Still a fan of Silvanshee, even if they've been nerfed. As a fan of the old Grimalkin, something about a talking cat warms my heart.
Still a fan of Silvanshee, even if they've been nerfed. As a fan of the old Grimalkin, something about a talking cat warms my heart.
I want to play one as a PC like the cheshire cat.
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Sheesh, talk about making a judgement without knowing what the heck i going on.
only going on what you told us.
The bandersnatch that was napping there
Try to stay on topic please.
my apologies sir
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Otherwise, Cassian.
Perfect Memory. The RP implications are boundless.
Never forget a face. Or a name. Or a coded message briefly glanced at once. Or a map. Or the turns you've taken through a maze. Or any riddle or cryptic clue that has precise and important wording. Or have your familiar read a lot of books and know everything.
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My witch had a fox familiar. He was good because having foxes running around in the city of Riddleport wasn't considered out of the ordinary. Most people just ignored it which made it great for sneaking along and empathically letting me know danger was around.
It's abilities were so so, but it was the background for my character that made it fun to play. I named him Lord Snow (which I out I'd made up until someone reminded me of the game of thrones books. Stupidly convenient memory of mine). He was a silver grey fox, but I was going to take improved familiar and make him an imp, who was working for a demon of pestilence. I was an evil witch who'd taken the plague path.
My healing hex was "uncomfortable", nothing mechanics wise, but the ways described even made the players cringe a little after a while. Lord snow had this disconcerting way of looking into people's eyes, all the time. Occasionally he'd come back from a nights foraging with a slightly pink hue around his muzzle, and rumours started springing up about homeless folks going missing only to be found a few days later gnawed upon by some feral animals.
As I said, there was nothing mechanically great about Lord Snow, but both he and my character were quite memorable, and disturbing in a way.
My witch died last game, caught in the steam breath of a dragon turtle. It was an epic death, and lord snow got tasted along with her.
While the other players in the game said they'd miss them, their characters are kind of relieved that the disturbing elven woman and her freakish fox have disapead.
Cheers
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Geez, after reading through this I think this thread should be combined with the "what is powergaming" thread...
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Goat familiar = free milk.
Thread over.
The 3.5 spell Benign Transposition + a flying familiar made for some excellent battlefield positioning possibilities.
Fly the bird into a flank position, then use BT to have it swap places with the party rogue or use it to get the Raging Barbarian next to the enemy spellcaster behind enemy lines. An unscalable 80 foot high wall at first level? Fly the bird up to the top, swap places.
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My favourite is still the Raven.
- Doesn't look out of place anywhere.
- From the Core rules: no whining about power creep.
- Knows a language. Speaks said language.
- Talons and a beak - they can manipulate anything.
- Omnivorous.
- Bonus to Perception.
- Few natural predators.
Geez, after reading through this I think this thread should be combined with the "what is powergaming" thread...
Though you'll note that's not what I (the OP) asked for.
Edit: Though several people have given stories and anecdotes, which is good.
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Its been a while since I played a class with a familiar, but my favorite of the ones I've seen has got to be the homebrewed undead dodo that Savannah Broadway used when we played the Serpent's Skull adventure path. Its name was Percival, and he had a top hat, and a monocle, and a tiny waistcoat with spats.... Those were good times.
My alchemist had a compsognathus, loved that little guy. I just got Improved Familiar. All along, I had wanted Silvanshee just for the novelty of a tumorous growth that meows and is cute and heals the party, to their disgust.
But...the nerf happened between start of game and now. And 1d6 forever just is not worth using. So, I "evolved" my familiar into a Faerie Dragon instead and am loving it. He perches on my shoulder and sometimes debuffs enemies with the breath weapon. And the DM let me choose my own spells for his 3 sorceror levels, so he has all sorts of nice party buffing stuff. Those sorc levels, combined with UMD as a class skill and good cha, means that if we ever find wands or scrolls, he can handle that stuff, too. Oh, and the constant telepathy is also quite handy for covert communication.
Anyone have any stories about familiars doing somethting particularily interesting in game?
I had a monkey familiar who was always breaking stuff and throwing his poo.
Back in 3.5 there was a spell which let you give your familiar spells, so around 12th level Tumbili the monkey went from throwing poo to throwing Fireballs (Blistering Searing Fiery Fireballs, actually). By the end of the campaign he had an AC in the 40s, Flame Whips, and Mirror Images. He was probably tougher than some of the PCs.
I currently have another monkey in Pathfinder, and his +3 to Acrobatics has helped my Bard/Paladin avoid many AoOs. Skill Focus (Acrobatics) wouldn't be any better until 10th level, and the monkey also helps out on other skill checks with aid another. I also have a Diabolist with two Imps in one game, one a companion and the other an improved familiar. As expected, the companion is much more effective in combat, but the familiar helps out a lot with action economy, and having a devil on both shoulders is just that PC's style.
