Greater—Summoned Shell, conjuration school familiar

[thelemonache]

Just to be clear on this, when it says it "gains the statistics" does that mean attack bonus/saves/hitpoints? or can it use its own bab if its higher. Example, can a 10th level familiar jump into a level 1 eagle from a summon monster 1 and use the familiars superior attack bonus and its dozens of combat feats I gave it from eldritch guardian? Hit points don't make sense but i'm just trying to understand where the line is on generically "gaining statistics." With similar abilities like possession, you keep your BAB, its just a new body, but this goes out of its way to say you gain its "statistics and abilities."

Greater—Summoned Shell (Sp): Whenever the familiar’s master casts a summon monster spell, if the familiar is within the spell’s range, it can choose to inhabit the body of one creature summoned by the spell. While inhabiting the body, the familiar maintains its own Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma scores and its familiar powers, but otherwise gains the statistics and abilities of the summoned creature. When the spell ends, or the summoned creature’s hit points are reduced to 0, the familiar is expelled without suffering any negative effects.

[Azothath]

→Archetypes - School Familiar which requires a familiar and a specific feat and the greater school abilities require another feat (explains why no one does this). As Familiar Folio is a PPC product expect it to be a bit rough.
It forbids other archetypes so scratch that guardian familiar archetype.

Summon Monster spells have specific monster lists to summon from. They all have monster entries/descriptions.
"Inhabit", I assume this is like Merge with Familiar:T2(debuts in Familiar Folio) where the familiar merges into summoned creature's body (most familiars are tiny or small and summoned monsters med+ sized), otherwise there's Magic Jar where just the souls/spirits transfer.
There's no defined action for Inhabit so it's a free action (rather than not an action) since the familiar "can choose to inhabit the body".
The monster description gets the familiar's mental scores. "but otherwise gains the statistics and abilities of the summoned creature" is simply redundant in case GMs start editing the monster's abilities.
Weirdly there's no mention of knowledge or skills so I'll assume it's swept under the GM's rug.
The "familiar's powers", I assume this refers to the familiar advancement chart and the familiar's Ex abilities rather than an Improved Familiar's monster's abilities as animals(your common familiar) doesn't have any Sp or Su. Notoriously those Sp & Su abilities are lost in a possession/magic jar and some in a polymorph so you are in GM territory here with improved familiars.
"Expelled" would mean appears in an adjacent square at HPs it had when inhabiting the summoned monster.

In a practical manner summoned monsters are disposable combatants that are only around CL rounds. Having a regular familiar inhabit one will make them friendly and understand the caster, boost their mental saves, and allow share spells & deliver touch spells. For two feats and a familiar it is not a effective use of class choices. A third feat, Improved Familiar, would help but you'll need GM help on what this does. Being an Unch Summoner class makes Summon Monster last longer but then you have an eidolon rather than a familiar... ahh well...

People get starry eyed when it comes to familiars. Just choose a bonded object amulet and skip the familiar. Otherwise choose that you want a familiar for the fun of it and roleplay aspects.

[Belafon]

thelemonache wrote:

Just to be clear on this, when it says it "gains the statistics" does that mean attack bonus/saves/hitpoints? or can it use its own bab if its higher. Example, can a 10th level familiar jump into a level 1 eagle from a summon monster 1 and use the familiars superior attack bonus and its dozens of combat feats I gave it from eldritch guardian? Hit points don't make sense but i'm just trying to understand where the line is on generically "gaining statistics." With similar abilities like possession, you keep your BAB, its just a new body, but this goes out of its way to say you gain its "statistics and abilities."

Greater—Summoned Shell (Sp): Whenever the familiar’s master casts a summon monster spell, if the familiar is within the spell’s range, it can choose to inhabit the body of one creature summoned by the spell. While inhabiting the body, the familiar maintains its own Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma scores and its familiar powers, but otherwise gains the statistics and abilities of the summoned creature. When the spell ends, or the summoned creature’s hit points are reduced to 0, the familiar is expelled without suffering any negative effects.

It uses the monster's BAB, saves, HP.

Basically: use the monster's statblock but replace Int, Wis, and Charisma with the familiar's stat. It can also benefit from any special abilities the familiar has such as Improved Evasion or Deliver Touch Spells.

It's not a super-useful ability (especially since school familiars are so limited in their Deliver Touch Spells and Share Spells options; and there aren't many personal or touch wizard conjuration spells to start with). Having those familiar powers in a summoned monster can have 3 benefits, assuming the familiar is high enough level.
1) The monster automatically gets Improved Evasion
2) The caster can direct the monster even if they don't share a language thanks to Speak with Master.
3) The monster gets a small amount of SR if the familiar is at least 11th level.

[Azothath]

note: Conjurer's Summoner's Charm (Su): one summon spell can last 1.5*CL rounds. Most combats are over within 3-6 rounds.
To rephrase the description is telling you to use the monster's description with the familiar's mental scores then add in the familiar's specials.
The whole thing basically makes your familiar's combat abilities as good as the summoned monster while the spell lasts.

With the 2 feats(School Familiar, Grtr School Familiar), Improved Familiar, School Focus Conj, Augment Summoning your at 5 feats with greater school familiar kicking in at 10th level. It's a fully dedicated build.

For non-combat uses polymorph familiar or blood sentinel are more useful.

[I grok do u]

Also note that Eldritch guardian fighters don't have an arcane school to be eligible for this familiar archetype, unless discussing a multi class build.

In that case:
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...

GM could rule either way- if the controlled creature has the senses for the familiar to see and hear, then it gets the combat feats; alternatively, while possessing a creature the familiar cannot use any of its own senses, so they can't see or hear the master and don't get the feats.