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My shadow familiar got eaten, so I wound up reincarnating it into a spell slime, which can at least still look like a shadowy blob. Leaves me with 3 abilities, and I'm thinking Independent, Share Senses, and maybe scent. Share senses is handy because I may start using it as a remote turret mode with Familiar Conduit so I don't have to leave my Cozy Cabin when it is attacked.
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Elemental Betrayal with an elemental wisp looks fun, though I'm not sure what effects actually benefit from it. Seems like flaming runes would trigger elemental betrayal but not the the resonance aura. Also, you've got the Grand Bazaar entry described in there, but I thiiiink you should replace it with the Rage of the Elements version. The Bazaar version only has greater fire resistance, where as Rage gets full fire immunity along with the elemental immunity. They also have different descriptions of Resonance, but I'm not sure what the functional difference is.
Are polongs supposed to be invisible? Their familair description says they are invisible spirits, their creature stat block says they are naturally invisible when outside of their bottle... But the familiar abilities make no mention of it. That's a hugely relevant consideration.
Also, does the spellcasting feature do anything if you don't have rank 6 spells yet?
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Are polongs supposed to be invisible? Their familair description says they are invisible spirits, their creature stat block says they are naturally invisible when outside of their bottle... But the familiar abilities make no mention of it. That's a hugely relevant consideration.
Also, does the spellcasting feature do anything if you don't have rank 6 spells yet?
The description says they are invisible. They do not have the ability to cast the Invisibility spell, as opposed to the Imp for example. And there is no Invisible familiar ability.
So, yes they are invisible and that's it.
Spellcasting familiar ability states : "You must be able to cast 6th-rank spells using spell slots to select this." I would adjudicate that, if you cannot select this ability, then you cannot have a specific familiar that has it as a granted ability.
I would be a little careful presuming that familiars get abilities or effects of the creature the familiar is based on.
The familiar rules are notoriously flawed/incomplete, and everything said comes with a "needs GM adjudication asterisk"
As a quick example, you have the Poison Reservoir ability that calls out a homunculus familiar that does not exist, but the Alchemist familiar is described like one.
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Basically, it's easy to say that some GMs will rule that familiars are lesser versions of the creatures they are based upon, and don't get their abilities inherently.
The Polong creature has that Natural Invisibility ability, which is labeled and described as such.
The familiar Polong has it's own version of Polong Possession written out. Same with the f.Polong's Anchored Incorporeality vs Polong's Bottle Bound.
But, the f.Polong's invisibility is just one adjective in the descriptive text, while the Polong has another labeled rule.
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From an archeological perspective, I honestly do not think that one word was intended to give the familiar matching invisibility, and IMO it would have at least included a labeled rule stating that f.Polong inherits Polong's version of invisibility.
That said, if I was the GM, I'd look at how difficult it seems to be to create a f.Polong, and note that that as an undead, it dies outright if it hits 0 HP while requiring at minimum two weeks to create/replace.
I would allow the ability with some restraint, and an asterisk asterisk to say it might be changed later, in case it breaks the campaign too much.
Mercifully, the f.Polong's possession is rather thoroughly restrained, so I'm not *too* worried. Shenanigans to get around the 60ft anchor limit would be heavily scrutinized, that's for sure.
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Honestly I think just ruling that the f.Polong inherits the invisibility, but has a smell would be fine. It's perfect for humans ect who have a vague sense of smell, while potentially being relevant infrequently to add a wrinkle to combat or social encounters.
It's not even an outright nerf, as "can smell but can't find" is the perfect time for a creature to spend an action to Seek, which is an action not spent fighting the party.
Having a smell also allows the invisible familiar to be more easily engaged with as an actual combatant when appropriate, and not accidentally hit by an AoE once in a blue moon.
Elemental Betrayal with an elemental wisp looks fun, though I'm not sure what effects actually benefit from it. Seems like flaming runes would trigger elemental betrayal but not the the resonance aura. Also, you've got the Grand Bazaar entry described in there, but I thiiiink you should replace it with the Rage of the Elements version. The Bazaar version only has greater fire resistance, where as Rage gets full fire immunity along with the elemental immunity. They also have different descriptions of Resonance, but I'm not sure what the functional difference is.
How strange that AoN didn't have the the Grand Bazaar version link to the RoE one, so I entirely missed it. Looking at the differences though for Resonance, it's now only alchemical and magical effects rather than any effect. Which... doesn't actually change much, but it's a good distinction to have in the rare case you're dealing elemental damage without spells or alchemy. Wood also states it applies to stuff with the Plant trait, so that's rad.