A small earth elemental with a menacing amulet of mighty fists could be a great flanking buddy for somebody with higher HP and BAB than a typical caster (maybe somebody with Eldritch Heritage). I also agree that the faerie dragon is great from a mechanical standpoint. Casting Grease on PCs who get grappled seems particularly useful to me.
Is 3.P material allowed?
I had a Rainbow Servant with a dragon familiar. With the character on the run, she polymorphed the dragon and herself into halfelves and posed as sisters, casting all of her divine spells as touch spells through the familiar and only casting arcane spells from herself. I had half the party convinced it was a cohort for most of that game.
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This thread serves two purposes.
1) What do you think is the best familiar and why? I think a lot of people are going to say the wand use thing, which is super, but blasé. If you go that route i'd at least like to ask for context or an interesting story about it.
2) Share you stories about things familiars did in your games that were epic and or amusing.
Alright, thats it. Dazzle me. ;-)
I did love this ferret story.
Cheapy, sometimes I still regret pointing out that Arbiters can be used to suck up 1/2 of the damage for an entire party. No other familiar can do the same thing.
Good thing nobody in my group(s) would try such a thing. :)
- Gauss
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I'm a fan of the good old Raven. I still remember the one I had in 3.5 D&D with my Sorcerer. She ended up having a higher intelligence then I had and would chastise him all the time for not behaving appropriately.
She even picked out his wife. >.>; That bird was awesome.
Also I approve of the reference in this forum title. /)
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IT does, both of them do, that's why the developers thought it might be a bit too powerful.
It depends on the familiar. Viper poison does not increase with HD by the RAW. (By RAI, sure.) It just has a flat DC9 attack. For an ability to scale it has to say something like "This is a Con-based DC." like with pseudodragons.
Which is why I'm swapping my viper for a pseudragon this level...
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RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16, Contributor
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IT does, both of them do, that's why the developers thought it might be a bit too powerful.It depends on the familiar. Viper poison does not increase with HD by the RAW. (By RAI, sure.) It just has a flat DC9 attack. For an ability to scale it has to say something like "This is a Con-based DC." like with pseudodragons.
Which is why I'm swapping my viper for a pseudragon this level...
I don't believe this is correct. Saying "This DC is Con based" is redundant for poisons and often left off because it's assumed (it's listed in the poison UMR).
I'm be curious where you got this impression from though.
Still a fan of Silvanshee, even if they've been nerfed. As a fan of the old Grimalkin, something about a talking cat warms my heart.I want to play one as a PC like the cheshire cat.
I actually used the Cheshire cat for my character's familiar's portrait.
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RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32, 2010 Top 8
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I enjoy my Lyrakin, Sovestya. The commune is nice (if the GM doesn't rule your questions as 'unclear') but the spell effects are nice too. Oh, and the immunity to electricity is invaluable. Saved her twice. She wears masterwork leather armor, and carries a cold iron scythe.
Also, since I try to play Ksenia 'barely chaotic good' it's funny to imagine her explaining Ksenia.
"No, she's good really. I know you don't see it, but there's good in her. Yes, you have to look really really deeply, but there. Damnit Ksenia! Stop looking at the slaves we rescued like they're fresh meat! Like I was saying, there is good in her..."
(Sovest means conscience, so Sovestya is a feminized version.)
Funny stories
Another funny story is when *I* panicked because she was caught in the AoE of a chain lightning, and he rolled really well. I was mentally ticking off the cost of the resurrection when I went, "Oh, wait, Lyrakin.
The character I'm playing now has an elf with a green sting scorpion. But I treat the dwarf inquisitor like he's a familiar
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heh nice, in 2e (and possibly also 3.5, I don't remember)
there was a dragon spell called "summon humanoid familiar"
I had such fun with that back then when I finally convinced the DM to let me play as a dragon (hatchling but still)
currently I'm in a lvl 20 gestalt campaign
I took the feat "noble scion" that you have to take at 1st lvl to take it at all
at 1st lvl you get infernal as a bonus language
at 9th lvl however you get an imp familiar
I then decked him out with the celestial servant feat to give him the celestial template
he's a rather confused imp
I then took leadership and gave him class levels
he's as strong if not stronger than some of the party members now
of course this cost me several feats but it's fun so who cares
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I was playing around with ideas for a necromancer and one of the ideas I had was one level of Juju Oracle with the Mute curse, represented by having their mouth sewn shut. The rest would be in wizard with a raven as their familiar. The Mute curse's telepathic bond would be with the raven. Imagining it'd be creepy as hell for this sewn up dude to be talking through a raven's mouth.
Cheapy, sometimes I still regret pointing out that Arbiters can be used to suck up 1/2 of the damage for an entire party. No other familiar can do the same thing.
Good thing nobody in my group(s) would try such a thing. :)
- Gauss
Oh no... Why did you bestow the burden of this knowledge upon me...
Oh no... Why did you bestow the burden of this knowledge upon me...Cheapy, sometimes I still regret pointing out that Arbiters can be used to suck up 1/2 of the damage for an entire party. No other familiar can do the same thing.
