
Archives of Nethys

Archives of Nethys

Pathfinder RPG (1st Edition) Pathfinder RPG (2nd Edition) Starfinder RPG

Alchemist | Barbarian | Bard | Champion | Cleric | Druid | Fighter | Gunslinger | Inventor | Investigator | Kineticist | Magus | Monk | Oracle | Psychic | Ranger | Rogue | Sorcerer | Summoner | Swashbuckler | Thaumaturge | Witch | Wizard

Animal Companions | Construct Companions | Eidolons | Familiar Abilities | Specific Familiars | Undead Companions

Familiars

Source Player Core pg. 212 2.0
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.

Click here for the full rules on Familiars.

Familiar Abilities

Accompanist (Player Core pg. 212 2.0): 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.
Alchemical Gut (Treasure Vault pg. 51 1.1): Your familiar can act as a bomb coagulant alembic by swallowing the bomb to be affected, which takes two Interact actions from it and one from you. Your familiar regurgitates the concentrated item 1 minute later. If your familiar tries to distill a bomb that's level is higher than your own —1, it instead takes damage as though it were successfully struck with the bomb.
Ambassador (Grand Bazaar pg. 34): Your familiar knows how to act cute or focused on cue, helping you make a good impression. 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 Diplomacy check to Make an Impression (it still has to prepare to help you as normal for the Aid reaction, which requires it to participate throughout the activity). 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.
Amphibious (Player Core pg. 259 2.0): Your familiar 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 (Player Core pg. 259 2.0): Your familiar gains a burrow Speed of 5 feet, allowing it to dig Tiny holes.
Climber (Player Core pg. 259 2.0): Your familiar gains a climb Speed of 25 feet.
Construct (Player Core pg. 212 2.0): 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 to select this.
Damage Avoidance (Player Core pg. 212 2.0): 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.
Darkeater (Secrets of Magic pg. 229 1.1): Your familiar naturally recovers in the shadows. After spending 10 consecutive minutes in an area of dim light or darkness, your familiar recovers a number of Hit Points equal to half your level. This ability is for a shadow familiar. A shadowcaster, however, can select this ability for any kind of familiar.
Darkvision (Player Core pg. 259 2.0): Your familiar gains darkvision.
Dragon (Player Core pg. 212 2.0): Your familiar has the dragon trait instead of the animal trait.
Echolocation (Player Core pg. 259 2.0): Your familiar can use hearing as a precise sense within 20 feet.
Elemental (Player Core pg. 212 2.0): 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.
Fast Movement (Player Core pg. 259 2.0): Increase one of your familiar's Speeds from 25 feet to 40 feet.
Flier (Player Core pg. 259 2.0): Your familiar gains a fly Speed of 25 feet.
Focused Rejuvenation (Player Core pg. 212 2.0): When you Refocus, you generate magical energy that heals your familiar. Your familiar regains 1 Hit Point per level whenever you Refocus.
Fungus (Player Core pg. 212 2.0): Your familiar has the fungus trait instead of the animal trait.
Gills (Grand Bazaar pg. 34): Your familiar grows a set of gills, allowing it to breathe water in addition to air.
Greater Resistance (Grand Bazaar pg. 34): Your familiar increases the resistance it gains from its resistance familiar ability to 3 + half your level. Your familiar must have the resistance ability to select this.
Independent (Player Core pg. 212 2.0): 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.
Item Delivery (Player Core 2 pg. 170): If your familiar is adjacent to you, you can Command it to deliver an item. Instead of its normal 2 actions, your familiar Interacts to take an item you’re holding of light Bulk or less, then takes one move action, then finally Interacts to pass off the item to another willing creature. It can instead administer the item to the creature if it can do so with 1 action and has an appropriate type of item (such as alchemical elixir). If your familiar doesn’t reach the target this turn, it holds the item until commanded otherwise. Your familiar must have the manual dexterity ability to select this.
Jet (Rage of Elements pg. 42 2.0): Your familiar can use bursts of elemental energy or magic to Leap up to 30 feet in any direction, even if that would exceed its normal maximum distance for leaping. The Leap must begin and end on a solid surface capable of supporting the familiar.
Kinspeech (Player Core pg. 212 2.0): 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.
Lab Assistant (Core Rulebook pg. 218 4.0): It can use your Quick Alchemy action. You must have Quick Alchemy, and your familiar must be in your space. This has the same cost and requirement as if you used it. It must have the manual dexterity ability to select this.
Levitator (Rage of Elements pg. 42 2.0): Using magnetism, magic, or other forces, your familiar can float up to 3 feet above solid and liquid surfaces while moving at a Speed of 25 feet. This allows it to ignore difficult terrain and damaging effects related to coming into direct contact with the surface. It typically allows the familiar to also avoid triggering the reactions of hazards that require you to step on them or an attached pressure plate.
