Mostly, my suggestion is to get comfortable with the familiar getting sent 0HP Dying, and be ready to spend 1A to get them conscious again. Reactions can kinda be hard to dedicate to the familiar like that, and you don't want to be hurting the PC any more than you have to, especially if you're an HP6 Witch.
The other thing is to have a familiar exit strategy. Often, my familiar will either barely survive the 1 hit, or will be getting healed off 0, and I'll have them spend their 1A to exit the fight into my familiar tattoo. The familiar satchel can serve a similar purpose.
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I have had opportunity to use Phase Familiar once. The party blundered into a trap that sprayed AoE fire damage across the entire party. My familiar was a Poppet familiar and so had fire weakness and would have been 1-shot from the damage dealt if not for Phase Familiar.
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The difficulty with giving advice on this is that it is heavily dependent on both your character build and what you are doing with your familiar - and your GM. A familiar that is ending up adjacent to enemies due to using Spell Delivery or a Witch special ability that requires adjacent range is going to need more protection than a familiar that only needs to be within 30 feet for their Witch special ability or can even do their entire job from within a Pet Cache pocket dimension.
Take champion dedication. This will give you champion's reaction to defend your familiar, 1/round resource free and can be used on other allies as well. Witch doesn't really have a consistent reaction otherwise so it's a way to make use of it (witch can get phase familiar but patron's puppet is generally better, and with champion's reaction on the table as a replacement *far* better)
The heavy armor it offers also ups your surviveability while sitting within 15 feet of your familiar, which usually needs to be near the enemy to proc it's ability. Later on you can pick up expand aura to get 30ft of range on your reaction, not strictly necessary but it's nice to have.
For familiar abilities you can get two additional with proper itemization.
Familar morsels give your familiar an additional ability, 30gp for an hour. You should use them for known important fights and eventually always once you're high enough level to afford them. Can get damage avoidance: reflex or whatever.
A wand of Movanic Glimmer can replace the independent familiar ability, freeing that up for something else (such as toughness). It's a bit pricy so you only want it in the later half of the game, but hey you can just buy a familar ability for 700gp. That's a steal. Make sure to have a couple backup scrolls so your DM learns dispelling it is mostly pointless, in addition to being blatant metagaming.
A couple of caveats on the above:
Champion Reaction isn't quite resource free. It does cost your reaction for the round. A Witch doesn't have much competition for reactions though, so it is a pretty low resource cost.
Movanic Glimmer is Uncommon and from an AP, so check with your GM if it is even available and how it works. I'm not entirely convinced that it is intended for use with Familiars. The limitation to 'basic actions' is pretty telling. And it would prevent doing a lot of things that a familiar might want to do if they actually had the Independent ability instead.
My familiar is an object that I give to a frontliner.
Familiar Conduit FTW.
Do you mean an actual “object” or do you just mean the frontliner carries it? How does this “protect” it?
Maybe this Focused item trait?
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My personal recommendation is keep it in a familiar satchel or other similar place that keeps them out of combat.
What? You want to use your familiar in combat? Than prepare for it to be knocked/unconscious or die.
As a GM, the second your familiar starts augmenting your combat abilities in an offensive way, it paints a target on its back that will likely see it killed. If you want to keep it conscious a while longer, Lifelink can help you do that.
A couple of caveats on the above:
Champion Reaction isn't quite resource free. It does cost your reaction for the round. A Witch doesn't have much competition for reactions though, so it is a pretty low resource cost.
Movanic Glimmer is Uncommon and from an AP, so check with your GM if it is even available and how it works. I'm not entirely convinced that it is intended for use with Familiars. The limitation to 'basic actions' is pretty telling. And it would prevent doing a lot of things that a familiar might want to do if they actually had the Independent ability instead.
Basic actions include the single action things witch familars typically want to do, such as moving into position or handing off an object. Most of the non-basic abilities require command anyways so it's not like you're losing anything.
Do you mean an actual “object” or do you just mean the frontliner carries it? How does this “protect” it?My familiar is an object that I give to a frontliner.
Familiar Conduit FTW.
It is a pen. Mightier than the sword.
My PC is a Baba Yaga Witch.
I still don’t see how this works. The Baba Yaga Patron mentions nothing about having an item as a familiar. The Baba Yaga patron does provide the spirit object *cantrip* but that only lasts for a minute, and mentions no interaction with, or that it can be used as or replace a familiar.
What am I missing? [EDIT - ah, the Legacy version has an inanimate object as a familiar.]
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Remaster also provides Object Familiars and for all Patrons now :
Object Familiars
Source Divine Mysteries pg. 296
Some patrons (especially ones like Baba Yaga) send an inanimate object as a familiar to their witch. An object familiar functions the same as a regular familiar, with a few exceptions. First, it has a Speed of 0 feet, and you can't select pet abilities, familiar abilities, or master abilities for it that require movement until it has a Speed. You can grant your object familiar a Speed with the animated familiar ability listed below. You must choose the construct familiar ability for it each day, but the familiar need not have the tough pet ability first. Object familiars are available to all witches.
