Could a promethean alchemist that has an improved familar feat and appropriate caster level take his homunculus companion as his familiar?
A homunculus companion is more or less a wacky kind of animal companion, and animal companions can't be familiars, so I'd have to say No.
Could a promethean alchemist that has an improved familar feat and appropriate caster level take his homunculus companion as his familiar?
Nope. The homunculus is too large to qualify for a tumor familiar, which must be tiny or smaller. Fortunately, it's not a familiar, so you get yourself another pet. With the Mauler archetype on it, you've got a fair amount of combat power.
was not asking about the tumor familiar directly, just any familiar.
was not asking about the tumor familiar directly, just any familiar.
Whoops, missed that. Still no, since it's not a familiar or a regular homunculus. Having a mini-homunculus version would be kind of fun, though.
was not asking about the tumor familiar directly, just any familiar.Whoops, missed that. Still no, since it's not a familiar or a regular homunculus. Having a mini-homunculus version would be kind of fun, though.
I was thinking the save increases, late level intelligence boosts natural boosts would help and hp would likely not drop much. with the skill boost would make a great pet.
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most people will say that your animal companion can not be your familiar.
luckily for you, the homunculus companion is not an animal companion.
as the class description states, its a specialized version of homunculus.
which means that if your alchemist took the tumor discovery to gain a familiar, then took improved familiar at 7th level, dismissed the tumor, he could select the homunculus companion to be the familiar.
the downside to that would be, your companion/familiar would be gimped on HP, since a familiar only gets half the master's HP.
where the companion gains d10 HD, bonus HP for size, and you can increase it's HD for only 2k gold/ HD.
which means that if your alchemist took the tumor discovery to gain a familiar, then took improved familiar at 7th level, dismissed the tumor, he could select the homunculus companion to be the familiar.
He could not. The tumor familiar discovery very specifically grants you a tumor familiar, and you do not qualify for a normal one. If lost or dismissed, you can only get another tumor familiar (though it could be one of a different animal shape).
And you can't make a homunculus, companion or otherwise, into a tumor familiar, as tumors are specifically excluded from Improved Familiar.
You can't get Improved Familiar for Tumor Familiar. There was a recent FAQ that covered that.
You can't select your homunculus companion for it anyway; a familiar uses the "appearance, Hit Dice, base attack bonus, base save bonuses, skills, and feats of the normal animal it once was", and improved familiars "otherwise use the rules for regular familiars, with two exceptions: if the creature's type is something other than animal, its type does not change; and improved familiars do not gain the ability to speak with other creatures of their kind." Since the homunculus is not a normal homunculus, it can't be selected.
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with all the ways to qualify for familiars, I'm not going to debate how one could qualify for improved familiar.
A different example would be for the character to take Eldritch Heritage, take the Arcane bloodline and gain the ability to qualify for familiars.
either way, at 7th level equivalent, the PC then takes improved familiar and gains access to the ability to choose a Homunculus.
with all the ways to qualify for familiars, I'm not going to debate how one could qualify for improved familiar.
A different example would be for the character to take Eldritch Heritage, take the Arcane bloodline and gain the ability to qualify for familiars.either way, at 7th level equivalent, the PC then takes improved familiar and gains access to the ability to choose a Homunculus.
Yep. But you have to choose a normal homunculus, not a homunculus companion.
Only a normal, unmodified animal may become a familiar. An animal companion cannot also function as a familiar.
While "animal" gets changed by Improved Familiar, the point remains that:
1) The homunculus companion is not unmodified, when it is explicitly special.2) While not strictly an animal companion, it shares enough in common with them that I think many GMs would say it doesn't qualify either, even if it weren't for 1.
Can you quote the source that states the homunculus companion is not considered a homunculus? or that the homunculus companion doesn't qualify as a homunculus?I said stuffYep. But you have to choose a normal homunculus, not a homunculus companion.
"The means for creating this special homunculus are more exotic than normal and require investiture of the promethean alchemist's own life essence into the homunculus."
Familiar rules require you to select a normal familiar. It's also why if you run across a fox with the giant and advanced templates in a scenario, you can't decide to make it your familiar.