wrote:
So really, it's better for witches and shamans, who don't have access to Beast Shape.
It's time to scratch Polymorph Familiar off of my spell list. Beast Shape I is superior.

You'll notice with other abilities that follow a polymorph spell progression that sometimes the increase does not actually help. Simply due to the limit on the creatures in the bestiaries. New creatures eventually come out though and may make that increase useful. Count it as a sort of future protection.

Dark Archive

At 11th caster level it seems that it works just fine at higher levels to change the sizes to larger sizes. The only restriction is on beast shape I, not on II, III, IV.

On the plus side, you can basically make your familiar a dragon at 11th level.

To recap:
Beast shape I - Small (Removed: or Medium) creature of the animal type
Beast Shape II: a Tiny or Large creature of the animal type
Beast shape III: a Diminutive or Huge creature of the animal type.
Beast Shape IV: a Tiny or Large creature of the magical beast type.

So at 11th: Diminutive, Tiny, Small, Large, or Huge animal. Tiny or Large magical beast. The only really size limit is no Medium or Colossal creatures.


It's really just a personal call for the GM on which way the designers goofed. They either made a spell that didn't function with the options that were available. Or they neglected to clarify that the small limitation was only for the first tier.

And it's also possible the small limitation was intended for all tiers, but the animal limitation was not, since animal is the only choice for the first tier. So, maybe you are intended to be able to use small magical beasts with tier 3 and 4. We'll never know.

Liberty's Edge

Polymorph Familiar wrote:


School transmutation (polymorph); Level arcanist 3, redmantisassassin 3, shaman 3, sorcerer 3, witch 3, wizard 3

This spell functions as beast shape I, except it grants your familiar the form of any Small animal. Your familiar retains all of its special abilities and continues to grant you the special ability associated with its normal shape (such as a bat familiar’s bonus on Fly checks).

At caster level 7th, this spell functions as beast shape II. At caster level 9th, it functions as beast shape III. At caster level 11th, it functions as beast shape IV.

It is a 3rd level spell, it is a bit questionable to say that changing the target from "personal" to "your familiar" it will grant you the full power of a 6th level spell (beast shape IV). It is almost certainly meant to be limited to the small animal form, simply you increase the range of special abilities that you can give your familiar.

A simple test is seeing how the text will be if we don't care about space limitations for it and we repeat the first paragraph every time.

Polymorph Familiar - extended format wrote:


School transmutation (polymorph); Level arcanist 3, redmantisassassin 3, shaman 3, sorcerer 3, witch 3, wizard 3

This spell functions as beast shape I, except it grants your familiar the form of any Small animal. Your familiar retains all of its special abilities and continues to grant you the special ability associated with its normal shape (such as a bat familiar’s bonus on Fly checks).

At caster level 7th, this spell functions as beast shape II, except it grants your familiar the form of any Small animal. Your familiar retains all of its special abilities and continues to grant you the special ability associated with its normal shape (such as a bat familiar’s bonus on Fly checks).

At caster level 9th, it functions as beast shape III, except it grants your familiar the form of any Small animal. Your familiar retains all of its special abilities and continues to grant you the special ability associated with its normal shape (such as a bat familiar’s bonus on Fly checks).

At caster level 11th, it functions as beast shape IV, except it grants your familiar the form of any Small animal. Your familiar retains all of its special abilities and continues to grant you the special ability associated with its normal shape (such as a bat familiar’s bonus on Fly checks).


It'd have been a lot clearer if it just said that this spell "allows your familiar to take the form of a small animal", and then it went into the tiers. The text is clearly unclear as it is currently written.

Liberty's Edge

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Melkiador wrote:
The text is clearly unclear as it is currently written.

Worth to quote. I like it. "Clearly unclear". ,-)


The only advantages to this spell are:

1. it occupies a 3rd level spell slot, even though it can replicate some of the benefits of a 6th level spell

2. it expands the class list that can deliver these benefits to their familiars

3. it grants the abilities permissible by Beast Shape level

So, at level 11 if you wanted your familiar to be able to Burrow with a 60' speed and could find a Small sized animal form that gave you that, you could cast a 3rd level spell rather than a 6th level spell to deliver that.

Otherwise, there are no mechanical advantages to this spell. Size and Type changes beyond "Small Animal" are not avail, so you don't get to pick from Tiny sized Magical Beasts to give your familiar, say, a breath weapon or something, even though Beast Shape IV would normally give you that option.

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