So, what do we
see inside the Familiar Folio? It’s weirdly organized (pro tip: the
familiars are not in the beginning of the book), but has some real gems in
it. Almost the first third of the
book is devoted to intro content and to archetypes. In fact, there are a whopping nine archetypes in this book
and that doesn’t include the options to just give familiars to sorcerers (who
do not get a new bloodline related to familiars, in case you are
wondering). The book does go a
long way to help customize familiars and includes archetypes that familiars can take and feats for
familiars. Characters also have
options to beef up their familiars, including specializing familiars in a
wizard school for a feat, in a sorcerous bloodline in exchange for the 1st
level bloodline power, or a witch’s patron in exchange for waiting on patron
spells by one level.
There are also
new familiars. Some are so banal
you’ll be shocked they weren’t already included, like chickens. There are some fun tropical and
Australian-inspired familiars.
Finally, there are three new monster bestiary entries that can function
as either monsters or as improved familiars. The front and back covers give comprehensive lists of all
the possible familiars in the game, both standard and improved. Further, inside the book is advice for
reskinning a familiar from one type to another or even how to retain game
balance while modifying a familiar to better reflect the animal’s real
abilities.
The normal
expected items and spells are in this book. The spells are pretty much what you’d expect, though there
are some surprisingly inventive drugs and other pieces of equipment.
Archetypes
This book just
dives straight into archetypes.
First we have two pages of “Character Archetypes,” followed by two pages
of “Caster Archetypes.” I’m not
sure what differentiates the two except that the character archetypes section
includes both casters and non-casters.
What do all 8 archetypes presented have in common? Surprise, surprise! Everyone gets a familiar. Personally, I think the ones in the
character archetypes are better thought out. The familiars for the Chosen One (paladin), Eldtritch
Guardian (fighter) and Leshy Warden (druid) are all exceeding well thought out
on a flavor level and do a good job balancing their new abilities for those
that get traded out.
For instance,
the chosen one’s text mentions that she often doesn’t know that she’s a paladin
at first level, merely that she is guided by her religious mentor
(familiar). By the time the chosen
one reaches seventh level, her familiar unveils its true celestial form. A paladin following an eagle sacred to
Iomedae could be a lot of fun to play.
Perhaps a young Kellid girl develops a strong bond with an eagle that seems
less afraid of her than of other animals.
One day, she feels the eagle is trying to lead her east. Eventually she makes it to Mendev,
where she plans to join the 5th Crusade. And bam, you have a character seed for a Wrath of the
Righteous campaign right there. In
one of my homebrew settings, the Kyrii Virtu are a group of forest dwelling
humans. Because the main human god
there is a lawful good deity of home and community, my young eagle following
chosen one could just as easily worship him.
The eldritch
guardian and the leshy warden are both interesting takes on their particular
base classes. The eldritch
guardian gains a familiar and, when the two can see each other, can share feats
with his familiar. He’s also much
better attuned to detecting magical energy than the base class. I really like the idea of trading out
bravery for a +1 to mind-affecting will saves in general as well—it’s
thematically within the archetype’s range and it also does a good job beefing
up what’s generally considered one of the weaker classes. The leshy warden does a good job
incorporating the leshy (see Bestiary 3
pp. 176-180) wholistically into the class. While I don’t love this archetype in particular, it gives me
some ideas about trying to create a fey druid archetype that builds off of this
base while using the fey creature template from Bestiary 3.
I don’t much
care for the duettist, who trades several bardic abilities for the ability to
share the use of his remaining performances with his familiar. The beastblade magus was interesting—he
must take a familiar as his first magus arcana. Over time, he gets better and better at sharing touch spells
with his familiar, first having the familiar deliver them and later even able
to have a touch spell charged on the familiar and casting another spell. The homunculus alchemist gives up far
more than he gets—especially already being able to get a familiar through a
discovery. The synthesist witch
looked interesting, but complicated.
I didn’t much
care for the wizard archetypes—the familiar adept, the spirit binder and the
pact magic adept. Both get more specialized
familiars, but must trade away all the wizard bonus feats and select an
additional opposition school (even universalists). This seems like a lot to
ask. On the flavor
front, however, archetypes do excel. The familiar adept gains spells through
his familiar like a witch, while the pact magic adept’s familiar is heavily
tied to a particular outer plane (of any alignment). How to explain an evil familiar of an opposite alignment? It’s trying to tempt it’s master into
folly, of course!