Animated: With a bit of magic from your patron, your object familiar can move about on its own. It gains a Speed of 25 feet. You can select this ability only for object familiars.
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My personal recommendation is keep it in a familiar satchel or other similar place that keeps them out of combat.
What? You want to use your familiar in combat? Than prepare for it to be knocked/unconscious or die.
As a GM, the second your familiar starts augmenting your combat abilities in an offensive way, it paints a target on its back that will likely see it killed. If you want to keep it conscious a while longer, Lifelink can help you do that.
That feels like punishing the witch player. What other class's key abilities do you target to remove for the day?
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That feels like punishing the witch player. What other class's key abilities do you target to remove for the day?My personal recommendation is keep it in a familiar satchel or other similar place that keeps them out of combat.
What? You want to use your familiar in combat? Than prepare for it to be knocked/unconscious or die.
As a GM, the second your familiar starts augmenting your combat abilities in an offensive way, it paints a target on its back that will likely see it killed. If you want to keep it conscious a while longer, Lifelink can help you do that.
The Ranger or Druid's Animal Companion ?
And that one is not replaced within one day, but with a full week of downtime.
That feels like punishing the witch player. What other class's key abilities do you target to remove for the day?My personal recommendation is keep it in a familiar satchel or other similar place that keeps them out of combat.
What? You want to use your familiar in combat? Than prepare for it to be knocked/unconscious or die.
As a GM, the second your familiar starts augmenting your combat abilities in an offensive way, it paints a target on its back that will likely see it killed. If you want to keep it conscious a while longer, Lifelink can help you do that.
The familiar has your AC and saves, but less HP. I don't target it (although it may get caught in AOE) unless you start using it offensively.
If you don't think that's fair, I can't help you. Should I just completely ignore the familiar that you're using to launch spells from so that you're character doesn't get injured? That's ludicrous.
And to clarify, it's not like I'm going to go out of my way to go after a familiar, making decisions I think are tactically unwise simply to kill a familiar. But if you move your familiar into a unprotected spot and try to use it to hit the NPC with a spell....it's going to get smashed as best that NPC can. Just like any other PC character.
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I'm not disagreeing with you, I'm trying to find a balance here. My initial comment was harsher than I intended.
In my experience, an animal companion following the full feat chain can take a hit or two far better than a familiar. In combat, it's much closer to a party member. Druida get a special healing spell just for their companion automatically, and rangers can get the same with a feat. (I think?) A familiar uses the party's healing resources and can die to a single hit.
I also think a familiar delivering spells to enemies is far fairer a target than a familiar with an aura of buff or debuff. However, the aura might be more powerful.
So, for table expectations, if my rabbit is wandering around the battlefield, giving +1 or -1 AC, are enemies aware it's doing magic? (See arguments about recognize spell) Is it a fair target? Is it much safer as a bird? Or on the shoulder of a Frontline?
From the GM side, I might want an easy or average encounter to soften up the party for another fight. With out-of-combat healing so easy as to handwaved, I need to force a consumable, spell slot, or maybe a 1/day item to degrade the party at all. Targeting a familiar is something I have more control over than those.
So I see a temptation for GMs to overdo putting the pet in danger, and that's where my harshness comes from. Ive played with good people who would let me rebuild a character into another class in this situation, but would not be able to stop targeting the familiar and let me have my witch fantasy. I see this as different than the old GM-Paladin issues where the GM is acting in bad faith. Here, the GM has a reasonable goal, and the familiar is uniquely vulnerable to it.
I wonder if the fact that the familiar comes back each day actually makes it more vulnerable.
PF2, as it moves through the middle of its lifespan, is having some identity issues for me. In many ways, the PCs enter each fight as if fully rested, unless they're spellcasters.
I'm not disagreeing with you, I'm trying to find a balance here. My initial comment was harsher than I intended.
In my experience, an animal companion following the full feat chain can take a hit or two far better than a familiar. In combat, it's much closer to a party member. Druida get a special healing spell just for their companion automatically, and rangers can get the same with a feat. (I think?) [b]A familiar uses the party's healing resources and can die to a single hit. [b]
Familiars are pretty unlikely to die to a single hit.
A lot of classes you expect to have familiar have 6 hp + con modifier, while the familiar has a flat five. I don't really expect the classes that commonly have familiars to have more than a +2 to con, so you're looking at a familiar having 5hp per level versus like 8 hp per level. With the same AC and saves. Maybe at very low levels you run the risk of a familiar getting one shot, but so do basically all the caster characters. Heck a lucky crit can even take down fighters and barbarians at level 1.
And honestly, aside from witches which are dependent on their familiars for a lot, as a GM I don't really feel bad killing off a familiar if the player takes risks with them. And witches get their familiar back the next day, so it's not the end of the world.
PF2, as it moves through the middle of its lifespan, is having some identity issues for me. In many ways, the PCs enter each fight as if fully rested, unless they're spellcasters.
That's why many would tell you it's critical to pick up additional focus spells and additional ways to refocus which allows you to be less dependent on spell slots.
