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6:56 The book actually states: 'Your Familiar can't be an animal that naturally has more familiar abilities than your daily maximum familiar abilities'.
Regarding familiars using the Aid action, the Partner In Crime ability grants the Aid action, and only for Deception and Thievery checks. I would ask the player to take this ability ahead of time if they want to use their Familiar in combat, and use this to improve the Feint or Create A Diversion actions.
A few clarifications from further down the timeline: * Minions don't get Reactions, but some Familiar Abilities introduced in later books can give a familiar a special-use, single-use Reaction. Examples include Accompanist (Advanced Player's Guide, Aid a Performance check) and Ambassador (Grand Bazaar, Aid a Diplomacy check to Make An Impression.) Note that, again, these are specific, special-purpose actions and do not apply to combat. Otherwise, as noted, the Aid function is not normally available. * Without access to the Aid action, the owl in the example would serve as lesser cover, granting whoever's behind it +1 to AC. Note that this is still not a good idea, as this puts your familiar in the field of fire, but if you're desperate, it may be worth a try. * With no actual list of Tiny Beasts in the Bestiary, it's important to build your familiar wisely. Most birds, for example, would require Flier, while a raccoon or monkey would require Manual Dexterity. Some animals simply aren't available -- the badger mentioned in the video is actually too big at size Small. Traditional familiar animals are rat, cat, raven, snake and (believe it or not) rabbit. These animals are small enough and simple enough not to use up more ability slots than necessary, making them very flexible.
A question that didn't get covered in this video that it seems like you might know. If you give your familiar a reaction via one of the familiar abilities you have listed do they always have this reaction available or do you need to spend an action to command them like you would to give them two actions?
@@madhippy3 Because these are non-combat reactions, yes, they are always available. That said, the Aid action requires them to participate in the action, so it effectively uses up the command you would have given them anyway.
@@Wolfrover Thanks for replying so soon, it is very helpful. If I might ask another question, are these abilities strictly non-combat. I had thought I might be able to use Second Opinion to help me do Recall Knowledge checks in combat to identify monsters and weaknesses. If thats not allowed then so be it, but I would like how that would work if it could.
Cracking good lesson, mate! You made familiars really easy to understand and I truly appreciate your perspective on shutting down players vs. working within the rules for a better interpretation (even if not exactly according to Hoyle). That was really helpful and gave me some good ideas about incorporating that philosophy in my own games. Thanks again for all your hard work!
Man this channel is very quickly becoming my go to for all these rules. Subscribed and definitely going to watch a few more of you vids. Keep it up man. Awesome job.
Familiars can absolutely attack, they just can't strike. A familiar can grapple shove and trip creatures of a size up to small. A skilled (athletics familiar) can disarm, which is a neat trick to get the +2 bonus to your own disarm without cancelling it out with your MAP.
These videos are great! One correction though, your familiar can’t be an animal that naturally has more familiar abilities than your daily maximum familiar abilities. So you don't just choose two of the abilities to keep and lose the others.
I very much appreciate these videos. Very helpful to orient new players quickly. I just refer them to the rules and a few select videos and they are up to speed!
A few questions about familiars: 1. Does spell delivery mean i can deliver touch spells (regardless of its action cost) with the command a minion action or does it work like reach metamagic that i have to cast the spell 1st (spending the actions) then command the familiar (spending an action again) to deliver the spell? 2. What actions can familiars do in combat without picking a certain ability? Like can the familiar create a diversion, aid, shove small enemies, etc?
An update: TECHNICALLY, the Shadow specific familiar can Strike. However, it’s more flavor than anything. It doesn’t use its own attack roll though, instead using your spell attack roll. It’s just the originating point.
@@AjenjoAnejo didn't say I liked the owl cheese did I? But there are better work arounds than being a colossal bellend to your players because you didn't like their class choices. I feel sorry for your players if that's how you dm lol
3:47 - as a new player I have a little bit of feedback for you. I love how in-depth and thorough these videos are, but I feel like sometimes you could really do with a summary/easy way to remember a rule. When explaining a familiar's skills I feel like you do it backwards here, you start with the exceptions and then explain the general/foundational aspect. A simple "So, all of a familiar's skills are simply +(master's level), except for Perception, Acrobatics and Stealth, which are Master's Level+Master's spellcasting ability modifier. In this case, intelligence." Would've really helped give me just a simple, easy way to remember the foundation of +master's level for everything, then the three exceptions.
Yeah the whole familiar section seems a little slapped together. EG If your familiar is a creature that has one of the abilities already, one of the abilities you choose just be that ability. How do we know if it has that ability? We just go to the stat block and have a...... Oh wait stat blocks don't matter. I find it very annoying it's trying to have it both ways. And what happens if I want a my horse to be my familiar? It's tiny size?
Yeah, I know what you mean. I think the key is they don't want you to make a familiar with wings and on one day say it can fly and on the next say it can't. If flight is inherent to the creature, they want it to be always on.
@@HowItsPlayed that's why describing your familiar as a demonic or alchemical meatball that can grow wings and polymorph as needed each day seems like a good way to go.
Yeah I think Id be a little happier if they did'nt have the line "You can choose a Tiny animal you want as your familiar, such as a bat, cat, raven, or snake". And made it so a familiar is always that meatball and it can take the shape of a creature at creation.
Thanks for this video! Recently started playing Pathfinder and got the Alchemical Familiar feat. GM let me make my own custom familiar, but I had trouble trying to know whether or not if it used the Homunculus statblock or not (Since the Alchemical Familiar is basically a Homunculus) Very informative. I had a feeling it used basically none of the stats, and my familiar looks nothing like a homunculus this video clears up a lot of confusion. Familiars are neat, my only gripe with them is that they can't use the manipulate action unless you give them the ability to do so. (Which, since my GM said my familiar has hands, it is capable of taking manipulate actions. He's a good GM)
Awesome video as always! What happens if you give a continuous command to your familiar (or animal or animal companion), can it continue doing it on the next rounds? For example, if you issue your companion to attack, or your familiar to retrieve an item that is far away, will the companion keep attacking every round untill the target falls or it is killed without needing more orders? And will the familiar keep walking towards the item it should retrieve even if you don't command it every round?
