Pathfinder 2e: Familiar Abilities, The Complete Guide

[@DisrUptuSVerRB]

I too have looked all over for information that explains how familiars work and it is tough. Thanks for providing a comprehensive, easily understood, and succinct explanation.

[@WisdomCheck]

Absolutely. I'm glad it helps. :)

[@toodleselnoodos6738]

I’m not a fan of coupling Familiars to the Pet feat. Sort of makes things complicated by having the ruleset in two places. Even worse when Specific Familiars will be in Player Core 2, so that is the probably the clunkiest design decision I’ve seen of needing 3 markers on how to use a familiar over 2 books. They wanted to remove nesting, but honestly, the Remaster failed in this respect (and seems it’ll get a LOT worse when PC2 comes out).

[@WisdomCheck]

@@toodleselnoodos6738 I think the pet feat was a fun friendly idea but it adds complication. And their nesting is still present - I agree.

[@johncooper1520]

You have helped me to create the coolest familiar ever! I love my flying cloak, Talon. I just need to remember to use him more.

[@WisdomCheck]

Hah cool. And I'm trying to remember too. My little post-it note isn't helping enough. But it does help to have two initiative marks for you.

[@haroldemmers6428]

Cool vid Jake. I would love to see some cool concept examples. Including using specific familiars. Talking Head that always has comments on anything. A Crawling Hand, that can fly and deliver touch spells ... hmmm that reminds me of something ...

[@WisdomCheck]

Yeah I really like these ideas. I'll start working on a few concept examples. Let me know if there are other ideas for familiars you'd like to see.

[@haroldemmers6428]

@@WisdomCheck Well, as I understand it, it could be anything. So maybe a mini displacer beast or beholder, chibi style.

[@WisdomCheck]

@@haroldemmers6428 Oh whoa. Then I could figure out what powers to take to make those familiars as much like their namesake as I can, like a displacer beast. Dude. I think you just found the game... WITHIN the game. This is so cool. Thank you. :D

[@haroldemmers6428]

@@WisdomCheck My newest inspired idea (must have ripped it off somewhere). A floating crystal ball with the image of a Gipsy Fortuneteller, that can create arms and hands of a force like energy. I call her Madame Ravena Sibylla.

[@WisdomCheck]

@@haroldemmers6428 Cool. Reminds me of Haunted Mansion. 😁

[@aimanbenkhadra644]

Yes, “How It’s Played” is freaking amazing for PF2e rules.

[@Bobby_E_Cody]

Jake, thank you for more on familiars! Grateful!

[@WisdomCheck]

Groovy, I'm glad! I love little pets and critters in games.

[@RisingStarPF2E]

Its good to see other people who want to actually teach people how something works. Very good video.

[@WisdomCheck]

Thank you I'm grateful for the review. I like your name by the way.

[@aralornwolf3140]

@7:30 I would add Speech to that list, so they can communicate with their patient(s). Speech is also great when it comes to "point out" enemies, so everyone can understand them, instead of just you. @9:12 I'm not an American, but I am ahead of the average too... :D

[@WisdomCheck]

The "Speech" definitely matters for "Point Out". But screw the patients. I'd like my healer to just be a grass type Pokemon that only repeats their name over and over again. lol you are among peers here.

[@kryptonianguest1903]

@@WisdomCheck What if the healer pokemon was voiced by Ryan Reynolds?

[@WisdomCheck]

@@kryptonianguest1903 Oh well then I at least need him to be able to swear.

[@kaii9306]

Thx for the vid. I have looked up familiars, but this was much more informative. Probably because you have actual experience with them. Good luck with the renovation!

[@WisdomCheck]

Hee hee yay! Glad it was informative. I'm thinking about doing a video on how each of the individual manipulate abilities can be used to their greatest potential as well. Like the interact action alone implies that a familiar can use magical items but there restrictions on that unless you have additional familiar abilities that pertain to those restrictions. It's complicated but it could be a really cool video if people were interested in it. It would just be a lot to chew through. It would be very crunchy. And thank you. Renovations are so silly.

[@kaii9306]

@@WisdomCheck Yeah, sounds like a lot to chew through. Tho, I guess a broad overview of potentials with some specific examples might be a good start and then continue on if people have interest in the nitty gritty. But you will know best.

