13 KiB
Executable file
| title | draft | noteType | aliases | foundryId | tags | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Familiar | true | 🧳 | Familiar | Item.8QY5fLFp2W2J1o3W |
|
Familiar
Magus, Sorcerer An animal serves you and assists your spellcasting.
Wizard You make a pact with a creature that serves you and assists your spellcasting.
Thaumaturge Whether by following occult rituals, piecing together scraps of arcane theory, or some other method, you've called forth a creature that now serves as your constant companion in your studies of the supernatural.
Familiars are mystically bonded creatures tied to your magic. Most familiars were originally animals, though the ritual of becoming a familiar makes them something more. You gain the Pet general feat, except that your pet has special abilities. Common choices for familiars include bats, cats, foxes, ravens, and snakes. Some familiars are different, usually described in the ability that granted you a familiar; for example, a druid’s leshy familiar has the plant or fungus trait instead of animal. A familiar is different from a basic pet in the following ways.
MODIFIERS AND AC
For Perception, Acrobatics, and Stealth, you can have your familiar use your spellcasting attribute modifier + your level instead of 3 + your level if it’s higher.
COMMUNICATION
Your familiar can communicate empathically with you as long as it’s within 1 mile of you, sharing emotions. It doesn’t understand or speak languages normally, but it can gain speech from a familiar ability.
SELECTING FAMILIAR AND MASTER ABILITIES
Instead of choosing two abilities only when you gain your familiar as you do with a normal pet, you can choose the two abilities each day during your daily preparations. You can choose from familiar abilities and master abilities. You can choose the pet abilities from the feat as familiar abilities as well. You can’t swap out abilities that are innate to your familiar. For example, you couldn’t choose not to give a raven familiar flying.
FAMILIAR ABILITIES
Familiar abilities primarily affect the familiar itself. A familiar can have no more than one ability that changes its creature trait (such as construct or plant). You can choose a pet ability (from the Pet feat) as a familiar ability
[!info] PET FEAT ABILITIES The following abilities you can choose from the Pet general feat are repeated here for convenience.>
- Amphibious It gains the amphibious trait, allowing it to breathe in both air and water, and has both a land Speed and a swim Speed, each equal to its highest land Speed or swim Speed.
- Burrower It gains a burrow Speed of 5 feet, allowing it to dig Tiny holes.
- Climber It gains a climb Speed of 25 feet.
- Darkvision It gains darkvision.
- Echolocation It can use hearing as a precise sense within 20 feet.
- Fast Movement Increase one of the pet’s Speeds from 25 feet to 40 feet.
- Flier It gains a fly Speed of 25 feet.
- Manual Dexterity It can use up to two of its limbs as if they were hands to perform manipulate actions.
- Scent It can use scent as an imprecise sense within 30 feet
- Tough Your pet’s max HP increase by 2 per level.
Accompanist: Your familiar helps you perform. Whenever you attempt a Performance check, if your familiar is nearby and can act, it accompanies you with chirps, claps, or its own miniature instrument. This grants you a +1 circumstance bonus, or +2 if you’re a master in Performance.
Construct: Your familiar has the construct trait instead of the animal trait. The familiar is immune to death effects, disease, doomed, drained, fatigued, healing, nonlethal attacks, paralyzed, poison, sickened, spirit, unconscious, vitality, and void. Your familiar must have the tough pet ability (see sidebar above to select this.
Damage Avoidance: Choose one type of save. Your familiar takes no damage when it rolls a success on that type of save; this doesn’t prevent effects other than damage.
Dragon: Your familiar has the dragon trait instead of the animal trait.
Elemental: Your familiar has the elemental trait instead of the animal trait. Choose air, earth, fire, metal, water, or wood. Your familiar gains that trait. The familiar is immune to bleed, paralyzed, poison, sleep, and the element matching its trait. Your familiar must have the resistance familiar ability to select this.
Focused Rejuvenation: When you Refocus, you generate magical energy that heals your familiar. Your familiar regains 1 Hit Point per level whenever you Refocus.
Fungus: Your familiar has the fungus trait instead of the animal trait.
Independent: In an encounter, if you don’t Command your familiar, it still gains 1 action each round. Typically, you still decide how it spends that action, but, the GM might determine that your familiar chooses its own tactics rather than performing your preferred action. This doesn’t work with valet or similar abilities that require a command, if you’re capable of riding your familiar, or similar situations.
Kinspeech: Your familiar can understand and speak with animals of the same species. To select this, your familiar must be an animal, it must have the speech ability, and you must be at least 6th level.
Major Resistance: Your familiar increases the resistance it gains from its resistance familiar ability to a value equal to your level. To select this you must be at least 8th level.
Master’s Form: Your familiar can change shape as a single action, transforming into a humanoid of your ancestry with the same age, gender, and build of its true form, though it always maintains a clearly unnatural remnant of its nature, such as a cat’s eyes or a serpent’s tongue. This form is always the same each time it uses this ability. This otherwise uses the effects of humanoid form, except the change is purely cosmetic. It only appears humanoid and gains no new capabilities. Your familiar must have the manual dexterity and speech abilities to select this.
Partner in Crime: Your familiar is your criminal associate. Despite being a minion, your familiar gains 1 reaction at the start of its turns, which it can use only to Aid you on a Deception or Thievery skill check (it still has to prepare to help you as normal for the Aid reaction). It automatically succeeds at its check to Aid you with those skills or automatically critically succeeds if you’re a master of the skill in question.