Good thing nobody in my group(s) would try such a thing. :)
- Gauss
I don't see how it's doing this, nothing in it's bestiary entry has anything about it 'sucking up damage'.
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I don't see how it's doing this, nothing in it's bestiary entry has anything about it 'sucking up damage'.Oh no... Why did you bestow the burden of this knowledge upon me...Cheapy, sometimes I still regret pointing out that Arbiters can be used to suck up 1/2 of the damage for an entire party. No other familiar can do the same thing.
Good thing nobody in my group(s) would try such a thing. :)
- Gauss
Shield Other?
I like the idea of an earth elemental, but not so much for the sneaky features people typically go for. The earth elemental is the only one I could find that came with a decent package of feats for melee (since they never get any more feats through leveling). Power attack and improved bullrush give a couple of options at least.
This can make them useful backup for a gish or a melee character with eldritch heritage, since it gets half your hp and all of your bab, saves, and skills. That is enough to make a half decent flanker (of course it should definitely enjoy its ability to escape through earthglide with that kind of hp...but what if it belonged to a barbarian?)
There is also the theoretical debate about whether they can have a humanoid shape and able to use weapons and such, but they seem too small to really count for that little boost (plus accessible too early compared to the imp and other humanoid familiars)
I believe one of the adventure paths had a vampire pumpkin familiar for witches.
Well, you could get a Celestial/Fiendish, or Celestial/Vampire version of any familiar, if you are an Aasimar with the Scion of Humanity alternate racial trait, and the Racial Heritage feat.
This get weirder when that familiar is a Homunculus built with extra Hit Die, and Construct Modifications.
I see how one can get celestial and fiendish, but how does one get the vampire template to their familiar?
Or are you simply referring to how one can have their familiar be bitten by a vampire?
I think that there is a dhampir feat similar to celestial servant... although it was more made for vampires (with dhampirs added in as an afterthought), so some of the features don't entirely fit for the pc race.
Anyway, I think the idea bbt was getting at was the 'go scion of humanity so you can go any other race through racial heritage'. So yeah...have fun with you quarter celestial/quarter vampire/half human character.
Shield Other?I don't see how it's doing this, nothing in it's bestiary entry has anything about it 'sucking up damage'.Oh no... Why did you bestow the burden of this knowledge upon me...Cheapy, sometimes I still regret pointing out that Arbiters can be used to suck up 1/2 of the damage for an entire party. No other familiar can do the same thing.
Good thing nobody in my group(s) would try such a thing. :)
- Gauss
I don't see that ability anywhere in the block.
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Just as your undead existence mocks nature, so too are
you granted a twisted companion that reflects the vile
nature of vampirism.
Prerequisites: Dhampir or vampire, nongood alignment,
10 levels in a class that grants a familiar or animal companion.
Benefit: Your animal companion or familiar’s type
changes to “undead.” The creature gains your vampire
or dhampir weaknesses and fast healing 5. If you are a
vampire, the creature also gains the following abilities,
depending on what type of vampire you are.
Jiang-Shi: If the creature is adjacent to you or you are
sharing a square, it gains the benefit of your prayer scroll
ability. The creature crumbles into dust if destroyed ( just
like a jiang-shi), but is not permanently destroyed unless
measures are taken that would destroy a jiang-shi.
Moroi: If the creature is adjacent to or in your square
when you assume gaseous form, it transforms with you and
follows you; its transformation ends when yours does. If
reduced to 0 hit points, it is forced into gaseous form and
must return to your coffin to reform (or the foot of your
coffin if it cannot fit within it).
Nosferatu: If the creature is adjacent to or in your square
when you assume swarm form, it transforms with you and
follows you; its transformation ends when yours does.
The creature can climb as if using spider climb, even if its
anatomy is not suitable for climbing (such as a horse).
Vetala: The creature may use malevolence and
possession as if it were a vetala, but by touch and only
affecting creatures or corpses that are the same type
of creature as the animal companion or familiar (such
as bear, horse, or snake). If reduced to 0 hit points in
combat, the creature is helpless and its fast healing ceases
to function for 1 hour (additional damage or desecration
has no effect); after 1 hour it regains 1 hit point and is no
longer helpless, and its fast healing resumes. It can be
permanently destroyed as if it were a vetala.
Special: If your animal companion or familiar is
destroyed, dismissed, or lost, you may apply the effects of
this feat to the replacement creature. If you are destroyed,
the creature retains its undead type but loses all other
special abilities from this feat. If you have more than one
animal companion or familiar, choose one of them when
you select this feat and apply its effects to that creature.
You may select this feat more than once. Each time you
select the feat, it applies to a different animal companion
or familiar.
-Blood of the Night pp 28-29
A miniature behier worked out quite well as an advanced familiar option both mechanically and flavor wise.
The winged monkey and fremlin likewise worked well.
My personal fav was the level 1 Tasoli warrior armed with a wooden mallet and a belt buckle shield.
Hedgehog