Familiar, Familiar Satchel and Polymorph


Rules Discussion

Lantern Lodge

Polymorph rules say: "Your gear is absorbed into you; the constant abilities of your gear still function, but you can’t activate any items."

What if you have your familiar in a familiar satchel, then you get polymorphed (e.g., you take on a battleform)?

I couldn't find anything (rules or on the boards) that specifically addressed this, so....

My simple reading is that your satchel with the familiar inside it gets absorbed and your familiar ceases to function or exist as an independent entity during this period (except perhaps to the extent it provides you with a constant ability).

There are possible disagreements with the above:

Rules says "gear" is absorbed. If a familiar is not "gear", then does it pop out when you polymorph despite being inside gear?

If you decide that non-gear inside gear get absorbed with the gear, if a familiar is not "gear", does it continue to function (albeit trapped inside the satchel)? Can the familiar use abilities that require activation? Can the familiar use constant abilities? Will the familiar suffocate?

Mostly, I wanted to see if anyone knew of any rules, etc., that contradict my simple reading on what happens, or if anyone has any relevant thoughts.

Thanks in advance.


1 person marked this as a favorite.

You change and your familiar is sitting next to you. You don't absorb creatures: non-gear isn't absorbed.

Dark Archive

1 person marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Lost Omens, Rulebook Subscriber

As an aside, the Familiar Satchel was such a disappointing item.

Requiring both your familiars actions really kills it for me. Would a 1 action "doggy door" style item been too much to ask?

Horizon Hunters

1 person marked this as a favorite.

Sleeves of Storage are much better. Your familiar can hide in one sleeve while the other is used for actual storage, and it's also a bag of holding, meaning you can have up to 5 bulk of items only a single action away. Also since the familiar is in an extradimentional space, it can't be affected by any AoEs, and it only takes one action to enter or exit.

Scarab Sages

Yeah, the sleeves are a nice upgrade. The satchel is necessary at lower levels, I feel. At least if your GM is going to actually pay attention to your familiar being in an area of effect. The satchel does stop line of effect for things that aren't direct damage, and even a little bit of hardness and extra HPs helps a 5,r 10, or even 15 HP familiar.

The only issue I see with the sleeves is that a familiar can exit them on their own, but they don't get actions on their own unless you take Independent. So it creates some weird situations where effectively you have to spend the two actions (interact to remove the familiar, action to command the familiar), or your Independent familiar spends its one action and then can't act until the next turn. Because it's unclear that you can command a familiar that is inside one of the sleeves, since it is in an extra dimensional space.

Familiars will act to protect themselves, at least, even without Independent, so nobody's familiar should suffocate while in the sleeves.


There's also the Pet Cache spell if you want to pack your familiar away while you're polymorphed.


Do construct familiars, such as poppets, need to breathe? I can't find any rules regarding this, but it seems weird that they would.

Horizon Hunters

1 person marked this as a favorite.

They aren't living creatures, so it's safe to say no, even though it doesn't explicitly say it. It seems they only specify if a creature type needs to breathe if they're living, like Elementals.

Community / Forums / Pathfinder / Pathfinder Second Edition / Rules Discussion / Familiar, Familiar Satchel and Polymorph All Messageboards

Want to post a reply? Sign in.