alchemist cannot easily get homunculus

[FWCain]

(This is a tangent, a new issue from this other thread I posted.)

Per the info that I found on the Archives of Nethys, if a caster wants to have a homunculus as his familiar, he must first be able to choose a number of abilities for his familiar (six [6], if I recall correctly) that is greater than the basic two (2) granted to an alchemical familiar.

I have not found any way, within the rules-as-written (RAW), posted on the Archives, for an alchemist to easily boost his creation's number of allowed abilities.

(The only "legal" method of improving an alchemist's familiar that I've found, so far, is via the Familiar Master archetype. But that would require using several class feats in tandem, not just one feat.)

So, how can the average alchemist pump up his little bubbly friend? (And please remember -- this is for SCIENCE!!)

Thanks,
Franklin

[Tridus]

Alchemist has no in-class familiar boosting feats, so there's no way in-class to get more familiar abilities. That means Familiar Master is the answer.

[Finoan]

The Alchemist feat Alchemical Familiar gives a non-standard familiar. The familiar mostly follows the rules for a regular familiar and is not a specific familiar, but it does get some additional abilities (much like a Witch familiar does though the Alchemist's additional abilities are a lot less powerful).

Specifically, the Alchemical Familiar automatically has the Construct ability for free. You can certainly describe the familiar as being a Homunculous and it has the Construct trait to add some game mechanics to back that up. You just wouldn't have the other abilities of the Homunculus specific familiar.

To get those other abilities of the Homunculus specific familiar on your Alchemist's traveling buddy, you would need to pay for the specific familiar upgrade. Familiar Master would be the easiest and best way of doing that.