That's going to be up to the GM to make a call. In my opinion if you give a follower a *simple* command that they can't complete within one round, they will continue working until they complete that command. For example, you tell them to retrieve an item that requires 2 Stride actions to get to. But I wouldn't allow a player to issue the command "attack the enemies until all of them are dead" and let the follower repeat attacks every round for the rest of the combat without the player spending any additional actions. By RAW you need to spend 1 action to give your follower 2 acts every round.
RAW says no. You give up 1 action to give them 2 if they can't complete the task in those 2 actions you need to spend another action next round to give them 2 more actions. The same goes for animal companions.
Currently getting into PF2e for a campaign I signed up for, aiming to play a Witch since I love the aesthetics of folklore witches. Thank you very much for all your videos and guides, they have been super helpful so far! Coming from 5e there are many things I really love about this system, and other things that are just baffling to me. The overall way familiars are created here is absolutely great, but giving them no clear option in fights really rubs me the wrong way, especially paired with the phrase: they are not intended to be combat buddies. Wat? Why? I really dislike the clear line they draw between in combat and out of combat so far. Man this is growing into a love/hate relationship I have with the game.
Not sure where you are with the game now, but Book of the Dead introduced a new specific familiar: the Crawling Hand. It has the Lend a Hand ability that lets it use an Aid reaction to automatically give +1 circumstance to attack rolls. That’s achievable for a witch at lvl 2 with either Familiar Master or Enhanced Familiar. Grab Improved Familiar and give it Independent, now it can Aid you without costing you an action. Could have interesting implications for a Divine Witch that uses Bless, Stoke the Heart, and their Crawling Hand to give them +2 to Attack Rolls and +1 to Damage. With new spells such as Warding Aggression or Organsight, there might be some interesting melee witch build options. This should draw attention to the familiar, so using Phase Familiar, Protect Companion, or Tough while grabbing some AC could lead to a slightly beefy familiar to help spread damage. A witch can make Oil of Unlife to help heal their Crawling Hand afterwards. Additionally, it’s very possible your familiar can use shields if you can get a tiny one. Mark said that a familiar can only reload a crossbow if it’s wielding it. That means familiars can actually wield items, they just can’t strike. Familiars can use basic actions and Raise a Shield is a basic action. The only requirement is that you are wielding a shield, which we’ve already established: familiars can wield items! Though, you may not even need to do that as a familiar standing in your space can get Lesser Cover from you. So, load up on some focus points, give your buddy a shield and choose between whether you want your familiar to tank hits or help you strike!
@@HowItsPlayed Familiar Master Dedication vs Enhanced Familiar. Other classes that may have access to Familiars. Perhaps a "Familiar Master" Wizard Build to 10th level.
For what I remember in 2e "touch spell" just means that "you have to be next to creature to use spell" and you don't need to do attack roll to hit with touch spells?
Not by default, but the spell's description may call for a spell attack roll or saving throw be made. But if it only calls for a save, you don't need to succeed with a touch attack first (unless the spell specifically says you do).
I don't think your Familiar rolls for the touch spells. The text implies you *fully and completely* cast the spell *yourself* on your Familiar who, instead of being affected, stores the spell and (kind of) "redirects" it to another target; the Familiar acts like a coundit or middle-man. It would be like if when using Chain Lightning the second target of the spell rolled against the save DC of the first target affected by the spell instead of the caster's.
Not quite. The matter only comes up if attempting to deliver a touch spell to an unwilling target, requiring the familiar to touch someone who doesn't want to be touched.
I know you've been on a 2e binge but I would love to see a series around the ultimate campaign e1 for kingdom building. Lots of videos I've watched are either of not great quality or only go surface level. I think your style fits perfect for exploring that.
Thanks for the suggestion! Every month I invite the members of my Patreon community to vote for the topics of my next videos, and I'm happy to add this to that list... but my guess is dipping into first edition isn't what they have in mind, but who knows! I've been surprised before!
I’m excited to use a familiar for my champion to have a little stealth buddy to scout for me. He’ll do a lot better than my full plate ass. And letting my squishiest Allies wear the little pipe fox as a scarf to deliver Lay on Hands could be pretty cool too
Take 'Manipulate' and 'Speach' as familiar options. Then choose 'Masters Form'. Now you have a humanoid, interactive NPC who can even offer an extra 'Action' per combat round. Have much fun and cheers fellow Casters with your future games. 😀
I'm a little confused about familiar rules. Can familiars use any skill action? Cause the text on the Familiar Master Archetype says "...to the clever monkey that picks the lock of the thief's cell" implying that they can Pick a Lock, but Ihave not found any rules about familiars and skill actions...
It's been a while since I looked it up, but I believe familiars can pretty much take any actions that make sense (i.e. they can do anything unless the GM says otherwise). As minions, the PC spends one of their actions to grant the familiar 2 actions and then the PC spends those actions to have the familiar do whatever they wish (again, limited by the GM).
Hi, new to PF and playing 2E with my friends. At 4:09, why do you add INT to the wizards acrobatics making it a +8? Liking your a lot of your videos so far!
The INT modifier does not apply to the Wizard (it only applies to their familiar). The calculation for the Wizard's Acrobatics is 4 (their level) + 2 (trained proficiency) +2 (DEX modifier) = +8
I would think it wouldn’t. The general rule is that familiars cannot use the Strike action. Moon Frenzy gives “weapons”, but the Strike action is still forbidden per rules. But if a GM thinks it makes the game more fun for everyone, then obviously that’s the right decision.
I know this is kind of an old video to be commenting on, but a question came up on my group, that I havent been able to get an answer on. Thought I would come back to this video to see if you mentioned anything about it. Your video are great, and youre pretty well versed, so im hoping you can help. If a familiar delivers vampiric touch (3rd level spell) does it gain the life, or do you?
This is one of those areas that's open to interpretation, but my take on it is the familiar is, more or less, acting as the spellcaster's hand. The utility of Spell Delivery is to allow the caster to use touch spells from a distance, and the familiar and master are connected psychically, so it makes sense to me that the master would be the one healed. That said, in my game I would probably let the player choose which gets healed because there's no definitive ruling, and I don't think either option would be particularly game-breaking.