Finally, the
spirit binder is REALLY interesting.
The spirit binder’s familiar used to be a close friend of relative whose
spirit the wizard has caught and tied into an animal’s body. The familiar even has some class levels
as if it was a member of the former relative’s class. The spirit binder gives up his bonus feats in favor of
granting them to the familiar, who will adopt the skills of its inhabiting
spirit as it progresses in power.
In my homebrew, there are a race of hyper-illusionist giant elephant men
called the kaluski. They are
trapped into worshipping the wendigo.
As I read through this, I started thinking about how cool it would be if
each tribe’s main wizard was a spirit binder and each of them had bound their
predecessor in accordance with the wendigo’s wishes. AND…that just became canon.
Familiar Archetypes & School Familiars
That’s
right! The crazy kids at Paizo are
giving you archetypes for your familiars as well. Familiars gain levels according to the total of character
class levels from classes that grant the familiar. At first, I was a little dubious, the first archetype, the
decoy, did not blow me away. But, there are some really interesting ideas here
that modify your basic familiar.
In particular, I really enjoyed:
·
the figment archetype (the familiar is a
manifestation of the master’s imagination),
·
the mascot (the familiar shares its bond with
more and more party members as it gains levels), and
·
the sage (the familiar has INT of 5+its level
and can make lots of untrained knowledge checks.
Skipping a
section, we also get feats (School Familiar and Greater School Familiar) that
allow wizards with a specialist school to get some awesome options for their
familiars. I have never been a big
fan of specialist wizards (or of familiars, for that matter), but these feats
could make things worthwhile. The
effects vary based on what school a wizard is specialized in. While evocation did make out pretty
well, it was nice to see some effects where I didn’t immediately think that the
evocation and transmutation skills were the best. It’s nice when enchanters and abjurers can have nice things
too.
The book has
also taken time to grant completely optional familiars to sorcerers (and anyone
with sorcerer-like powers, such as a bloodrager) and witches (same). Sorcerers trade their first level
bloodline power for the familiar and a power associated to the bloodline for
the familiar. Witches gain a power
for their familiar based on their patron, but must take their patron spells one
level later.
In a list from
most to least awesome (sort of, the top ones are all basically interchangeably
awesome), here are the wizard school familiars:
·
Necromancy
o Lesser:
Whenever familiar successfully uses aid another for an ally’s attack, that
attack deals full damage to incorporeal creatures.
o Greater:
Familiar is healed by negative energy as if undead. Familiar is immune to energy drain. Familiar is constantly under effects of
a hide from undead spell. Whenever familiar hits with a natural
attack, the creature hit takes 1 negative level.
·
Evocation
o Lesser:
Energy Boost: Familiar gains resistance 10 to a selected energy type. Whenever a spell with selected energy
type is cast while caster is within 5 feet of familiar, it does bonus damage
equal to it’s spell level.
o Greater:
Eldtrich Battery: Familiar becomes to immune to type of energy selected for
lesser power. If familiar is the
target of an evocation spell of this energy type and cast by its master, the
familiar can store the spell (including attached metamagic feats) and use the
spell later as a spell-like ability.
·
Enchantment
o Lesser:
Manipulative Abettor: If familiar shares square with target of master’s
enchantment spell, its DC increased by 2.
o Greater:
Puppet Master: Once per day familiar makes a melee touch attack. If it hits, victim must make a will
save (DC 10 + ½ familiar’s hit dice + familiar’s CHA modifier) of be affected
as if by charm monster. Effects last so long as the familiar
remains conscious and within 5 feet of victim. After an individual is affected once, immune to further uses
of this power.
·
Abjuration
o Lesser:
Energy Block: Familiar gains energy resistance equal to half caster’s level to
one type of energy and can share resistance with one ally within 5 feet of it
o Greater:
Disruptive Spirit: Whenever familiar hits an enemy with its natural attack,
victim of attack is subject to dispel
magic.
·
Illusion
o Lesser:
Illusory Maestro: Master can transfer control of illusion to his familiar for
maintaining it. This also
increases DC of resisting the illusion by 1.
o Greater:
Phantom Swarm: As a standard action, familiar can appear to be a swarm. Those who fail to disbelieve in it are
subject to swarm attack of 1d6 + familiar’s CON modifier.
