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Just looking for some advice for what kind of bonus a Dog familiar would give. I've asked around my local area and I've gotten a few similar responses but I wanted to get the opinion of the people online.
Some things to note. I'm using a Lap Dogs statistics which say to use A Foxes Statistics. I know Fox familiars give a bonus to Reflex but I feel that's a bit out of place for a small Lap Dog.(especially since mine will be a Welsh Corgi)
It's really weird that multiple sources mention dog familiars and yet there are no official dog familiars. If I were to just make something up, it'd be +3 on sound or scent based perception checks.
I was thinking about the scent ability, but maybe that's too powerful for a familiar boon.
Dogs are man's best friend: maybe the dog gives a +2 bonus on all Aid Another checks?
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It's really weird that multiple sources mention dog familiars and yet there are no official dog familiars. If I were to just make something up, it'd be +3 on sound or scent based perception checks.
Yeah, this one's bugged me for a while. The dogs in Pathfinder are all big dogs, which can be used as animal companions, riding dogs, or guard dogs. But there really aren't any little dogs that would be appropriate familiars.
I was actually thinking about Dorothy Gale as a Pathfinder character (a good witch, of course), but there's no rules for Toto as her familiar.
Familiar Folio suggests you just use the fox for "tiny dogs". that's about the best we get. I really wish they were their own thing though.
+perception. Those little yapping lap dogs were bred to be burglar alarms (among other uses). Not guard dogs, but their yapping would wake up the guards and guard dogs that would actually do something about intruders.
You already get alertness for being near your familiar, that's a bonus to perception a lot of people overlook. I'd say just give him a bonus to Sense Motive. Some dogs are inherently perceptive about intentions, after all. Perhaps it growls when it senses something off?
I believe that lap dogs were used to tell which people were secretly enemies in China at one point, hiding them in their sleeves. That might be apocryphal, but I'm seconding Sense Motive.
i like the bonus to Sense Motive!
I wanted a dog familiar in a game I am currently playing and came across this. Hope that helps.
I wanted a dog familiar in a game I am currently playing and came across this. Hope that helps.
That appears to be from Purple Duck Games. Which is fine if your DM allows 3rd party content, but it may not be available to everyone.
A terrier, on the flip side, was used to aggressively hunt small prey and another bonus may be fitting.
For a terrier, I'd have them give a bonus similar to Endurance, though only a +2 or so. Possibly a small bonus to intimidate to help 'flush out' the animals.
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Corgis are willful and independent so a +2 to Will saves sounds appropriate. If you went with Perception, I'd suggest keeping it in line with the bonuses for hawks and owls (i.e. +3 situational modifiers;) maybe something like +3 Perception against opposed Stealth checks. It wouldn't apply to finding hidden objects, traps, etc., but it would reflect the dog's watchful nature.
+3 Sense Motive works for all breeds of dogs IMO. They're all better at reading humans than other domestic animals.
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I'm surprised no one has mentioned what I consider the obvious answer:
+3 Survival. Survival is the skill for tracking and hunting, pretty much the exact two things we domesticated dogs for (well, other than eating when food got scarce, but we don't like to think about that anymore.)
Maybe the reason there are so many breeds of dog is because depending on which skill or save bonus you want, there is a dog breed for you. Just choose any currently available bonus offered by another familiar and use it as your own (using fox statistics) Heck, id even allow it to speak 1 language if you had a scooby-do kind of thing and it was the kind of game group that could tolerate that. (definitely not a scrappy-do type). Other familiar users would obviously know what stat bonus a breed would give so it kind of telegraphs its masters skill set or area of expertise
Go with a Corgi-Husky mix... as a puppy.
Look up the images in Google, print one out -- any time it looks like the DM may put your pup in danger, pull out the picture -- no DM would DARE harm it.
I'm surprised no one has mentioned what I consider the obvious answer:
+3 Survival. Survival is the skill for tracking and hunting, pretty much the exact two things we domesticated dogs for (well, other than eating when food got scarce, but we don't like to think about that anymore.)
