I have wanted to make this combination for a good while, and now I would like to pick your brains for the best possible combination.
The ever-popular(?) Ratfolk Beastmorph-Vivisectionist Alchemist with a Mauler Tumor Familiar and Scurrying Swarmer feat doesn't work for this because a Ratling is an Improved Familiar and Improved Familiars cannot be Maulers. Bummer, I know.
So, what other options could actually work?
Chaotic Evil... Familiar... Ratlings's can use pretty much any scroll... Ratfolk thematically go with $#!+ like diseases and plagues, for further inspiration one could probably use Urgathoa, Tresmalvos, Lao Shu Po, Hanspur, Apollyon, Murnath, or maybe even Ghlaunder...
Ratfolk do not have the best Favored Class Bonuses in classes that offer Familiars... although extending the range of Witch Hexes could be useful, I suppose. I want there to be synergy. But I also want it to be thematic and make sense in a ratty sort of way. There are 3rd-party FCB out there, but I do try stay with Paizo content to make these builds more universally playable, should someone else wish to use any of them in their games.
It in no way has to be melee-related like the Beastmorph-Vivisectionist is... a spellcasting focus is perfectly acceptable, as one would probably assume given the involvement of a Familiar. The ability for a Ratling to use scrolls is neat, and would be cool to put to use. I thought it would help an Alchemist quite a bit, honestly, but it is probably equally useful for literally everyone.
I was thinking about something like a Carnivalist-Sylvan Trickster Rogue might be fun, too. There's also the obvious Beast-Bonded Witch, or Spirit Binder Wizard, or Eldritch Guardian Fighter as easy ways to share feats with one's Familiar. The Bonded Invedtigator doesn't share feats, but could still be a lot of fun.
Any ideas?
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before i start, linking for ratling. need to be 7th level caster(wizard in old core book) and C.E. now that that is out of the way...
ok so if you want to score on the scroll use of the ratling i would go with a shaman, take scribe scroll feat, and use the lore spirit as a wandering spirit to gain access to 'Arcane Enlightenment' as a wandering hex for different arcane spells each day.
a spirit guide oracle doesn't work since the faq that said they can take the lore shaman spirit but since they don't prepare spells it doesn't help them as much. and a skald would be nice with their scribe scroll and spell kenning class ability, but skald is limited to 6th level spells. (also would need like 3 feats to get improved familiar while shaman gain a familiar as class ability).
i know some would say that a shaman is barred from taking improved familiar on the account that his spirit animal ability say he can't change his familiar once picked and if he lost his familiar he must pick the same kind for his new familiar but this faq specifically call out a shaman to be a suitable class to pick improved familiar (i guess the improved familiar specific rule to immediately replace your familiar from a better list overcome the general rule of shaman's limited and locked down pick)
Ooh, Shaman... I had not considered that... although, I do like the Shaman class. Great versatility. Thank you for the suggestion.
On a different note, could a Ratling's Scroll Use be beneficial to crafting? You can craft with spells from scrolls, correct? It's probably easier to just skip it and raise the crafting DC, though.
possible yes. but expensive.
since you can take 10 it's a lot better to grab, say a scroll of crafter's fortune - 1st level spell -25 gp cost. give +5 to craft. (might not work with crafting magical items. better ask gm. should work if using the craft skill and not spellcraft) and increase the dc by 5 then use a scroll of say fireball - 3rd level so 25X3X5=375 gp to craft a flaming weapon.
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Love ratlings probably the best familiar in the game for a spellcaster.
Plus they would be awesome to rp.
Thematically what to play...how about the Tatterdemalion witch?
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Bonded investigator gets a familiar and it automatically becomes an improved familiar at 7th level.
@Mark Hoover, I do like Eldritch Guardian's Share Training feature, and I guess you only need two levels to get it... Carnivalist Rogues can share Sneak Attack with their Familiar, and their Familiar can use Disable Device/Sleight of Hand via their Trained Legerdemain Performance. Beast-Bonded Witch and Spirit Binder Wizards can give their Familiars real feats, not just combat feats.
You can also take Victory Through Unity to apply a Hunter's Animal Focus ability to your Familiar, on top of Evolved Familiar's Evolution... completion of the story feat quest allows a second Animal Focus or a 1pt Eidolon Evolution. Pretty neat, I guess. Lamshtu's Demon Mother's Mask allows the wearer may interbreed with animals within one size category of the wearer’s size. The offspring of such unions are members of the mother’s race with the fiendish simple template and bear monstrous aesthetic features of the father’s race... which may, or may not, qualify as completing the story quest for Victory Through Unity...
And as much as all of this MAY allow a Familiar to be tempted to enter the melee, I have a real hard time bringing my little friend into the fight like that. In fact, I didn't really think to bring the Ratfolk near melee... just that Beastmorph-Vivisectionist/Mauler Tumor Familiar/Scurrying Swarmer build is literally the only Ratfolk-specific build I know of. Lol.
