Can familiars have special abilities-- flight or poison, for instance? (I was specifically thinking of imps or homunculi when I asked this question, but also things like snakes or crows)
What damage does a familiar do on a successful attack?
And still unanswered from my previous thread on the subject of familiars: what does a familiar save as?
Not an Autarch, but there is an answerable bit:
Flight and poison: Player’s Companion, which includes a viper and an owl, suggests yes.
For damage and saves, with no guidance from the rules, do what you feel is right. It’s unlikely to unbalance anything to give familiars construct-like attacks (max damage = HDx3) or monster saves.
IANAA, but I’m pretty sure that the saves are supposed to be handled as a monster of the same HD. I’m not in front of my books, but I believe the familiar always has half the HD of their master.
As for damage. I’d likely set mine to 1-2 or 1-3 subdual damage. Familiars such as cats and ravens aren’t likely to do serious damage to those larger than themselves. I found a website where the author created stats for some small animals, which you might find useful.
http://rachelghoulgamestuff.blogspot.com/2013/07/small-animals-for-acks.html
If Alex doesn’t get get around to this one, I’d imagine using the Shaman’s familiar-ability as a baseline.
Can familiars have special abilities-- flight or poison, for instance? (I was specifically thinking of imps or homunculi when I asked this question, but also things like snakes or crows)
ALEX: Yes, they can. You can either create these abilities yourself (as Judge), use examples from the ACKS Core Book, or use examples from the Shaman animal companions.
What damage does a familiar do on a successful attack?
ALEX: It depends on the type of creature it is. See above!
And still unanswered from my previous thread on the subject of familiars: what does a familiar save as?
APM: They save as Fighters of a level equal to their Hit Dice.
I definitely under-estimated how popular Familiars would be when I put them in ACKS, and I know it’s an area where the game is under-detailed relative to many of its other mechanics.
Maybe it’d be worth putting this info in the next version of the errata?
Nonsense! If we don’t retain a degree of inscrutability and vagueness, how can I feel important about delivering sage advice? 