[@WisdomCheck]

@@kaii9306 I think you're right. I'll start working on it now. :)

[@JaredTheStrange]

You are delightful and this was great, helpful info!

[@WisdomCheck]

Lol great! Thanks!

[@hellkittyninja7237]

Thank you, this was helpful. Liked

[@WisdomCheck]

You are most welcome! Yay!

[@Nercrontyr]

Thank you so much for this. Ive been so lost about familiars

[@WisdomCheck]

I'm glad I could help. When I started building NPCs and character builds it bugged me that I couldn't figure out how familiars worked and then I couldn't find a video on it that was thorough.

[@cerrelle]

On the point about them being a minion. You must use one actionto command them to use 2 actions... If you are a Witch using the remaster rules, you can choose the "Patron's Puppet" hex, instead of "Phase Familiar" at lev 1. This will allow you to have your patron command the familiar at NO action cost to yourself. :) You can then use your one action Hex cantrip w/o spending a focus point to do lots of nasty things like applying Frightened, Sickened, etc. and follow up with 2 more actions your self.

[@Ridliman]

I have a Leshy monk with druid dedication so it got a cute gourd familiar. Normaly the familiar only was used to look cute, give some RP and help it to keep the garden the monk was creating in the house, but one day we had to enter in a city were we wanted and the monk had an idea. First exchanging the familiar capacity of digging holes with Speech. Them both, the monk and the familiar, made the most epic version of two kids in a trenchcoat. After that I had to develop the personality of the familiar, because it turned into another member of the team to the point that I sacrified a feat to give it more abilities, including independence and the prestidigitation cantrip. ¿Why? Because after a conversation he had with an antogonist he asked the Monk for a purpose, the monk can't even find it's own purpose, so the gourd decided for itself wanting to be the butler and giving itself a new name (it conserves the name the monk gave it as surname). So at the end we have a very polite, depp voiced, tiny pumpkin with a bow tie, carrying a stick with an Everlight cristal on the tip following the team, cleaning, making food, constantly complaining about how dirty the mage aways is and trying to teach how to be a butler to the Inventor's contruct even if that isn't possible.

[@WisdomCheck]

Wow this is great story development. It's heartwarming character growth too. I'm also glad that you did so much with your familiar. It surprised me once I researched how much a familiar could do because I thought it could do practically nothing. You're ahead of the Curve

[@Ridliman]

@@WisdomCheck To be fair we had in the team a witch with a hat familiar that was just the opposite. The hat did A LOT in combat, sometimes turning a lossing battle into victory, but almost nothing in RP. Also there is something I like to make with the familiar, as i said he speak with a deep voice (thanks to its hollow head), while the Monk uses a very acute voice. So at the end sometimes they arge about something and the Monk sounds (and act) as a child while the familiar sounds (and act) as the adult. The peak of this RP was when my parthers decided to give the reason to the familiar instead of the Monk in an argument.

[@WisdomCheck]

@@Ridliman LOL very nice.

[@Ridliman]

@@WisdomCheck I know there are months since then but I what to get this out of my system. The familiar? Now is dating a zombie maid and has a secret sworn enemy: recently the party acepted a new player, a human barbarian raised by monkeys (yeah, literal Tarzan) and he wrecked and dirtied the house on his first night there. That night something happened inside the small famliar, tasting for the first time hate and proceed to plot. He almost got the mage killed trying to kill the barbarian with a tramp, one night the Investigator was patching the barbarian wounds and could almost swore that saw a very small shadow with a knife peeking throught the open door before dissapearing, and recently it tried to poison the barbarian too. Even the barbarian, who is as dumb as bitting a stone is, is starting to notice the attempts.

[@Dudeman715]

Heh that means a familiar with the independent and Manuel dexterity abilities can reload a weapon for you without using your actions.

[@WisdomCheck]

Unfortunately they can't reload. Because they have to be able to wield a weapon to reload because that's what the reload action requires. And familiars say specifically that they can't wield weapons. So since you have to be able to wield to reload familiars can't reload. You totally free to come up with your own interpretation of the rules though. It makes perfect sense to me that a familiar can pick up and put a crossbow bolt inside a crossbow and cock it back just as well as it can pull a potion out of a bag and hand it to somebody.

