New Pathfinder Release, 11/8

[Mathias]

A new update of the Pathfinder files was posted today. It improves the way the improved familiar feat is handled, and includes some (celestial XXX, fiendish XXX, quasit, and stirge) of the improved familiar races (the rest didn't get finished in time and will be in the next update).

A big thanks to huntercc for doing the data entry on all the improved familiar races. He did all the d20 improved familiar races - the reason the rest aren't in this update is that I ran out of time on Friday while converting them from d20 to Pathfinder.

All the animal companion options from the Bestiary have now been added, along with the Axebeak from the Bonus Bestiary (which was Paizo's 2009 Free RPG day offering, and is currently available as a free pdf from their website). (The dragonne animal companion will be in the next update. I'm afraid the faerie dragon improved familiar will have to wait quite a while, since it has pseudo-sorcerer levels, and that can't currently be handled in HeroLab).

A big thanks to jephkay for doing the data entry on the axebeak.

All but two (bloody skeleton and burning skeleton - also coming in the next update) of the templates listed in the Bestiary have also been added. For most of those, since the Bestiary entry was a template modifying races/classes that had already been entered, I added stock portfolios of those Bestiary entries.

The NPC races (like gnolls and Drow) also got stock portfolios for their Bestiary entries. To see stock portfolios, go to the portfolios menu, and select "Import Stock Hero". To make your own stock portfolios, instead of saving your portfolio as a .por file in the HeroLab/portfolios/pathfinder folder, save it with a .stock extension in the HeroLab/data/pathfinder folder. I recommend against altering the stock portfolios that are already there, because any changes you make will be overwritten with each update (although you can copy those files and then modify the contents, if you want your default gnoll to carry a shortspear and shield instead of the spear listed in the Bestiary entry).

A note - since one of the options for improved familiars is celestial/fiendish familiars, to get one of those, select the familiar's race as usual, then go to the "Class Level" list and select one of those templates (or reverse the order of those steps) - on a familiar, the templates will enforce the improved familiar, level 3, and alignment restrictions. This means that if you (or the adventure paths, etc.) have added a new familiar race, you don't need to make fiendish and celestial versions of it in order to make them available as improved familiars.

Creating an improved familiar is now handled just like creating a regular familiar is handled - create the race in the editor. There is a field you can fill in with the arcane caster level requirement for an improved familiar, and it will require the improved familiar feat if that value is greater than 0. You can also select an optional alignment (I'm sorry that setting that alignment doesn't also set it for the familiar), and the program will enforce the restriction that the master's alignment be near it.

[Mahrdol]

Very nice. You guys are the best.

I did notice one small thing about the familiars when I added the fiendish template it said I had to be evil. Here is what the pathfinder book says see bold text specifically.

Improved Familiar
This feat allows you to acquire a powerful familiar, but
only when you could normally acquire a new familiar.

Prerequisites: Ability to acquire a new familiar,
compatible alignment, sufficiently high level (see below).
Benefit: When choosing a familiar, the creatures listed
below are also available to you (see the Pathfinder RPG Bestiary
for statistics on these creatures). You may choose a familiar
with an alignment up to one step away on each alignment
axis (lawful through chaotic, good through evil).

That is quite a bit of leeway. Looks like a neutral wizard could have any familiar since every alignment combination is 1 step on either axis. If I read that correctly.

[Mathias]

Oops - that was a holdover from the SRD versions of the Fiendish/Celestial familiars, where the fiendish/celestial familiars were only available if you had the evil/good subtype. The rest of the familiars already work as you're saying. The fiendish/celestial versions will be fixed in the next update.