Overall though, with this in mind, runes do continue to be affected due to being magical in nature and Gale's build is similarly unaffected due to impulses being magical as far as I understand.To weigh in on the Polong conversation, I decided not to mention invisibility as it's not a mechanically listed ability it has. The fact that its incorporeal does make it at least ghostly and translucent in my mind, but whether or not it has true invisibility is up to your GM and something I have no intention of considering for its rating. If Paizo wanted it to be invisible, they have shown they give familiars the ability to do so when needed, such as with the Old Friend, another incorporeal undead familiar published in the same book.
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Elemental Betrayal with an elemental wisp looks fun, though I'm not sure what effects actually benefit from it. Seems like flaming runes would trigger elemental betrayal but not the the resonance aura. Also, you've got the Grand Bazaar entry described in there, but I thiiiink you should replace it with the Rage of the Elements version. The Bazaar version only has greater fire resistance, where as Rage gets full fire immunity along with the elemental immunity. They also have different descriptions of Resonance, but I'm not sure what the functional difference is.How strange that AoN didn't have the the Grand Bazaar version link to the RoE one, so I entirely missed it. Looking at the differences though for Resonance, it's now only alchemical and magical effects rather than any effect. Which... doesn't actually change much, but it's a good distinction to have in the rare case you're dealing elemental damage without spells or alchemy. Wood also states it applies to stuff with the Plant trait, so that's rad.
Overall though, with this in mind, runes do continue to be affected due to being magical in nature and Gale's build is similarly unaffected due to impulses being magical as far as I understand.To weigh in on the Polong conversation, I decided not to mention invisibility as it's not a mechanically listed ability it has. The fact that its incorporeal does make it at least ghostly and translucent in my mind, but whether or not it has true invisibility is up to your GM and something I have no intention of considering for its rating. If Paizo wanted it to be invisible, they have shown they give familiars the ability to do so when needed, such as with the Old Friend, another incorporeal undead familiar published in the same book.
Old Friend can cast the 2nd rank Invisibility spell once per hour, with all its limitations.
It definitely does not compare to always-on invisibility.
Elemental Betrayal with an elemental wisp looks fun, though I'm not sure what effects actually benefit from it. Seems like flaming runes would trigger elemental betrayal but not the the resonance aura. Also, you've got the Grand Bazaar entry described in there, but I thiiiink you should replace it with the Rage of the Elements version. The Bazaar version only has greater fire resistance, where as Rage gets full fire immunity along with the elemental immunity. They also have different descriptions of Resonance, but I'm not sure what the functional difference is.How strange that AoN didn't have the the Grand Bazaar version link to the RoE one, so I entirely missed it. Looking at the differences though for Resonance, it's now only alchemical and magical effects rather than any effect. Which... doesn't actually change much, but it's a good distinction to have in the rare case you're dealing elemental damage without spells or alchemy. Wood also states it applies to stuff with the Plant trait, so that's rad.
Overall though, with this in mind, runes do continue to be affected due to being magical in nature and Gale's build is similarly unaffected due to impulses being magical as far as I understand.To weigh in on the Polong conversation, I decided not to mention invisibility as it's not a mechanically listed ability it has. The fact that its incorporeal does make it at least ghostly and translucent in my mind, but whether or not it has true invisibility is up to your GM and something I have no intention of considering for its rating. If Paizo wanted it to be invisible, they have shown they give familiars the ability to do so when needed, such as with the Old Friend, another incorporeal undead familiar published in the same book.
Old Friend can cast the 2nd rank Invisibility spell once per hour, with all its limitations.
It definitely does not compare to always-on invisibility.
I certainly agree, but it does show Paizo is willing to codify these things. Especially when creatures like the Polong and Poltergeist have abilities to tell you they are always invisible except under certain circumstances beyond their description in monster statblocks. It's a weird space and I'd affirm that is up to your GM how to handle it if you do take the Polong. However, I do hope they do give it that natural invisibility mechanically in a future errata, and I see little issue if your GM does decide it uses the one from the monster statblock.
While natural invisibility is a indeed much better than the old friend's once per hour version, old friend requires half as many abilities and doesn't call for harvesting the blood of a murder victim to create. The polong getting no invisibility while the imp (who requires the same number of abilities) gets the old friend equivalent also feels relevant. The earliest the witch can get a polong or an imp is level 6 by spending all of their feats, and you have no abilities leftover for the critical independent. Getting the familiar fully functional means taking yet another feat at 8th, delaying the incredible spirit familiar.
I would be a little careful presuming that familiars get abilities or effects of the creature the familiar is based on.
The familiar rules are notoriously flawed/incomplete, and everything said comes with a "needs GM adjudication asterisk"
As a quick example, you have the Poison Reservoir ability that calls out a homunculus familiar that does not exist, but the Alchemist familiar is described like one.