[@Dudeman715]

@@WisdomCheck my gm allows us to reload a nearby ally if they're within 5 feet. It's nice when we have a unused 3rd action.

[@WisdomCheck]

@@Dudeman715 that makes sense for a player to be able to do. I like that. It's very awkward in my thinking but I don't know of any rule against it.

[@NeverSeenMyself]

Don't forget that you can only apply athletic maneuvers on creatures no more than one size larger. So with skilled in athletics a familiar would only be able to grapple/trip/shove up to small sized creatures, unless you cast Enlarge on them.

[@WisdomCheck]

Interesting. Did I forget to say that the video? Shit.

[@NeverSeenMyself]

@@WisdomCheck No worries, it's a small detail. P.S. your videos are very informative and I've been enjoying your content! Keep up the good work!

[@WisdomCheck]

@@NeverSeenMyself Thanks. I'm glad you're here. 😊

[@nearandfar22]

Very useful video! Would love one on specific familiars too!

[@WisdomCheck]

Certainly! Any specific specifics of specificity?

[@nearandfar22]

@@WisdomCheck if I was specifically forced to get specific the Calligraphy Wrym has a specific space in my heart. Buuut I'd listen to a video on how specific familiars work and what ones stand out in flavour and mechanics too I guess :).

[@WisdomCheck]

@@nearandfar22 Currently working on the Calligraphy Wyrm now. 😉

[@WisdomCheck]

Just fyi - I haven't forgotten, it's still in queue. 😉

[@solomani-42]

Thank you.

[@WisdomCheck]

I'm happy to help!

[@yanimustapha4506]

Very nice video I love the humour as well.

[@WisdomCheck]

Heehee groovy. 😁

[@LeahLuciB]

JUSTICE FOR THE CAT YOU SWATTED AWAY

[@WisdomCheck]

@@LeahLuciB lol

[@toodleselnoodos6738]

Something else useful for Primal/Occult casters with familiars: Thundering Dominance. The Remaster clarifies that the companion = {animal companions, familiars, other companions}. Meaning it’s castable on familiars! The importance is that it also provides a status bonus on the familiar to Intimidation, equivalent to 1/2 proficiency scaling. So, your familiar won’t be as shitty at Demoralize later on! And for Explosive Missive, unfortunately I don’t think it works because it has the Activate actions, and familiars can’t activate items. If we waive that…give your familiar the Elemental ability to make it immune to the tone of your missive! HOWEVER, you can FEED potions to your familiar. Potion of Energy Breath gives a new action to the imbiber meaning Independent on a familiar can free turn this every 1d4 turns. But thank you for the video! Probably the first valuable content video on familiars in the last 3 years. (Also can’t wait for your Specific Familiar video!)

[@WisdomCheck]

Thank you for this. I hadn't responded to you yet because I wanted to make sure to reread this and make notes. I did and I'm including this in one of my next familiar abilities videos. Thank you! I appreciate the encouragement too. 😉

[@toodleselnoodos6738]

@@WisdomCheck I also did some more reading and something really weird in the Remaster: The familiar can no longer use Trained skill actions! Maybe someone can double check me, but it’s removed from the familiar line (since familiar augments the Pet feat), and I can’t find it anywhere in the pet feat! It simply says that Pets can’t Strike and the only change via Familiar is using SPELL+LVL instead of 3+LVL for Perception, Acrobatic, and Stealth, and having additional ability access.

[@WisdomCheck]

I freaked out when I read your comment here. But I dug and dug some more. And you're right. They can't use Trained skill actions. There has also been no errata to correct this. It seems intentional. I'll have to tailor my future vids accordingly. Frankly, it makes my job easier. Giving familiars the capability of using trained actions with no level of proficiency had some weird interactions. The Pet feat is a good idea, but has added unnecessary confusion.

[@DargorV]

Thank you! :D

[@WisdomCheck]

Welcome! I'm really glad that you watched it. I hope it helps!

[@ButchersBookshelf]

When were you 7 months ago when we started playing P2E?? I was having hard time understanding familiars and pets. Also the kitty is super cute. Subscribed. 😆

[@WisdomCheck]

Lol sorry about that. Glad you found it NOW! And Loot says "feed me".

