Familiar Abilities

Familiars are mystically bonded creatures tied to your magic. Most were originally animals, though becoming a familiar makes them something more. You gain the Pet general feat, except your pet has special abilities. Common choices for familiars include cats, crows, rats, and squoxes. Some familiars are different, usually described in the ability that granted you a familiar.

SFS Standard Accompanist

Ability Type Familiar
Your familiar helps you perform. Whenever you attempt a Performance check, if your familiar is nearby and can act, it accompanies you with chirps, claps, or its own miniature instrument. This grants you a +1 circumstance bonus to the check or +2 if you're a master in Performance.

SFS Standard Amphibious

Ability Type Pet
It gains the amphibious trait, allowing it to breathe in both air and water, and has both a land Speed and a swim Speed, each equal to its highest land Speed or swim Speed.

SFS Standard Burrower

Ability Type Pet
It gains a burrow Speed of 5 feet, allowing it to dig Tiny holes.

SFS Standard Climber

Ability Type Pet
It gains a climb Speed of 25 feet.

SFS Standard Construct

Ability Type Familiar
Your familiar has the construct trait instead of the animal trait. The familiar is immune to death effects, disease, doomed, drained, fatigued, healing, nonlethal attacks, paralyzed, poison, sickened, spirit, unconscious, vitality, and void. Your familiar must have the tough pet ability to select this.

SFS Standard Damage Avoidance

Ability Type Familiar
Choose one type of save. Your familiar takes no damage when it rolls a success on that type of save; this doesn't prevent effects other than damage.

SFS Standard Darkvision

Ability Type Pet
It gains darkvision.

SFS Standard Dragon

Ability Type Familiar
Your familiar has the dragon trait instead of the animal trait.

SFS Standard Echolocation

Ability Type Pet
It can use hearing as a precise sense within 20 feet.

SFS Standard Elemental

Ability Type Familiar
Your familiar has the elemental trait instead of the animal trait. Choose air, earth, fire, metal, water, or wood. Your familiar gains that trait. The familiar is immune to bleed, paralyzed, poison, sleep, and the element matching its trait. Your familiar must have the resistance familiar ability to select this ability.

SFS Standard Fast Movement

Ability Type Pet
Increase one of the pet's Speeds from 25 feet to 40 feet.

SFS Standard Flier

Ability Type Pet
It gains a fly Speed of 25 feet.

SFS Standard Focused Rejuvenation

Ability Type Familiar
When you Refocus, you generate magical energy that heals your familiar. Your familiar regains 1 Hit Point per level whenever you Refocus.

SFS Standard Fungus

Ability Type Familiar
Your familiar has the fungus trait instead of the animal trait.

SFS Standard Independent

Ability Type Familiar
In an encounter, if you don't Command your familiar, it still gains 1 action each round. Typically, you still decide how it spends that action, but the GM might determine that your familiar chooses its own tactics rather than performing your preferred action. This doesn't work with valet or similar abilities that require a command, if you're capable of riding your familiar, or similar situations.

SFS Standard Kinspeech

Ability Type Familiar
Your familiar can understand and speak with animals of the same species. To select this, your familiar must be an animal, it must have the speech ability, and you must be at least 6th level.

SFS Standard Manual Dexterity

Ability Type Pet
It can use up to two of its limbs as if they were hands to perform manipulate actions.

SFS Standard Master's Form

Ability Type Familiar
Your familiar can change shape as a single action, transforming into your ancestry with the same age a clearly unnatural remnant of its nature, such as a cat's eyes or a serpent's tongue. This form is always the same each time it uses this ability. This otherwise uses the effects of humanoid form, except the change is purely cosmetic. It only appears humanoid and gains no new capabilities. Your familiar must have the manual dexterity and speech abilities to select this.

SFS Standard Partner in Crime

Ability Type Familiar
Your familiar is your criminal associate. Despite being a minion, your familiar gains 1 reaction at the start of its turns, which it can use only to Aid you on a Deception or Thievery skill check (it still has to prepare to help you as normal for the Aid reaction). It automatically succeeds at its check to Aid you with those skills or automatically critically succeeds if you're a master of the skill in question.

SFS Standard Plant

Ability Type Familiar
Your familiar has the plant trait instead of the animal trait.

