feats on familiars

[daremetoidareyo]

Do familiars gain feats as they level up in HD? If so, can they use my craft:taxidermy skill to make a trophy using trophy collector, so that they are more fearsome in the future?

Can they take ocular spell feat, and when I share spells with them via spell linked familiar, they instead hold the charge in their eyeballs to shoot out as rays?

[the_david]

No, no, no and no.

[Troacctid]

Familiars don't gain feats, as they do not actually gain HD. However, you can use Psychic Reformation (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/powers/psychicReformation.htm) to change a familiar's pre-existing feats, which could potentially allow your familiar to take Trophy Collector. Note, though, that it would still only be able to craft trophies from monsters it defeats, not from monsters you defeat, so you'd need a familiar that can hold its own in combat. You'd also need to talk to your DM about what it means for a monster to be higher level than the familiar, since most familiars don't have an ECL the way player characters do.

[Chronos]

You'd also need to talk to your DM about what it means for a monster to be higher level than the familiar, since most familiars don't have an ECL the way player characters do.
For any calculation that calls for the familiar's level, you use the master's level. I'm not sure about ECL, though.

[ExLibrisMortis]

Psicrystals gain actual HD, unlike familiars. They can get Trophy Collector and carry around shrunken heads and everything. They have a pretty terrible carrying capacity, though (diminuitive quadruped (?) and 1 strength, for a heavy load of 5 lb).

[Jowgen]

If your DM can be convinced to take the Fabulous Cats article seriously, it does contain a variant rule for letting cat familiars gain feats (might just be feline feats) to make them more appealing. Obviously opens up reformation/chaos-shuffle shenanigans if you can get it allowed.

[Ruethgar]

Huh, I've seen that article so many times but never noticed that variant. Cool. It also doesn't give a limit on feats taken to only feline feats. I would suggest you make the feat option a replacement for the Improved Familiar cat option instead of just giving it to all cat familiars.

[frost890]

They gain HD according to your level. Why would they not get the level dependent progression of feats and skills. There are rules for increasing the level on any animal/mount in the monsters manual. I would have to say yes. It takes time and effort(handle animal) but you can teach them tricks as well. A knights trusty stead is not much use if they can not grow enough that they are slain in the fist encounter.

[torrasque666]

They gain HD according to your level. Why would they not get the level dependent progression of feats and skills. There are rules for increasing the level on any animal/mount in the monsters manual. I would have to say yes. It takes time and effort(handle animal) but you can teach them tricks as well. A knights trusty stead is not much use if they can not grow enough that they are slain in the fist encounter.
Familiar's don't get HD. They simply have half of their master's HP. For effects relating to HD, yes they use either their natural ones or the masters whichever is higher, but thats for things like Blasphemy, Daze or other HD dependent effects. Gaining feats is not one of those.