[@BeautifulNight]

This was great. Any chance of a followup looking at Witch familers in particular as they have a very particular role, and are far more powerful?

[@WisdomCheck]

I just added it to my "to do" list. Making a Community Post about it now.

[@WisdomCheck]

I'm glad you liked the vid too. ,😉

[@LaBlueSkuld]

It's so funny looking at most PF2E guides: "Familiars are awesome! They're so useful! Five stars out of five! Color coded as blue or purple! Always grab the Feats if possible!" "Okay. What makes them good? What do they do?" "...And now we're done talking about familiars."

[@WisdomCheck]

Yeah! WTF? That's why this video and it's partner had to be made. It pissed me off that familiar videos SUCK! Why not give more information? Without giving reasons behind it I can't even believe that familiars are a good thing. I need the answer to the question "WHY?".

[@karakune]

I don't understand how having the skilled trait unlocks more actions for your familiar. I haven't seen anything in the rules that says you have to be skilled in athletics to be able to use the shove action (for instance). Does having the skilled ability just mean that it's easier for them, therefore viable? Could they still attempt it without? Also, can familiars make demoralize actions? If so, are there other actions like that that is available to any creature, thus to familiars as well? I'm asking a lot of questions, but I'm trying to build a truly exhaustive list of familiar actions for one of my players

[@WisdomCheck]

BEFORE the remaster, taking the skilled familiar ability would give your familiar the ability to use trained actions. After the remaster they no longer can take those trained actions. However it still does give them a large bonus to using the untrained actions of those skills. And yes demoralize is an unskilled use of intimidation. If you want a truly exhaustive list you will need to go to the skilled familiar ability and look at all the skills that you can give the familiar and all of the untrained actions that those skills allow. Alternatively, there is a link in the description of this video that will take you to the blog that then has a link to Patreon that has a lot of options (but mostly for Manual Dexterity). Here's the link www.wisdomcheckcreations.com/post/all-about-familiars

[@enriquejoseguerraaceves8104]

This is considering the remaster, right? In the player core the AC isn't specified

[@WisdomCheck]

No this is prior to the remaster. I'll need to make a new one for post-remaster.

[@freezinpee91]

Do specific familiars

[@WisdomCheck]

Ok working on it

[@freezinpee91]

Reload action?

[@WisdomCheck]

They sadly cannot reload because they're not allowed to wield a weapin and you have to be able to wield a weapin to reload it.

[@Robbiemortino]

Yes, but can I have a Farmiliar? A familiar who works the fields to Earn Income while I'm off adventuring?

[@WisdomCheck]

Dude... I see no reason why not as long as the Familiar has "Independent". "It can't make Strikes, but it can use trained skill actions for skills for which it adds your spellcasting ability modifier." It would be a really slow, shitty worker because it would only get a third of the actions a PC gets. And people might not higher an animated doll or pumpkin to work a job, but... yeah. Weird.

[@Robbiemortino]

@@WisdomCheck I mean, I work 1/3rd as hard as my coworkers and I haven't been fired yet.

[@WisdomCheck]

@@Robbiemortino LMAO maybe you ARE a familiar then. Are you your own familiar? Are you your own best friend? :P

[@aralornwolf3140]

I don't know... do you know of any chefs who are happy to employ rats to help prepare the guests' dinners? Of course, the Rat's Cooking Lore modifier is only going to be +[Spell Casting Modifier] so it can't do much more than the untrained low level jobs.

[@WisdomCheck]

@@aralornwolf3140 Hey a sous chef is still valuable. Who else is going to cut up all the vegetables for the chef?

[@christopherclayton5500]

Can you carry a familiar, and what are the rules for that?

[@WisdomCheck]

Yes you can! They're almost always tiny creatures so they're 1 bulk, as seen here. 2e.aonprd.com/Rules.aspx?ID=2158&Redirected=1

[@christopherclayton5500]

@@WisdomCheck Thank you.

[@ThatVia]

Wischeck...? Why are you using AI generated thumbnails...?

[@WisdomCheck]

Because I don't have money to pay an artist.