Can the Petrifern familiar use weapons?

[Caws Rorec]

The Petrifern familiar is described as "This tiny, unassuming tree is shaped like a miniature person, with branches for arms and roots for feet."

If I were to play an eldritch guardian would I be able to give this familiar combat feats usable with weapons.

Example:

half elf 2nd level eldritch guardian with a petrifern familiar could in theory share his exotic weapon proficiency gained from a racial trait with the petrifern because it is described as being humanoid shaped.

[Gallade]

I got it via the Tumor Familiar discovery, I keep it connected to my shoulder while holding a torch in my hand, and have it light and toss short-fused pellet grenades. Since splash weapons don't require any proficiency, just having anything capable of grasping an object should be enough.

[John Murdock]

i would say anything that has a hand can hold a weapon made for its size, if the creature has no hand even if it has arm i would say they can't wield a weapon since you need to hold it

[Murdock Mudeater]

Caws Rorec wrote:

The Petrifern familiar is described as "This tiny, unassuming tree is shaped like a miniature person, with branches for arms and roots for feet."

If I were to play an eldritch guardian would I be able to give this familiar combat feats usable with weapons.

Example:

half elf 2nd level eldritch guardian with a petrifern familiar could in theory share his exotic weapon proficiency gained from a racial trait with the petrifern because it is described as being humanoid shaped.

Hmm, no listed natural attacks and it is described as being a miniture person. Yeah, I think you should be able to wield weapons. That said, Dimutive weapons only, and only up to your Str of 2....

[John Murdock]

even if the creature had a natural attack like a claw weapon it still can hold something since a claw its part of a hand, but the creature only say that it has branches for arm which do not tell if it has hand to hold something, it need more precision, but since it is shaped like a humanoid we can safely say it has at least hands but i would prefer to be a GM call on that one for the lack of info, so ask you GM if having a humanoid shaped is enough to be considered to have hands if yes then it can hold things

[avr]

Murdock Mudeater wrote:

Caws Rorec wrote:

The Petrifern familiar is described as "This tiny, unassuming tree is shaped like a miniature person, with branches for arms and roots for feet."

If I were to play an eldritch guardian would I be able to give this familiar combat feats usable with weapons.

Example:

half elf 2nd level eldritch guardian with a petrifern familiar could in theory share his exotic weapon proficiency gained from a racial trait with the petrifern because it is described as being humanoid shaped.

Hmm, no listed natural attacks and it is described as being a miniture person. Yeah, I think you should be able to wield weapons. That said, Dimutive weapons only, and only up to your Str of 2....

"Make my day, Murdock, make my day," growls the petrifern as it twirls its pistol.

[Gisher]

According to this recent PFS Blog entry, a Petrifern Familiar can not wield a weapon.

Quote:

Most familiars cannot wield weapons in combat. The following familiars can wield weapons: arbiter, brownie, cassisian (in small humanoid form), imp, leshy (any), liminal sprite, lyrakien, mephit (any), nuglub, pooka, quasit, shikigami, soulbound doll, sprite, and zhyen.

That wouldn't necessarily apply to non-PFS games, but it's probably the closest we are likely to get to a FAQ on this topic.

[Murdock Mudeater]

avr wrote:

Murdock Mudeater wrote:

Hmm, no listed natural attacks and it is described as being a miniture person. Yeah, I think you should be able to wield weapons. That said, Dimutive weapons only, and only up to your Str of 2....

"Make my day, Murdock, make my day," growls the petrifern as it twirls its pistol.

Sure, your pistol that deals D3 damage per shot (Dimutive weapon). And that's for a pistol that costs at least 1,000gp...

It would look cool, but hardly game breaking. Wands are the bigger concern regarding game balance. If you want a pistol, go for it.

Beyond that, the carry capacity is something to consider. For your Str 2 dimutive familiar, you have a light load of 1.5lbs (0-6lbs base light load, 1/4th of that due to being dimutive). The dimutive pistol, itself, should weigh half a pound.