·
Divination
o Lesser:
Ever Ready: Familiar and master both roll initiative. Master can assign which individual takes which
initiative. Familiar benefits from
master’s forewarned school power and always acts in surprise round.
o Greater:
Greater Scry on Familiar: Master gains scry on familiar ability and can use it
as if using greater scrying.
·
Conjuration
o Lesser:
Master’s Side: Familiar can return to master’s side 3+INT bonus as if using dimension door
o Greater:
Summoned Shell: Whenever master casts a Summon
Monster N spell, the familiar can inhabit one of the summoned monsters for
the duration of the spell
·
Transmutation
o Lesser:
Dispel bait: Caster imbues familiar with a spell from level of his choice,
losing the spell. If one of
caster’s transmutations is going to be dispelled, the familiar is within 10
feet of it, and the spell stored is equal to or higher than the transmutation
being dispelled, the familiar can use the stored spell to bring that
transmutation back immediately.
o Greater:
Infinite forms: Once per day, familiar can polymorph into any familiar (but not
improved familiars) of its choice, granting its master bonuses as if it were a
different type of animal.
Approximating Familiars
We also get
some advice on “approximating” familiars, which is the same thing as reskinning
them. This is actually super
helpful—likely especially so for Pathfinder Society players who may or may not
run into GMs that allow this sort of thing. Now, it is clear that it can be done. First off, they straight up endorse
making changes from one animal to another when the changes are pretty
obvious. When not, they make some
suggestions for how to do so without destroying the balance underlying the
game. Most of the advice is
obvious, but it’s also probably good for those that don’t sit down and meditate
on game design.
Feats
The book then
gives feats for both masters and for familiars themselves. Feats of interest include Familiar
Bond, which lets any character gain a familiar; teamwork feats to let multiple
casters deliver spells through each other’s familiars; and telepathic communication
with your familiar.
There are also feats for the familiars themselves. These include upgrades to all the
familiar archetypes through a feat.
New Items –
Mundane, Alchemical, and Magical
First of all,
we have some new drugs, which are always interesting. Felines can now be affected by catnip. There are hazemind concentrate
(ingested) and hazemind mist (inhaled) which move their victims’ attitudes to
others one step closer to indifferent.
Mundanity grease can
temporarily sever the bond between master and familiar.
The aquarium
ball and the replenishing aquarium ball
make it easier to transport aquatic familiars overland. Featherleaf
barding will help protect your familiar, and also grant some great bonuses
to flying ones. Finally, spell-sharing collars allow familiars
and animal companions holding spells and spell like abilities from their
masters to transfer the spells and abilities to other animals wearing attuned
collars.
New Familiars
We get a whole
slew of new familiars. Some of
them are so common I’m surprised
they aren’t already incorporated into the game, like the chicken. The koala and the peacock are awesome,
though not suprises that they haven’t been added quite yet. The new improved familiars, the cat
sith, the caypup, and the pseduosphinx are all awesome. They also come with full bestiary
entries and a GM could make so much trouble with a pack of cat sith in a small
town or even a city. The cat siths
may or may not be loosely based on the cats from T.S. Elliott’s Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats and
the derivative musical Cats. We’re also treated to some examples of
truly exotic familiars like the ioun wyrd, the leopard slug, and the
petrifern—the last of which is hilarious.
It’s a mobile plant that defends itself by petrifying—itself! I can just imagine some great RP
opportunities. Paladin, “The orgre
ambush has been defeated. Time to
head onwards.” Wizard, “One
second. We have to wait for Petey
the Petrifern to return to a mobile state.” Paladin, “Not again.”