@@HowItsPlayed thank you for the input! That's the way we were leaning for it too, so having you agree goes a long way towards a decision lol. Your videos have helped the entire group understand so many of the mechanics
I have a question: If a druid has a familiar, like an leshy and he gives the familiar the ability "speech" can it choose druidic language or would that be an anathema?
I would 100% allow it in my games, but I think RAW would be up to the GM to decide whether or not the familiar is considered to also be a "druid". And note that the rule states lower-case "druid", so it's not a mechanical thing referencing only members of the Druid class.
Great video! I know I can just home brew it, but I wish it was legal to switch out natural abilities. Like if you replace your raven's fly with borrow it causes them to loose its wings but they can now slither under ground like a snake lol. Idk can anyone think of a reason to not allow this?
So, just to clarify for myself: in PF familiars are _normal_ animals, that are bound to you? Not a Fey creature or something, that takes that form? What happens then, if your familiar, for example, gets caught in an area effect and dies from it? Do you need to find a new familiar, or can you somehow resummon or reanimate it?
In PF familiars can be pretty much anything -- "normal" animals, fey creatures, spirits, alchemical homonculi, leshies, etc. That bit of story is up to the player and GM to decide and is mostly cosmetic without any impact to the mechanics of the game. But regardless of the familiar's creature type, if the familiar dies it takes one week of downtime to find a new one.
I understand wanting to avoid "Owl is the best no matter what" problem but I feel like it could have been handled so much better than forcing you to take abilities if the animal its based on has that ability. Simply say your familair doesn't have any abilities that the animal its based on might have had. So you always have to "pay" for flight regardless.
I’m hoping to talk a GM into permitting a magic cloak as a familiar a la Dr. Strange. Hopefully if it works mechanically the same I’ll be able to pull that off!
Lost Omens Legends has this under the Baba Yaga entry: “A witch with Baba Yaga as their patron can choose an inanimate object as a familiar.” It has a witch patron entry for taking her as well. Baba Yaga as a patron to a witch would allow you to have a flying cape that is the familiar.
Can familiar drop bombs on your opponent similar to the way they deliver touch spells? Also does the familiar's attack coun against your multiple attack penalty?
The answer to the first question is a qualified yes. They'll need the Manual Dexterity ability to be able to use Interact actions with objects, after all, and either Flier or Climber for altitude if needed. The answer to the second question is no. While your familiar is attacking on your command, it is still a separate creature.
@@Wolfrover I thought Paizo shot that down. I think Mark Seifter said in a video that a familiar can’t drop bombs to deal damage because they can’t Activate the item.
So for example if i make my familiar a cat or a dog, would it have the scent ability by default since its a trait normally associated with cats or dogs?
Yes, but not for free. Every day the master selects abilities for their familiar to have (starts at 2 per day, but may increase). If your familiar is dog, you would have to spend one of those abilities on scent every day, leaving you one other to spend freely. Instead of a dog, think of a bird. If you could freely spend all of the abilities every day, then one day your bird might be able to fly, and the next it might not be able to because you decided to give it a different ability. And the rules want natural abilities to be active every day, not just some of them.
Not necessarily, and )as already stated) never for free. Not all cats and dogs are scent hunters, and you'd still have to invest the ability choice to get Scent.
How do I use the Familiar Ability [Skilled]? Imagine I get that ability and choose Medicine. How can I use that? As far as I know the Familiar rolls suck super bad, making that Ability kind of useless or just a bad choice. Please teach me masta!
It’s useless later on. Early on means your familiar can help out with things you’re not good at since it’s essentially the Untrained Improvisation feat, but better. So stuff such as Demoralize. Medicine has a problem that the familiar can’t carry the healers tool unless you use something such as Oil of Weightlessness to make it Negligible bulk or use Healing Plaster cantrip to make some healer tool mud. And since it doesn’t gain access to skill feat actions, it can only really help with reviving downed party members or helping cure status effects in combat. Later on, ya, don’t bother. The lack of proficiencies means it won’t be able to land any offensive abilities on its own. Though…there is a question I have on whether you can have your familiar stay home and use the Earn Income activity. Familiars can use trained skill actions. So, use Skilled and give it a skill for Earn Income. Leave it at home while adventuring, come back and maybe you’ll have a lil extra gil. If you’re running a Cauldron Witch, that extra gil can hopefully be used for some extra pots/oils.
So, what I am hearing is stat blocks don't matter. *laughs* Oooo this means the shape is really juat flavor, and now I have a tiny beholder familiar. *chef's kiss* perfection. *tosses silly 5e familiars on the altar of sacfrice*
A tiny creature is harder to hit than a medium creature, but full plate is better than no armor. Functionally there are a lot of reasons the animal shouldn't have the same AC, but we'll chalk it up to magic. It's to smooth out the character building, probably.
the restriction of being obligated to pick up abilities your familiar has if you make it the shape of a beast that has them is a really stupid rule! I understand making your familiar a raven alone shouldn't grant flight as an extra ability, but the form of the animal provides no statistics in anyway, and does nothing other than restrict you to obligatorily take certain abilities. I'm not restricted to only taking familiar abilities a form is capable of. I can make a turtle fly or have increased speed just fine but I can't make a raven not fly. I can't even make a bear cub without wasting both of my abilities on improved scent and climbing EVERY DAY, even if i'd rather my *bear* be more capable to swim than climb when we go on an under water adventure or have more health instead of the ability to smell. If it weren't for this rule the specific type of animal would be flavor, but now I'm incentivized to pick a type of animal that has no traits like a slug, goat, or rat, simply because you can't change the type of animal as readily as your traits. In fact you can't change it at all! You're stuck with what you pick *forever* even as you replace it after it dies, unless your DM is lenient. But if your DM is lenient why isn't flavor just free? I don't see why this rule exists, and it's consequences on the game are purely negative. It makes it so that the physical appearance of your familiar turns from pure flavor to something that has harsh restrictions and parts no benefits. I shouldn't be punished for making my familiar a dove, instead a turtle that I can make grow wings. I should either be able to swap my familiar's form whenever I pick traits, or able to make familiars of a form that has traits I don't pick up
They also make good distractions for sneaking and some have benefits like dark vision. If you cast the spell (I forget the name) that allows you to see what they see, you have dark vision. There are other things I can't remember right now.