_______________________
Basically, it's easy to say that some GMs will rule that familiars are lesser versions of the creatures they are based upon, and don't get their abilities inherently.
The Polong creature has that Natural Invisibility ability, which is labeled and described as such.
The familiar Polong has it's own version of Polong Possession written out. Same with the f.Polong's Anchored Incorporeality vs Polong's Bottle Bound.
But, the f.Polong's invisibility is just one adjective in the descriptive text, while the Polong has another labeled rule.
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From an archeological perspective, I honestly do not think that one word was intended to give the familiar matching invisibility, and IMO it would have at least included a labeled rule stating that f.Polong inherits Polong's version of invisibility.
That said, if I was the GM, I'd look at how difficult it seems to be to create a f.Polong, and note that that as an undead, it dies outright if it hits 0 HP while requiring at minimum two weeks to create/replace.
I would allow the ability with some restraint, and an asterisk asterisk to say it might be changed later, in case it breaks the campaign too much.
Mercifully, the f.Polong's possession is rather thoroughly restrained, so I'm not *too* worried. Shenanigans to get around the 60ft anchor limit would be heavily scrutinized, that's for sure.
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Honestly I think just ruling that the f.Polong inherits the invisibility, but has a smell would be fine. It's perfect for humans ect who have a vague sense of smell, while potentially...
This is a very well reasoned ruling. Kudos. Bet I'd like playing in your games. I especially like giving it the smell of blood. I think the incapacitation trait prevents possession from becoming a problem, and anchored incorporiality really limits the scouting potential. I see 3 pitfalls worth thinking through.
1. It would be very interesting to combine possession with familiar conduit. I could see GMs shooting it down. You'd still need line of effect to the possessed creature.
2. I believe a witch's polong, once created via the two week ritual, would be able to respawn like any other familiar. I think a GM ruling otherwise might be a fair balance consideration.
3. My interest in the polong was sparked by the familiar of stalking night. I wanted a way to save actions concealing it to trigger frightened 1. This is an expensive way to do that, and I think it feels balanced when you consider the cost. Especially when you consider that other familiar abilities don't make you jump through these hoops. Nor does Dirge of Doom But that's the most tactically relevant advantage.
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With Howl of the Wild comes out comes a new witch patron, the Devourer of Decay, with an equally new and interesting patron familiar ability. I'll be updating the guide once I've taken a bit more of a look through Howl of the Wild, but you can expect updates soon (with perhaps a new build or two).
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The guide has been updated for Howl of the Wild! You'll find information covering the following:
- All 3 new witch patrons.
- Scatter Swarm and Greater Lesson: Lesson of the Flock witch feats.
- A new subsection in the ancestry section covering those weird giant moray eel mount feats for Athamaru.
I'd love to hear opinions regarding these new options! I'm a good bit iffy on some of them, but these initial ratings are based off discussions within my groups rather than the wider community until more people can get the book. I did leave out one feat for the zoophonia bard muse in the 18th level Pack Performance feat as it's mostly for use with Summon Animal and animal companions rather than familiars even if you can technically target them due to being animal minions. Zoophonia bard is real cool though, pretty unique playstyle for a Beastmaster FA Bard.
Additionally, I'm currently tinkering with an alchemist build and you can expect to see it in the guide soon, though I may delay it to the PC2 release. Thanks for reading!
Paizo loves Leshy Familiar apparently (and who doesn't?), as we got two new orders that gain access to it in the latest AP, Cultivation and Spore. As such, I've referenced both in the guide where needed and updated the druid build to make use of the Cultivation order instead of Lead. Nothing changes about it other than now it has Int instead of Cha.
Otherwise, I've now given witches their own subsection in the build section of the guide as I've put together a build for each tradition now. Arcane gets The Rabbit Prince's Heir, an Inscribed One Witch + Harrower build, with the harrow as their patron. Divine gets The Blessed Turn, a Faith's Flamekeeper Witch + Blessed One build, with Chaldira as their patron. While Primal gets The Final Parting, a Devourer in the Decay Witch build, with Mother Vulture as their patron.
As well, the builds section got a general makeover to offer a clearer direction and organize each build much better. Enjoy as always.
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Thank you for this guide. Quite helpful.
Paizo loves Leshy Familiar apparently (and who doesn't?), as we got two new orders that gain access to it in the latest AP, Cultivation and Spore. As such, I've referenced both in the guide where needed and updated the druid build to make use of the Cultivation order instead of Lead. Nothing changes about it other than now it has Int instead of Cha.
And I now demand from Paizo the druidic Order of Lead.
Sounds heavy.
