The following are statistics for several new animals that can serve as familiars, in addition to a number of familiars :ref:` for the Witch Class <advancedplayersguide.baseclasses.witch#witchs_familiar>`. These familiars can be taken by anyone gaining a familiar, and utilize all the standard rules for familiars for Wizard familiars. Tiny or smaller familiars in this section use Dexterity to modify Climb and Swim skill checks.
Small-sized familiars threaten the areas around them like Small creatures, and can be used to flank enemies, though both familiars and their masters are often loath to use such tactics, as the result is often a dead familiar. Small-sized familiars are also harder to keep on a master’s person than Tiny or smaller familiars. Often they require some form of magic item, like a bag of holding, for such a feat to work. The process of making a vermin into a familiar grants it an Intelligence score and removes the mindless trait. Vermin familiars communicate with their masters and other vermin of their kind (greensting scorpions with other scorpions, house centipedes with other centipedes, and scarlet spiders with other spiders) by way of a strange combination of behaviors, slight changes in coloration, and even the excretion of scents, subtle and otherwise. As with other types of familiars, other creatures cannot understand this communication without magical aid.
| Familiar | Special Ability |
|---|---|
| Blue-ringed octopus | Master gains a +3 bonus on Swim checks |
| Donkey rat | Master gains a +2 bonus on Fortitude saves |
| Fox | Master gains a +2 bonus on Reflex saves |
| Goat | Master gains a +3 bonus on Survival checks |
| Greensting scorpion | Master gains a +4 bonus on Initiative checks |
| Hedgehog | Master gains a +2 bonus on Will saves |
| House centipede | Master gains a +3 bonus on Stealth checks |
| King Crab | Master gains a +2 bonus on CMB checks to start and maintain a grapple |
| Pig | Master gains a +3 bonus on Diplomacy checks |
| Scarlet spider | Master gains a +3 bonus on Climb checks |
| Thrush * | Master gains a +3 bonus on Diplomacy checks |
| Turtle | Master gains a +1 natural armor bonus to AC |
Notes:
XP 200
N Tiny animal (aquatic)
Init +5; Senses low-light vision; Perception +1
AC 17, touch 17, flat-footed 12 (+5 Dex, +2 size)
hp 4 (1d8)
Fort +2, Ref +7, Will +1
Defensive Abilities ink cloud
Speed 20 ft., swim 30 ft., jet 60 ft.
Melee bite +7 (1d2–1 plus poison), tentacles +5 (grab)
Space 2-1/2 ft.; Reach 0 ft.
Str 8, Dex 21, Con 10, Int 2, Wis 13, Cha 3
Base Atk +0; CMB +3 (+7 grapple); CMD 12 (can’t be tripped)
Feats MultiattackB, Weapon Finesse
Skills Escape Artist +15, Stealth +25, Swim +13; Racial Modifiers +10 Escape Artist, +8 Stealth
Special Attacks poison
Ink Cloud (Ex) While within water, an octopus can emit a 5-foot-radius sphere of ink once per minute as a swift action. This ink provides total concealment and persists for 1 minute.
Jet (Ex) The octopus can jet 60 feet in a straight line as a full-round action. This does not provoke attacks of opportunity.
Poison (Ex) Bite—injury; save Fort DC 10; frequency 1/round for 6 rounds; effect 1 Str; cure 1 save.
Blue-ringed octopuses are aquatic animals capable of a surprising amount of cunning. They cannot survive out of water.
Str 6, Dex 17, Con 13, Int 2, Wis 13, Cha 4
Base Atk +0; CMB +1; CMD 9 (13 vs. trip)
Feats Skill Focus (Perception)
Skills Perception +4, Stealth +15, Swim +11
Environment temperate coast or forest
Organization solitary, pair, or nest (3–12)
Treasure none
Donkey rats are brown or snowy white rodents the size of small dogs, with long legs and short, furry tails. These statistics can also be used for capybaras.
