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I choose a Hedgehog as familiar. Familiars have:

Attacks: Use the master’s base attack bonus, as calculated from all his classes. Use the familiar’s Dexterity or Strength modifier, whichever is greater, to calculate the familiar’s melee attack bonus with natural weapons. Damage equals that of a normal creature of the familiar’s kind.

Hedegehog does not seem to have any attacks. As a familiar, does he gains one? I dont think so. Did I understand it well?

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  • \$\begingroup\$ It's a hedgehog...what sort of attack do you think it should have? \$\endgroup\$
    – YogoZuno
    Commented Mar 24, 2018 at 6:59
  • \$\begingroup\$ @YogoZuno I dont know. bite doesnt fit really well. Sting maybe? \$\endgroup\$
    – aloisdg
    Commented Mar 24, 2018 at 11:38
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    \$\begingroup\$ @aloisdg I’d actually consider gore, though maybe an undersized gore (which ends up with the same stats as sting, so maybe it’s all academic anyway), since hedgehogs don’t have tails or tentacles to “sting” with, but our hedgehog has run into me or against me and pricked me a bit. Doesn’t hurt much, can’t imagine it ever drawing blood (doesn’t even do that when I step on shed quills sticking straight up from our carpet), much less leading to an injury, but meh, magic. A piercing-damage slam might also be appropriate. Also, hedgehogs are predators and have a (small) bite. \$\endgroup\$
    – KRyan
    Commented Mar 24, 2018 at 13:54
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    \$\begingroup\$ @YogoZuno Spin Dash :) \$\endgroup\$
    – Philipp
    Commented Apr 3, 2018 at 9:04
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    \$\begingroup\$ You have to throw it really hard at your opponent to make use of those short spines. It will be easier to put a number after your familiar's name. \$\endgroup\$
    – ShadoCat
    Commented Apr 3, 2018 at 22:27

2 Answers 2

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Your Hedgehog would use your BAB and its STR or DEX for any attacks it did have... but no, it does not gain one. Nothing in the Familiar sections adds attacks, only modifies them.

However, if it benefits you, there's recourse to ask your GM to give it an attack.

The Animal Archive book has a section on Approximating Familiars with a section on customzing your companion:

From there, you can change the skills and feats, add or subtract attacks, and otherwise sculpt the creature until it matches the picture in your imagination.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ So no RAW, but you can check for customization with the DM. Got it. Thank you. \$\endgroup\$
    – aloisdg
    Commented Mar 24, 2018 at 11:39
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The hedgehog can make attacks as an animal

While it lacks natural weapons, hedgehogs (like humans) still have recourse to the use of Unarmed Strikes, should they choose to employ them. Such strikes deal whatever the GM decides '1' reduces to when lowered by one step for normal hedgehogs, or 1d2 for a first level hedgehog monk.

The hedgehog does also get extra attacks as a familiar, but only kind of

Animals, for whatever reason, get lots of weird prohibitions against things. For example, the typical hedgehog, even should it decide to spend its sole feat on Cosmopolitan is nonetheless incapable of speaking-- though it remains able to comprehend the languages chosen. More relevantly, animals are barred from using more or less any manufactured weapon at all, though they get proficiency in all types of armor more-or-less for free.

Magical beasts, however, have no such FAQ-errata-based restrictions nor benefits. A familiar, as a magical beast, could certainly wield, with a non-proficiency penalty, any manner of weapon it felt like and had access to, just like any other non-animal creature.

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