Talk:Illusory Familiar (3.5e Feat)

Scouting
Is this basically incorporeal as it can move through solid substances? What does that mean about its scouting capability compared to that of a normal familiar? Plus, normal familiars have some risk when scouting (dying, that is). This one doesn't seem to share that either. --Ghostwheel (talk) 16:40, 7 September 2014 (UTC)


 * "Illusory familiars may have no substance, but they cannot pass through solid material.", so not incorporeal. That said, they're basically holograms.  They're great scouts, no more than a familiar of their size but has the whole inability to be damaged by conventional means.  This is the tradeoff for the inability for physical interactions.  You can kind of view them as some sort of persistent prying eyes spell. -- Eiji-kun (talk) 20:02, 7 September 2014 (UTC)


 * Can they take independent action? Can they be targeted, and if so, how? Do they have mental skills (such as spot)? --76.240.160.62 23:00, 7 September 2014 (UTC)


 * "They have a hover speed (perfect) equal to the caster's land speed..."


 * " It doesn't have any hp or HD, and is immune to damage. If attacked, it has an AC of 10 + it's size modifier + it's highest mental ability modifier. It can be suppressed in an antimagic field, and dispelling it suppresses it for 1d4 rounds. Mage's disjunction destroys it until the caster can perform a ritual which takes 24 hours to return it."


 * and "It has no skills of its own, though it uses your skills, and only has mental ability scores as seen below. Because it has no physical presence, it cannot perform physical actions but may still make mental skill checks. Illusory familiars are intelligent and can speak the caster's languages. "


 * With the quoted areas above, yes, they have their own actions. They may be targeted, though only dispel, antimagic field, and disjunction really pose any threat to them.  They have your mental skills.  As a result, they are excellent scouts and a good source of getting a second reroll on knowledge checks.  They use your ranks plus their mental ability scores. -- Eiji-kun (talk) 23:20, 7 September 2014 (UTC)


 * For purposes of shit like imbue with spell like ability, how are they treated?--76.240.160.62 23:28, 7 September 2014 (UTC)


 * Ooo, clever, lesse... it's a creature, yes, it has Int, yes... technically it doesn't HAVE HD, so it's debatable if it would work, but by RAW it says 2 HD or lower. So.... I suppose it works, and it'd be a valid way to get it to cast something.  It's an awful lot of trouble, but I don't see anything particularly broken about that.  Looks good. -- Eiji-kun (talk) 23:53, 7 September 2014 (UTC)


 * Also, for purposes of interacting with other game mechanics generally- would it be treated as an incorporeal creature, a spell, or a magic item? (for example, if hijacking dispel is cast, if a magic suppression effect is used, if someone casts a spell on it other than dispel that effects other spells, if it comes up against an abjuration barrier, etc.) And, "Illusory familiars may have no substance, but they cannot pass through solid material." What happens if someone entombs one, or if the master burrows through rock? (awesome variant, tho, despite foreseeable problems interacting with the game system)


 * "A creature, though technically not incorporeal so much as non-existent. That is, it doesn't have incorporeal traits, it's much closer to silent image there, and is only a creature because it's sapient.  Or would that be closer to being a spell which is also a creature?  I suppose it could go either way." Might be a good idea then to specify that it is a creature, but has no particular type, and only xyz effects interact with it at all. Might be a good idea to give it a dex score too, even though it will pretty much never need to use it.
 * "I did encounter a problem with one being entombed. Since they aren't incorporeal, they can't pass through rock.  But they haven't any substance, they are like air.  So I imagine, like air, they're merely squished and compressed until released.  This was satisfying to me, but I suppose I could be clearer on it.  Do you think this is a good fix and/or do you have a good idea on wording?" Allow it to move anywhere the caster could (if the caster has earth glide, it moves through earth just fine, illusory familiars of fire elementals can't enter water, etc.) and if it is forcibly moved into an invalid place, it is either teleported into the nearest valid square, or if this is impossible (nearest valid square is more than a mile away from it/its owner) it is destroyed until it can be resummoned --76.240.160.62 02:26, 8 September 2014 (UTC)