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A rapport develops between you and an animal, which becomes magically bonded to you. You gain a familiar (see page 287). The type of animal is up to you, but most gnomes choose animals with a burrow Speed.
Familiars, according to page 287, gain a ground speed or a swim speed of 25 feet, and can gain a small list of things with the Familiar and Master Abilities. This includes:
- Climb speed of 25 feet
- Darkvision
- Fly Speed of 25 feet
- Increase Speed of an existing movement mode to 40 feet
- Scent
- The movement mode not already chosen (ground or swim) at 25 feet
- Understands and speaks one language you know.
So how does a gnome get a burrowing familiar? It's not on the list of options.
Those are bonus abilities your familiar gains. The rules state that you can get any Tiny animal. It then gain a ground speed of 25 feet or a swim speed of 25 feet, and then, each day, channel your energy into it to give the abilities from the Familiar Abilities list.
So you can get a mole or a meerkat, for exemple. They will not burrow as quickly as they can run or swim, hence not having a burrowing speed, but they are still burrowing animals. Here, "burrowing familiar" is more a type of animal than actual mecanics.
Still, we miss tiny animals statblocks in the bestiary. Some moles can burrow pretty quickly when needed... I think they left out burrowing speed because any burrowing animal can also walk, and you can't use the burrowing speed of your animal at your advantage for balance purpose.
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If I take a raven familiar, then it doesn't just randomly get a fly speed in addition to the abilities granted by Familiar Abilities.
If your familiar is an animal that naturally must have
one of these familiar abilities (for instance, an owl has a fly
Speed), you must select that ability, and your familiar can’t
be an animal that naturally has more familiar abilities than
your daily maximum familiar abilities.
I would assume that means that familiars don't randomly get extra abilities that don't exist on the chart. A chameleon doesn't get an extra bonus to stealth, a frog doesn't get a bonus to jumping, a bat doesn't get blindsense from echolocation, etc.
As something specifically called out in the gnome abilities, I think that maybe the familiar section should have something that grants a burrow Speed.
Edit: Also, please note that in Animal Accomplice, it specifically calls out "burrow Speed" not just something like burrowing animal. Speed is capitalized, which means it refers to the game mechanic. There should be mechanical support for called out mechanics, yes?
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Just make sure that if you want a Master ability, you don't choose a familiar with two familiar abilities; you only get two choices total, pulled from either list. A familiar with a burrow speed (if corrected for the Gnome feat) + Scent would mean no master abilities.
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Just make sure that if you want a Master ability, you don't choose a familiar with two familiar abilities; you only get two choices total, pulled from either list. A familiar with a burrow speed (if corrected for the Gnome feat) + Scent would mean no master abilities.
Well, yes. That's what it says. I'm glad to see you agree that there's a missing "burrow speed" familiar ability.
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Now that you say it like that, yeah, I feel like there is a problem with familiars. Hmm... In my opinion, familiars should have their own statblocks, and then you add two choices from the familiar or master ability list, not the other way arround. Being forced to spend one of your familiar abilities to have a flying bat... is pretty strange. Currently, familiars feel like some random undefined blobs that can't do anything naturaly once they have a link with you, and even become handicaped and lose their natural abilities... ("I am a bat that can't fly unless my master wants me to, and I'm totally blind since I can't use my ecolocalisation").