2e.aonprd.com/Familiars.aspx There you can see all the abilities you can give your familiars. Also, if you have enough familiar abilities, you can get a specific familiar(2e.aonprd.com/Familiars.aspx?Specific=true), of which the imp and the faerie dragon are petty good.
For other people who are curious: Alchemist can, just have to use the Familiar Master (APG). If you already have a familiar, which Alch can get at level 1, instead of giving you a familiar, Familiar Master Dedication gives you the Enhanced Familiar feat instead. You can then grab Improved and Incredible Familiar later on, or even Familiar Mascot which lets you grab the Master abilities that might help a party member instead (such as an extra cantrip for the cleric, more spellslots, a way to recover a focus point for the champion, etc..)
I disagree with your interpretation of spell delivery. RAW it states that the familiar gets to use it's 2 actions as part of the casting of the touch spell. No need to use a third action to command your minion.
Yeah, this has been discussed a fair bit and I have not seen an official source ruling one way or another. But I don't read it as if the command action is rolled into the spell-casting -- seems to me they're different things. And this keeps Spell Delivery on par with Reach Spell, whereas if you didn't need to spend that action to command it would be pretty lop-sided compared to Reach.
The book states : 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. it clearly states you command your familiar and in order to command the familiar : Familiars have the minion trait (page 634), so during an encounter, they gain 2 actions in a round if you spend an action to command them. so unless you command your animal, it gets no actions and therefore cannot use its 2 actions to deliver the spell.
"Almost all characters start out trained in unarmed attacks. You can Strike with your fist or another body part, calculating your attack and damage rolls in the same way you would with a weapon... Table 6-6: Unarmed Attacks lists the statistics for an unarmed attack with a fist, though you’ll usually use the same statistics for attacks made with any other parts of your body." Note: they are characters (just not PLAYER characters). Unless specifically forbidden from an unarmed attack, they should still be able to make one (rules as written). They just suck at it, having a weak bonus to hit and no strength (so, 1d4 nonlethal, nothing else).
A great explanation and a great video. However, I think they have convoluted the familiar and have turned it into a mess. Having played the game since 1979, it seems they have implemented a system for the sake of change itself and not to further the personality and individuality of each caster's familiar. We now (it seems) have mindless little bots that we can change about just for the sake of change with no real self expression of being. This might not be the popular opinion, however it is the one i have nonetheless. Perhaps as I explore 2e further i might change my mind, however this does not bode well imho.
i dont get it why people want their Familiars be combat buddies? Familiars are helping magical bonded creatures meant to give the Player Character a "Quality of Life" ease..if you want a Fighting Companion get one but dont try to use Familiars for this...(such ppl trying to use Familiars as Combat Buddies are 100% bad Players and should go back to DnD 5e)
It seems the real strength is gonna be in Specific Familiars and what they’ll release with that. Specific Familiars sorta let you cheat by having more abilities for your familiar than what you are normally able to do. Also, they get unique abilities which have some solid niches. The Book of the Dead has a new specific familiar called Crawling Hand. It can use the Aid action to boost your attack roll. With Independent, it’s essentially a permanent +1 attack roll for whichever character stands on top of it. Which, isn’t a bad thing because that grants the familiar Lesser Cover meaning it gets a +1 to it’s AC, creating a nice little synergy. Faerie Dragon has a really strong ability that can be used 1/hour. Clockwork familiar’s Steam Screen conceals whoever is in its space, which can be a good defensive ability if you pick a ancestry feats that support that (for example, Mistsoul Undine can boosts the concealed from a 20% dodge to a 35% chance to dodge). Specific familiars seem to be the way Paizo wants to gate the power of familiars by either making them cost more or giving them negative abilities that either ups their cost or makes them vulnerable. Doing this means they can make more types of familiars that can fit a niche, whether you’re a spellcaster or not. Lastly, Improved Familiar ensures that you can always customize a specific familiar a little more than normal.
I think people often confuse familiar with animal companions because that is kinda how 5e treats them. A familiar is more like an otherworldly energy entity that takes on the form of material plane creatures and animals. While it might look like a cat it’s not a cat. I think it’s been important to differentiate and mechanically nerf familiars so that their extra abilities don’t totally make the ranger or druid’s animal companions irrelevant. You give up certain stats to be able to do other cool things with your familiar like deliver touch spells across the battlefield. I think it’s a fair exchange for the most part. But, I could see how they look crappy when comparing base stats with their animal counterparts.
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6:56 The book actually states: 'Your Familiar can't be an animal that naturally has more familiar abilities than your daily maximum familiar abilities'.
Regarding familiars using the Aid action, the Partner In Crime ability grants the Aid action, and only for Deception and Thievery checks. I would ask the player to take this ability ahead of time if they want to use their Familiar in combat, and use this to improve the Feint or Create A Diversion actions.
I get it, familiars don't fight in movies, they spy and stand ominously with their master.
But Iago can carry a genie's lamp....
Man, that video helped me out so much. One player decided to go for a witch and I couldn't figure out the whole familiar thing. Got it now, thank you!
A few clarifications from further down the timeline:
* Minions don't get Reactions, but some Familiar Abilities introduced in later books can give a familiar a special-use, single-use Reaction. Examples include Accompanist (Advanced Player's Guide, Aid a Performance check) and Ambassador (Grand Bazaar, Aid a Diplomacy check to Make An Impression.) Note that, again, these are specific, special-purpose actions and do not apply to combat. Otherwise, as noted, the Aid function is not normally available.
* Without access to the Aid action, the owl in the example would serve as lesser cover, granting whoever's behind it +1 to AC. Note that this is still not a good idea, as this puts your familiar in the field of fire, but if you're desperate, it may be worth a try.
* With no actual list of Tiny Beasts in the Bestiary, it's important to build your familiar wisely. Most birds, for example, would require Flier, while a raccoon or monkey would require Manual Dexterity. Some animals simply aren't available -- the badger mentioned in the video is actually too big at size Small. Traditional familiar animals are rat, cat, raven, snake and (believe it or not) rabbit. These animals are small enough and simple enough not to use up more ability slots than necessary, making them very flexible.
