As a 4th level Alchemist (PFS Play) I am considering the Tumor Familiar Discovery.
Tumor Familiar (Ex): The alchemist creates a Diminutive or Tiny tumor on his body, usually on his back or stomach. As a standard action, the alchemist can have the tumor detach itself from his body as a separate creature vaguely resembling a kind of animal suitable for a familiar (bat, cat, and so on) and move about as if it were an independent creature. The tumor can reattach itself to the alchemist as a standard action. The tumor has all the abilities of the animal it resembles (for example, a batlike tumor can fly) and familiar abilities based on the alchemist's caster level (though some familiar abilities may be useless to an alchemist). The tumor acts as the alchemist's familiar whether attached or separated (providing a skill bonus, the Alertness feat, and so on). When attached to the alchemist, the tumor has fast healing 5. An alchemist's extracts and mutagens are considered spells for the purposes of familiar abilities like share spells and deliver touch spells. If a tumor familiar is lost or dies, it can be replaced 1 week later through a specialized procedure that costs 200 gp per alchemist level. The ritual takes 8 hours to complete.
Is there a good list of available familiars out there? And when can I get the Improved Familiar? I know that the Familiar Folio (or whatever it was called) was released recently, but has it been adopted to PFS play?
I'm fond of the bat familiar for the blindsense.
You've only got 1 level before your strange, flying growth can chitter back at you in a way you can understand, so getting access to a message cantrip can increase your scouting options.
I have a question how this feat works:
Improved Familiar
This feat allows you to acquire a powerful familiar, but only when you could normally acquire a new familiar.
Prerequisites: Ability to acquire a new familiar, compatible alignment, sufficiently high level (see below).
Benefit: When choosing a familiar, the creatures listed below are also available to you. You may choose a familiar with an alignment up to one step away on each alignment axis (lawful through chaotic, good through evil).
How do I determine when I could normally acquire a new familiar? I am interested in the pseudo dragon.
How do I determine when I could normally acquire a new familiar?
Ask your GM. Technically your current familiar needs to be dead or dismissed first, but many GMs and players find that ridiculous.
But first ask your GM if they'll let you qualify for the Improved Familiar: Alchemists aren't Arcane Casters.
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How do I determine when I could normally acquire a new familiar?Ask your GM. Technically your current familiar needs to be dead or dismissed first, but many GMs and players find that ridiculous.
Especially because you're an alchemist. Come on...a week in the lab and you can turn a bat into a scorpion! Sure, they called you mad back in the academy, but you'll show them! You'll show them all!!!
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I believe that for PFS alchemists are allowed to take Improved Familiar, but at the moment I am unable to cite the particular reference.
You can find the Familiar Folio under the Additional Resources section of the Pathfinder Society section of the website here.
I plan on taking a monkey familiar and using the Hands item slot for poisoner's gloves. That way Nigel (the familiar) can inject me with my own infusions using its move actions. Plus, do you know how many PFS scenarios feature monkeys?
None of the prerequisites of improved familiar mention arcane casting.How do I determine when I could normally acquire a new familiar?Ask your GM. Technically your current familiar needs to be dead or dismissed first, but many GMs and players find that ridiculous.
But first ask your GM if they'll let you qualify for the Improved Familiar: Alchemists aren't Arcane Casters.
All but one of the monsters which can be an improved familiar does though. The exception is a mockingfey IIRC.
None of the prerequisites of improved familiar mention arcane casting.How do I determine when I could normally acquire a new familiar?Ask your GM. Technically your current familiar needs to be dead or dismissed first, but many GMs and players find that ridiculous.
But first ask your GM if they'll let you qualify for the Improved Familiar: Alchemists aren't Arcane Casters.
One of the prerequisites is "sufficiently high level (see below)." When you look below, you see a chart that tells you what Arcane Spellcaster Level is needed for each familiar. To get a pseudodragon, for example, you need an Arcane Spellcaster Level of 7. As an Alchemist your Arcane Spellcaster Level is 0.
OK, so if I was using the Mauler archetype from the Familiar Folio, and wanted a familiar that flew what would be my best choice? Bat? Raven?
Raven would be nice because of the ability to learn one language, and as a half-orc myself having it speak orc seems reasonable.
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Re: Poisoner's Gloves. PFS doesn't let familiars activate magic items. :(
I believe use activated items work, as long as the familiar has the appropriate Extra Item Slot feat. I think that I have to "load" the gloves myself, but then my monkey (with the aforementioned feat) only has to use a move action to inject me.
I'm also pretty sure that Improved Familiars that can speak and gesture can use wands in PFS.
If I am wrong on either point I'd really appreciate a link or citation.
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Ah, I see the problem. I'd thought that taking the Extra Item Slot feat would be sufficient for those gloves. I'll have to have a chat with the VC before actually taking the discoveries. I really want the monkey though, partly for role-play reasons.
I also want to know if the improved familiar is still a tumor and can bond and detach and all that.
Usually, when I get a Familiar, I have a specific reason, usually the bonus, and usually, the Improved Familiar doesn't give you those bonuses. The Tumor Familiar has that cool thing that it is actually part of your body, and it gets Fast Healing 5 while attached.
Do Improved Familiars grow in hit points with regular hit points the way regular familiars do?
Yes, they have half your hit points just like a regular familiar does.
I also want to know if the improved familiar is still a tumor and can bond and detach and all that.
Since Alchemists don't qualify for the Improved Familiar feat, I'm guessing this issue doesn't come up often.
My favorite tumor familiar option for Alchemists is the isitoq available at level 5. Why? Because it's an undead eye that its master can see out of. Have your alchemist be missing an eye, and use this as a really creepy prosthetic.
For basic familiars, I really like raccoon. The little guy has a strength of 8, which is pretty great for tiny-size. Mauler archetype lets it scale up, so you can have a big, hairless monstrosity crawl out from your skin.
My favorite tumor familiar option for Alchemists is the isitoq available at level 5. Why? Because it's an undead eye that its master can see out of. Have your alchemist be missing an eye, and use this as a really creepy prosthetic.
How are you meeting the requirement that you be a 5th level spellcaster when alchemists aren't spellcasters?
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Here's the relevant FAQ. There are some board posts indicating that a certain limited list of Improved Familiars can use Wands, but exactly how those posts interact with the FAQ is vague. I really wish they could use more items. :(
Having looked at it again, I think Poisoner's Gloves on a tumour monkey will work. They'd need to be loaded by the alchemist but then they deliver their load via a touch or natural attack (claw or slam).
I will check with my VC though.
I think that since
The tumor has all
the abilities of the animal it resembles
(for example, a batlike tumor can
fly) and familiar abilities based on the
alchemist’s caster level (though some
familiar abilities may be useless to
an alchemist).
there is reason for believing that alchemists can improve their tumour familiars.
Alchemists can take Improved Familiar, same as Eldritch Guardian fighters, or an Oracle who has Eldritch Heritage (Arcane) and has a familiar from that. Their familiar abilities all include language which lets them treat their class level (or class level -2 for Eldritch Heritage) as their effective caster level for their familiar.
But the feat requires "arcane spellcaster levels", not wizard or effective wizard levels.