Cheap communication for an animal?

[Zarius]

So, I've got a concept for a character, and I'm missing a key element. The core of it is a Kitsune Sorcerer with the psychic bloodline feat who stays in Fox shape (hence the Psychic bloodline). The key problem, of course, is communicating with the party. I'm looking for a spell, or an item, or similar that would allow what is essentially an intelligent animal to communicate with the rest of the party? Preferably NOT via writing. I already thought of mage hand and chalk, but that's not helpful in combat. Should mention that it's for a party of level 2s.

[VRMH]

Get a talking Familiar maybe? The Bonded Mind teamwork feat is an option too, but that means demanding all PCs "waste" a feat.

[Pan, definitely not a Kitsune]

Do you have 3,500 gold to spare?
The Ring of Eloquence not only teaches you four languages, but the wearer also "retains the ability to speak in these languages even if she assumes a form normally unable to do so (such as a druid wild shaped into a wolf)."

Might still be a bit out of reach at level 2, but seems like a good idea in the long run.

[Firebug]

I used a wand of Beastspeak on my fox for a while via UMD.
My Possessor character uses his (always invisible) improved familiar with telepathy.

[Coidzor]

There's a relatively cheap item from D&D 3.5 you can resurrect/port over to PF 1E called the Pearl of Speech. A version without the ability to cast Command 1/day would be even cheaper.

A Circlet of Speaking would work for an animal, but a Kitsune isn't actually an animal. OTOH, as an intelligent creature that isn't an animal, it could be used as a basis for making a stripped down, more basic version for the Kitsune if the GM is open to custom stuff.

[blahpers]

Our CotCT:AE party had so many characters who changed into some animal form or other that we had everybody take a rank in Linguistics to learn a gesture-based "animal cant" of our own devising. Seems like a reasonable use of the skill to me.

[Zarius]

Well, while there are some great suggestions here, the level two part is the big catch on many of these. Even the lowest accessible level Improved Familiar is a level 3 minimum requirement, starting level 2s have a grand, so both the wand and the circlet are problematic.

That Ring of Eloquence is the best bet, I might be able to convince my GM to go with a stripped down version of that. One language for a reduced price kind of thing. She's waffling hard on that Pearl, which would be the best option based on the pricing.

Any other suggestions?

[Cevah]

The Raven, Parrot, and Thrush regular familiars all speak from level 1.

/cevah

[Pan, definitely not a Kitsune]

Yeah, but if the master can't speak, that isn't helping much. Sure, there'd be Empathic Link for some basic communication, but proper foxshape-to-parrot communication would only come online at level 5 with Speak with Master.

[avr]

OTOH a sufficiently bossy familiar could be the character that you roleplay. The kitsune in this case is more the servant than the master. With the sage archetype it has a decent chance of being smarter than the sorcerer after all.

[LordKailas]

avr wrote:

OTOH a sufficiently bossy familiar could be the character that you roleplay. The kitsune in this case is more the servant than the master. With the sage archetype it has a decent chance of being smarter than the sorcerer after all.

if you wanted to fully lean into this. You could have the familiar take the Egoist Archetype. It has the added bonus of getting speak with master at 3rd level instead of 5th.

Not that that really helps getting communication options during levels 1-2.