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Thank you for this guide. Quite helpful.
Paizo loves Leshy Familiar apparently (and who doesn't?), as we got two new orders that gain access to it in the latest AP, Cultivation and Spore. As such, I've referenced both in the guide where needed and updated the druid build to make use of the Cultivation order instead of Lead. Nothing changes about it other than now it has Int instead of Cha.
And I now demand from Paizo the druidic Order of Lead.
Sounds heavy.
My fingers' desire to turn leaf into lead whenever I type strikes again! That would certainly be an interesting order, however.
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Some pretty simple updates today. The Crysmal Shardling's name got changed in the errata, so updated as needed. Additionally, added the alchemist build at last. Talked with some alchemist players to figure out what abilities folks valued the most for it and I think I was able to put something solid together with the information given. Do enjoy!
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Great guide!
I do have questions about Independent,Manual Dexterity and Object Retrieval.
How does it work?
I'm guessing it comes down to either drawing an item or placing the item in a hand, once per turn.
I've seen suggestions that a familer can hold two items at a time, but I've not seen the justification for that ruling.
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Great guide!
I do have questions about Independent,Manual Dexterity and Object Retrieval.
How does it work?I'm guessing it comes down to either drawing an item or placing the item in a hand, once per turn.
I've seen suggestions that a familer can hold two items at a time, but I've not seen the justification for that ruling.
Manual Dexterity: "Your familiar can use up to two of its limbs as if they were hands to perform manipulate actions."
So that's where being able to hold 2 items comes from.
On each of the familiar's Independent actions, it can Draw off your PC, put a held item into the PC's hand, or it can Swap an item, either with the PC's hand or off your belt.
If your familiar rides on your back holding 2 items you know you'll want to use in combat, like buffing/healing elixirs, it's easy to get great mileage out of the little helper. That's 2 turns of "free Draws" before the familiar needs to mix in reloading its own hands. And any turn you do *not* want to receive an item, you can have the familiar Swap/Draw an item to refill with 0 action loss later.
Basically, if you want a scroll/elixir every 2nd turn, a familiar can do that for you with 0 action cost to the PC.
And you still have the option to Command the familiar for a 2:1 double-draw, ect. Though the usefulness of that is super rare, 95% of the time, it'll be better for you to spend your action to do a Draw/Swap, while the Independent gets 1 of its own.
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Thank you Trip.H
Im working on a Druid build that might use Bolos as a third action, so I was wondering if a dip into one of the Leshy granting Orders made any sense.
It just might, especially with all the other useful things a Familiar could do.
How does everyone here rule the Spirit Guide familiar that is given a melee Strike?
Your familiar gains unique benefits from its bond to you. Your familiar gains an additional 10 Hit Points and can make an either a jaws or claws unarmed attack using your normal melee attack bonus. You choose whether it has a jaws or claws unarmed attack when you first gain the spirit guide as your familiar. If it has a jaws unarmed attack, the attack deals 1d6 piercing damage and is in the brawling group. If you choose the claws unarmed attack, it deals 1d4 slashing damage, has the agile trait, and is in the brawling group
The largest question about this is how the familiar's damage is intended to scale. There's a later Feat in the Archetype, Spiritual Flurry, that seems intended for it's included off-guard until the end of your --current turn-- (but you are at MAP 10), to be tailored just for your familiar to follow up with its own attack.
Yet, I have no idea how the author intended for the familiar's strike damage to increase.
"your normal melee attack bonus" seems to be limited to the "to hit" side of the equation, and maybe would grant STR to damage. That said, the notion of doing 1d4 + STR damage at higher levels (especially on a creature with 0 reach) is... rather unusable at high levels.
As far as I can tell, this is just another rule gap / hole, so I can at least prompt to see how yall would fill it.
(I might be doing a sequel campaign after Gatewalkers, and I do want to take that single chance I'll have to at least try out that archetype, if possible)
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How does everyone here rule the Spirit Guide familiar that is given a melee Strike?
Your familiar gains unique benefits from its bond to you. Your familiar gains an additional 10 Hit Points and can make an either a jaws or claws unarmed attack using your normal melee attack bonus. You choose whether it has a jaws or claws unarmed attack when you first gain the spirit guide as your familiar. If it has a jaws unarmed attack, the attack deals 1d6 piercing damage and is in the brawling group. If you choose the claws unarmed attack, it deals 1d4 slashing damage, has the agile trait, and is in the brawling group
The largest question about this is how the familiar's damage is intended to scale. There's a later Feat in the Archetype, Spiritual Flurry, that seems intended for it's included off-guard until the end of your --current turn-- (but you are at MAP 10), to be tailored just for your familiar to follow up with its own attack.