Str 9, Dex 15, Con 13, Int 2, Wis 12, Cha 6
Base Atk +0; CMB +0; CMD 9 (13 vs. trip)
Feats Skill Focus (Perception)
Skills Acrobatics +2 (+10 jumping), Perception +8, Stealth +10, Survival +1 (+5 scent tracking); Racial Modifiers +4 Acrobatics when jumping, +4 Survival when tracking by scent
Environment any
Organization solitary, pair, or skulk (3–12)
Treasure none
Foxes are small, doglike carnivores with narrow snouts and bushy tails.
AC 13, touch 12, flat-footed 12 (+1 Dex, +1 natural, +1 size)
hp 5 (1d8+1)
Fort +3, Ref +3, Will +0
Str 12, Dex 13, Con 12, Int 2, Wis 11, Cha 5
Base Atk +0; CMB +0; CMD 11 (15 vs. trip)
Feats Nimble Moves
Skills Acrobatics +1 (+5 when jumping), Climb +5, Survival +0 (+4 to find food); Racial Modifiers +4 Acrobatics when jumping, +4 Survival to find food
Environment any
Organization solitary, pair, or herd (3–12)
Treasure none
Goats eat almost anything that can be digested, and are determined in their pursuit of tempting foodstuffs such as leather armor and rope. They can provide milk and wool.
AC 18, touch 15, flat-footed 15 (+3 Dex, +3 natural, +2 size)
hp 4 (1d8)
Fort +2, Ref +3, Will +0
Immune mind-affecting effects
Speed 30 ft.
Melee sting +5 (1d2–4 plus poison)
Space 2-1/2 ft.; Reach 0 ft.
Special Attacks poison
Str 3, Dex 16, Con 10, Int —, Wis 10, Cha 2
Base Atk +0; CMB +1; CMD 7 (19 vs. trip)
Feats Weapon FinesseB
Skills Climb +7, Perception +4, Stealth +15; Racial Modifiers +4 Climb, +4 Perception, +4 Stealth
Environment warm or temperate deserts, forests, plains, or underground
Organization solitary or colony (3–6)
Treasure none
Poison (Ex) Sting—injury; save Fort DC 10; frequency 1/round for 6 rounds; effect sickened for 1 round; cure 1 save.
Greensting scorpions normally live in forests, but can be found almost anywhere. Their pincers are too small to be dangerous to anything but other insects, but they have a poisonous sting that sickens even larger creatures.
AC 18, touch 17, flat-footed 15 (+3 Dex, +1 natural, +4 size)
hp 2 (1d8–2)
Fort +0, Ref +5, Will +1
Str 1, Dex 16, Con 6, Int 2, Wis 12, Cha 7
Base Atk +0; CMB –1; CMD 4 (8 vs. trip)
Feats Athletic
Spiny Defense (Ex) As a move action, a hedgehog can roll itself up into a spiny ball. While rolled up, it gains a +1 enhancement bonus to its existing natural armor, and any creature attempting to grapple the hedgehog takes 1d3 damage on making a grapple check. While rolled up, a hedgehog cannot take any action other than leaving this state. The hedgehog can leave this state as a move action.
Hedgehogs are spiny, insectivorous mammals. When threatened, a hedgehog rolls up into a spiny ball as a defense mechanism.
AC 17, touch 15, flat-footed 14 (+3 Dex, +2 natural, +2 size)
hp 4 (1d8)
Fort +2, Ref +3, Will +0
Immune mind-affecting effects
Speed 40 ft., climb 40 ft.
Melee bite +5 (1d3–5 plus poison)
Space 2-1/2 ft.; Reach 0 ft.
Special Attacks poison
Str 1, Dex 17, Con 10, Int —, Wis 10, Cha 2
Base Atk +0; CMB +1; CMD 6 (can’t be tripped)
Feats Weapon FinesseB
Skills Climb +11, Perception +4, Stealth +19; Racial Modifiers +4 Perception, +8 Stealth
Environment temperate or warm forest or underground
Organization solitary, pair, or colony (3–6)
Treasure none
Poison (Ex) Bite—injury; save Fort DC 10; frequency 1/round for 2 rounds; effect daze 1 round; cure 1 save.
