arcane hierophant with a monkey Question.

[DrkMagusX]

I m working on a character design of a arcane hierophant that is using a Monkey Companion Familiar.
I know that his is Tiny but with Animal growth that will beef him up a bit and using Natural companion feat will help as well.

I thought about having the creature take feats that would allow him to use weapons first is this possible?
I also thought about giving him (no pun intended) the feat Monkey grip so he can at least use small size weapons and or medium if I can get him up to small size using animal growth.

He will have at least a 9 int from the familiar part also.

Is there a way to aid him in being able to speak common via a spell made permanent?

The character concept is a upbeat explorer that travels alot and his companion also helps keep notes and such. I needed a way to also make him formible in combat just incase. He is mainly a support character and will not be treading the front lines.

[Vortenger]

I'm not certain if Tongues (the spell) can be made permanent, and it is the spell you'd want for this. That being said, the Pearl of Speech is only 500g in the MIC, and it allows the user to speak a language of choice. Using that for my Roc companion currently.

[Kazudo]

What you're describing seems to actually be best describing a Cohort rather than a Familiar. Maybe I'm just missing it, but it's a matter of one feat and obvious rules vs. several feats and odd RAW readings. AFAIK, you can't give a familiar feats. I could be wrong, however.

For a cohort, you could just MAKE a small Anthropomorphic Monkey character, or maybe a Halfling Were-Monkey.

[DrkMagusX]

Arcane Hierophant's companion familiar gets feats from the Druid companion side when its HD increase for being a druid's companion.

[sleepyphoenixx]

A monkey companion familiar has hands and intelligence, so it can use weapons without having to take a feat. It's melee potential is rather limited though.

If your DM doesn't allow the Pearl of Speech for animals to speak there's limited options. Technically everything with Int 3 or more speaks common unless otherwise specified. For creatures that are physically incapable of it you may need to use polymorph. I assume it's for activating magic items so getting Telepathy won't suffice?

Also, Companion Familiar lets a normal animal companion get the benefits of a familiar. A monkey is not a valid animal companion, so it's technically not eligible (though i can't see any DM having a problem with it).

You can however, by RAW, trade your animal companion for an Urban Companion (CS WE), which allows a monkey, and still get a companion familiar without any loss of progression when you take your first level of Arcane Hierophant.

[Urpriest]

A monkey companion familiar has hands and intelligence, so it can use weapons without having to take a feat. It's melee potential is rather limited though.

If your DM doesn't allow the Pearl of Speech for animals to speak there's limited options. Technically everything with Int 3 or more speaks common unless otherwise specified. For creatures that are physically incapable of it you may need to use polymorph. I assume it's for activating magic items so getting Telepathy won't suffice?

Also, Companion Familiar lets a normal animal companion get the benefits of a familiar. A monkey is not a valid animal companion, so it's technically not eligible (though i can't see any DM having a problem with it).

You can however, by RAW, trade your animal companion for an Urban Companion (CS WE), which allows a monkey, and still get a companion familiar without any loss of progression when you take your first level of Arcane Hierophant.

This. Just get an Ape instead.

[DrkMagusX]

I figure that you can just have the familiar gain the animal companion stuff much like the animal companion would if you went that route.

A ape would be too heavy to sit on my shoulder.
I thought of that but felt it might be too much. its a Large creature . easier to explain a monkey on your shoulder than why are you traveling around with a large ape.

I m still working out the details of the character so who knows maybe the ape will be like Auryn's body guard.

Just something about making a tiny monkey invisible and sending him out to deliver touch spells to party members lol.

I welcome all ideas .

Greetings friends, Auryn Nord my name and this lil fellow on my shoulder taking notes in a book is Pokey (Points to the monkey on his shoulder) We enjoy stories and finding new places and would like to join you on your many adventures.

[DrkMagusX]

Found monkey companion for elves only in Dr279.