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I'm pretty sure the point of them not having stats is so you can create whatever animal (or Leshy) familiar you want - you just have to give it the appropriate power choices (eg. choose a flying creature, you have to give it a fly speed as one of its powers)
Here's another issue: Gnomes can get a familiar and it explicitly states they prefer familiars with a burrow speed. I'm sorry Paizo, you haven't given us that option?!?

kaid |

I am pretty sure the move speed was just omitted from the normal list of familiar powers so it would just be locked in with a burrow speed move and one other option.
The leshy having three powers is pretty nice once you can do it you could have an extra cantrip and one extra spell that is 3 levels below your max every day and then throw on some movement boost and you now have a pretty useful and handy lil scout.

kaid |

It's worse than that. The familiar "must be a tiny animal" (p. 287). Searching through the rule book and the bestiary, there are only 2 options available: the big-a** mosquito (bloodseeker) and the viper.
It is done this way so people don't feel they are required to game a specific familiar like the type of scorpion so many people used. Basically its whatever tiny animal you want it to be. If you say you want an owl then it has to have flight as one of the abilities it has every day. But you could say your familiar is an imp or tiny genie and it does not matter it gains no real extra power from it. Its stats are always what they are regardless of form and then you just select your two or three enhancements and it looks like you can even change which enhancements it has when you prepare spells for the day. So if you feel like you need a better scout you could give it flight or faster move, if you are in a dungeon give it dark vision so on and so forth.

Freder1ck |
"Your familiar's saving throw modifiers and AC are equal to your own, before applying any circumstance or conditional bonuses or penalties. Its Perception, Acrobatics, and Stealth modifiers are equal to your level plus your spellcasting ability modifier. If it needs to roll any attack roll or skill check, it uses your level minus two on its modifier. It never benefits from ability modifiers or item bonuses.
Hit Points
Your familiar has 4 points for each of your levels.
For flavor, I looked up Leshy on d20pfsrd.

Greyblade23 |
You guys make some really good points. I hadn't really considered the implications of no stats as a good thing.
Kaid, thank you for your notes on the leshy familiar. I'm going to look into that some more - it might become my new favorite familiar (PF1, I loved the camposognathus for its initiative boost :) ).
It might still be fun to take the bloodseeker, if only for the shock value. I wonder if I could somehow get it to transfer its health increase ability to me. Time to take another dive through the rules :).

McLeaderPants |
I know this is a little off topic but I can't find any other help on this and don't really want to make a new topic.
I made an alchemist with the level 1 familiar feat. The alchemist doesn't have a spell casting ability, and therefore no spell casting ability modifier. Do I get to use my intelligence? or is my familiar an extra nerfed homunculi?

Asuet |

It might still be fun to take the bloodseeker, if only for the shock value. I wonder if I could somehow get it to transfer its health increase ability to me. Time to take another dive through the rules :).
No matter what kind of animal you take, they don't benefit from their original species. Every familiar has exactly the same stats and abilities. What familiars can do on top of that is only determined by the points you spend every day.

jdripley |

It took me a while to sort out Familiars too. Got caught in the "but it worked this way in the previous edition" trap and kept looking for a list of stats for rats, owls, cats, toads, etc.
But, I really REALLY like the new Familiar rules. Familiars are neat, plain and simple, but it's always been a tricky thing to execute.
Of course in 3.5 it was perilous to actually use your familiar because of the damage to your character if it was lost. Pathfinder 1 remedied that for the most part, but even then it was a very complex process to actually create and progress your familiar.
These new rules? Simple as can be. All you need to do when you level it up is give it 4 more HP and you're off and running. The flexibility is excellent as well, allowing you to experiment with your familiar without investing in fixed options. You can have a scout familiar, combat familiar and extra-spell familiar if you want... not all at once of course, but that's OK.
I for one am really excited to see how players use a familiar since, in my play experience at any rate, most players have been too afraid to actually use the things in past editions.