Wizard book familiar


Advice


Is it possible to have a wizard's spell book be a familiar? I don't mean by way of the witch where they keep their spells in their cat I mean having the wizard book be a book but also have the sentience of a familiar.


craft it into a magical intelligent item?


If you're willing to go the witch route at all (spirit whisperer is the wizard archetype which does that IIRC) then a raktavarna improved familiar can take the shape of a book when it wants.

There's a 6th level spell which can temporarily give an item a mind, impart mind.


Would improved familiar into a homunculus work? Like would I be able to have it keep its book shape?


Mr doom, would the book an animated object, like the objects around the Beast's castle in the animated movie Beauty and the Beast? Like, the book has arms and legs and a face? If so yes, making a homunculus from a book shape is feasible.

If the book was more the flying, biting version of the Necronomicon Ex Mortis (roughly translated, "book of the dead") from the Evil Dead series of movies, I'm guessing that's a magic item.

Going the Magic Item route, what if you just took a Bonded Object (spellbook), made the thing into a Wondrous Item, and then figured out a way to get a permanent version of Impart Mind on it? You could also permanize Fly, Mage Hand, Book Ward and other defensive spells to ensure its safety.


If your GM agrees? I mean, the description of a homunculus is nothing like a book, but that is pure fluff.


improved familiar 'Shikigami' kami with a book as it's ward can manifest it's physical body as a somewhat small humanoid book.

this would not be your book as a moving thing but it's guardian spirit. (who might also have opinions of it's own, like not liking it when you read ITS book...something like the Librarian from disk-world and his dislike to anyone who comes into this library to read the books.)


Book isn’t a Bonded Object option; doesn’t look like any of the archetypes support this. Seems like there ought to be a feat or something tho.

1% of permanent magic items (some of which are Spellbooks) are intelligent though, and you could take an intelligent spellbook as a cohort through Leadership. You could also use a book that has an associated Kami, and then take that Kami as your familiar. Unfortunately it appears at that point it would stop Warding your book and start treating you as it’s ward. There’s almost certainly other stuff too.


What about a low cr monster that would basically be the living monster book from harry potter? There are rules in place for adding additional creatures to the familiar list.


You could use the Familiar Automaton it can look like anything really.

Familiar Automaton Description wrote:
A familiar automaton is usually the same size and twice the weight of the creature after which it is modeled. For the most part, nonfeline familiar automatons use the same statistics as the cat-based familiar automaton presented here, but more powerful familiar automatons may have additional abilities better suited for their more unique frames. On rare occasions, a familiar automaton bears spells engraved in markings on its body—usually signature spells of ancient mages, engraved on their forms by request. Some mages today keep these automatons as their personal familiars. A 7th-level lawful spellcaster with the Improved Familiar feat can select a familiar automaton as a familiar. These familiars serve well due to their innate ability to understand magic and magical items.

That seems pretty flexible.


The lack of options to get an Animated Object as a familiar is questionable :S

How about a floating sword, like Alucard can summon in Castlevania: Symphony of the Night?

BTW, if your book familiar is a reference to Nier, you get bonus points ;)


A spellbook familiar archetype for the wizard does exist. The book bond is actually really cool, but the rest of the archetype is absolutely atrocious. It's not even particularly flavorful, it's just giving you spell-like abilities that duplicate regular wizard spells that you could already cast anyways...


Dasrak wrote:
A spellbook familiar archetype for the wizard does exist. The book bond is actually really cool, but the rest of the archetype is absolutely atrocious. It's not even particularly flavorful, it's just giving you spell-like abilities that duplicate regular wizard spells that you could already cast anyways...

Ya I saw that one and its not really what I'm trying to go for plus its not that great of an archetype.

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