Multi-legged house centipedes can be found almost anywhere, and can have from 20 to more than 300 legs. Their bites are poisonous, and can daze the unwary.
AC 18, touch 14, flat-footed 16 (+2 Dex, +4 natural, +2 size)
hp 5 (1d8+1)
Fort +3, Ref +2, Will +0
Immune mind-affecting effects
Speed 30 ft., swim 20 ft.
Melee 2 claws +0 (1d2–2 plus grab)
Space 2-1/2 ft.; Reach 0 ft.
Special Attacks constrict (1d2–2)
Str 7, Dex 15, Con 12, Int —, Wis 10, Cha 2
Base Atk +0; CMB +0 (+4 grapple); CMD 8 (20 vs. trip)
Skills Perception +4, Swim +10; Racial Modifiers +4 Perception
SQ water dependency
Water Dependency (Ex) Crabs can survive out of the water for 1 hour per point of Constitution. Beyond this limit, a crab runs the risk of suffocation, as if it were drowning.
King crabs are small crustaceans with eight legs and two pincers or claws. Aquatic scavengers, crabs can also survive on land for some time, but must return to the water or suffocate.
AC 13, touch 12, flat-footed 12 (+1 Dex, +1 natural, +1 size)
hp 6 (1d8+2)
Fort +6, Ref +3, Will +1
Str 11, Dex 12, Con 15, Int 2, Wis 13, Cha 4
Base Atk +0; CMB –1; CMD 10 (14 vs. trip)
Feats Great Fortitude
Skills Perception +5
Environment any
Organization solitary, pair, or herd (3–12)
Treasure none
Smaller than wild boars, domestic pigs are omnivorous.
AC 18, touch 17, flat-footed 13 (+5 Dex, +1 natural, +2 size)
hp 4 (1d8)
Fort +2, Ref +5, Will +0
Immune mind-affecting effects
Speed 30 ft., climb 30 ft.
Melee bite +7 (1d3–4 plus poison)
Space 2-1/2 ft.; Reach 0 ft.
Special Attacks poison
Str 3, Dex 21, Con 10, Int —, Wis 10, Cha 2
Base Atk +0; CMB +3; CMD 9 (21 vs. trip)
Feats Weapon FinesseB
Skills Acrobatics +13, Climb +21, Perception +4, Stealth +17; Racial Modifiers +8 Acrobatics, +8 Climb, +4 Perception, +4 Stealth
Poison (Ex) Bite—injury; save Fort DC 10; frequency 1/round for 4 rounds; effect 1 Str; cure 1 save.
Scarlet spiders are small arachnids with bright red bodies and black legs. Because they are hunting spiders, scarlet spiders don’t have a web attack.
Str 1, Dex 15, Con 6, Int 2, Wis 15, Cha 6
Base Atk +0; CMB –2; CMD 3
Feats Skill Focus (Perception)
Skills Fly +12, Perception +5
Environment temperate forests
Organization solitary, pair, or flock (3–12)
Treasure none
Thrushes are small, plump birds that eat fruit and insects. All thrushes are known for their beautiful songs, but thrush familiars are also capable of actual speech.
AC 16, touch 10, flat-footed 16 (–2 Dex, +6 natural, +2 size)
hp 3 (1d8–1)
Fort +1, Ref +0, Will +1
Str 3, Dex 6, Con 8, Int 2, Wis 12, Cha 3
Base Atk +0; CMB –4; CMD 2 (6 vs. trip)
Feats Skill Focus (Perception)
Skills Perception +4, Swim +10
Environment temperate or tropical forests, oceans, and rivers
Organization solitary
Treasure none
Shell Retreat (Ex) A turtle can retreat within its shell as a swift action, gaining a +2 enhancement bonus to its existing natural armor. While in its shell, a turtle cannot take any action except to end the retreat. The turtle can end its retreat with a free action on its turn.
Turtles are slow-moving reptiles with hard shells that they can retreat into when threatened. Many turtles have flippers and are better suited for swimming than walking. These statistics can also be used for tortoises, which have feet instead of flippers and live in arid regions.