Magical child vigilante archetype question

[Gnaeus]

I know about the ruling restricting familiar archetypes. But do they ever clarify what the ability scores are? It seems like it is intended to be a total transformation but RAW looks like change shape doesn’t change scores.

[Psyren]

I know about the ruling restricting familiar archetypes. But do they ever clarify what the ability scores are? It seems like it is intended to be a total transformation but RAW looks like change shape doesn’t change scores.

Specific trumps general, so while the general rule of change shape is that it works like a polymorph spell, the one the MC's familiar gets basically and completely turns them into whichever Improved Familiar(s) you selected at 3rd, 5th, and 7th.

[Segev]

I know about the ruling restricting familiar archetypes. But do they ever clarify what the ability scores are? It seems like it is intended to be a total transformation but RAW looks like change shape doesn’t change scores.

I assume you're referring to its 9th level ability to assume its older Vigilante forms. In that case, the Change Shape ability does reference polymorph, but calls out that ability scores don't change. So it keeps the (hopefully better) ability scores of its highest-level vigilante form, but does gain any other abilities of earlier forms it assumes that polymorph would give it.


For a more thorough rundown, at first level, it's a familiar with the standard vigilante's secret identity class feature. Both "forms" are the same creature, just hard to recognize as each other. So the strangely intelligent cat that accompanies Witch Girl Kiki when she performs her Mystery Deliveries is definitely not ordinary apprentice castle maid Kyla Kane's adorable little kitty that shadows her on her rounds.

As Witch Girl Kiki levels up, the strangely intelligent cat becomes a Fey-Touched cat, which gets it a +2 to Will saves, low-light vision (which overlaps with its existing low-light vision), eventually gets it some DR/cold iron, and a Change Shape ability to become Witch Girl Kiki's accomplice in mystery deliveries: Cat Boy. (Fey-Touched (https://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/templates/fey-touched-creature-0-or-1/) is a level 3 Improved Familiar option.) Even when Cat Boy turns into an obviously magical cat, however, it's definitely not Kyla's little innocent kitty.

When Witch Girl Kiki hits level 5, Cat Boy's little-boy form is so useful that he never turns back into a (fey-touched) cat, except to disguise himself as Kyla's totally normal house pet. Cat Boy is now a Brownie (https://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/fey/brownie), mechanically. At this point, when Kyla transforms into Kiki, her kitty (who still has normal-cat-familiar-to-a-5th-level-wizard stats) turns into a Brownie (who has normal 5th-level-wizard-improved-familiar Brownie stats).

At 7th level Cat Boy actually shrinks more than a bit as his powers evolve. He's now a butterfly-winged catboy about the size of a cat, his mending power works on people (but somehow not on objects anymore), and he is in general a Lyrakien Azata (https://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/outsiders/azata/azata-lyrakien), mechanically. He still turns back into a simple 7th-level-wizard-familiar house cat when Kiki is Kyla.

Finally, at 9th level, he retains his Lyrakien Azata ability scores when Kyla is Kiki, but he can choose to also turn back into a Brownie or a Fey-Touched Cat (including his original "Cat Boy" form) when Kiki is in Witch Girl form.

[Gnaeus]

Thank you, Segev. That was what I was trying to figure out.