Yet, I have no idea how the author intended for the familiar's strike damage to increase.
"your normal melee attack bonus" seems to be limited to the "to hit" side of the equation, and maybe would grant STR to damage. That said, the notion of doing 1d4 + STR damage at higher levels (especially on a creature with 0 reach) is... rather unusable at high levels.
As far as I can tell, this is just another rule gap / hole, so I can at least prompt to see how yall would fill it.
(I might be doing a sequel campaign after Gatewalkers, and I do want to take that single chance I'll have to at least try out that archetype, if possible)
Personally, I just boost it up when you get your better striking runes to have it scale in a similar fashion to animal companions (but less damage due to no "weapon spec"). Doesn't really break anything since it's basically just an animal companion as a familiar and it makes my players happier.
With folks starting to get PC2 (alas I still wait to get my hands on it), the new familiar options and specific familiar changes have been revealed. I did want to go over some stuff first though!
Alchemists got a lot of changes, including to Alchemical Familiar which now gets Construct for free. However, I'm going to need to do a total rebuild of the build in the guide! Especially with the addition of the Item Delivery familiar ability, which finally allows familiars to easily transport and feed allies consumable items (which was the whole point of the build). Probably the best new option ever for alchemists (and for any item delivery familiar). Either way, quite excited for these familiar changes and I look forward to writing about them for all of you! At latest, the guide will be updated during GenCon, but I hope to be able to update it this week if possible.
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The fairie dragon (can't spell the new name) now only costs 5 abilities and lost amphibious. The pipefox only gets skilled once instead of twice.
With folks starting to get PC2 (alas I still wait to get my hands on it), the new familiar options and specific familiar changes have been revealed. I did want to go over some stuff first though!
Alchemists got a lot of changes, including to Alchemical Familiar which now gets Construct for free. However, I'm going to need to do a total rebuild of the build in the guide! Especially with the addition of the Item Delivery familiar ability, which finally allows familiars to easily transport and feed allies consumable items (which was the whole point of the build). Probably the best new option ever for alchemists (and for any item delivery familiar). Either way, quite excited for these familiar changes and I look forward to writing about them for all of you! At latest, the guide will be updated during GenCon, but I hope to be able to update it this week if possible.
If you want to skim the Alch news thread, there's discussion of the familiar change news, starting here:
https://paizo.com/threads/rzs4qj44&page=4?First-impressions-of-alchemis t-news#196
Many are discussing the item delivery as a 3 for 2 action save / bonus of Command --> [take] + [move] + [Feed/Handoff]
My take, the item delivery ability's main issues:
* Pre-req of item in the master's hand. This means that:
* * the action cost of getting item in-hand has already been paid.
* * Any time the desired patient is in reach of master, delivery is useless.
* * The master has the option to throw the item to an ally for 1A via remaster Interact; familiar delivery must be more desirable for some reason.
* * familiar & master must be sharing a square ahead of time
* familiar ends the action in the ally square:
* * The 3:2 save is deceptive. Actions must be spent to move the familiar back to the master.
* * moving across the battle map means familiar is put at combat risk.
The ability is not really an action save, but a possible way to feed allies that cannot pop the cork themselves.
All that adds together to make this ability, in my opinion, far too narrow and restricted to be worth the f.ability slot.
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If the construct trait is indeed mandatory, it presents a rather unprecedented problem
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With folks starting to get PC2 (alas I still wait to get my hands on it), the new familiar options and specific familiar changes have been revealed. I did want to go over some stuff first though!
Alchemists got a lot of changes, including to Alchemical Familiar which now gets Construct for free. However, I'm going to need to do a total rebuild of the build in the guide! Especially with the addition of the Item Delivery familiar ability, which finally allows familiars to easily transport and feed allies consumable items (which was the whole point of the build). Probably the best new option ever for alchemists (and for any item delivery familiar). Either way, quite excited for these familiar changes and I look forward to writing about them for all of you! At latest, the guide will be updated during GenCon, but I hope to be able to update it this week if possible.
If you want to skim the Alch news thread, there's discussion of the familiar change news, starting here:
https://paizo.com/threads/rzs4qj44&page=4?First-impressions-of-alchemis t-news#196
Many are discussing the item delivery as a 3 for 2 action save / bonus of Command --> [take] + [move] + [Feed/Handoff]
My take, the item delivery ability's main issues:
* Pre-req of item in the master's hand. This means that:
* * the action cost of getting item in-hand has already been paid.
* * Any time the desired patient is in reach of master, delivery is useless.
* * The master has the option to throw the item to an ally for 1A via remaster Interact; familiar delivery must be more desirable for some reason.