SFS Standard Plant Form

Ability Type Familiar
Your plant familiar can change shape as a single action, transforming into a Tiny plant of a type roughly similar to the familiar's nature. This otherwise uses the effects of one with plants. You must have a familiar with the plant trait to select this ability.

SFS Standard Resistance

Ability Type Familiar
Choose two of the following: acid, cold, electricity, fire, poison, or sonic. Your familiar gains resistance equal to half your level (minimum resistance 1) against the chosen damage types.

SFS Standard Scent

Ability Type Pet
Your pet gains scent as an imprecise sense within 30 feet.

SFS Standard Skilled

Ability Type Familiar
Choose a skill other than Acrobatics or Stealth. Your familiar's modifier for that skill is equal to your level plus your spellcasting attribute modifier, rather than just your level. You can select this ability repeatedly, choosing a different skill each time.

SFS Standard Speech

Ability Type Familiar
Your familiar understands and speaks a language you know.

SFS Standard Spellcasting

Ability Type Familiar
Choose a spell in your repertoire or that you prepared today at least 5 ranks lower than your highest-rank spell slot. Your familiar can Cast that Spell once per day using your magical tradition, spell attack modifier, and spell DC. If the spell has a drawback that affects the caster, both you and your familiar are affected. You must be able to cast 6th-rank spells using spell slots to select this.

SFS Standard Toolbearer

Ability Type Familiar
Your familiar can carry a toolkit of up to light Bulk. So long as your familiar is adjacent to you, you can draw and replace the tools as part of the action that uses them as if you were wearing them. Your familiar must have the manual dexterity ability (page 79) to select this ability.

SFS Standard Touch Telepathy

Ability Type Familiar
Your familiar can telepathically communicate with you via touch. If it also has the speech ability, it can telepathically communicate via touch with any creature if they share a language.

SFS Standard Tough

Ability Type Pet
Your pet's max HP increase by 2 per level.

SFS Standard Valet

Ability Type Familiar
You can command your familiar to deliver you items more efficiently. Your familiar doesn't use its 2 actions immediately upon your command. Instead, up to twice before the end of your turn, you can have your familiar Interact to retrieve an item of light or negligible Bulk you're wearing and place it into one of your free hands. The familiar can't use this ability to retrieve stowed items. If the familiar has a different number of actions, it can retrieve one item for each action it has when commanded this way.

Master Abilities

SFS Standard Cantrip Connection

Ability Type Master
You can prepare an additional cantrip or, if you have a repertoire, designate a cantrip to add to your repertoire every time you select this ability; you can retrain it but can't otherwise change it. You must be able to prepare cantrips or add them to your repertoire to select this ability.

SFS Standard Familiar Focus

Ability Type Master
Once per day, your familiar can use 2 actions with the concentrate trait to restore 1 Focus Point to your focus pool, up to your usual maximum. You must have a focus pool to select this ability.

SFS Standard Innate Surge

Ability Type Master
Once per day, you can draw upon your familiar's innate magic to replenish your own. You can cast one innate spell gained from an ancestry feat that you've already cast today. You must still Cast the Spell and meet the spell's other requirements.

SFS Standard Lifelink

Ability Type Master
If your familiar would be reduced to 0 HP by damage, as a reaction with the concentrate trait, you can take the damage. If you do, you take all the damage and your familiar takes none. However, special effects that would occur due to that damage (such as snake venom) still apply to your familiar.

SFS Standard Share Senses

Ability Type Master
Once every 10 minutes, you can use a single action with the concentrate trait to project your senses into your familiar. When you do, you lose all sensory information from your own body but can sense through your familiar's body for up to 1 minute. You can Dismiss this effect.

SFS Standard Spell Battery

Ability Type Master
You gain one additional spell slot at least 3 ranks lower than your highest-rank spell slot; you must be able to cast 4th-rank spells using spell slots to select this ability.

SFS Standard Spell Delivery

Ability Type Master
If your familiar is in your space, you can cast a spell with a range of touch, transfer its power to your familiar, and command the familiar to deliver the spell. If you do, the familiar uses its 2 actions for the round to move to a target of your choice and touch that target. If it doesn't reach the target to touch it this turn, the spell has no effect. Vital Bond Your familiar in your mystic bond can use Transfer Vitality once per minute to heal itself or a bonded creature.