I know about (Improve)Familiar Bond, but I was wondering if it would be too much to allow a monk to gain a familiar by selecting it as a Ki Power.
I recently found out about the familiar archetypes, and I thought, with a bit of fluff, that a Figment Sage seems like it would fit well with some monks.
If Ki powers were like Talents or Revelations then I'd allow it but they look more like deeds. You have to spend points to use Ki powers which would make a full familiar unbalanced. Since your familiar is a figment familiar then I'd be okay with letting you use Ki to summon your familiar as Recurring Dream though the duration may be hard to balance. Maybe it appears at 1 hp like usual and then you have to heal it or maybe 1 + your monk level. Honestly its a bit too much but maybe your GM could be down.
A dip in Wizard could work but you wouldn't get to level up your familiar. He'd still get 1/4 of your hp and you'd be able to use mage armor but Manifest Dreams would never come online and your Master Class Level would only be 1. You could take Familiar Bond to use your total character level for your familiar though it still wouldn't get Manifest Dreams without Improved Familiar Bond. Boon Companion and a level in Wizard could work but your effective Wizard level would be 5 and never go up without more levels in wizard. Maybe your GM will allow you to take Boon companion multiple times for the familiar but it isn't allowed otherwise. Three feats for little benefit isn't worth it but one feat and delaying monk 1 level might be.
The Unchained Monk does have a lot of abilities that cost ki, though the Core Monk had less, but I do see your point.
What would you say to something like selecting it as a Ki Power and requiring a permanant loss of 1 ki from the monk's ki pool (10% loss of total ki at 20th level)? (or something similar. 2 ki would be a 20% loss)
I think two points per day would fair and practically permanent. It'd give you the option to not summon it one day if you think you'll need the points and the familiar itself is quite weak so I don't see it as overpowered. A monk with a mauler familiar could be but not this.
Now for fluff! (I'll give it a shot)
Ki Power: Ki Familiar
You create a bond with a special familiar, the spirit of which was a person well versed in the use of Ki. Many of these familiars act as advisors or impart the knowledge they gained either in life or what they gleamed after their death.
Benefits:
You gain a familiar, as the wizard arcane bond class feature, except that the familiar automatically has the Figment familiar archetype and can never be more than 50 feet from you. Your familiar gains all the normal abilities available to a familiar of a wizard with a level equal to your monk levels, and you gain the special ability normally gained by a master of your type of familiar.
Because your familiar is magical energy from another source, for it to be able to manifest on a given day, you must pay 2 ki points from your pool each day. If you choose not to, you do not gain any benefits of your familiar for that day.
Special: If you have (or later gain) levels of Cleric, Druid, Sorcerer, or Wizard, and you do not have a familiar beyond this one, you only have to pay 1 ki point per day to manifest your familiar for the day. A ninja may select this as a ninja trick at 4th level.
What do you think?
Looks good to me. Other homebrewers may have some input like changing the familiar level to "Monk level -4 minimum 1" but I think its fine. It would definitely take some playtesting to balance it properly.
Hmm, yeah. Personally, if a "monk level -4, minimum 1" was part of it, I don't know if they should have to pay the 2 ki. That'd be like making the wizard have one less spell per spell level every day, just to have a familiar, and then tacking on the -4 seems like overkill.
I don't think it would be needed (cuz it seems obvious to me), but should a line be added in that the monk familiar can never be changed via Improved Familiar?
Now that I'm thinking about it, I think it should be changed a bit, having this type of familiar gain the Manifest Dreams just doesn't seem right to me.
Ki Power: Ki Familiar
You create a bond with a special familiar, the spirit of which was a person well versed in the use of Ki. Many of these familiars act as advisors or impart the knowledge they gained either in life or what they gleamed after their death.
Benefits:
You gain a familiar, as the wizard arcane bond class feature, except that the familiar gains the Recurring Dream(su) Figment familiar archetype ability (it never gains the Manifest Dreams(su) ability), but it can never be more than 50 feet from you. Your familiar gains all the normal abilities available to a familiar of a wizard with a level equal to your monk levels, and you gain the special ability normally gained by a master of your type of familiar.
