Use Handle Animal to teach trick to Familiar?

[RCgothic]

A cat familiar has the scent ability, but not the track feat, so it's unable to follow a scent trail with a DC greater than 10.

Is it possible to teach it Track with Handle Animal? My understanding is that the Track skill trick duplicates the Track feat. Is this right?

[Sith_Happens]

Familiars have at least 6 Int, therefore you cannot use Handle Animal on them.

[HunterOfJello]

The familiar of 9th level wizard/sorcerer is as intelligent as a normal human. If you try to go and teach a Cat familiar with 10 intelligence how to do a trick like "play dead", he'll probably tell you to go screw yourself (in cat speak).


If you really want to the familiar to be able to track things, you can have it take the Track feat when it increases in HD.

[RCgothic]

Huh. For some reason it's never occurred to me that familiars advance (other than by the familiar table). :smallredface:

Thanks! :smallsmile:

[HunterOfJello]

Huh. For some reason it's never occurred to me that familiars advance.:smallredface:

Thanks! :smallsmile:

Yup. Familiars increase in HD, so they get feats. So do Animal Companions, thought they don't gain the benefit of increased size from HD.

Psicrystals do too, but that's really an accident by the authors. (They weren't supposed to.)

[ahenobarbi]

Yup. Familiars increase in HD, so they get feats.

No they don't.

[Piggy Knowles]

Familiars explicitly don't advance in HD, unlike animal companions and psicrystals. Psychic reformation is your best bet for teaching it Track. Or pick up an improved familiar that already knows it.

[HunterOfJello]

No they don't.

Whoops! My bad. I forgot that they have that weird HD mechanic. They don't increase in hit die, so they don't get feats. The others do though.

I'm not sure if any of the possible starting familiar come with Track.

Improved Familiar -> Hellhound would do the trick.

~

You can always grab the Wizard/Sorcerer ACF from Unearthed Arcana to get a 1/2 level Animal Companion instead of a Familiar. They're much lousier than a familiar, but the dogs would have Track.

[Absol197]

I'm pretty sure it's not RAW, but I've always said that familiars gain skill points and feats as their master advances. They treat their HD total as their master's, so why wouldn't they get additional feats and such? It's not like familiars are incredibly broken as it is, right?

[RCgothic]

Ok, thanks for clearing that up.

[Darrin]

You could try this:

Shape Soulmeld: Hunter's Circlet
Open Least Chakra: Crown (gain the Track feat)
Share Soulmeld (familiar gets your soulmelds while within 5')

Although at that point, whether you or your familiar does the tracking becomes somewhat moot.

Taking Improved Familiar to get something that already has Scent + Track would be more efficient, though.

[RCgothic]

It wasn't an important part of the concept - I also have a sheepdog which can track perfectly happily. I just thought it might not hurt to have another capable of the same. At least the Cat Familiar can help find the tracks to begin with, even if the dog takes it from there!

[Piggy Knowles]

I'm almost positive that there's a magic item that grants the Track feat. I'm pretty sure it's one of the pieces from the magic item "sets" in MIC. That's another easy way to pick it up. IIRC, it was around 3000 gold, but it's been a long time since I've looked at that.

I once played a wilderness bard with Survival maxed out and a rat familiar that had Track (via Psychic Reformation). Between that and the buffs I would cast on it, it was honestly one of the best trackers/scouts I've seen in any game I've played...

EDIT: Found it. Mask of the Tiger, 4k, from the Magic Item Compendium. From the magic item set "Garb of the Hunting Cat". Also released online as a preview here (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/iw/20070308a).