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Chapter 3: Classes / Companions

Familiars

Source Player Core pg. 212
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 (page 259), 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

Source Player Core pg. 212
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

Source Player Core pg. 212
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

Source Player Core pg. 212
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

Source Player Core pg. 212
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, page 259) as a familiar ability: amphibious, burrower, climber, darkvision, echolocation, fast movement, flier, manual dexterity, scent, or tough (see the sidebar).

Master Abilities

Source Player Core pg. 214
Master abilities primarily affect you or the magic that passes between you and your familiar.