Familiars and Area Effects

[Saraswati27]

Couldn't find this in the rules so far.

Level 1 sorcerer with Raven familiar. If the Sorcerer carries the raven on his shoulder normally would the familiar be hit with area effects the Sorcerer is in?

Asking because at 1st level Raven has 5 HP, possible to be auto-killed before the Sorcerer gets a round of action in the right circumstances in an encounter.

Previous versions of RPG with familiars tended to assume the familiar was in some sort of pocket universe or stashed away somewhere until summoned. Then once you summoned the familiar it became targetable. Not assuming that Path 2.0 does or should handle it this way, just wondering what the intention is with familiars. If the familiar is automatically targeted with the master then at lower levels makes sense to have the familiar constantly flying away from the party. (not sure what magic users with non-flying familiars would do).

Any advice or info on the rules or intentions of the designers? Thanks.

[Fuzzy-Wuzzy]

Saraswati27 wrote:

If the Sorcerer carries the raven on his shoulder normally would the familiar be hit with area effects the Sorcerer is in?

Yes. Familiars have no special protection from area effects.

But I'll bet the 1e familiar satchel reappears once we get a book with an expanded gear list. Your table could just reinvent it until then. 25 gp in 1e becomes 25 sp in 2e. I'd call the satchel 1 Bulk empty and 2 Bulk with the familiar in it (since Tiny creatures are typically 1 Bulk).

[David knott 242]

Also, replacing a lost familiar is much less expensive in PF2:

"If your familiar dies, you can spend a week of downtime to replace it at no cost."

It costs more downtime but no money.

[Castilliano]

David knott 242 wrote:

Also, replacing a lost familiar is much less expensive in PF2:

"If your familiar dies, you can spend a week of downtime to replace it at no cost."

It costs more downtime but no money.

If you're spending downtime, you aren't making money. So the cost is hidden and tied to how much you'd usually make which scales by skill/feat investment & level. I do not know how much home games will be rigorous about downtime & time elapsed, but in an AP it might be rough.

While there's a tactical "need" for the satchel, I'm not sure it fits PF2 sensibilities. Partly it'd be a "must-have" for all people with familiars and partly it doesn't do anything cool. It might come w/ a limited time or usage, so your familiar can hide in dire situations, but not so your buddy can effectively become an object you can ignore.

The familiar feats (solid) might be balanced around having to keep your familiar alive (which can be hard!). In the playtest, where familiars were of similar fragility, I had to order my familiar to leave quite often to the point I just had it trail us within sight so I didn't have to waste actions in combat.

[masda_gib]

I'd rule that as long as your familiar is somehow protected on your body, in a bag or satchel, it is safe. It counts as a worn/attended item in this case. A backback also doen't have to make saves against damage.

But it has to cost hands and actions to set the familiar free from its protection.

Otherwise the procedure will always be to leave the familiar some safe distance away from a fight which just gets tedious. If you play it out every time it's boring and if not there's no real difference to just rule that it's safe while stowed away.

[Saraswati27]

OP here just to say thanks for the discussion guys, it enabled a reasonable house rule. Hopefully there will be more rules from Paizo on familiars in the future.

[Wheldrake]

So... what is your reasonable houserule?

We usually ignore familiars until they are sent away from the spellcaster. Handwavium keeps them safe from harm.