A question that didn't get covered in this video that it seems like you might know. If you give your familiar a reaction via one of the familiar abilities you have listed do they always have this reaction available or do you need to spend an action to command them like you would to give them two actions?
@@madhippy3 Because these are non-combat reactions, yes, they are always available. That said, the Aid action requires them to participate in the action, so it effectively uses up the command you would have given them anyway.
@@Wolfrover Thanks for replying so soon, it is very helpful. If I might ask another question, are these abilities strictly non-combat. I had thought I might be able to use Second Opinion to help me do Recall Knowledge checks in combat to identify monsters and weaknesses. If thats not allowed then so be it, but I would like how that would work if it could.
Cracking good lesson, mate! You made familiars really easy to understand and I truly appreciate your perspective on shutting down players vs. working within the rules for a better interpretation (even if not exactly according to Hoyle). That was really helpful and gave me some good ideas about incorporating that philosophy in my own games. Thanks again for all your hard work!
Thanks for the kind words. I'm glad to hear the videos are helping!
Man this channel is very quickly becoming my go to for all these rules. Subscribed and definitely going to watch a few more of you vids. Keep it up man. Awesome job.
Awesome! I'm glad the videos are helping!
Familiars can absolutely attack, they just can't strike. A familiar can grapple shove and trip creatures of a size up to small. A skilled (athletics familiar) can disarm, which is a neat trick to get the +2 bonus to your own disarm without cancelling it out with your MAP.
Good point!
Great video, clear info and very straightforward!
Thanks!
These videos are great! One correction though, your familiar can’t be an animal that naturally has more familiar abilities than your daily maximum familiar abilities. So you don't just choose two of the abilities to keep and lose the others.
Thanks for these vids! Made a lot of things clearer for me. I'm really hoping you cover summoned creatures, too!
Thanks for the suggestion! I do a monthly poll on my Patreon for people to vote on what videos I make. I'll be sure to include Summoned Creatures.
I very much appreciate these videos. Very helpful to orient new players quickly. I just refer them to the rules and a few select videos and they are up to speed!
Thanks! I'm glad to hear they are helping.
Thank you, again, for this excellent series.
You're welcome! :)
Thank you so much for the helpful videos! What I'd find incredibly useful is a video on runes. I just can't wrap my head around how they work!
Thanks for the suggestion! I'll add it to the monthly poll.
A few questions about familiars:
1. Does spell delivery mean i can deliver touch spells (regardless of its action cost) with the command a minion action or does it work like reach metamagic that i have to cast the spell 1st (spending the actions) then command the familiar (spending an action again) to deliver the spell?
2. What actions can familiars do in combat without picking a certain ability? Like can the familiar create a diversion, aid, shove small enemies, etc?
An update: TECHNICALLY, the Shadow specific familiar can Strike. However, it’s more flavor than anything.
It doesn’t use its own attack roll though, instead using your spell attack roll. It’s just the originating point.
Getting rid of 5e's Owl-cheese was probably a smart move.
good DMs would just have a larger bird/spider eat the owl.
@@zarthemad8386 I hit it with magic missile. Clever but silly.
@@zarthemad8386 yes... good dm's would just kill their players pet because it irritates them
@@LOVESGOBLINS1996 Ok loveshasbro
@@AjenjoAnejo didn't say I liked the owl cheese did I? But there are better work arounds than being a colossal bellend to your players because you didn't like their class choices. I feel sorry for your players if that's how you dm lol
Great video! Really cleared thing up for me.
Once again,thanks so much. I think with your videos my prescription is repeat as necessary.
You're very welcome!
Omg! This is an awesome video! 👀👌
3:47 - as a new player I have a little bit of feedback for you. I love how in-depth and thorough these videos are, but I feel like sometimes you could really do with a summary/easy way to remember a rule. When explaining a familiar's skills I feel like you do it backwards here, you start with the exceptions and then explain the general/foundational aspect.
A simple "So, all of a familiar's skills are simply +(master's level), except for Perception, Acrobatics and Stealth, which are Master's Level+Master's spellcasting ability modifier. In this case, intelligence." Would've really helped give me just a simple, easy way to remember the foundation of +master's level for everything, then the three exceptions.
Clearly stated... Thanks!
My pleasure!
Thank you for this, my brain was hurting *Thumbs up*
Glad I could help!
Thanks! This really helps :)
Glad to hear it!
Yeah the whole familiar section seems a little slapped together. EG If your familiar is a creature that has one of the abilities already, one of the abilities you choose just be that ability. How do we know if it has that ability? We just go to the stat block and have a...... Oh wait stat blocks don't matter. I find it very annoying it's trying to have it both ways. And what happens if I want a my horse to be my familiar? It's tiny size?
Yeah, I know what you mean. I think the key is they don't want you to make a familiar with wings and on one day say it can fly and on the next say it can't. If flight is inherent to the creature, they want it to be always on.
@@HowItsPlayed that's why describing your familiar as a demonic or alchemical meatball that can grow wings and polymorph as needed each day seems like a good way to go.
Agreed!
Yeah I think Id be a little happier if they did'nt have the line "You can choose a Tiny animal you want as your
familiar, such as a bat, cat, raven, or snake". And made it so a familiar is always that meatball and it can take the shape of a creature at creation.
Thanks for this video! Recently started playing Pathfinder and got the Alchemical Familiar feat. GM let me make my own custom familiar, but I had trouble trying to know whether or not if it used the Homunculus statblock or not (Since the Alchemical Familiar is basically a Homunculus) Very informative. I had a feeling it used basically none of the stats, and my familiar looks nothing like a homunculus this video clears up a lot of confusion.
Familiars are neat, my only gripe with them is that they can't use the manipulate action unless you give them the ability to do so. (Which, since my GM said my familiar has hands, it is capable of taking manipulate actions. He's a good GM)
Awesome video as always! What happens if you give a continuous command to your familiar (or animal or animal companion), can it continue doing it on the next rounds? For example, if you issue your companion to attack, or your familiar to retrieve an item that is far away, will the companion keep attacking every round untill the target falls or it is killed without needing more orders? And will the familiar keep walking towards the item it should retrieve even if you don't command it every round?
