familiar

[Greymalkin]

I think a bonus to survival or craft:alchemy makes perfect sense for a wolf familiar, though a bonus to your survival skill would probably be less useful in a party with two rangers. A bonus to listen checks might also work, given wolves heightened sense of hearing.

On a related note, does anyone see any reason why changing a rat familiar's bonus from +2 fortitude saves to +3 craft:alchemy checks would be a problem? Rats also have a keen sense of smell, plus their association with laboratories (lab rats) makes it all the more relevent. After Gez's suggestion, I have been trying to think of a smaller familiar (i.e., one not requiring the improved familiar feat) that could give this bonus.

Thanks.

 

[Spatzimaus]

As to the stacking issue:

In 3.5E, an Amulet of Natural Armor gives a +1 Enhancement bonus to Natural Armor, as does the spell Barkskin. These both, as a result, stack with a creature's inherent Natural Armor; this is a change from 3E.

So the question then becomes, does the Porcupine give +1 Natural Armor, or a +1 Enhancement bonus to Natural Armor? Personally, I'd go with the former, since all other Familiar bonuses seem to be untyped bonuses. An untyped AC bonus wouldn't be a good idea, though; at least by specifying it's a Natural Armor bonus, you know it can be bypassed with touch attacks.

 

[Liquidsabre]

Spatz has it right on the stacking bit. So no worries there.

So, since the party druid and both rangers have wolf companions, I thought I'd keep the theme and ask for a wolf familiar. He's given his permission, but we're both unsure what the granted bonus should be for my sorceror. A +2 to Survival was tossed around, but I thought I'd ask for suggestions.

Skill bonuses for familiars are at +3 not +2.

A bonus to listen checks might also work, given wolves heightened sense of hearing.

Since a familiar already grants Alertness feat this, though reasonable and realistic, would be overkill. I'd be more inclined to go with a Survival or Move Silently bonus myslef. Heck, if it's a timber wolf or some big nasty wolf-type I'd go with a +3 to Intimidate. But it's really up to your DM, these are all good suggestions.

 

[DrSpunj]

Skill bonuses for familiars are at +3 not +2.

This is correct, but to give a little more background:

The 3.5 Revision team decided that a Familiar bonus should be the equivalent of a no prereq feat, thus any familiar that improves a skill grants +3 just like the Skill Focus feat, and the infamous 3.0 Toad that used to give a +2 bonus to Constitution was nerfed to provide a mere +3 hit points, bringing it in line with the Toughness feat.

Hope that helps.

DrSpunj

 

[Samothdm]

Horse Familiar?

Has anyone ever thought of making a horse familiar? I know it's substantially bigger than traditional familiars but it could make a certain amount of sense of a culture that was really based around the horse, such as a nomadic horse-tribe or something like that.

Any thoughts?