For spellcasting, I do like the idea of the Sage archetype... but rather than switching feats for the Ratling, I would feel better using one of the aforementioned class/archetypes as the avenue to add feats of my choosing to the Familiar. Additional Traits/Pragmatic Activator/Underlying Principles for wand use is smart... thank you.
@Lemartes, I do enjoy that Tatterdemalion Witch archetype... probably not for mice, but mummies (not to be confused with butt-mummies).
@Knight of Yesterday, Bonded Investigator is one of the archetypes I really want to use, but it lacks the sharing feat support some of the other options offer. Not that sharing feats is completely necessary, but it is kind of nice. Eldritch Guardian would only be a two level dip, the good old Cha-Cha Slide, and would allow sharing combat feat... but there is more to life than just combat feats. I do like how Bonded Investigator gets Improved Familiar for "free".
So, we can have a really fun Ratfolk Rogue duo... just two litle rats... the Rogue and her Ratling. I allow Carnivalist to stack with Sylvan Trickster, regardless of them both touching class skills, and one replacing specific Talents whilst the other potentially alters all Talents. The Familiar, Pet Performance, and Animal Trainer from Carnivalist just go too well with the Sylvan Trickster's Wild Empathy and Resist Nature's Lure stuffs. Anyways, she is a thief... they are thieves... both are little, and the Ratling can fit where she cannot, making it nearly impossible to keep them out.
Another fitting combination is Beast-Bonded Witch... worship Lamashtu, wear the Demon Mother's Mask, be a "couple". Neither Ratfolk or Ratlings are "animals", but they are within one size category of each other. Lol. Beast-Bonded Witch is Lamashtu's archetype, too. It's not gross... it's nature... they're both rats... who are we to judge?
A Spirit Binder Wizard that is completely bonkers... keeps referring to their Ratling as their child... everyone knows their child is long dead... Chaotic Evil is a requirement? Everyone knows the Wizard killed their own kid (possibly a ritual sacrifice to become a Lich)... the Ratling hates being treated like its Master's dead child, but sometimes plays as the kid to mess with its Master's broken mind.
I still need to explore the route(s) I would take with a Bonded Investigator or a Shaman or an Eldritch Guardian Fighter, and I definitely want to play around with that Target of Opportunity business... so I have to see what would be best for that.
Do you think an Eldritch Guardian's Shared Training would allow them the share Dimensional Savant via Flickering Step? Asking for a friend.
Eldritch Guardian wrote...
Share Training (Ex)
At 2nd level, when the familiar can see and hear its master, it can use any combat feat possessed by the eldritch guardian. The familiar doesn’t have to meet the feat’s prerequisites, but at the GM’s discretion may be precluded from using certain combat feats due to its physical form. For example, an eldritch guardian’s pig familiar with access to Exotic Weapon Proficiency (spiked chain) would not gain the ability to use spiked chains, since it doesn’t have any limbs capable of properly handling them.
Flickering Step wrote...
Special: A fighter with this feat treats Dimensional Agility and any feat that lists it as a prerequisite as though they were combat feats when selecting fighter bonus feats.
It's not feats but the Duettist archetype has a lot of potential, the performances the familiar can access are not limited to the basic Bard options, it also includes those you can get from other archetypes and masterpieces.
Duettist, huh? For the life of me, I am having the hardest time flavoring this as evil... which is a requirement. I am open to suggestions on evil rat choir concepts. I love Bards, and like the Duettist archetype. I am just failing to immediately imagine a really evil, yet flavorful way to use Diettist. I will have to revisit this one.
It's not feats but the Duettist archetype has a lot of potential, the performances the familiar can access are not limited to the basic Bard options, it also includes those you can get from other archetypes and masterpieces.Duettist, huh? For the life of me, I am having the hardest time flavoring this as evil... which is a requirement. I am open to suggestions on evil rat choir concepts. I love Bards, and like the Duettist archetype. I am just failing to immediately imagine a really evil, yet flavorful way to use Diettist. I will have to revisit this one.The Pied Piper was pretty evil
A Bard doesn't have to be dandy wearing a cod piece and a feather cap, they can be a vizier, mercenary or military leader. Music isn't required, they can just be a really good speaker or manipulator
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@Mark Hoover, thanks for the suggestion(s)... your second option [Jafar] intrigues me. I do like the idea of an evil rat advisor scheming and conniving with their little Ratling. The Ratling could be like the evil rat advisor to the evil rat advisor. Lol.
Evil bard? Go for the classic, "sold his soul for fame." The ratling is his agent, who figured out how to use scrolls after reading tbrough contracts and gig arrangements over all the years.