* * familiar & master must be sharing a square ahead of time* familiar ends the action in the ally square:
* * The 3:2 save is deceptive. Actions must be spent to move the familiar back to the master.
* * moving across the battle map means familiar is put at combat risk.The ability is not really an action save, but a possible way to feed allies that cannot pop the cork...
Opinions seem a bit divided on the thread currently. I personally don't think it's necessary on alchemist (though I still like it a lot, I definitely used a lot of hyperbole in my previous statement), and it's currently the best familiar ability I've seen for familiars that want to bring items to allies. If, however, folks can just throw consumables over to allies willy nilly no issues with Interact now, then obviously it's not as good.
However, if there's extra stipulations or it costs your ally's actions, then I do still quite like it. Alchemist of course has the ability to throw healing at allies now with little issue, but this is at least fairly safe for you and doesn't require any rolls. One merely needs to take Independent at the end of the day to get their familiar to move back for free next turn as well. There is to be concern over the safety of your familiar, but they should be able to at least take one or two hits from an AoE if you get unlucky at later levels.
Overall though, I can't make any accurate comments until I have the book in front of me! So these are nothing more than initial impressions. I'm still exicted either way for Item Delivery since it's something I've wanted for a long time as someone who plays with familiars on a majority of my characters. I imagine the changes to abilities that exclusively work with alchemy will wow me even more! But we shall see.
I appreciate the comments from both of you.
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I decided to take a bit of time to mull over everything, see what I did and didn't like about the updates. However, the update is now out and the guide is fully remaster compatible with the release of PC2! A brief overview of some changes:
- Fey Dragonet got pushed to a 4 star ranking with its lower investment requirement.
- Pipefox got pushed to a 3 star ranking with the loss of an ability.
- Construct got some clarifications in the section where I actually go over it rather than with the Poppet.
- The Blessed Turn, Gumiho's Beloved, and Honey Hawking Healer builds all got updates with the changes to their respective classes and archetypes. The point of each one still remains the same.
- I settled on 3 stars for Item Delivery. It's good, but does require a lot of investment to make great.
Otherwise, I added any new abilities and updated ones that got changed or replaced, and moved the Imp and Fey Dragonet to their new homes in the 7 and 5 cost specific familiar sections. I'm likely to add a new build or two in the coming weeks, along with adding in Lost Omens Tian Xia Character Guide's Familiar Sage archetype and Origami specific familiar (along with whatever else it brings) when that comes out next month! If you have any comments or feedback, please let me know as always.
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Lost Omens Tian Xia Character Guide is coming in and my oh my is there a lot for familiars! New ancestry feats, new specific familiars, new abilities, a whole new archetype! This is taking some time to evaluate all things considered and I want to put together some new builds as well using all these tasty new options (I also have other work to do for my writing job). So, expect an update later this week.
I'd love to hear all of your thoughts on some of the new options in the meantime, however. Especially on the Familiar Sage archetype and the new Kindling master ability. The latter is something I'm unsure of how to evaluate, especially when the Shikigami specific familiar is entirely made for Kindling. Though second opinions always help!
The Familiar Sage archetype, 4 new ancestry feats, and 3 new abilities from LO: TXWG have been added (along with some build changes) to the guide! Currently, I'm postponing adding any direct information about specific familiars released in the book into the guide for now (just not enough time today), but you can see my rating for all 5 of them until then. The Shikigami and Tapir Sage are certainly my favourite from the bunch though, so expect a magus build making use of one of the two soon.
Guide is now fully updated for all familiar options featured in Tian Xia Character Guide! Additionally, I've added the Weaver of Heavenly Threads build featuring the new Unfurling Brocade Magus and Shikigami specific familiar.
As well, at the request of someone who reached out to me a bit ago, I've added a new section with suggestions for how to build familiars and what specific familiars to take if you don't innately have access to familiars. This is something I'll need to refine further since many abilities are more build specific, but I hope you enjoy it for now.
Lastly, I've added in a subsection called Familiar Feats. This just gives all my thoughts regarding Familiar, Enhanced Familiar, Improved Familiar, and Incredible Familiar in one place. When those feats appear in the guide now for classes and archetypes, you'll be referred to look there for any thoughts that aren't class specific. Otherwise, there are now suggestions for abilities to take for every class in the guide.
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It might be worth mentioning the complications of taking Familiar Master+Sage on a character who starts with a familiar. Both of the dedication feats become Enhanced Familiar, so a note to talk to the GM might be worthwhile.
For the fulus, maybe mention skipping low-level fulus with a DC. Their DCs are equivalent to trained with a +0 modifier until higher level, which is pretty rough.