That's going to be up to the GM to make a call. In my opinion if you give a follower a *simple* command that they can't complete within one round, they will continue working until they complete that command. For example, you tell them to retrieve an item that requires 2 Stride actions to get to. But I wouldn't allow a player to issue the command "attack the enemies until all of them are dead" and let the follower repeat attacks every round for the rest of the combat without the player spending any additional actions.
By RAW you need to spend 1 action to give your follower 2 acts every round.
RAW says no. You give up 1 action to give them 2 if they can't complete the task in those 2 actions you need to spend another action next round to give them 2 more actions. The same goes for animal companions.
I find it weird they have such a limited range of interactions but enemies can interact perfectly fine with them. Very one sided.
Currently getting into PF2e for a campaign I signed up for, aiming to play a Witch since I love the aesthetics of folklore witches. Thank you very much for all your videos and guides, they have been super helpful so far!
Coming from 5e there are many things I really love about this system, and other things that are just baffling to me. The overall way familiars are created here is absolutely great, but giving them no clear option in fights really rubs me the wrong way, especially paired with the phrase: they are not intended to be combat buddies. Wat? Why? I really dislike the clear line they draw between in combat and out of combat so far.
Man this is growing into a love/hate relationship I have with the game.
Not sure where you are with the game now, but Book of the Dead introduced a new specific familiar: the Crawling Hand.
It has the Lend a Hand ability that lets it use an Aid reaction to automatically give +1 circumstance to attack rolls. That’s achievable for a witch at lvl 2 with either Familiar Master or Enhanced Familiar. Grab Improved Familiar and give it Independent, now it can Aid you without costing you an action.
Could have interesting implications for a Divine Witch that uses Bless, Stoke the Heart, and their Crawling Hand to give them +2 to Attack Rolls and +1 to Damage.
With new spells such as Warding Aggression or Organsight, there might be some interesting melee witch build options.
This should draw attention to the familiar, so using Phase Familiar, Protect Companion, or Tough while grabbing some AC could lead to a slightly beefy familiar to help spread damage.
A witch can make Oil of Unlife to help heal their Crawling Hand afterwards. Additionally, it’s very possible your familiar can use shields if you can get a tiny one.
Mark said that a familiar can only reload a crossbow if it’s wielding it. That means familiars can actually wield items, they just can’t strike. Familiars can use basic actions and Raise a Shield is a basic action. The only requirement is that you are wielding a shield, which we’ve already established: familiars can wield items! Though, you may not even need to do that as a familiar standing in your space can get Lesser Cover from you.
So, load up on some focus points, give your buddy a shield and choose between whether you want your familiar to tank hits or help you strike!
An *advanced* Familiars video would be great.
What kind of topics would you like to see covered in an advanced familiars video?
@@HowItsPlayed Familiar Master Dedication vs Enhanced Familiar. Other classes that may have access to Familiars. Perhaps a "Familiar Master" Wizard Build to 10th level.
Question on the Familiar Spellcasting ability, does the spell it picks count againist your spells per day or is it, its own ability?
For what I remember in 2e "touch spell" just means that "you have to be next to creature to use spell" and you don't need to do attack roll to hit with touch spells?
Not by default, but the spell's description may call for a spell attack roll or saving throw be made. But if it only calls for a save, you don't need to succeed with a touch attack first (unless the spell specifically says you do).
I don't think your Familiar rolls for the touch spells. The text implies you *fully and completely* cast the spell *yourself* on your Familiar who, instead of being affected, stores the spell and (kind of) "redirects" it to another target; the Familiar acts like a coundit or middle-man. It would be like if when using Chain Lightning the second target of the spell rolled against the save DC of the first target affected by the spell instead of the caster's.
Not quite. The matter only comes up if attempting to deliver a touch spell to an unwilling target, requiring the familiar to touch someone who doesn't want to be touched.
I know you've been on a 2e binge but I would love to see a series around the ultimate campaign e1 for kingdom building. Lots of videos I've watched are either of not great quality or only go surface level. I think your style fits perfect for exploring that.
Thanks for the suggestion! Every month I invite the members of my Patreon community to vote for the topics of my next videos, and I'm happy to add this to that list... but my guess is dipping into first edition isn't what they have in mind, but who knows! I've been surprised before!
Thank you so much!!
I’m excited to use a familiar for my champion to have a little stealth buddy to scout for me. He’ll do a lot better than my full plate ass.
And letting my squishiest Allies wear the little pipe fox as a scarf to deliver Lay on Hands could be pretty cool too
Take 'Manipulate' and 'Speach' as familiar options. Then choose 'Masters Form'. Now you have a humanoid, interactive NPC who can even offer an extra 'Action' per combat round. Have much fun and cheers fellow Casters with your future games. 😀
I'm a little confused about familiar rules. Can familiars use any skill action? Cause the text on the Familiar Master Archetype says "...to the clever monkey that picks the lock of the thief's cell" implying that they can Pick a Lock, but Ihave not found any rules about familiars and skill actions...
It's been a while since I looked it up, but I believe familiars can pretty much take any actions that make sense (i.e. they can do anything unless the GM says otherwise). As minions, the PC spends one of their actions to grant the familiar 2 actions and then the PC spends those actions to have the familiar do whatever they wish (again, limited by the GM).
Hi, new to PF and playing 2E with my friends. At 4:09, why do you add INT to the wizards acrobatics making it a +8? Liking your a lot of your videos so far!
The INT modifier does not apply to the Wizard (it only applies to their familiar). The calculation for the Wizard's Acrobatics is 4 (their level) + 2 (trained proficiency) +2 (DEX modifier) = +8
@How It's Played ohhh okay thank you! Glad that you're still answering comments on year old videos haha
Can I cast Moon Frenzy on a familiar? Thus making it able to attack?
Interesting! Yes, I think you could do that.
I would think it wouldn’t. The general rule is that familiars cannot use the Strike action. Moon Frenzy gives “weapons”, but the Strike action is still forbidden per rules. But if a GM thinks it makes the game more fun for everyone, then obviously that’s the right decision.
