Spirit Binder wizard's soulbound familiar


Rules Questions


I'm not sure how the spirit binder wizard archetype works.

Spirit Binder wrote:

Soulbound Familiar (Ex)

/.../
A soulbound familiar has the base attack bonus and base saving throws of the loved one's favored class (using the spirit binder's level as its level).

Normally, familiars use their master's base attack bonus and saves as calculated from all the master's classes. So a wizard who dips a level of fighter gives that +1 BAB to her familiar.

Does this hold true for soulbound familiars too? I.e., a soulbound familiar has the BAB and saves of its favored class at a level equal to the total level of its master. So a soulbound familiar with barbarian as its favored class whose master is a spirit binder wizard 4/rogue 4 would have BAB +8.

Or are only spirit binder wizard levels counted for the purposes of the soulbound familiar's BAB and saves?

My gut feeling says that the masters total level should be used.

Spirit Binder wrote:

Lost Talents (Ex)

A spirit binder's soulbound familiar possesses some of the ability of the lost loved one, and it is capable of learning more. At 1st level, 5th level, and every 5 levels thereafter, the spirit binder's familiar gains a new feat for which it meets the prerequisites.

This ability replaces Scribe Scroll and the wizard's bonus feats.

Again, how are levels counted? How many feats does a familiar of a spirit binder wizard 1/rogue 4 (so a total of 5 levels) gain? I'd say only one, the Lost talents feature replaces the wizard's bonus feats, and a wizard 1/rogue 4 wouldn't have gotten a wizard bonus feat at level 5 so the familiar doesn’t gain anything extra.

But what if the master has multiple classes that with grants a familiar? A familiar of a spirit binder wizard 1/eldritch guardian 4, for example.


In this case, You'd use only your wizard levels

Silver Crusade

Only the Spirit Binder, clearly.

For the BAB/ST, you are free to choose whatever you want. For example, you could choose a full BAB class with at least 2 good STs (your loved one has taken an oath to protect you even from beyond the pale of death -> Paladin?), which has DOUBLE the BAB/STs of a Wizard. You get this advantage, and in turn you loose the progression with the character level.

For the feats, this is even more obvious since you are forgoing your WIZARD bonus feats to give them to the familiar. If you are 1 Wizard / 4 Witch, you are only forgoing Scribe Scroll and nothing more, therefore why should you get more than one feat for your familiar?


Thread necromancy! Because this deals with the nitty-gritty of the archetype that I'm wondering about...

If a Spirit Binder takes 4 levels of some other class and the Boon Companion feat, does he lose out on any benefits of the Soulbound Familiar or Lost Talents abilities? What about prestige classes like the Diabolist, which specifically calls out stacking of levels for familiar abilities?

At the risk of descending into rules lawyer and semantics territory, Lost Talents in particular doesn't say that the master loses one bonus feat in order to grant the familiar a feat - only that "At 1st level, 5th level, and every 5 levels thereafter, the spirit binder’s familiar gains a new feat for which it meets the prerequisites".

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