Because your familiar is magical energy from another source, for it to be able to manifest on a given day, you must pay 2 ki points from your pool each day. If you choose not to, you do not gain any benefits of your familiar for that day.
Special:
If you have (or later gain) levels of Cleric, Druid, Sorcerer, or Wizard, and you do not have a familiar beyond this one, you only have to pay 1 ki point per day to manifest your familiar for the day. A ninja may select this as a ninja trick at 4th level.
Bolded the change.
By RAW, Improved Familiars can't take archetypes that alter Speak With Animals of its Kind so the Ki Familiar wouldn't qualify. I don't see anything too bad about Manifest Dream but maybe it could justify the two Ki points or the -4 to effective level. I chose 4 (rather than 3) because boon companion can advance familiars so you'd get the most out of the feat but if it was -3, per precedent, you'd be able to take a level out of Monk and still get full progression with boon companion. I agree that losing effective familiar master levels is harsh which is why I left it out in the first place and only suggested it as a nerf if the ability proved too powerful.
It's not that Manifest Dream is bad in any way, but I see this familiar being more of an advisor/assistant and most evolutions are combat oriented. The only ones that seem as if they might fit in that role are:
Low-Light Vision (1EP), Skilled (1EP), Ability Increase (2EP), Extra Feat (2EP), Blindsense (3EP), See in Darkness (3EP). And that seems stretching it for a few of those, so with such a limited list (for what I feel fits thematically), I opted to nix it not have the ability at all.
You're right about the RAW, but I've seen a number of threads talking about it, and even one that seemed as if they found a workaround for it, with a specific class/archetype/ability selection. It seemed quite legit, or at least well argued.
I think the only archetype that is available to Improved Familiars is the Ambassador archetype (and it specifically calls out Improved Familiars as being able to take it).
Ki Power: Ki Familiar
You create a bond with a special familiar, the spirit of which was a person well versed in the use of Ki. Many of these familiars act as advisers or impart the knowledge they gained either in life or what they gleamed after their death.
Benefits:
You gain a familiar, as the wizard arcane bond class feature, except that the familiar gains the Recurring Dream(su) Figment familiar archetype ability (as such it cannot have gain the Figment archetype), but it can never be more than 50 feet from you. Your familiar gains all the normal abilities available to a familiar of a wizard with a level equal to your monk levels, and you gain the special ability normally gained by a master of your type of familiar. In addition, your familiar is able to speak one language that you know (either verbally or mentally as a limited telepathic bond between you and your familiar).Because your familiar isn't receiving magical energy from another source, for it to be able to manifest on a given day, you must pay 2 ki points from your pool at the beginning of each day, whether or not you regained ki that day. If you choose not to, you do not gain any benefits of your familiar for that day.
Alternatively, your link is diminished, treating your monk levels at -4 (minimum 1) to determine your familiar's advancement, and in doing so, you no need not spend any ki for your familiar to manifest for any given day. Instead of gaining the special ability normally gained by an animal of your familiar's type, you may gain a +2 Will save bonus. These choices must be made when this ki power is taken, and can never be changed.
Special:
If you have (or later gain) levels of Cleric, Druid, Sorcerer, or Wizard, and you do not have a familiar beyond this one, you only have to pay 1 ki point per day to manifest your familiar for the day, or you treat your monk level as -3 (instead of -4). A ninja may select this as a ninja trick at 4th level.
I added the effective level penalty as an option instead of the ki points. I also gave the monk the monk the ability to choose a +2 Will save bonus, because, as far as I'm aware of, only the hedgehog gives such a bonus (while both Fort/Reflex saves are given out by 7-11 different familiars).
Do you think the ability to speak to the monk right away is too much? As an adviser/assistant it seemed strange that they'd have to wait to long to do just that, or be limited to selecting either a raven or thrush familiar.
Changes/additions/clarifications in bold.