Familiar Ritualist might want to mention the main point of synergy: being able to customize your familiar to the ritual's skill requirements. That also means it probably shouldn't be taken if you have a specific familiar locking down daily ability selection.
It might be worth mentioning the complications of taking Familiar Master+Sage on a character who starts with a familiar. Both of the dedication feats become Enhanced Familiar, so a note to talk to the GM might be worthwhile.
For the fulus, maybe mention skipping low-level fulus with a DC. Their DCs are equivalent to trained with a +0 modifier until higher level, which is pretty rough.
Familiar Ritualist might want to mention the main point of synergy: being able to customize your familiar to the ritual's skill requirements. That also means it probably shouldn't be taken if you have a specific familiar locking down daily ability selection.
These are all good points! I'll make sure to write that in once I can.
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These are all good points! I'll make sure to write that in once I can.It might be worth mentioning the complications of taking Familiar Master+Sage on a character who starts with a familiar. Both of the dedication feats become Enhanced Familiar, so a note to talk to the GM might be worthwhile.
For the fulus, maybe mention skipping low-level fulus with a DC. Their DCs are equivalent to trained with a +0 modifier until higher level, which is pretty rough.
Familiar Ritualist might want to mention the main point of synergy: being able to customize your familiar to the ritual's skill requirements. That also means it probably shouldn't be taken if you have a specific familiar locking down daily ability selection.
... Whoops, looks like I'm wrong on Familiar Ritualist- it replaces the need for a secondary check entirely, which is much better than I thought.
... Whoops, looks like I'm wrong on Familiar Ritualist- it replaces the need for a secondary check entirely, which is much better than I thought.These are all good points! I'll make sure to write that in once I can.It might be worth mentioning the complications of taking Familiar Master+Sage on a character who starts with a familiar. Both of the dedication feats become Enhanced Familiar, so a note to talk to the GM might be worthwhile.
For the fulus, maybe mention skipping low-level fulus with a DC. Their DCs are equivalent to trained with a +0 modifier until higher level, which is pretty rough.
Familiar Ritualist might want to mention the main point of synergy: being able to customize your familiar to the ritual's skill requirements. That also means it probably shouldn't be taken if you have a specific familiar locking down daily ability selection.
It's no worries! That particular part I didn't end up changing. But yeah, Familiar Ritualist does let you skip the need to make a check for a secondary caster using your familiar which is nifty if you can get rituals.
Going to be honest, wasn't expecting Animist to have a whole familiar thing to be going on that is about on par with Improved Familiar Attunement Wizard in terms of overall power. However, also pretty busy with exams and work this week, so it may be a wee bit until the guide is updated.
Overall, expect a section for Animist soon, along with a wee bit of coverage on the Seneschal Witch. However, due to the way that class archetype functions, I don't have much to say about it in regards to familiars other than maybe some possible fun ideas with free access to Witch's Charge.
It is basically the best option if you want to just forget your familiar exists when in combat, or are otherwise super paranoid about your cat being hurt.
Or I could just jamm the little guy into my backpack or similar mundane container, get the benefits of total cover and attended item aoe immunity, and save a few coins and bulk.
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It is basically the best option if you want to just forget your familiar exists when in combat, or are otherwise super paranoid about your cat being hurt.Or I could just jamm the little guy into my backpack or similar mundane container, get the benefits of total cover and attended item aoe immunity, and save a few coins and bulk.
I honestly wonder how much items like that are intended to spark readers into remembering that such things are possibilities, instead of really being intended for direct use as-is.
Because... yeah, I really have no other explanation (aside from ignorance) as to why authors will make items that have such glaring kryptonite problems like the Satchel does.
Incidental AoE damage is kinda the primary reason to hide your familiar, yet that Satchel explicitly explodes at the first Fireball, while still damaging the familiar.
It's almost an "anti-item" due to it going out of its way to render the primary use-case non-functional, lol.
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Updates for War of Immortals have been made! An Animist section has been added, along with an Exemplar build. I'll add an Animist build later next month. Do enjoy!
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With Divine Mysteries soon out, my work for new books is done for the rest of the year (and hopefully for a bit, holy, so many familiar stuff this year). However, in this update, you'll find the addition of the Choir Politic and Paradox of Opposites patrons and their familiars, along with the long awaited remasters of the Baba Yaga, Mosquito Witch, and Pacts (now The Unseen Broker) patrons and their new familiars. Otherwise, there's a new subsection for witch covering object familiars, along with new sections on the Rivethun Emissary archetype and deities for familiar users (which includes the god of familiars and witch, Atrogine, as its only member currently).
Why did I add a section for a single deity that contributes no actual build advice? It is because I must talk about everything directly related to familiars. I also think Atrogine is really cool as a nonbinary deity focused on curiosity and helping out witches, while their familiar helps out other familiars.