I'm with Gulthor. That's what I was thinking about as I was walking my own dogs just now. They stay on the alert (for other dogs, the neighborhood cats, sketchy plastic bags in the wind, everything).
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I'm surprised no one has mentioned what I consider the obvious answer:
+3 Survival. Survival is the skill for tracking and hunting, pretty much the exact two things we domesticated dogs for (well, other than eating when food got scarce, but we don't like to think about that anymore.)
Actually survival is the most popular one from the people that I asked in my local area. I too was surprised to see no one else to suggest it.
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Corgis are willful and independent so a +2 to Will saves sounds appropriate. If you went with Perception, I'd suggest keeping it in line with the bonuses for hawks and owls (i.e. +3 situational modifiers;) maybe something like +3 Perception against opposed Stealth checks. It wouldn't apply to finding hidden objects, traps, etc., but it would reflect the dog's watchful nature.
Corgis were bred and used as herding dogs for cattle. They're what's technically called "heelers" - they nip at the legs of the larger animals to keep them moving. Corgi's are not really that small. I suspect if you're taking a corgi as a familiar, your talking about one at the bottom of the size range. The Pembroke Welsh Corgis tend to be smaller than the Cardigans, but still tend towards the mid-20 lb range. Cardigans can go up to about 35-40 lbs.
I'm not familiar enough with Corgi's to know if they have "miniatures", like dachshunds (my family breeds dachshunds, which are generally sized as "miniature" or "standard" - we have both).
But they don't seem to me to be truly small, like Chihuahuas, which are around 5 lbs.
All I can say is that lugging around a 25 lb dog (and if Corgis are like dachshunds, they seem to prefer to be carried - at least the pampered overweight ones!) isn't going to be a picnic for a STR 7,8,9 Wizard!
As for a Corgi specific bonus, +2 Will or +3 Sense Motive both sound like good options.
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Corgis are willful and independent so a +2 to Will saves sounds appropriate. If you went with Perception, I'd suggest keeping it in line with the bonuses for hawks and owls (i.e. +3 situational modifiers;) maybe something like +3 Perception against opposed Stealth checks. It wouldn't apply to finding hidden objects, traps, etc., but it would reflect the dog's watchful nature.Corgis were bred and used as herding dogs for cattle. They're what's technically called "heelers" - they nip at the legs of the larger animals to keep them moving. Corgi's are not really that small. I suspect if you're taking a corgi as a familiar, your talking about one at the bottom of the size range. The Pembroke Welsh Corgis tend to be smaller than the Cardigans, but still tend towards the mid-20 lb range. Cardigans can go up to about 35-40 lbs.
I'm not familiar enough with Corgi's to know if they have "miniatures", like dachshunds (my family breeds dachshunds, which are generally sized as "miniature" or "standard" - we have both).
But they don't seem to me to be truly small, like Chihuahuas, which are around 5 lbs.
All I can say is that lugging around a 25 lb dog (and if Corgis are like dachshunds, they seem to prefer to be carried - at least the pampered overweight ones!) isn't going to be a picnic for a STR 7,8,9 Wizard!
As for a Corgi specific bonus, +2 Will or +3 Sense Motive both sound like good options.
As far as the character that made me ask this question is concerned. His Elemental Whispers Blood Corgi won't be a problem for carrying around. I'd imagine Tattooed Sorcerers have a similar advantage. Thanks for the input on weight, something I didn't consider. Corgis still qualify to be the proper size category for familiar and that's all I cared about. Weight is probably one of the reasons we haven't seen a Dog familiar published officially.
Why would you need to carry a dog familiar?
I doubt weight is a concern when goats and pigs are available as familiars (and weigh considerably more.)
I suspect it's simply that the decision was made that dog=animal companion is all.
In a previous game I GMed, one of the PCs was an arcane bloodline sorcerer with a shih tzu familiar. I had the player use the stats of a fox familiar from Bestiary 3.
I quitle like the idea of a french poodle familiar
