Ok, so since I like just seeing what can be done, I play around with weird things to see what happens. Kinda tumbled into a few odd synergies a while ago. I’m looking to flesh it out into a more complete concept. Ratfolk magus riding a giant flea mauler familiar. I don’t believe this to be tremendously optimized or overpowering. I just find the thought of a rat riding a flea into battle uproariously funny.
Note: Haven’t decided yet if this will be a PFS or home game character.
Giant Flea familiar – Uncanny Leap – can jump 120’ as a charge.
Giant Flea familiar has a +20 to jump checks.
Giant Flea is only allowed for a witch.
Vermin are immune to mind affecting effects. (Often the most dangerous for mounts.)
Vermin familiars have the belt and eyes slot only.
Familiar gets 1 feat.
Mauler familiar archetype – Battle Form – can change into a medium creature at will and stay that way as long as desired.
A small creature can ride a medium creature.
Ratfolk are small.
A lance ‘can’ be used as two-handed martial reach weapon if the wielder is not mounted.
Take 1 level of beastblade magus.
Take 1 level of beast-bonded witch. Chose a giant flea familiar and give it the escape route teamwork feat.
Remaining levels are magus (unless I decide to throw a couple level of cavalier or something in there).
At 3rd level magus, take the Familiar arcana.
Feats
1) escape route teamwork feat
3) mounted combat
5) weapon focus lance
From level 2 onward, I can ride all around the battlefield. Generating zero AoO due to movement since we both have escape route and all spaces we move through will be adjacent to both of us.
A 120’ charge should let me charge just about anyone.
The +20 to jump checks should make it so I can jump over a line of medium creatures if there isn’t an open spot to move through.
When mounted, the lance is a 1 handed weapon which will allow me to cast my magus spells.
I thought there was a way to give more feats to your familiar, but I can’t find it. I really wanted to give it the Improved Spell Sharing teamwork feat. If that isn’t possible, then I will take the non-teamwork version of the same name at 11th level so we can both have the same buffs going.
Male ratfolk magus (beastblade) 4/witch (beast-bonded) 1 (Pathfinder Player Companion: Familiar Folio 8, Pathfinder RPG Advanced Player's Guide 65, Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 3 231, Pathfinder RPG Ultimate Magic 9, 83)
N Small humanoid (ratfolk)
Init +3; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +9
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Defense
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AC 19, touch 14, flat-footed 16 (+5 armor, +3 Dex, +1 size)
hp 41 (5 HD; 1d6+4d8+14)
Fort +7 (+3 vs. disease), Ref +5, Will +8
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Offense
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Speed 20 ft.
Melee +1 adamantine lance +8 (1d6+4/×3) or
. . mwk cold iron tailblade +7 (1d2+2) or
. . mwk silver cestus +7 (1d3+2/19-20)
Space 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft. (10 ft. with +1 adamantine lance)
Special Attacks arcane pool (+1, 5 points), hex (familiar feat), magus arcana (familiar[UM]), spell combat, spellstrike, swarming
Magus (Beastblade) Spells Prepared (CL 4th; concentration +7)
. . 2nd—blur, stone call[APG]
. . 1st—chill touch (DC 14), long arm[ACG], shield, shocking grasp
. . 0 (at will)—detect magic, mage hand, open/close (DC 13), prestidigitation
Witch (Beast-Bonded) Spells Prepared (CL 1st; concentration +4)
. . 1st—command (DC 14), shield companion
. . 0 (at will)—guidance, read magic, stabilize
. . Patron Agility
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Statistics
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Str 14, Dex 16, Con 14, Int 17, Wis 10, Cha 7
Base Atk +3; CMB +4; CMD 17
Feats Alertness, Escape Route[UC], Mauler's Endurance, Mounted Combat, Weapon Focus (lance)
Traits bladed magic, dedicated defender, indomitable faith
Skills Acrobatics +3 (-1 to jump), Appraise +4, Climb +6, Craft (weapons) +6 (+7 to craft magic or masterwork weapons), Fly +9, Handle Animal -1 (+3 to influence rodents), Intimidate +2, Knowledge (arcana) +8, Knowledge (dungeoneering) +7, Knowledge (planes) +7, Linguistics +8, Perception +9, Ride +11, Sense Motive +2, Sleight of Hand +4, Spellcraft +7, Stealth +12, Swim +6, Use Magic Device +4; Racial Modifiers +2 Perception, +2 Use Magic Device
Languages Aklo, Common, Cyclops, Giant, Gnoll, Goblin, Necril, Orc, Undercommon
SQ paranoid, rodent empathy, tandem touch, witch's familiar (giant flea (mauler) named Skitter)
Other Gear +1 mithral chain shirt, +1 adamantine lance, mwk cold iron tailblade[ARG], mwk silver cestus[APG], cloak of resistance +1, magus starting spellbook
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Special Abilities
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Arcane Pool +1 (5/day) (Su) Infuse own power into a held weapon, granting enhancement bonus or selected item powers.
Darkvision (60 feet) You can see in the dark (black and white only).
Deliver Touch Spells Through Familiar (Su) Your familiar can deliver touch spells for you.
Empathic Link with Familiar (Su) You have an empathic link with your Arcane Familiar.
Escape Route You do not provoke attacks of opportunity when moving through spaces adjacent to allies
Familiar Bonus: +3 to Fort saves vs. Disease You gain the Alertness feat while your familiar is within arm's reach.
Mounted Combat (1/round) Once per round you can attempt to negate a hit to your mount in combat.
Paranoid Aid Another DC 15 for attempts to help you.
Rodent Empathy Ratfolk gain a +4 racial bonus on Handle Animal checks made to influence rodents.