I know this is kind of an old video to be commenting on, but a question came up on my group, that I havent been able to get an answer on. Thought I would come back to this video to see if you mentioned anything about it. Your video are great, and youre pretty well versed, so im hoping you can help. If a familiar delivers vampiric touch (3rd level spell) does it gain the life, or do you?
This is one of those areas that's open to interpretation, but my take on it is the familiar is, more or less, acting as the spellcaster's hand. The utility of Spell Delivery is to allow the caster to use touch spells from a distance, and the familiar and master are connected psychically, so it makes sense to me that the master would be the one healed.
That said, in my game I would probably let the player choose which gets healed because there's no definitive ruling, and I don't think either option would be particularly game-breaking.
@@HowItsPlayed thank you for the input! That's the way we were leaning for it too, so having you agree goes a long way towards a decision lol. Your videos have helped the entire group understand so many of the mechanics
I have a question:
If a druid has a familiar, like an leshy and he gives the familiar the ability "speech" can it choose druidic language or would that be an anathema?
I would 100% allow it in my games, but I think RAW would be up to the GM to decide whether or not the familiar is considered to also be a "druid". And note that the rule states lower-case "druid", so it's not a mechanical thing referencing only members of the Druid class.
Great video! I know I can just home brew it, but I wish it was legal to switch out natural abilities. Like if you replace your raven's fly with borrow it causes them to loose its wings but they can now slither under ground like a snake lol. Idk can anyone think of a reason to not allow this?
So, just to clarify for myself: in PF familiars are _normal_ animals, that are bound to you? Not a Fey creature or something, that takes that form?
What happens then, if your familiar, for example, gets caught in an area effect and dies from it? Do you need to find a new familiar, or can you somehow resummon or reanimate it?
In PF familiars can be pretty much anything -- "normal" animals, fey creatures, spirits, alchemical homonculi, leshies, etc. That bit of story is up to the player and GM to decide and is mostly cosmetic without any impact to the mechanics of the game. But regardless of the familiar's creature type, if the familiar dies it takes one week of downtime to find a new one.
Would all this apply to corgi mounts as well for sprite race?
I understand wanting to avoid "Owl is the best no matter what" problem but I feel like it could have been handled so much better than forcing you to take abilities if the animal its based on has that ability.
Simply say your familair doesn't have any abilities that the animal its based on might have had. So you always have to "pay" for flight regardless.
Were specific familiars after this video? Not that it would really change much that give more options for players :D
Right -- specific familiars came out after this video was produced. Sadly, I haven't gotten around to making a video covering them yet.
I’m hoping to talk a GM into permitting a magic cloak as a familiar a la Dr. Strange. Hopefully if it works mechanically the same I’ll be able to pull that off!
Lost Omens Legends has this under the Baba Yaga entry: “A witch with Baba Yaga as their patron can choose an inanimate object as a familiar.” It has a witch patron entry for taking her as well. Baba Yaga as a patron to a witch would allow you to have a flying cape that is the familiar.
Can familiar drop bombs on your opponent similar to the way they deliver touch spells? Also does the familiar's attack coun against your multiple attack penalty?
The answer to the first question is a qualified yes. They'll need the Manual Dexterity ability to be able to use Interact actions with objects, after all, and either Flier or Climber for altitude if needed.
The answer to the second question is no. While your familiar is attacking on your command, it is still a separate creature.
@@Wolfrover I thought Paizo shot that down. I think Mark Seifter said in a video that a familiar can’t drop bombs to deal damage because they can’t Activate the item.
So for example if i make my familiar a cat or a dog, would it have the scent ability by default since its a trait normally associated with cats or dogs?
Yes, but not for free. Every day the master selects abilities for their familiar to have (starts at 2 per day, but may increase). If your familiar is dog, you would have to spend one of those abilities on scent every day, leaving you one other to spend freely. Instead of a dog, think of a bird. If you could freely spend all of the abilities every day, then one day your bird might be able to fly, and the next it might not be able to because you decided to give it a different ability. And the rules want natural abilities to be active every day, not just some of them.
Not necessarily, and )as already stated) never for free. Not all cats and dogs are scent hunters, and you'd still have to invest the ability choice to get Scent.
How do I use the Familiar Ability [Skilled]?
Imagine I get that ability and choose Medicine. How can I use that? As far as I know the Familiar rolls suck super bad, making that Ability kind of useless or just a bad choice. Please teach me masta!
It’s useless later on.
Early on means your familiar can help out with things you’re not good at since it’s essentially the Untrained Improvisation feat, but better. So stuff such as Demoralize. Medicine has a problem that the familiar can’t carry the healers tool unless you use something such as Oil of Weightlessness to make it Negligible bulk or use Healing Plaster cantrip to make some healer tool mud. And since it doesn’t gain access to skill feat actions, it can only really help with reviving downed party members or helping cure status effects in combat.
Later on, ya, don’t bother. The lack of proficiencies means it won’t be able to land any offensive abilities on its own.
Though…there is a question I have on whether you can have your familiar stay home and use the Earn Income activity. Familiars can use trained skill actions. So, use Skilled and give it a skill for Earn Income. Leave it at home while adventuring, come back and maybe you’ll have a lil extra gil. If you’re running a Cauldron Witch, that extra gil can hopefully be used for some extra pots/oils.
So what is the main reason for familiars then? Exploration? And? Sorry. I am a newbie to Pathfinder.
So, what I am hearing is stat blocks don't matter. *laughs*
Oooo this means the shape is really juat flavor, and now I have a tiny beholder familiar.
*chef's kiss* perfection.
*tosses silly 5e familiars on the altar of sacfrice*
I don't understand why Paizo gave familars the same AC as their master. Why should a tiny creature be just as easy to hit as a medium sized creature?
A tiny creature is harder to hit than a medium creature, but full plate is better than no armor. Functionally there are a lot of reasons the animal shouldn't have the same AC, but we'll chalk it up to magic. It's to smooth out the character building, probably.
Build your own familiar idea : Great
The actual mechanics : Beyond Terrible
the restriction of being obligated to pick up abilities your familiar has if you make it the shape of a beast that has them is a really stupid rule!
I understand making your familiar a raven alone shouldn't grant flight as an extra ability, but the form of the animal provides no statistics in anyway, and does nothing other than restrict you to obligatorily take certain abilities.