New Archetypes
|
Level
|
Chosen One (Paladin archetype)
|
Notes
|
|
1
|
Aura of good, detect evil, divine emissary, religious mentor
|
|
|
2
|
Lay on hands, smite evil 1/day
|
Lay on paws; smite evil 1 level
late
|
|
3
|
Aura of courage, divine health,
mercy
|
|
|
4
|
Channel positive energy, divine grace, smite evil 2/day
|
Divine grace 1 level late; lay
on paws
|
|
5
|
|
|
|
6
|
Mercy
|
|
|
7
|
Smite evil 3/day, True Form
|
|
|
8
|
Aura of resolve
|
|
|
9
|
Mercy
|
|
|
10
|
Emissary’s smite, smite evil 4/day
|
|
|
11
|
Aura of justice
|
|
|
12
|
Mercy
|
|
|
13
|
Smite evil 5/day
|
|
|
14
|
Aura of faith
|
|
|
15
|
Mercy
|
|
|
16
|
Smite evil 6/day
|
|
|
17
|
Aura of righteousness
|
|
|
18
|
Mercy
|
|
|
19
|
Smite evil 7/day
|
|
|
20
|
Holy champion
|
|
Yellow = New Ability
Blue = Same ability, new level
Green = Ability modified
|
Level
|
Duettist (Bard archetype)
|
|
1
|
|
|
2
|
Versatile familiar, versatile performance,
|
|
3
|
Inspire competence +2
|
|
4
|
Performing familiar
|
|
5
|
Inspire Courage +2,
|
|
6
|
Suggestion, versatile
performance
|
|
7
|
Inspire competence +3
|
|
8
|
|
|
9
|
Inspire greatness
|
|
10
|
|
|
11
|
Inspire competence +4, inspire
courage +3,
|
|
12
|
Soothing Performance
|
|
13
|
|
|
14
|
|
|
15
|
Inspire competence +5, inspire
heroics
|
|
16
|
|
|
17
|
Inspire courage +4,
|
|
18
|
Mass suggestion, versatile
performance
|
|
19
|
Inspire competence +6
|
|
20
|
Deadly performance
|
Yellow = New Ability
Blue = Same ability, new level
Green = Ability modified
|
Level
|
Eldritch Guardian (Fighter
archetype)
|
|
Class
Skills
|
Climb, Craft, Handle Animal,
|
|
1
|
|
|
2
|
|
|
3
|
Armor Training 1
|
|
4
|
Bonus feat
|
|
5
|
Weapon training 1
|
|
6
|
Bonus feat,
|
|
7
|
Armor training 2
|
|
8
|
Bonus feat
|
|
9
|
Weapon training 2
|
|
10
|
Bonus feat,
|
|
11
|
Armor training 3
|
|
12
|
Bonus feat
|
|
13
|
Weapon training 3
|
|
14
|
Bonus feat,
|
|
15
|
Armor training 4
|
|
16
|
Bonus feat
|
|
17
|
Weapon training 4
|
|
18
|
Bonus feat,
|
|
19
|
Armor mastery
|
|
20
|
Bonus feat, weapon mastery
|
Yellow = New Ability
Blue = Same ability, new level
Green = Ability modified
|
Level
|
Leshy Warden (Druid archetype)
|
Notes
|
|
1
|
Green empathy, leshy caller, leshy familiar,
|
|
|
2
|
Woodland stride
|
|
|
3
|
Trackless step
|
|
|
4
|
Leshy tender, resist nature’s lure,
|
|
|
5
|
|
|
|
6
|
Wild shape 1/day
|
Small and medium plant
creatures only
|
|
7
|
|
|
|
8
|
Leshy tender, wild shape 2/day
|
Large plant creatures added
|
|
9
|
Venom immunity
|
|
|
10
|
Wild shape 3/day
|
Huge plant creatures added
|
|
11
|
|
|
|
12
|
Leshy tender, wild shape 4/day
|
|
|
13
|
|
|
|
14
|
Wild shape 5/day
|
|
|
15
|
Timeless body
|
|
|
16
|
Wild shape 6/day
|
|
|
17
|
|
|
|
18
|
Wild shape 7/day
|
|
|
19
|
|
|
|
20
|
Wild shape (at will)
|
|
Yellow = New Ability
Blue = Same ability, new level
Green = Ability modified
|
Level
|
Beastblade (Magus archetype)
|
Notes
|
|
1
|
Arcane pool, cantrips, spell
combat
|
|
|
2
|
Spellstrike
|
|
|
3
|
Magus arcana (familiar only)
|
|
|
4
|
|
|
|
5
|
Bonus feat
|
|
|
6
|
Magus arcana
|
|
|
7
