Sorcerers and Familiars

[Pinstripedbarbarian]

"You can prepare one additional cantrip. You must be able to prepare cantrips to select this master ability."

"You can prepare one additional spell at least 3 levels lower than your highest-level spell; you must be able to prepare level 4 spells to select this master ability."

Emphasis mine.

Why prepared only? I kind of get that adding cantrips to your repertoire could be weird, but if Sorcerers have a class feat to gain a familiar and another to upgrade it, why are two of the three master abilities worthless for them? Let them cast an extra spell off their repertoire, or do something like the bard's eclectic spell feat. Something to make the familiar a bit better for a class that gets it as a feat.

[Darksol the Painbringer]

Yeah, I kind of really dislike Sorcerers getting access to a Familiar when they are more-or-less useless for them.

The same is identically true for Gnomes and their Familiars; unless they are a spellcaster class, they're worthless. You'd honestly be better off getting other feats (which again, need work).

Familiars themselves are outright weak and way too generic. In our games, Familiars were powerful and could actually contribute to combats in an effective manner. In our current PF1 campaign, we have a Weasel familiar, who, in RotRL, was grappling and pinning goblin enemies like nothing.

Here? Bats, Scorpions, Mice, it doesn't matter; they're all the same and very lame. They aren't even entries in the Playtest Beastiary! How am I supposed to know what a Scorpion familiar does in comparison to a Bat familiar? For all I know, Scorpions have wings and can fly, or bats can't walk whatsoever.

I'm genuinely concerned about the usefulness of Familiars, since their rules seem to really only support Wizards or Gnome Clerics (which isn't actually a bad choice, given how Ancestries work!).

[Pinstripedbarbarian]

I kinda of like the build-your-own familiar aspect, but when you only get two abilities (without spending another feat) and EVERYTHING is in those two abilities, they feel lackluster. I'd be totally fine with the current list of options if each animal had something like what they did for animal companions. Each familiar type gets something on top of the two abilities that makes the choice beneficial (rather than now where it's irrelevant at best, impeding at worst). Something simple would do:

AMPHIBIAN
Your familiar is an amphibian, such as a frog or newt.
Skill: Athletics
Ability: Swim Speed of 25 feet.

BIRD
Your familiar is a common bird, such as a raven or owl.
Skill: Acrobatics
Ability: Fly Speed of 25 feet.

RODENT
Your familiar is a tiny mammal, such as a rat or squirrel.
Skill: Stealth
Ability: Scent

I'm betting lots of people only see familiars as either bonus cantrips/spells - so familiar abilities are forgotten when you get 4th level spells - or a way to deliver touch spells - where you might take a fly speed or increased movement speed. Barring special circumstances like campaign setting or animal choice locking your abilities, things like climb speed, swim speed, scent, and even darkvision probably won't be used much. If every type of familiar got a different mini-entry like animal companions, the flavor of the whole thing would be much richer and rewarding.

[John Lynch 106]

I'm surprised sorcerers even get familiars. Could they in PF1e?

[Pinstripedbarbarian]

Arcane bloodline got an arcane bond just like wizards, which could be a familiar. Some bloodline have specific familiarity, like serpentine getting a snake familiar at level-2.

[Grave Knight]

You think that's bad? Sorcs can at least get something. Alchemists get nothing. It's the most empty pick you can pick from Alchemist's first level feats. Especially when you compare it to the two bomb feats you can pick up instead.