Familiars and abilities DC
- Thread starter Pumpkin
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jefgorbach
First Post
Yes ... ANYTHING normally based on his hit dice would use whichever is higher: its hit dice or your character level.
Volaran
First Post
Pumpkin, for a more complete discussion on what a familiar does or does not gain, please reference your previous thread on this subject, with the same participants. Here
For the breath weapon, this is up to a bit of interpretation. As the breath weapon descriptor notes, the DC is 1/2 the creature's RACIAL Hit Dice + its Con modifier + 10. So, for example, a Mephit with 3 racial hit dice and 10 levels of rogue would have the same breath weapon DC, because it hasn't gained any more racial hit dice.
The familiar's virtual hit dice are dependent on the Hit Dice of its master, which are generally hit Dice from class levels. Because of this, I could potentially see a GM ruling that that DC does not increase.
That said, I would allow an increase in my own game. Even at 20th level, you'd be looking at a DC of 21 for an effect that does 1d8 slashing damage. Hardly the end of the world. As a player, I would probably accept either ruling.
The spell-like abilities of the Mephit are _not_ based on their Hit Dice (CL6, but only 3 HD for the base creature), so they would not scale.
As for other effects, as discussed in your previous thread, the familiar does not gain _real_ hit dice.
Its saves and skills are based on that of a base creature of its type (the familiar section uses the word 'Animal' specifically, and the base saves for an animal, but it is reasonable to extrapolate this for the advanced familiars as well), or it uses its master's skill ranks or base saves (with the familiar's modifiers) where applicable.
So, a 10th level wizard's mephit familiar would use the base saves of a 3-HD Outsider, or a 10th level wizard, depending on what was more advantageous, but not the base saves of a 10-HD Outsider.
Similarly, because a familiar does gain real Hit Dice, it doesn't get an ability score increase or extra feats as its master increases in level.
For the breath weapon, this is up to a bit of interpretation. As the breath weapon descriptor notes, the DC is 1/2 the creature's RACIAL Hit Dice + its Con modifier + 10. So, for example, a Mephit with 3 racial hit dice and 10 levels of rogue would have the same breath weapon DC, because it hasn't gained any more racial hit dice.
The familiar's virtual hit dice are dependent on the Hit Dice of its master, which are generally hit Dice from class levels. Because of this, I could potentially see a GM ruling that that DC does not increase.
That said, I would allow an increase in my own game. Even at 20th level, you'd be looking at a DC of 21 for an effect that does 1d8 slashing damage. Hardly the end of the world. As a player, I would probably accept either ruling.
The spell-like abilities of the Mephit are _not_ based on their Hit Dice (CL6, but only 3 HD for the base creature), so they would not scale.
As for other effects, as discussed in your previous thread, the familiar does not gain _real_ hit dice.
Its saves and skills are based on that of a base creature of its type (the familiar section uses the word 'Animal' specifically, and the base saves for an animal, but it is reasonable to extrapolate this for the advanced familiars as well), or it uses its master's skill ranks or base saves (with the familiar's modifiers) where applicable.
So, a 10th level wizard's mephit familiar would use the base saves of a 3-HD Outsider, or a 10th level wizard, depending on what was more advantageous, but not the base saves of a 10-HD Outsider.
Similarly, because a familiar does gain real Hit Dice, it doesn't get an ability score increase or extra feats as its master increases in level.
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