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I'm theory crafting a few things and I've not been able to find the answer to these questions. Hoping someone here can reply with something beyond ask your GM.
Basic concept.
Take a figment cat familiar till 7th level then take the improved familiar clockwork familiar with the idea that the mage has made a body for their imagination to allow it to operate more freely (figment dissapears when sleeping and can't go beyond 100 feet while clockwork familiars don't have that limit). Over time they improve both the body and the link to their imgagination allowing it to become a real cat and then a person to interact freely beyond the limits of their power .
Obviously some of this is GM ruling dependant but I've a number of questions on clockwork familiars when taken as part of the improved familiar feet I've not been able to find an answer for.
1) What are the costs for having a clockwork familiar via the improved familiar feet. Are you looking at normal wizard costs for a familiar or the clockwork familiar ones i.e. 500 GP of clockwork components and a DC 20 craft check to make it?
2) Does the familiar sue the wizards HD for determining their abilities?
3) Can you improve a clockwork familiar to add things like efficient winding or socketing an Ioun stone? I'm fairly sure there are rules on improving clockworks but not sure how they work with a familiar taken via improved familiar.
4) Could you take Shapeless Familiar with a clockwork familiar? Obviously GM ruling would be needed on how clockwork winding relates to a living body or whether it remains clockwork but can just turn into a different animal.
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Basics:
If you want it to be cat-shaped you're definitely in the "ask your GM" territory. The standard clockwork familiar is a raven (hence the fly speed).
1) What are the costs for having a clockwork familiar via the improved familiar feet. Are you looking at normal wizard costs for a familiar or the clockwork familiar ones i.e. 500 GP of clockwork components and a DC 20 craft check to make it?
The Familiar FAQ would seem to indicate no cost. But I'm not sure if that's entirely correct since the clockwork familiar and the homunculus are the only familiars with a cost listed.
2) Does the familiar sue the wizards HD for determining their abilities?
Yes. They get palimony payments :)
Yes (really) it's just like any other Improved Familiar.
3) Can you improve a clockwork familiar to add things like efficient winding or socketing an Ioun stone? I'm fairly sure there are rules on improving clockworks but not sure how they work with a familiar taken via improved familiar.
Probably not (without GM fiat). Unlike a homunculus there are no clear GP costs associated with clockwork upgrades. It's more like guidelines for a GM to use.
4) Could you take Shapeless Familiar with a clockwork familiar? Obviously GM ruling would be needed on how clockwork winding relates to a living body or whether it remains clockwork but can just turn into a different animal.
Don't see why not. Nothing would prevent it as far as I can see.
In general: even thought the clockwork familiar is a clockwork, there is no text harmonizing the general construct rules with the familiar rules.
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That's the issue I've had I can find "Clockwork Familiar" and "Familiar" information but not information "Clockwork Familiars as Familiars" beyond ...
For those who fuse magic with machinery, the best familiar is the one the caster creates herself, breathing life into a clockwork mechanism of her own design. A spellcaster can gain a clockwork familiar at 7th level by taking the Improved Familiar feat. A typical clockwork familiar is 2 feet tall or long and weighs 10 pounds.
I figured a cat rather than a raven was GM ruling but it does say a typical familiar is 2 feet tall or long implying they aren't all ravens.
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The description of the clockwork familiar, the rule text of the clockwork familiar, the mechanic of crafting a construct, and the rules of the improved familiar feat are extremely lacking.
At my table, after looking at them I would:
- have you pay the cost of replacing your familiar (Improved familiar doesn't say if you have to pay that or not);
- that cost will cover the construction of the clockwork body (even if a clockwork familiar cost is higher);
- the cost of a "normal" clockwork familiar isn't, I think, 500 gp. It is 500 gp of clockwork components plus the cost of crafting and enchanting the construct, for a total of 7,500gp if you are the crafter or 14,500 if you buy it. The clockwork components are listed separately (like the iron body of an iron golem) as they are hard-to-get components.
- improved familiar will allow you to craft the construct body without the need for the craft construct feat, but only for a clockwork familiar (or other construct familiars);
- the familiar is improved by your increased levels, and that represents you continuously tinkering with it, so I will be very cautious with any other improvement. Self-winding seems a good idea and appropriate for a familiar, so probably I would allow it, but I will check each new addition with care and reserve the right to say that is generating unforeseen problems and have you disable the addition.
- as a cat lover and because I appreciate the idea I would absolutely allow you to build a cat clockwork (actually, I am thinking to steal the idea, replacing a clockwork cat familiar for the familiar found in Fire Legacy), but, as Belafon says, it is something that your GM should decide.
- the familiar will surely use your wizard (or the appropriate class) levels to determine its abilities, that is RAW.
- Shapeless familiar, i.e. transformer clockwork :-)
I would allow it, but the alternate form could still be a clockwork, and its clockwork nature will be easily recognizable.
A Polymorph effect doesn't change your type, and in this instance, I see it like a Japanese cartoon robot transformation, with pieces moving and sliding to give it a new form.
Again, totally GM territory.
Sorry, nice ideas, but there is little in the rules that will help you, you need to discuss it with your GM.