|
Familiar pool,
|
|
|
8
|
Improved spell combat
|
|
|
9
|
Magus arcana
|
|
|
10
|
Fighter training
|
|
|
11
|
Bonus feat, familiar spellstrike,
|
|
|
12
|
Magus arcana
|
|
|
13
|
Heavy armor
|
|
|
14
|
Greater spell combat
|
|
|
15
|
Magus arcana
|
|
|
16
|
Counterstrike
|
|
|
17
|
Bonus feat
|
|
|
18
|
Magus arcana
|
|
|
19
|
Greater spell access
|
|
|
20
|
True magus
|
|
Yellow = New Ability
Blue = Same ability, new level
Green = Ability modified
|
Level
|
Familiar Adept (Wizard
archetype)
|
Notes
|
|
1
|
Arcane bond (familiar only), arcane school,
cantrips, extra opposition
school, Familiar spells,
focused school 1/day,
|
Uses familiar instead of
spellbooks
|
|
2
|
|
|
|
3
|
|
|
|
4
|
Familiar lesser school power
|
|
|
5
|
|
|
|
6
|
|
|
|
7
|
|
|
|
8
|
Familiar greater school power
|
|
|
9
|
|
|
|
10
|
|
|
|
11
|
|
|
|
12
|
|
|
|
13
|
|
|
|
14
|
|
|
|
15
|
Bonus feat, focused school 4/day
|
|
|
16
|
|
|
|
17
|
|
|
|
18
|
|
|
|
19
|
|
|
|
20
|
Bonus feat, focused school 5/day
|
|
Yellow = New Ability
Blue = Same ability, new level
Green = Ability modified
|
Level
|
Homunculist (Alchemist archetype)
|
|
1
|
Alchemy, bomb 1d6, brew potion,
homunculus familiar,
|
|
2
|
Discovery,
|
|
3
|
Bomb 2d6, swift alchemy
|
|
4
|
Discovery, experimentation
|
|
5
|
Bomb 3d6,
|
|
6
|
Discover, swift poisoning
|
|
7
|
Bomb 4d6
|
|
8
|
Discovery, experimentation (2
points),
|
|
9
|
Bomb 5d6
|
|
10
|
Discovery,
|
|
11
|
Bomb 6d6
|
|
12
|
Discovery, experimentation (3
points)
|
|
13
|
Bomb 7d6
|
|
14
|
Discovery, persistent mutagen
|
|
15
|
Bomb 8d6
|
|
16
|
Discovery, experimentation (4
points)
|
|
17
|
Bomb 9d6
|
|
18
|
Discovery, instant alchemy
|
|
19
|
Bomb 10d6
|
|
20
|
Grand discovery,
experimentation (5 points)
|
Yellow = New Ability
Blue = Same ability, new level
Green = Ability modified
|
Level
|
Pact Wizard Adept (Wizard
archetype)
|
|
1
|
Arcane bond (familiar only), arcane school (extra opposition
school), aura,
cantrips, pact, pact summons, scribe
scroll
|
|
2
|
|
|
3
|
|
|
4
|
|
|
5
|
Bonus feat
|
|
6
|
|
|
7
|
True form
|
|
8
|
|
|
9
|
|
|
10
|
Bonus feat
|
|
11
|
|
|
12
|
|
|
13
|
|
|
14
|
|
|
15
|
Bonus feat
|
|
16
|
|
|
17
|
|
|
18
|
|
|
19
|
|
|
20
|
Bonus feat
|
Yellow = New Ability
Blue = Same ability, new level
Green = Ability modified
|
Level
|
Spirit Binder (Wizard
archetype)
|
|
1
|
Arcane bond (soulbound familiar), arcane school (can’t oppose
necromancy), cantrips, lost talents,
|
|
2
|
|
|
3
|
|
|
4
|
|
|
5
|
|
|
6
|
|
|
7
|
|
|
8
|
|
|
9
|
|
|
10
|
|
|
11
|
|
|
12
|
|
|
13
|
|
|
14
|
|
|
15
|
|
|
16
|
|
|
17
|
|
|
18
|
|
|
19
|
|
|
20
|
|
Yellow = New Ability
Blue = Same ability, new level
Green = Ability modified
|
Level
|
Synergist (Witch archetype)
|
|
1
|
Cantrips,
|
|
2
|
Hex
|
|
3
|
|
|
4
|
Hex
|
|
5
|
|
|
6
|
Hex
|
|
7
|
|
|
8
|
|
|
9
|
|
|
10
|
Hex, major hex
|
|
11
|
|
|
12
|
Hex
|
|
13
|
|
|
14
|
|
|
15
|
|
|
16
|
Hex
|
|
17
|
|
|
18
|
Hex, grand hex
|
|
19
|
|
|
20
|
Hex
|
|
|
|
Yellow = New Ability
Blue = Same ability, new level
Green = Ability modified
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