[RPG] Familiar Feats – Complete List

familiarsfeatspathfinder-1e

There are a handful of feats in Pathfinder that have the following "Special" text:

Special: Feats that are meant for familiars can be switched out for a familiar's default feats (as listed in the familiar's statistics) if the familiar meets the prerequisites. Such feat replacements must be made when the PC first acquires a new familiar, and-like all new feats from supplemental sources-the new feats should be approved by the GM before being integrated into play.

I have found four feats so far that have this special text. Are there more, and if so, is there a complete list available for pathfinder?

Best Answer

These feats are all from the Pathfinder Player Companion: Animal Archive splatbook, which has a general note at the top of its section of new feats with the wording you quote there. Unfortunately, there is potentially some ambiguity as to which feats precisely this refers to and whether or not they have been correctly copied onto d20pfsrd.com.

Of the feats introduced in that resource, some of them specifically require the taker to be a familiar, and some are feats that a familiar is probably qualified for but don't have "familiar" as an explicit prerequisite. It's not clear whether the latter feats are "feats meant for familiars" and can be switched in this way, as they've not been consistently copied on d20pfsrd.com with the special note attached, and at least one of the former made it onto the site without the note.

Excluding feats with prerequisites that no familiar can satisfy, the list of feats a familiar could conceivably take from this resource are:

  • Critical Conduit: Requires you to be a familiar, made it onto d20pfsrd.org with the feat-swapping note. Obviously qualifies for swapping.
  • Extra Item Slot: only requires you to be non-humanoid, but made it onto the site with the note. Obviously useful for most familiars, but might not have been intended for swapping - maybe qualifies.
  • Familiar Focus: Requires being a familiar, made it onto site with the note. Obviously qualifies for swapping.
  • Jumper: Requires non-humanoid and non-outsider plus 1 rank of acrobatics. Familiar could qualify, but probably not very useful. Copied onto site without the note. Qualification ambiguous.
  • Master of Your Kind: Requires being a familiar with the speak with animals of your kind feature, so must be summoned by at least a 7th level wiz-equivalent master. Familiars can't normally take extra feats, and this is clearly a feat for familiars, so it seems like it must qualify for the feat-swapping rule to be usable - but it is copied on d20pfsrd.com without the note. Obviously qualifies, but implies that mistakes may have been made copying content onto the site.
  • Narrow Frame: Requires 1 rank in escape artist and being an animal or magical beast. Familiar could qualify, but not useful for most familiars. Is itself a pre-req for the Lithe Attacker feat, but no familiar (not even improved familiars) could qualify for that due to the 5 rank skill requirement. No note on the site, qualification ambiguous.
  • Spell Sponge: Requires being an animal companion or familiar with the share spells feature. Generally useful for familiars, and made it onto site with the note, obviously qualifies for feat swapping.
  • Stable Gallop: Requires being an animal or magical beast. Familiar could qualify, but it's clearly intended for and most useful for creatures serving as mounts. No note on the site - qualification ambiguous.
  • Sure-Footed: Requires being a quadrupedal animal or magical beast. Many familiars would qualify, and useful for mobility in some situations. No note on the site - qualification ambiguous.
  • Valiant Steed: Requires being an animal or magical beast. Familiars could readily qualify, and it does provide a bonus to some saves which is generally useful, though other benefits only apply to mounts and non-intelligent creatures (controlled using handle animal). No note on the site - qualification ambiguous.

In Pathfinder Society play at least, it had to be specifically ruled that familiar could swap in Extra Item Slot, as noted in the Additional Resources rules:

Note: The Animal Magic Item Slots table found on the inside front cover of the book is not legal except under the following conditions. First, an animal companion, familiar, or bonded mount, may choose one slot listed under its body type when taking the Extra Item Slot feat (this feat may be taken multiple times, each time selecting a different available magic item slot based on the creature's anatomy). Second, a familiar may exchange one of its feats for the Extra Item Slot feat. Third, access to specific magic item slots may be granted at a later date by another legal source.

The entry does not preclude other use of the feat-swapping rule, so one is forced to draw the conclusion that PFS at least did not read Extra Item Slot as being a qualifying option normally - I expect this why the feat entry on the online SRD ended up with the note whereas other feats from the splat didn't.

Personally, I'd judge that the intention was probably that feats are only "for familiars" if they have "be a familiar" as a prerequisite, but most of the others from this splat aren't particularly powerful choices anyway so there's probably no harm in allowing them. Extra Item Slot, however, stands out as the most powerful option available here, as the ability to use an extra magical item allows for much more powerful effects than the feats can offer.

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