Master's Form and Familiar Size

[KrispyXIV]

The APG familiar ability does change a familiar to match its masters size, right?

I question this only because it says "... transforming into a humanoid of your ancestry with the same age, gender, and build of its true form..." and I can conceive the idea that someone might argue that "build" includes size...

Though I'm 99.99‰ sure build does not include mechanical size.

[Orithilaen]

Your answer has to be right but what does "build" mean? If your familiar is a snake, what's a humanoid form with a snake's "build"? "Age" is sort of weird too, since lots of Tiny animals reach maturity long before humans.

[Xenocrat]

I assume it's lanky/skinny/bulky/weasely(literally) as appropriate for the animal. A bird might have long, skinny human legs and a long nose, a cat is sleek and agile, etc.

[Ravingdork]

Doesn't strike me as terribly useful if they don't change size.

More of a parlor trick really.

[BlessedHeretic]

Caster's wife/husband - Magic edition.

The utility of this ability is questionable, but definitely has some interest tie ins with mascot and other things from familiar master.

Gameplay wise i'm unsure what the benefit of making your magical buddy being a much bigger target (if it's resizing them to the caster's size). If it's being a humanoid of the creature size, first and foremost - cute, but this lacks much function.

[Abyssalwyrm]

Pretty sure it would be of the same size as you (non-altered with magic). The idea more or less turn your familiar into social-companion. With other been deceived that he is real humanoid.
Though as early stated, build referring to skinny/bulky etc. So if you had particularly fat male cat as a familiar, and you are lets say human, it will be transformed into fairly fat male human.

[Torgrin Deepsmith]

Also, there doesn't seem to be any time limit or number of times on this ability that I can see?

[Xenocrat]

Torgrin Deepsmith wrote:

Also, there doesn't seem to be any time limit or number of times on this ability that I can see?

No, they can freely switch back and forth as an action. It's really just a cosmetic change.

[Tarpeius]

I want to say that the "change is purely cosmetic" caveat means actual size also isn't changed. It will look like a small or medium creature, but there won't be any size-mechanics ramifications. It's basically all alchemical illusion tricks. It seems skippable unless you have some kind of deception gimmick in mind.