Magic Jar and physical feats and familiars

[Pizza Lord]

More questions about magic jar. First off, I know it's a confusing spell and there are many gray areas. There's no need to reply if that's all you're basically going to say.

How does magic jar interact with familiars, both the caster's and possibly the target's? While the spell does not list it as having a target of You (since it mostly functions by you targeting a life force after casting the spell on You, would it count as also affecting your familiar? It also says Target: One Creature, but clearly that isn't strictly true either, so should that Target description just be viewed as one listed for simplicity's sake?

I think the easier ruling would be No, to keep from having to decide if you need a second magic jar for the familiar or whether it's inside the same magic jar and you have two entities, but it's worth bringing up.

Second, is a target wizard's familiar considered a separate target? When determining life forces (it would use the wizard's HD for sensing life force most likely) is it possible to randomly jar it? Or would jarring the wizard also seal the familiar in there (since sometimes they are considered to be the same creature and linked, such as with confusion effects and spell sharing?)

What might a familiar do if its wizard were magic jarred? Would it lose its familiar power (technically it's still within a mile most likely and on the same plane, so probably not,) would it just flop about making noise trying to alert everyone, or other?

As for certain feats a target possesses, some should obviously stay with the body, correct? For instance, if the target had Toughness, the wizard in the body should get the benefit of the extra hit points (since that directly affect the body). Similarly, if the target had taken Improved Natural Attack to indicate it had larger teeth or claws, then the body should use that damage. The body wouldn't change form because the original soul became trapped correct?

[VRMH]

Pizza Lord wrote:

would it count as also affecting your familiar?

No. Familiars have a soul of their own (they can be ressurected, after all) and the spell clearly was meant to work with one soul at a time.

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should that Target description just be viewed as one listed for simplicity's sake?

Yes. In fact, just try to guess what the intent of the spell was and go with that. The actual spell description is a mess.

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is a target wizard's familiar considered a separate target?

Yes, because I can't see why it shouldn't be. Whenever the Familiar is considered to be part of its master for the purpose of a spell, it's spelled out in the spell's description.

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is it possible to randomly jar it?

Possible, but unlikely. A Familiar only has the HDs it started with. So by the time Magic Jar comes into play there should be a big difference between the Life Force of a Wizard and that of their Familiar.

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What might a familiar do if its wizard were magic jarred? Would it lose its familiar power (technically it's still within a mile most likely and on the same plane, so probably not,) would it just flop about making noise trying to alert everyone, or other?

Depends on the Familiar's personality. But they still have their intelligence, so likely they'd do something reasonably smart: flee, alert an ally or maybe break the Jar if they made a Spellcraft check and realise what just happened. Or try to reanimate their boss if they don't.

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As for certain feats a target possesses, some should obviously stay with the body, correct?

The most commonly heard opinion is that physical abilities and effects stay with the body, and mental ones go with the soul. But there's no RAW on the matter.