Either way, expect the return of a build I'm reworking soon, along with an aforementioned animist build, and other builds I got in mind. Until next time!
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Object familiars have something that I think should be mentioned. Versatile Form is effectively discounted for object familiars, because they get Construct without needing Tough.
It might also be worth mentioning patrons that can sometimes skip Animated. Familiars with long range abilities or ones targeting your own space can ignore it a little better- mostly Paradox of Opposites, Wilding Steward, and Mosquito Witch.
Object familiars have something that I think should be mentioned. Versatile Form is effectively discounted for object familiars, because they get Construct without needing Tough.
It might also be worth mentioning patrons that can sometimes skip Animated. Familiars with long range abilities or ones targeting your own space can ignore it a little better- mostly Paradox of Opposites, Wilding Steward, and Mosquito Witch.
Updated the guide with this information!
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New year, new build! I've added a fun and thematic Grandeur Champion of Apsu Shield build to the guide that uses the Poppet's Minuscule Mentee to have your own personal bard for your knight in shining armor.
Otherwise, the guide has also been updated and maintained for a whole year now! This was my first time doing guide writing of this scale for a TTRPG and truthfully, I was quite anxious at the time about how it'd be received. However, folks have been very helpful in aiding me improving it and I've had a number of people messaging me in thanks. So, I want to say thank you to all of you who've commented here or elsewhere! I couldn't have made the guide what it is right now without your help. I look forward to seeing what new familiar options come with 2025!
Does anyone here know of any rule that prevents taking multiple copies of the same f/m abilities by default?
As far as I can tell, someone who tries to stack something like Spellcasting is breaking 0 rules. Only the specific creature type abilities like construct or plant have a "only one allowed" rule.
A familiar that can cast + Independent Sustain something like Dancing Shield multiple times a day is pretty significant detail.
One usual speedbump with the Spellcasting f.ability is that you still need to prep the spell yourself that day, but if your familiar can prep 3x copies off your one slot, that helps increase the value of that option a fair amount, imo.
There is no benefit stated for taking multiple of the same Ability. If you take Fast Movement twice, you don't get two speeds increased to 40ft, you use two options that provide the same benefit to the familiar.
While the redundant effects rule covers most of those obvious cases, there really does seem to be a rule gap for others like Spell Battery, Spellcasting, etc.
I'll link the rules post on this question here so we don't clog up the familiar thread too much, but if I put myself into a GM mindset, I don't think I'd block a PC from stacking the familiar abilities that seem to fit with this.
I was honestly expecting someone to have found an ability / combo that would make this ruling too balance-breaking to leave alone by now, but it seems to not be an issue from the balance angle either.
The Spirit Guide creature family is not the same thing as the Spirit Guide player familiar.
That Sage Spirit Guide is a level 5 creature out in the world.
In theory, a homebrew campaign could involve such a creature using Bond with Mortal to form a relationship with a player character, but that is not the game mechanic of using class feats to gain the Scion of Domora's Spirit Guide. Those creatures are mostly for being in the world for the player to encounter, possibly bonded with other NPCs.
The specific Spirit Guide familiar you do obtain is here on AoN
It is a very good familiar to have, but does not have the full capabilities of the creature family it comes from. It does not get innate spells, nor that Truespeech effect. For story purposes, a player with the archetype would likely need to think of their familiar as a lesser/young spirit, one that lacks the prowess of their seniors.
I (might be one of the dozen to) have this familiar on my L15 Alchemist, who got the archetype during Gatewalkers, and is now in the middle of Stolen Fate.
While very helpful and worth the investment, the little guy is still a familiar, and is not suited for outright fighting in combat, like an animal companion would be.
Just wanted to say that the Thundering Dominance spell specifically calls out companions or eidolons. I think familiars and companions are separate things, right? I like the idea of a Tiny rat familiar letting out a giant roar, but not sure if the rules agree.
Just wanted to say that the Thundering Dominance spell specifically calls out companions or eidolons. I think familiars and companions are separate things, right? I like the idea of a Tiny rat familiar letting out a giant roar, but not sure if the rules agree.
No worries there, "companion" is the generic / umbrella term that covers animal companions, familiars, pets, bonded animals, etc. Eidolons don't actually get to be included in that umbrella, so they need spells to also mention / allow for them. Eidolons do count as "allies" though, so a lot of spells meant to buff your party members work on Eidolons.
Ah, thanks for the correction! I realise now that my post could be read as condescending or in a "hey, you're wrong" kind of way. I didn't mean it like that and I'm glad it wasn't taken as such. I should've worded my first sentence better.