This is my first post on Paizo, and I just wanted to say I have been lurking around for a couple weeks just enjoying all the advice and insights on classes and the like. So for those reading, thank you!
Now to the task at hand: Later this week I will be playing a Pathfinder campaign and I'm hoping to play an interesting Elf Wizard. His whole goal is to try and hide his magic as much as he can, so he dresses in non-wizarding garb, has a grown-out beard and carries knives and clubs with him, has a lot of tricks and items up his sleeves for encounters, and also picks a lot of subtle spells to trick or daze opponents.
I decided to pick a Familiar because it sounded like a great way to Roleplay for my character, and I have always been partial to Summoning and Creature controlling classes(In fact my main school is Conjuration). My question is this: I plan on using my familiar as a scout, a Perception double check, and also letting him be tough enough that I can let him be alone and not be attacked or noticed. I have so far decided upon a Hawk, but what would another good choice be for a familiar that is within the Core Rulebook (Which I believe is what is being used for the campaign, so no AG) and beyond the familiar itself what can I do first level with them?
I have some idea of what they are capable of as I have tried researching myself, but I would always like to have specifics listed out.
Your hawk is nothing more than your trained hunting partner. Alternately he's spectacle performing tricks for your daily bread. Finally he's just a pet that seems just a little bit smarter than your average bird. These are some ways to explain the hawk's presence if trying to mask your wizardry.
As for what to DO with him... there are a TON of threads on these boards regarding just this topic. My favorite thing for a flying familiar besides scouting which you already mentioned is to weaponize them with simple items.
Spend 1 GP and buy a bunch of flasks of oil. Now stuff wicks in them. Memorize the cantrip Spark (ignites flammables from short range). Ready an action to ignite the Molotov cocktails your bird is dropping just before they hit their targets. Now the 2 of you are dealing damage AND stealing an action from your enemy.
You could also have the hawk carry small sacks and fill these with whatever payload you want: stones, marbles, tanglefoot bags, caltrops, tar, etc. Ant Haul on this creature as well as an Enlarge Person meant for you but then transferred to the bird means that, for short distances, you have something that can pick you up and fly you around the battlemap. Pretty handy combo to have when needing to get up or down a vertical surface (climbing, falling, etc).
Mark Hoover brought up the most obvious of the covers and they're all good. I could even go "Borat" on them by playing it up as just another Elven thing to mock their speciesism. "What? This? I'm an Elf of the Forest! We're so close to nature that its denizens flock to us naturally!" If you really want to make the party laugh, you can con a rube by claiming it's your wife.
Your hawk is nothing more than your trained hunting partner. Alternately he's spectacle performing tricks for your daily bread. Finally he's just a pet that seems just a little bit smarter than your average bird. These are some ways to explain the hawk's presence if trying to mask your wizardry.
As for what to DO with him... there are a TON of threads on these boards regarding just this topic. My favorite thing for a flying familiar besides scouting which you already mentioned is to weaponize them with simple items.
Spend 1 GP and buy a bunch of flasks of oil. Now stuff wicks in them. Memorize the cantrip Spark (ignites flammables from short range). Ready an action to ignite the Molotov cocktails your bird is dropping just before they hit their targets. Now the 2 of you are dealing damage AND stealing an action from your enemy.
You could also have the hawk carry small sacks and fill these with whatever payload you want: stones, marbles, tanglefoot bags, caltrops, tar, etc. Ant Haul on this creature as well as an Enlarge Person meant for you but then transferred to the bird means that, for short distances, you have something that can pick you up and fly you around the battlemap. Pretty handy combo to have when needing to get up or down a vertical surface (climbing, falling, etc).
Thanks for the advice! I also wanted to ask about this, as it was the intended plan for my characters Familiar: I would come into town and I would have him fly around and keep close to town but mainly out of sight, that way no one could make a connection that it is a Familiar. Unless I have a sadistic GM, does that plan make sense?
It absolutely makes sense. Bear in mind though that usually a town is where your familiar usually comes in handiest. If you can con folks into looking the other way at the innocuous bird on your shoulder or perched on the windowsill, no one's going to care that the bird seems to be listening to them.
Your familiar can eavesdrop; he can help you (Aid Another) with Perceptions and Sense Motives and Knowledge checks and such; he can help you craft scrolls and later other magic items. If you're constantly send him off into the background in such situations a lot of his use might be wasted.
That being said - why ARE you so paranoid about people finding out you're a wizard?
I'm just playing a character who lives in the wild and is sort of wary of people cause, well, last time someone found out his parents were wizards, they got killed immediately by Necromancers. So he is a tad wary of that situation happening again. Not only that but he lives a more isolated, wild way, and uses things like Caltrops, Oil, and other little bits and ends that helps him get out of situations without necessarily using his spells. That being said, I like the amount of information that is coming my way with my familiar! One more question is that you mentioned scroll scribing: I knew about the skill checks, but how would he help me craft scrolls?
Mark Hoover brought up the most obvious of the covers and they're all good. I could even go "Borat" on them by playing it up as just another Elven thing to mock their speciesism. "What? This? I'm an Elf of the Forest! We're so close to nature that its denizens flock to us naturally!" If you really want to make the party laugh, you can con a rube by claiming it's your wife.
Thanks for replying as well! I was going to ask as well, while my character may not be one to draw attention to my Familiar, which Rube are you talking about? Cause admittedly, I find that hilarious.
"Rube" is a term for an uncivilized (and implied to be uneducated) person, thus someone easy to trick or con.
It isn't a term specific to anyone, just a category of person.
Oh....and an elf with a full beard?!?!
"Rube" is a term for an uncivilized (and implied to be uneducated) person, thus someone easy to trick or con.
It isn't a term specific to anyone, just a category of person.
Oh....and an elf with a full beard?!?!
If their is a material that states elves cannot grow such amazing facial hair, than I'd be glad to know! But at least in the Core Rulebook, the description for the Elf talks about their eyes and taking on the appearance of their environments, so I thought beard was A-OK!
So if they look like their environment, is it like a leaf beard, or maybe he keeps bees and it's a bee beard? :)
Anyway, there are archetypes for familiars, one of them being the Valet. This archetype replaces Alertness with Cooperative Crafting and the familiar possesses all the Craft skills and Item Creation feats of the master. So conceivably the familiar could physically help make scrolls with you and eventually aid in the creation of other items.
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Emergency rations.
Invest in Handle Animal. Get a few more animals of the same type as the familiar. Train them to do tricks. Could have some other kinds of animals. Get a rank in Profession(Entertainer) and have your menagerie do stuff. If anyone twigs that you are a wizard with a familiar, they won't easily spot which creature it is. Invest also in Bluff.
/cevah