New Familiars
The following are statistics for several new animals that can serve as familiars, in addition to a number of familiars for the Witch Class. These familiars can be taken by anyone gaining a familiar, and utilize all the standard rules for familiars for Wizard familiars. Tiny or smaller familiars in this section use Dexterity to modify Climb and Swim skill checks.
Small and Vermin Familiars
Small-sized familiars threaten the areas around them like Small creatures, and can be used to flank enemies, though both familiars and their masters are often loath to use such tactics, as the result is often a dead familiar. Small-sized familiars are also harder to keep on a master's person than Tiny or smaller familiars. Often they require some form of magic item, like a bag of holding, for such a feat to work. The process of making a vermin into a familiar grants it an Intelligence score and removes the mindless trait. Vermin familiars communicate with their masters and other vermin of their kind (greensting scorpions with other scorpions, house centipedes with other centipedes, and scarlet spiders with other spiders) by way of a strange combination of behaviors, slight changes in coloration, and even the excretion of scents, subtle and otherwise. As with other types of familiars, other creatures cannot understand this communication without magical aid.
Table: Familiars Familiar Special Ability
Blue-ringed octopus Master gains a +3 bonus on Swim checks
Donkey rat Master gains a +2 bonus on Fortitude saves
Fox Master gains a +2 bonus on Reflex saves
Goat Master gains a +3 bonus on Survival checks
Greensting scorpion Master gains a +4 bonus on Initiative checks
Hedgehog Master gains a +2 bonus on Will saves
House centipede Master gains a +3 bonus on Stealth checks
King Crab Master gains a +2 bonus on CMB checks to start and maintain a grapple
Pig Master gains a +3 bonus on Diplomacy checks
Scarlet spider Master gains a +3 bonus on Climb checks
Thrush* Master gains a +3 bonus on Diplomacy checks
Turtle Master gains a +1 natural armor bonus to AC
* A thrush familiar can speak one language of its master's choice as a supernatural ability.