Best Practices for Familiars

[mwfantasygrounds]

Hi everyone,

I'm curious how you represent familiars in FG. Do you just keep them in text on the Notes tab of your character sheet? Does your GM create an NPC record for them and if so how do they give you control of it? Do you have a token on the battle map for it? etc.

[EriCordeiro]

I created an NPC record for that familiar, placed it into an encounter as an Ally, gave it a token in that encounter, added the encounter to the combat tracker, and done! Since it's in the combat tracker, it comes with the party when I move them to a new map. I usually control it myself as GM, following whatever the player wanted it to do. The only downside is having to manually change its initiative to match their master.

[Trenloe]

Make a skeleton character sheet for the familiar and then the player can control it and you can also link the familiar to the base PC to share initiative.

Referring to the screenshot below:


On the base PC, click the Class & Level details icon
Click the Linked PCs button.
Drag the familiar PC record into the Linked PCs window, set to Familiar and check =Init.


Then add both the base PC and the familar to the Combat Tracker. When the base PC rolls initiative it will be synched with the familiar.

https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=57556

[mwfantasygrounds]

Thank you, this worked great! I then added a Familiar Abilities spell class to my familiar for some Effects automations.

[jkeller]

Sorry to resurrect a very old thread, but I can't find any way to "Link PCs". Does it still exist? Thanks!

[Trenloe]

Sorry to resurrect a very old thread, but I can't find any way to "Link PCs". Does it still exist? Thanks!
Nothing's changed, the steps in post #3 above are still valid.

What, exactly, isn't working for you?

[jkeller]

Thanks for the reply. I have not been able to find the "Linked PCs" button. I'm using FGU (update to the latest).

This is what mine looks like:

60375

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53613283560_4313378d1d_c.jpg

[Trenloe]

Thanks for the reply. I have not been able to find the "Linked PCs" button. I'm using FGU (update to the latest).

This is what mine looks like:

60375

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53613283560_4313378d1d_c.jpg
Try it without extensions - that "LVL UP" button isn't part of the standard ruleset, you can see in post #3 that button isn't there.

[revanmaster]

That looks like 5e dnd ruleset

[Trenloe]

That looks like 5e dnd ruleset
So it does. Good spot!

@jkeller - this thread is in the Pathfinder 2 forum as this functionality is only available in that ruleset.

[jkeller]

Yes. I disabled my extensions, but I still see the LVL UP button, and don't see the Linked PCs button. I am using 5E (and I guess I can't change that, even temporarily).

60376

[jkeller]

Ah, thank you. Yeah, it's not related to my extensions - just the ruleset. Sorry for the confusion!

[Trenloe]

I am using 5E (and I guess I can't change that, even temporarily).
You would need to start a new campaign and select "Pathfinder (2E)" as the ruleset. But that won't help you if you're playing D&D 5e!

[fabiocm]

Isn't there a way to automattically copy data from an NPC shet to a PC sheet? I'd like to do this not just for familiars, but for companions and summoned creatures as well, but it's a lot of work.

[Trenloe]

Isn't there a way to automattically copy data from an NPC shet to a PC sheet? I'd like to do this not just for familiars, but for companions and summoned creatures as well, but it's a lot of work.
In Pathfinder 1 the creature statblocks format is very different from the PC format - unlike in Pathfinder 1 where the PC and NPC data followed the same rules, PF2 doesn't do this and so a direct conversion would require guesses for things like proficiencies, armor (what the creature is wearing and using doesn't necessarily convert to armor and weapon item records) and other minor things.

NPC records can be controlled by players, so summoned creatures etc. can be used without the need for a PC record.