Major Resistance (Player Core pg. 213 2.0): 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.
Manual Dexterity (Player Core pg. 259 2.0): Your familiar can use up to two of its limbs as if they were hands to perform manipulate actions.
Master's Form (Player Core pg. 213 2.0): 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 (Player Core pg. 213 2.0): 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 (Player Core pg. 213 2.0): Your familiar has the plant trait instead of the animal trait.
Plant Form (Player Core pg. 213 2.0): 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 (Player Core pg. 213 2.0): 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.
Scent (Player Core pg. 259 2.0): Your familiar can use scent as an imprecise sense within 30 feet
Second Opinion (Player Core 2 pg. 170): Your familiar is your academic confidant. 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 Recall Knowledge skill check for a skill in which it has the skilled familiar ability (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.
Shadow Step (Secrets of Magic pg. 229 1.1): This ability is for a shadow familiar. A shadowcaster, however, can select this ability for any kind of familiar. Your familiar gains the Shadow Step action. You must be at least 7th level to select this familiar ability for your familiar.
Shadow Step [one-action] (conjuration, shadow, teleportation) Requirements The familiar is in dim light or darkness. Effect The familiar teleports itself up to 30 feet. The destination must be in dim light or darkness and must be within your familiar's line of sight and line of effect. This action has the trait matching your tradition of magic, or occult if you aren't a spellcaster.
Skilled (Player Core pg. 213 2.0): 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.
Snoop (Grand Bazaar pg. 34): Your familiar keeps its eyes and ears open, ready to relay every snippet of gossip it catches, helping you gather information. 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 Diplomacy check to Gather Information (it still has to prepare to help you as normal for the Aid reaction, which requires it to participate throughout the activity). 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.
Speech (Player Core pg. 213 2.0): Your familiar understands and speaks a language you know.
Spellcasting (Player Core pg. 213 2.0): 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.
Threat Display (Grand Bazaar pg. 34): Your familiar helps you convey wordless threats through body language. Whenever you attempt an Intimidation check to Demoralize a creature, if your familiar is within 30 feet of your target and can act, it accompanies you with snarls, hisses, or raising its hackles. If it can do so, you don't take the normal –4 penalty on the Intimidation check if your target doesn't understand the language you're speaking.
Toolbearer (Player Core pg. 213 2.0): 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 (Player Core pg. 213 2.0): 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.
Tough (Player Core pg. 259 2.0): Your familiar's max HP increase by 2 per level.
Tremorsense (Grand Bazaar pg. 34): Your familiar is keenly aware of any vibrations traveling through a surface. It gains imprecise tremorsense with a range of 30 feet.
Valet (Player Core pg. 213 2.0): 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.
Wavesense (Grand Bazaar pg. 34): Your familiar can sense vibrations in the water. It gains imprecise wavesense with a range of 30 feet.

Master Abilities

Absorb Familiar (Player Core pg. 214 2.0): 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 (Player Core pg. 214 2.0): 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.
Extra Alchemy (Player Core 2 pg. 170): Your familiar helps you brew items at the start of the day. You can create one additional item with advanced alchemy during your daily preparations.
Extra Vial (Player Core 2 pg. 170): Your familiar accretes alchemical liquids in its body. Once per day, you can Interact when your familiar is adjacent to you to gain a versatile vial.
Familiar Focus (Player Core pg. 214 2.0): 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 (Player Core pg. 214 2.0): 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 (Player Core pg. 214 2.0): 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.
Recall Familiar (Player Core pg. 214 2.0): 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 (Player Core pg. 214 2.0): 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).
Share Senses (Player Core pg. 214 2.0): 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 (Player Core pg. 214 2.0): 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 (Player Core pg. 214 2.0): 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.
Tattoo Transformation (Grand Bazaar pg. 34): Your familiar can transform into a tattoo you carry on your flesh. When transformed into a tattoo, the familiar looks like a colorful and stylized version of itself and 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 tattoo is actually a familiar (which few foes will try). Your familiar can still communicate its feelings empathically. Transforming into a tattoo or back to familiar form is a 1-minute activity that has the concentrate trait.