Hey, I'm playing with an aerokineticist and we came across some doubts regarding the description of Elemental Whispers.
The description:
You form a friendship with a fragment of your element. The element speaks back to you empathically, like a familiar. Pick a type of creature usually allowed as a familiar when you gain this wild talent. You gain the Alertness feat and the special abilities granted by a familiar of that type. As a standard action, you can give the voice of the element the body of such a creature, using elemental matter of the appropriate element within 30 feet. As long as you concentrate, the familiar can take actions as a normal animal of its type, and it can move any distance away from you, though if it takes any damage or you cease concentrating, it returns to your mind. You lose Alertness while the familiar is manifested in this way. The familiar gains abilities as usual for a familiar of its type, though it never gains the ability to speak with animals of its kind.
I got that talent as a owl-shaped air element. The main issue is, when it says:
"You form a friendship with a fragment of your element. The element speaks back to you empathically, like a familiar."
We're discussing if it's only able to give emotional impressions, as it's not a full "speak with animals" ability, or it actually speaks.
Althought the text is comparing to a familiar, my interpretation is that it actually SPEAKS, as it also says later "...give the VOICE of the element the body...".
My GM is sayng that because it's comparing to a familiar, we should consider the rules of familiar and only use the emotional/empathical link, but I see it otherwise.
I also think that the description of the Greater Elemental Whispers reinforces that when it says that if it dies, "you can still contact its voice in your mind and gain the Alertness", as if it goes back to being the normal whisper and being that voice.
Second question:
I'm thinking about getting the Greater Whisper. I understand that it becomes a proper familiar, thus, would it be able to have archetypes? Would you guys have any suggestion to compensate de share/deliver spells ability?
As it is in the description, I'm having second thoughts if it's useful or not.
