Hell's Rebels and Aquatic Companion / Familiars?

[Zelda Marie Lupescu]

So, I was reading the Hell's Rebels PG and since Kintargo is a river port city, they say that aquatic animal companions and familiars are appropriate, and yet... how are they? If I take an octopus for example as my animal companion, by the RAW it's going to have to stay in the water (even though RL octopus can and do go outside the water) and unless the majority of the AP takes place in the water (which I doubt) the same problem is for a blue-ringed octopus familiar, also suggested.

Now, of course at much later levels one can pick up a Necklace of Adaptation (though it will need to be specially enchanted so an octopus can wear it, increasing the price a LOT) or cast Water Breathing constantly...

So, I just don't see why they recommend aquatic companions/familars... yet they do so what am I missing?

[Tarik Blackhands]

To keep spoilers to a relative minimum there are a few segments over the course of the early modules that have a hefty aquatic component but none of it in my mind is enough to justify an aquatic AC/Familiar, especially since one of those aquatic segments is, in my mind, a colossal waste of time and space.

You're really better off sticking with terrestrial critters and gritting your teeth through the water than the other way around.

[Warped Savant]

You can chose an aquatic AC/familiar and it won't be completely useless the whole time. It won't be useful often and, as someone that GMed Hell's Rebels I'd do everything in my power to dissuade someone from choosing an aquatic pet, but it will, on occasion, be more useful than a land-dwelling animal.

[Melkiador]

An aquatic familiar could just be carried around in an aquarium ball, but that means it’d mostly just be giving you a familiar bonus

[Tim Emrick]

The aquarium ball (and replenishing aquarium ball) from Familiar Folio makes adventuring with an aquatic familiar MUCH more viable. My PFS white-haired witch has a king crab familiar solely for the bonus to grapple. (As a d6 class with a melee schtick, she needs all the help she can get!)

EDIT: Ninja'd by Melkiador!

[Zelda Marie Lupescu]

Thanks, yeah I was more asking in a druid's case. I don't really even know if I will play or GM at this point (if I do either) but I had an idea for a cacaelia kraken caller with an octopus animal companion, but then I realized that wouldn't work quite so well since the octopus isn't amphibious. So maybe I'll just take the Storms domain instead.

[PossibleCabbage]

If you wanted to go around with like, a blue ringed octopus who was amphibious, the Deep Shaman archetype would have you covered.

[Zelda Marie Lupescu]

PossibleCabbage wrote:

If you wanted to go around with like, a blue ringed octopus who was amphibious, the Deep Shaman archetype would have you covered.

That's a shaman though, not a druid.

[Melkiador]

Where is the rule saying your octopus has to stay in the water? It looks like the companion rules neglected to make them aquatic, so they’d actually have trouble breathing in water.

[Zelda Marie Lupescu]

Melkiador wrote:

Where is the rule saying your octopus has to stay in the water? It looks like the companion rules neglected to make them aquatic, so they’d actually have trouble breathing in water.

I've never met a GM that would let that interpretation fly. The companion rules are bare bones, but you still are referred to the bestiary entry for the rest of their stats where it does say they are aquatic.

[Melkiador]

I was being a little facetious but you actually are not supposed to refer to the base animal’s stat block. And there are other animal companions that do remember to give themselves the aquatic type.

[Zelda Marie Lupescu]

Melkiador wrote:

I was being a little facetious but you actually are not supposed to refer to the base animal’s stat block. And there are other animal companions that do remember to give themselves the aquatic type.

Maybe the animal companion octopus are based on the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus!