| 1 person marked this as FAQ candidate. |
So, let's get this out of the way. Yes I am aware there have been threads on this over the past few years. Yes I am aware that there's the claim that "the devs just said that we should use whichever is higher*". *The higher between the familiar int scaling or the original creature's int.
I personally have not seen this specific mention, and would appreciate the link if anyone has it. Otherwise I am to assume that this was a false claim, or it has been lost to the internet's depths.
Now down to the nitty-gritty; What does an Improved Familiar do with its Intelligence? Most options (save any that just apply an alignment based template to an animal) have an intelligence over 10, and some of the more popular or powerful options have Intelligence above 14.
The familiar rules say that as the "master" advances its intelligence raises every other level, and by the time you could get, say, a Lyrakien Azata, its Intelligence would be 9, but a normal Lyrakien Azata has an intelligence of 14. This has been explained away as "only a dumb member of its species would go traveling with an adventurer like a Pathfinder", but I have an example that, as spoilery as it may be, makes for a hard argument that perhaps this needs to be looked into.
For those who have played The Sanos Abduction, you know that you earn a Faerie Dragon. However the boon specifically says;
"A caster of at least 7th level within one step of chaotic good may bond with the faerie dragon, Riddywipple using the Improved Familiar feat. If you make this bond with this creature, you must provide a copy of Pathfinder RPG Beastiary 3 as if the improved familiar were available as an Additional Resource."
As it says, your character is making a bond with Riddywipple (even if you may have renamed and made the familiar completely different from Riddywipple), and unless I'm mistaken, Riddywipple is given a stat block including his 16 Intelligence, and thus by making a bond he would take -7 hit to his Intelligence.
So, for the sake of sense, I think that the Improved Familiar feat should have the wording changed to;
"Improved familiars otherwise use the rules for regular familiars, with three exceptions: if the creature's type is something other than animal, its type does not change; improved familiars do not gain the ability to speak with other creatures of their kind (although many of them already have the ability to communicate); and an improved familiar's intelligence is the greater of either the base creature's intelligence, or the intelligence granted by the familiar class feature."
Or something similar to that.
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(even if you may have renamed and made the familiar completely different from Riddywipple)
You specifically get Riddywhipple. You can't change his name.