I'm not restricted to only taking familiar abilities a form is capable of. I can make a turtle fly or have increased speed just fine but I can't make a raven not fly. I can't even make a bear cub without wasting both of my abilities on improved scent and climbing EVERY DAY, even if i'd rather my *bear* be more capable to swim than climb when we go on an under water adventure or have more health instead of the ability to smell.
If it weren't for this rule the specific type of animal would be flavor, but now I'm incentivized to pick a type of animal that has no traits like a slug, goat, or rat, simply because you can't change the type of animal as readily as your traits. In fact you can't change it at all! You're stuck with what you pick *forever* even as you replace it after it dies, unless your DM is lenient.
But if your DM is lenient why isn't flavor just free?
I don't see why this rule exists, and it's consequences on the game are purely negative. It makes it so that the physical appearance of your familiar turns from pure flavor to something that has harsh restrictions and parts no benefits. I shouldn't be punished for making my familiar a dove, instead a turtle that I can make grow wings. I should either be able to swap my familiar's form whenever I pick traits, or able to make familiars of a form that has traits I don't pick up
WTF are familiars even for? Are they just there as a good way to deliver touch spells?
They also make good distractions for sneaking and some have benefits like dark vision. If you cast the spell (I forget the name) that allows you to see what they see, you have dark vision. There are other things I can't remember right now.
2e.aonprd.com/Familiars.aspx
There you can see all the abilities you can give your familiars.
Also, if you have enough familiar abilities, you can get a specific familiar(2e.aonprd.com/Familiars.aspx?Specific=true), of which the imp and the faerie dragon are petty good.
Have my witch fim as a scout
Sucks that alchemists can't get enhanced familiar.
For other people who are curious:
Alchemist can, just have to use the Familiar Master (APG). If you already have a familiar, which Alch can get at level 1, instead of giving you a familiar, Familiar Master Dedication gives you the Enhanced Familiar feat instead. You can then grab Improved and Incredible Familiar later on, or even Familiar Mascot which lets you grab the Master abilities that might help a party member instead (such as an extra cantrip for the cleric, more spellslots, a way to recover a focus point for the champion, etc..)
I disagree with your interpretation of spell delivery. RAW it states that the familiar gets to use it's 2 actions as part of the casting of the touch spell. No need to use a third action to command your minion.
Yeah, this has been discussed a fair bit and I have not seen an official source ruling one way or another. But I don't read it as if the command action is rolled into the spell-casting -- seems to me they're different things. And this keeps Spell Delivery on par with Reach Spell, whereas if you didn't need to spend that action to command it would be pretty lop-sided compared to Reach.
The book states : 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.
it clearly states you command your familiar and in order to command the familiar :
Familiars have the minion trait (page 634), so during
an encounter, they gain 2 actions in a round if you spend
an action to command them.
so unless you command your animal, it gets no actions and therefore cannot use its 2 actions to deliver the spell.
"Almost all characters start out trained in unarmed attacks. You can Strike with your fist or another body part, calculating your attack and damage rolls in the same way you would with a weapon...
Table 6-6: Unarmed Attacks lists the statistics for an unarmed attack with a fist, though you’ll usually use the same statistics for attacks made with any other parts of your body."
Note: they are characters (just not PLAYER characters). Unless specifically forbidden from an unarmed attack, they should still be able to make one (rules as written). They just suck at it, having a weak bonus to hit and no strength (so, 1d4 nonlethal, nothing else).
A great explanation and a great video. However, I think they have convoluted the familiar and have turned it into a mess. Having played the game since 1979, it seems they have implemented a system for the sake of change itself and not to further the personality and individuality of each caster's familiar. We now (it seems) have mindless little bots that we can change about just for the sake of change with no real self expression of being. This might not be the popular opinion, however it is the one i have nonetheless. Perhaps as I explore 2e further i might change my mind, however this does not bode well imho.
I still prefer my Cloakwork raven they way it is now personally don’t like the second edition Familiar system.
i dont get it why people want their Familiars be combat buddies? Familiars are helping magical bonded creatures meant to give the Player Character a "Quality of Life" ease..if you want a Fighting Companion get one but dont try to use Familiars for this...(such ppl trying to use Familiars as Combat Buddies are 100% bad Players and should go back to DnD 5e)
Worst familiar system... ever.
It seems the real strength is gonna be in Specific Familiars and what they’ll release with that.
Specific Familiars sorta let you cheat by having more abilities for your familiar than what you are normally able to do. Also, they get unique abilities which have some solid niches.
The Book of the Dead has a new specific familiar called Crawling Hand. It can use the Aid action to boost your attack roll. With Independent, it’s essentially a permanent +1 attack roll for whichever character stands on top of it. Which, isn’t a bad thing because that grants the familiar Lesser Cover meaning it gets a +1 to it’s AC, creating a nice little synergy.
Faerie Dragon has a really strong ability that can be used 1/hour.
Clockwork familiar’s Steam Screen conceals whoever is in its space, which can be a good defensive ability if you pick a ancestry feats that support that (for example, Mistsoul Undine can boosts the concealed from a 20% dodge to a 35% chance to dodge).
Specific familiars seem to be the way Paizo wants to gate the power of familiars by either making them cost more or giving them negative abilities that either ups their cost or makes them vulnerable. Doing this means they can make more types of familiars that can fit a niche, whether you’re a spellcaster or not. Lastly, Improved Familiar ensures that you can always customize a specific familiar a little more than normal.
@@toodleselnoodos6738 Very good to know, thanks for the update
I think people often confuse familiar with animal companions because that is kinda how 5e treats them. A familiar is more like an otherworldly energy entity that takes on the form of material plane creatures and animals. While it might look like a cat it’s not a cat. I think it’s been important to differentiate and mechanically nerf familiars so that their extra abilities don’t totally make the ranger or druid’s animal companions irrelevant. You give up certain stats to be able to do other cool things with your familiar like deliver touch spells across the battlefield. I think it’s a fair exchange for the most part. But, I could see how they look crappy when comparing base stats with their animal counterparts.
Wow 2nd edition sucks so much ass
Familiars sound absolutely terrible and useless.
... familiars were overly complicated in DnD.... this makes them even worse.