calculating familiar stats

[Linkman81]

Hey guys, this may be a newbie question, but I'm having a little trouble figuring out the math for the stats of a familiar that I'm creating for a character of mine. I chose the scarlet spider as the animal I would make my familiar. the stats are here.

http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/vermin/spider/scarlet-spi der

my confusion is what exactly I'm looking at. We all know a character sheet in the skill area has a blank for the ability score mod, the skill ranks, and a misc. mod blank. All 3 of those add up to be the total skill bonus. In the bestiary page for the scarlet spider, it lists the "skills" and the "racial modifiers." are the skills listed the end result after the modifiers and everything else is totalled? or are the "skills" the skill ranks of the creature? here is how it looks on my character sheet, and why I'm confused.

[skill name, total bonus, ability mod, ranks, misc mod.]
Acrobatics, 13, 5, -, 8
Climb, 21,-4, -, 8
Perception, 4 , 0, -, 4
Stealth, 17, 5, -, 4

If the skills listed in the bestiary page are the skill totals, then how did it get a climb of 21 with a negative stength modifier and only a racial bonus of 8? I must be doing something wrong.

[Castilonium]

Creatures of tiny or smaller size can use their dex rather than str for climb and swim checks. Link to FAQ

[Linkman81]

Castilonium wrote:

Creatures of tiny or smaller size can use their dex rather than str for climb and swim checks.

Thanks for your reply. That helps, but doesn't quite cover the gap. The bestiary page listed the climb skill as a 21, and listed the racial modifier for climb as being a +8. If we plugged in the dex instead of the STR, itd be 5+8..., then we'd get a 13. Still shy of a 21. Maybe I shouldn't be trying to figure out where the number comes from, it just messes with my OCD.

[Loengrin]

Linkman81 wrote:

Castilonium wrote:

Creatures of tiny or smaller size can use their dex rather than str for climb and swim checks.

Thanks for your reply. That helps, but doesn't quite cover the gap. The bestiary page listed the climb skill as a 21, and listed the racial modifier for climb as being a +8. If we plugged in the dex instead of the STR, itd be 5+8..., then we'd get a 13. Still shy of a 21. Maybe I shouldn't be trying to figure out where the number comes from, it just messes with my OCD.

Mmmh... Seems to me that they gave the +8 racial two-times... And it seems they forgot to give the spider a climb speed (a climb speed is what gives the spider a +8 racial for climbing), or they have decided that the spider has a +8 racial to climb and a climb speed that gives it another +8 racial...

Most likely it's a mistake on their part since I don't see why they have given it two-times a +8 racial (and forgot to give a climb speed like it should have)... ;)

For me, as a GM I have ruled a +13 climb and a 30 feet climb speed for the scarlet spider (no complain from my players since a climb speed is better than +8 in climb :p )