Question on Familiars regarding skills, ranks, etc.

[Othniel]

I'm starting a new Adventure Path with my usual group tomorrow (Mummy's Mask), and picked the Chosen One (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/paladin/archetypes/paizo---paladin-archetypes/chosen-one-paladin-archetype) archetype for a Paladin. It's from the Familiar Folio, and pretty new. Here's my question:

The familiar gains an ability called Religious Mentor, which says:

The familiar's sworn duty is to help train the chosen one for her future glory. The familiar is treated as having a number of ranks in Knowledge (religion) equal to the chosen one's paladin level. The chosen one doesn't gain Knowledge (religion) as a class skill.

Does the familiar get the +3 bonus that a character normally gets for having 1 rank in a class skill? Obviously, at level 1, the familiar only has 6 intelligence, which gives it a -2 modifier on all Int-based checks, including religion. So, at level 1, the chosen one's familiar is treated as having 1 rank in Knowledge (Religion), so is the familiar's final modifier 2=(1+3-2) or -1=(1-2)?

Also, as the familiar's master levels up, the familiar's intelligence grows. Do they get more skill points to put in things at any point, or do they just keep what they have from the base monster?

[grarrrg]

Does the familiar get the +3 bonus that a character normally gets for having 1 rank in a class skill?

The default is "Familiars treat Acrobatics, Climb, Fly, Perception, Stealth, and Swim as class skills.", and nothing about the archetype says it adds Knowledge (Religion), so you do not get a +3 Class Skill bonus.


Also, as the familiar's master levels up, the familiar's intelligence grows. Do they get more skill points to put in things at any point, or do they just keep what they have from the base monster?

Familiars don't actually gain any Levels/HD/etc... For the most part your Familiar will only ever have 1 HD worth of their own skill points.
INT bonuses can (eventually) give it an extra few Skill points to spend. And increasing INT will also increase the bonus it gets when using INT based skills.

From Familiar Rules (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/wizard/familiar):

Skills: For each skill in which either the master or the familiar has ranks, use either the normal skill ranks for an animal of that type or the master's skill ranks, whichever is better. In either case, the familiar uses its own ability modifiers....

[Othniel]

The default is "Familiars treat Acrobatics, Climb, Fly, Perception, Stealth, and Swim as class skills.", and nothing about the archetype says it adds Knowledge (Religion), so you do not get a +3 Class Skill bonus.



Familiars don't actually gain any Levels/HD/etc... For the most part your Familiar will only ever have 1 HD worth of their own skill points.
INT bonuses can (eventually) give it an extra few Skill points to spend. And increasing INT will also increase the bonus it gets when using INT based skills.

From Familiar Rules (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/wizard/familiar):

Thanks for the reply!

I forgot to mention this: the Chosen One paladin archetype says it gives the paladin "an emissary familiar" so would that mean the familiar gains the Emissary (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/wizard/familiar/familiar-archetypes/emissary-familiar-archetype) archetype, giving it Knowledge (Religion) as a class skill?

[grarrrg]

I forgot to mention this: the Chosen One paladin archetype says it gives the paladin "an emissary familiar" so would that mean the familiar gains the Emissary (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/wizard/familiar/familiar-archetypes/emissary-familiar-archetype) archetype, giving it Knowledge (Religion) as a class skill?

As worded it's hard to tell if the "get an Emissary Familiar" is "Rules wording" or "Flavor wording" (don't have the book).

But since the Paladin archetype and the Familiar archetype are in the same book I'm going to go with "yes".
So it would get the +3 bonus from Class skill.

[Othniel]

Much appreciated! I know it's not considered an official source, but the Archives of Nethys page gives a page number reference for the familiar, so my conclusion is that it does provide the familiar archetype.

[Yanisa]

Much appreciated! I know it's not considered an official source, but the Archives of Nethys page gives a page number reference for the familiar, so my conclusion is that it does provide the familiar archetype.

Checking the actual book, you are right, it gets the archetype (page 10 has the Emissary (Familiar Archetype)). :smallwink: