The Familiar Master flavor description says "the clever monkey that picks the lock of the thief's cell", but that monkey can't actually use thievery to pick locks even with the Skilled ability any longer.
In the premaster there were rules text saying that a familiar can attempt any Trained skill check with an ability if it added your spellcasting Modifier to that skill. That text was removed in the remaster.
Which version is correct? Can familiars still attempt trained skills. Or was the text removed to limit them to untrained skill checks and is Familiar Master's flavor text an oversight?
Well, I'm hoping it was just an oversight.
That bit of rules text allowing trained skill actions is in a section that got moved into the Pet feat. It kinda makes sense that just a Pet isn't able to do those trained skill actions since they can't get the Skilled familiar ability.
But that bit of rules text wasn't moved anywhere else either. Not in the Familiar rules (which would be the right place). Not in the Skilled ability.
So for now, the official answer is that familiars did indeed become less competent with their skills. Until and unless errata or houserules changes that.
Ah, that's too bad.
I'd love it if "Skilled" just added trained to the Familiar. And if it either scaled with level or allowed you to take the ability multiple times in the same skill raise its proficiency level at appropriate times.
Or the first "Skilled" for Trained, and the second "Skilled" for scaling. Considering how you'd likely need Manual Dexterity, Independent, and some communication form as a minimum.
It would allow familiar skills to be useful into the late game and give familiar holders another meaningful choice to make to fill gaps in the party.
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The Familiar Master flavor description says "the clever monkey that picks the lock of the thief's cell", but that monkey can't actually use thievery to pick locks even with the Skilled ability any longer.
Well, considering the rules continue to say that Companion Items are the "only items a companion can use", there is an issue even if they regain trained skill use. The familiar/minion rules have always been a bit of a mess; we still have no guidance on out of combat use after all this time for instance.
Yup. Can't pick the lock to the drawer the treat jar is in. Couldn't open the jar anyway since opening a container counts as using it.
Being unable to cover my own tracks is also annoying.
It is also strange that a dog can track someone if said dog is a Wolf Animal Companion since they get actual trained proficiency in survival, but a dog that is a familiar can't.
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Yup. Can't pick the lock to the drawer the treat jar is in. Couldn't open the jar anyway since opening a container counts as using it.
Being unable to cover my own tracks is also annoying.
It is also strange that a dog can track someone if said dog is a Wolf Animal Companion since they get actual trained proficiency in survival, but a dog that is a familiar can't.
Well, the familiar had its original mind shredded and rebuilt through strong magic. No wonder their natural abilities might be lost in the process.
The Familiar Master flavor description says "the clever monkey that picks the lock of the thief's cell", but that monkey can't actually use thievery to pick locks even with the Skilled ability any longer.Well, considering the rules continue to say that Companion Items are the "only items a companion can use", there is an issue even if they regain trained skill use. The familiar/minion rules have always been a bit of a mess; we still have no guidance on out of combat use after all this time for instance.
One of my favorite rules to ignore. Companions (and Eidolons) should be able to use mundane items/tools if it makes sense for them to be able to. Familiar has Skilled in Thievery and Manual Dexterity? Got a set of Thieves Tools sized for it? Have at it, I say.
I'd also treat it as Trained if it has Skilled, as I like that better.
IMO this is an area where fewer rules would be preferable to more rules. What a companion can or can't interact with is going to be dependent on a lot of factors and it's pretty hard for the rules to encompass them all unless they just go "blanket nope" like they do with items. But I think this is a case where "it's the GMs call" makes sense because of the diversity of Companion/Eidolon options and the array of situations that can come up.
Don't forget that the "blanket ban" is only on Activate. In theory, all other Interact are base yes, GM-no so long as the familiar has Manual Dexterity.
There are a handful of items that talk about "you can use an Interact to..." that are familiar doable, even RaW.
This is why the familiar Reloader is a commonly used example, as it is RaW if you can deal with the actions to move items between creatures.
(1A Swap made this easier, but it's still very niche to be able to make use of familiar Interacts in combat.)
Though, if I were to GM, I would for sure allow Skilled to grant the Trained actions. Honestly, I think I would grant familiars cork-popping Activates on a "can change my mind later" basis.
Familiars are just so fragile in combat, that it likely would not be a balance problem at all.