Share Spells with Familiar Can cast spells with a target of "You" on the familiar with a range of touch.
Speak with Familiar (Ex) You can communicate verbally with your familiar.
Spell Combat (Ex) Use a weapon with one hand at -2 and cast a spell with the other.
Spellstrike (Su) Deliver touch spells as part of a melee attack.
Swarming (Ex) Can share a square with another with swarming, if both att the same foe, he is flanked.
Tandem Touch (Su) May cast a spell while familiar holds charge for touch spell.
Witch's Familiar (Ex) Gain the services of a special familiar that stores spells.
Giant flea (mauler) (Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 4 99)
N Medium magical beast (vermin)
Init +2; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +8
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Defense
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AC 15, touch 12, flat-footed 13 (+2 Dex, +3 natural)
hp 30 (1d8+1)
Fort +5, Ref +3, Will +6
Defensive Abilities improved evasion; DR 5/slashing; Immune disease, mind-affecting effects
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Offense
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Speed 30 ft. (20 ft. in armor)
Melee bite +6 (1d6+4 plus disease)
Special Attacks bond forged in blood, disease
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Statistics
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Str 16, Dex 15, Con 13, Int 6, Wis 11, Cha 6
Base Atk +3; CMB +6; CMD 18
Feats Escape Route[UC]
Skills Acrobatics +3 (+19 to jump), Appraise -1, Climb +4, Fly +3, Handle Animal -1, Intimidate +2, Linguistics +3, Perception +8, Ride +4, Sleight of Hand +0, Spellcraft -1, Stealth +7, Swim +4, Use Magic Device -1
SQ battle form, empathic link, uncanny leap
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Special Abilities
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Battle Form (Str +2, 3/day) (Su) As standard action three times a day, grow larger.
Bond Forged in Blood (Su) You cannot speak or communicate with language. Master dropping a foe grants +2 att/dam to both master and familiar for 1 rd.
Damage Reduction (5/slashing) You have Damage Reduction against all except Slashing attacks.
Darkvision (60 feet) You can see in the dark (black and white only).
Disease (DC 13) Injury; save Fort; onset 1d3 days; freq 1 day; effect 1 Con; cure 1 save
Empathic Link (Su) You have an empathic link with your master.
Escape Route You do not provoke attacks of opportunity when moving through spaces adjacent to allies
Immunity to Disease You are immune to diseases.
Immunity to Mind-Affecting effects You are immune to Mind-Affecting effects.
Improved Evasion (Ex) No damage on successful reflex save; half on failed save.
Share Spells Spells with a target of "You" can be delivered by a familiar with a range of touch.
Uncanny Leap (Ex) As a full-rd action, jump up to 120 ft (counts as a charge if in a straight line).
Anything I am missing or that you think won’t work? Additional suggestions?
Take the patron familiar archetype and your flea adds 10' to its normal speed. Delaying patron spells won't be an issue to you.
There are some people who get into odd positions about whether being able to wield a lance as a one-handed weapon works with class abilities which require you to be wielding a one-handed weapon. Like magus spell combat. There's no one true answer, be warned.
The only thing that jumps out at me is the immunity to mind affecting effects. This comes from the mindless trait, which is typically lost once a vermin's intelligence stat raises from nil to something. I don't know if this is the case with familiars or not, but it is for animal companions.
Aha! Thanks, I missed the speed gain for the patron familiar. That's perfect.
Good point about the lance. If I use the PC for PFS and a GM says no to the lance and spell combat, I will just use a backup weapon for that session. If I use the PC for a home game, I will discuss this with the GM first.
The only thing that jumps out at me is the immunity to mind affecting effects. This comes from the mindless trait, which is typically lost once a vermin's intelligence stat raises from nil to something. I don't know if this is the case with familiars or not, but it is for animal companions.
You sure about vermin animal companions losing the mindless trait? It makes sense, but I never considered it and don't remember reading it. If so, I've been we've been doing it wrong for several builds. Oops.
Oh well, it isn't critical to the build. It was mostly just a nice bonus immunity.
You sure about vermin animal companions losing the mindless trait? It makes sense, but I never considered it and don't remember reading it. If so, I've been we've been doing it wrong for several builds. Oops.
Oh well, it isn't critical to the build. It was mostly just a nice bonus immunity.
I went and looked it up.
Mindless: Vermin companions have no Intelligence score and possess the mindless trait. In spite of this, vermin companions may learn one trick, plus additional bonus tricks as noted on Table: Animal Companion Base Statistics. If a vermin animal companion gains an ability score increase (at 4 Hit Dice, 8 Hit Dice, and so on), the druid can apply this increase to the companion’s Intelligence, changing it from — to 1, at which point the companion loses the mindless quality and is able to know up to 3 tricks per point of Intelligence, plus the additional bonus tricks, as per Handle Animal. Vermin companions have no skill points or feats as long as they have the mindless quality.
but, as I said, I don't remember seeing anything about that when it comes to familiars.
I found some things that hint at them losing the mindless quality.
Mindless: No Intelligence score, and immunity to all mind-affecting effects (charms, compulsions, morale effects, patterns, and phantasms). A vermin-like creature with an Intelligence score is usually either an animal or a magical beast, depending on its other abilities.
Also,
It retains the appearance, Hit Dice, base attack bonus, base save bonuses, skills, and feats of the normal animal it once was, but is now a magical beast for the purpose of effects that depend on its type.
On the plus side, Magical beasts get darkvision and low light vision. Where as vermin just get darkvision.
Hmm... Ok, we have been doing that wrong forever. Not sure how often it would have made a difference, but there were surely some area fear effects that could have made my mount flee with me on it.
Good to know.