Plant: Your familiar has the plant trait instead of the animal trait.
Plant Form: Your plant familiar can change shape as a single action, transforming into a Tiny plant of a type roughly similar to the familiar’s nature. This otherwise uses the effects of one with plants. You must have a familiar with the plant trait to select this ability.
Resistance: Choose two of the following: acid, cold, electricity, fire, poison, or sonic. Your familiar gains resistance equal to half your level (minimum resistance 1) against the chosen damage types.
Skilled: Choose a skill other than Acrobatics or Stealth. Your familiar’s modifier for that skill is equal to your level plus your spellcasting attribute modifier, rather than just your level. You can select this ability repeatedly, choosing a different skill each time.
Speech: Your familiar understands and speaks a language you know.
Spellcasting: Choose a spell in your repertoire or that you prepared today at least 5 levels lower than your highest-rank spell slot. Your familiar can Cast that Spell once per day using your magical tradition, spell attack modifier, and spell DC. If the spell has a drawback that affects the caster, both you and your familiar are affected. You must be able to cast 6th-rank spells using spell slots to select this.
Toolbearer: Your familiar can carry a toolkit of up to light Bulk. So long as your familiar is adjacent to you, you can draw and replace the tools as part of the action that uses them as if you were wearing them. Your familiar must have the manual dexterity ability to select this.
Touch Telepathy: Your familiar can telepathically communicate with you via touch. If it also has the speech ability, it can telepathically communicate via touch with any creature if they share a language.
Valet: You can command your familiar to deliver you items more efficiently. Your familiar doesn’t use its 2 actions immediately upon your command. Instead, up to twice before the end of your turn, you can have your familiar Interact to retrieve an item of light or negligible Bulk you are wearing and place it into one of your free hands. The familiar can’t use this ability to retrieve stowed items. If the familiar has a different number of actions, it can retrieve one item for each action it has when commanded this way.
[!info] TARGETING COMPANIONS> Some spells and abilities can affect your companion. When “companion” is used in a stat block, it refers to animal companions, familiars, and types of companions appearing in other books—such as elemental companions. Some spells are even more specific. For example, if the spell says, “Targets your familiar,” you could cast it only on a familiar, not other kinds of companions. If you Cast a Spell that can benefit only a type of creature you don’t have, such as Casting a Spell that can target only a familiar when you don’t have a familiar, the spell does nothing.
If the spell would affect an ability the creature doesn’t have, the spell doesn’t give the creature that ability unless the spell says it does. For example, a spell that causes your companion to make a Strike wouldn’t let a familiar make a Strike but would give it all other benefits of the spell.
MASTER ABILITIES
Master abilities primarily affect you or the magic that passes between you and your familiar.
Absorb Familiar: Your familiar can transform into a mark you carry on your flesh, typically seeming like a birthmark, tattoo, or gem that vaguely resembles its normal form. When transformed, the familiar can’t act except to turn back into a familiar. It isn’t affected by area effects and must be targeted separately to affect it, which requires knowledge that it’s a creature. This means you and your allies can heal or assist the familiar while most enemies stay unaware of its true nature. Creatures must attempt a DC 20 Perception check to Seek to realize a it is actually a familiar. Your familiar can still communicate its feelings empathically. Transforming the familiar between forms is a 1-minute activity that has the concentrate trait.
Cantrip Connection: You can prepare an additional cantrip or, if you have a repertoire, designate a cantrip to add to your repertoire every time you select this ability; you can retrain it but can’t otherwise change it. You must be able to prepare cantrips or add them to your repertoire to select this.
Familiar Focus: Once per day, your familiar can use 2 actions with the concentrate trait to restore 1 Focus Point to your focus pool, up to your usual maximum. You must have a focus pool to select this.
Innate Surge: Once per day, you can draw upon your familiar’s innate magic to replenish your own. You can cast one innate spell gained from an ancestry feat that you have already cast today. You must still Cast the Spell and meet the spell’s other requirements.
Lifelink: If your familiar would be reduced to 0 HP by damage, as a reaction with the concentrate trait, you can take all the damage, and your familiar takes none. However, special effects that would occur due to that damage (such as snake venom) still apply.
Share Senses: Once every 10 minutes, you can use a single action with the concentrate trait to project your senses into your familiar. When you do, you lose all sensory information from your own body, but can sense through your familiar’s body for up to 1 minute. You can Dismiss this effect.
Spell Battery: You gain one additional spell slot at least 3 ranks lower than your highest-rank spell slot; you must be able to cast 4th-rank spells using spell slots to select this master ability.
Spell Delivery: If your familiar is in your space, you can cast a spell with a range of touch, transfer its power to your familiar, and command the familiar to deliver the spell. If you do, the familiar uses its 2 actions for the round to move to a target of your choice and touch that target. If it doesn’t reach the target to touch it this turn, the spell has no effect.
Recall Familiar: Once per day, you can use a 3-action activity, which has the concentrate trait, to teleport your familiar to your space. Your familiar must be within 1 mile or the attempt to summon it fails. This is a teleportation effect.
Restorative Familiar: Once per day, your familiar can use 2 actions with the concentrate trait to give up some of its energy and heal you. It must be in your space to do so. You restore a number of Hit Points equal to 1d8 times half your level (minimum 1d8).