And also to build up a repertoire of scrolls. Because spell rank doesn't influence the save DC, lower rank spells can still be useful. They likely wont deal as much damage or debuff, or hit as many enemies, but they're still not a waste of your actions. And you have cantrips as well, which automatically heighten.
Spellcasters have to be more selective about when to use their powers than martials, but when they bring out the big guns its usually a much bigger effect than martials can hope for.
Just as a warning, as the levels go up, familars fall further and further behind the HP math curve, becoming more fragile.
In Stolen Fate, my familiar regular (not crit) failed an AoE save, and it had the death trait. It should have been instantly killed, but I got lucky on the hero point reroll.
In my opinion, it was a big game design error for familiars to scale like this. It's genuinely hard to count on even a shoulder-rider familiar being able to survive combat for the 11-20 APs.
In general, AoE spells that come from foes matching or slightly above PC level can one-shot familiars, steadily getting more true as levels go up.
I do recommend the "___ save --> take 0 damage" familiar ability if you can afford it. Reflex is still probably the best save to pick, but you still have to succeed on the roll for it to help at all.
I do recommend the "___ save --> take 0 damage" familiar ability if you can afford it. Reflex is still probably the best save to pick, but you still have to succeed on the roll for it to help at all.I was looking at that ability lately. I assume it can't be taken multiple times for each save since it doesnt say you can like with Skilled?
Up to the GM. I myself have asked on the forum to verify that there is a rules hole, and it is a hole.
There is 0 rule/text preventing duplicate f.ability selection by default, and f.abilities like those save upgrades indicate it is possible when it makes sense.This leaves certain abilities like Spell Battery and Spellcasting as much more enticing as they might be otherwise, but it's still very much GM fiat as to wtf to do about that rules hole and to okay/block duplicate f.abilities.
I don't know if it's 100% in line with the rules, but if a player wants to spend the familiar ability options they have on defensive options that reduce damage to 0 on a successful save, as a GM I'm 100% going to allow it.
If a witch's familiar gets specifically attacked (instead of caught in an AoE) there's a good chance that is a tactical win for the party. Patron familiars are potent, but not as potent as the spell caster themselves or their barbarian buddy. And unlike the PC the familiar just comes back.
Independent, flight, and lifelink are my favorite tools for familiar survivability. If you can't afford the armor feats, mystic armor is pretty handy since it double dips for both you and your familiar.
[...] If you can't afford the armor feats, mystic armor is pretty handy since it double dips for both you and your familiar.
This is because the wording on the familiar/pet has its AC simply equal to the PC's armor + item bonus.
Some GMs will RaI that temp item bonuses do not count, and that the familiar does not magically benefit from buffs placed on the PC. For them to benefit, you would need spend another buff for that familiar.
This is bigger difference if you are a caster that uses Drakeheart mutagens to instantly get +1 over the normal max at that level, without needing any runes nor armor feats.
Dot
[...] If you can't afford the armor feats, mystic armor is pretty handy since it double dips for both you and your familiar.This is because the wording on the familiar/pet has its AC simply equal to the PC's armor + item bonus.
Some GMs will RaI that temp item bonuses do not count, and that the familiar does not magically benefit from buffs placed on the PC. For them to benefit, you would need spend another buff for that familiar.
This is bigger difference if you are a caster that uses Drakeheart mutagens to instantly get +1 over the normal max at that level, without needing any runes nor armor feats.
I've seen it run both ways.
The explicit rule is:
Your pet’s save modifiers and AC are equal to yours before applying circumstance or status bonuses or penalties
The familiar rules reference the rules for pets.
Now, Mystic Armor provides an item bonus, which is technically included by the wording in the rules, but its arguably clear they were trying to exclude temporary bonus by excluding circumstance and status bonuses/penalties. However you run into edge cases where you have temporary item bonuses.
Also if you think about it, why does your character wearing armor increase your familiars AC? There isn't a good reason except for simplicity and not wanting to give familiars a whole bunch of stats.
So...you can argue it both ways about whether or not something like Mystic Armor should work. Since it lasts all day (until preparation) it functions just like armor would (in my opinion) and so I would include the bonus to a familiar's AC.
But something like Drakeheart mutagen which lasts 1 minute, I as a GM, would not allow that to be included in the familiar's AC.
[...] If you can't afford the armor feats, mystic armor is pretty handy since it double dips for both you and your familiar.This is because the wording on the familiar/pet has its AC simply equal to the PC's armor + item bonus.
Some GMs will RaI that temp item bonuses do not count, and that the familiar does not magically benefit from buffs placed on the PC. For them to benefit, you would need spend another buff for that familiar.
This is bigger difference if you are a caster that uses Drakeheart mutagens to instantly get +1 over the normal max at that level, without needing any runes nor armor feats.
I agree on familiars not getting temp buffs but honestly it makes sense for mage armor. You cast that out of combat usually at the start of the day and it's reasonable enough you could set things up such that the familiar gets it's own bubble of protection from the spell or whatever. Makes more sense than your armor protecting them at least.