Hey all,
My question on this ability is based on the first bit:
Tumor Familiar (Ex): The alchemist creates a Diminutive or Tiny tumor on his body, usually on his back or stomach. As a standard action, the alchemist can have the tumor detach itself from his body as a separate creature vaguely resembling a kind of animal suitable for a familiar (bat, cat, and so on) and move about as if it were an independent creature.
So is it in the spirit of this ability that the alchemist choose the type of creature it vaguely resemble every time the alchemist detaches it from his body?
The rule effect then would be the alchemist get's to choose the familiar bonus ever time he detaches it.
No where does it say the choice for what the tumor familiar resembles is permanent.
So one minute he detaches it as a cat for a bonus to stealth, reattaches it after he sneaks around and the detaches it again as a Hawk for a bonus to perception.
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Despite my love of the tumor familiar, I don't read it that way, in part because of other parts of the description. "The tumor acts as the alchemist’s familiar whether attached or separated (providing a skill bonus, the Alertness feat, and so on)." so the tumor doesn't quite become not a familiar (and thus malleable as you propose) when attached. The rules do in fact say how to change the familiar: "If a tumor familiar is lost or dies, it can be replaced 1 week later through a specialized procedure that costs 200 gp per alchemist level." The familiar type could then be changed.
The rules do in fact say how to change the familiar: "If a tumor familiar is lost or dies, it can be replaced 1 week later through a specialized procedure that costs 200 gp per alchemist level." The familiar type could then be changed.
This makes me think of the old problem of lacking rules for releasing a familiar from its bond in order to attain a new one. And how, possibly, an alchemist with more time and money than sense could create a swarm of free-willed tumor goats to roam the countryside.