Improved Familiar / Leadership for Solo Wizard

[Jeff W]

I'm playing a solo wizard (4th level) in a Castle Whiterock campaign. I can recruit NPCs, but they're all unoptimized and I don't have any say in which NPCs are available at any given time. Currently the party is: Cleric (Law/Protection), Cleric (Luck/Travel), Fighter, Rogue and my char (Chaotic Good Diviner banning Evocation/Necromancy).

My plan is to take Improved Familiar and Leadership. For the familiar, is Faerie Dragon or Azata, Lyrakien the best choice? I'm planning to take Craft Wand at 5th level to make wands for the familiar. Also, should I definitely take Leadership (7th level earliest) before Improved Familiar (7th level earliest)?

For Leadership, can anyone recommend a good cohort to complement my character and party. Two restrictions: Summoning magic doesn't work in the Castle and I need to be able to make the character in PCGen (no Advanced Class Guide, Ultimate Campaign, some other stuff missing). I don't need a full build--just general ideas and important points. I'd like the cohort to be a full or partial caster.

[wraithstrike]

I would say druid or cleric for your cohort. That gives you more spells, some healing, and maybe someone on the front line.

[Jeff W]

I was thinking of taking a Druid with the Caves Subdomain, but summoning spells don't work in Castle Whiterock (DCC #51). Doesn't this nerf the druid too much?

[Clectabled]

Take Improved familiar at 5th, and wait till 7th lvl to get the familiar. Just because you take the feat at 5th, doesn't mean you have to select your improved familiar at 5th.

Then take leadership at 7th, giving you both bennies at the same time.

Improved Familiar:

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 here are also available to you. You may choose a familiar with an alignment up to one step away on each alignment axis (lawful through chaotic, good through evil).

Improved familiars otherwise use the rules for regular familiars, with two exceptions: if the creature's type is something other than animal, its type does not change; and improved familiars do not gain the ability to speak with other creatures of their kind (although many of them already have the ability to communicate).

[Anonymous Visitor 163 576]

The Druid spell list is just great without summoning. You won't miss it.

Also, summoning plus cohort plus familiar plus character? I would avoid that, more headache than not,

[Avaricious]

A Cleric devoted to the same Deity as your Wizard would be a great companion; their choices in domains could fill out your skill gaps, and the partnership between full divine and arcane casting is very flavorful. You two may not be on a holy mission, but that common bond can hold a pair of characters together. A bodyguard Paladin would be good as well, provided your alignment is close to their LG. It would be the melee powerhouse, and a competent medic/repellent for all sorts of ailments.

Unfortunate that you are restricted in options right now. Otherwise, if you ever hit Mythic, the Champion Path (just choose Dual Path as a feat) has the Crusader Path Ability, which allows you to take ANOTHER cohort on in addition to your first Cohort from Leadership. A solo campaign sounds like the making of a Mythic character...

[Rennaivx]

I actually played in Castle Whiterock for my last game.

A druid can be useful even without summoning - full caster plus wild shape to make them a fairly strong front-liner makes for a good combination. Plus...

Summoning-related Castle Whiterock information that may be useful, but is a spoiler:

You can summon several types of creatures in the castle - it's only outsiders with an alignment subtype (Lawful, Good, Chaotic, or Evil subtype) that can't be summoned. So a druid may actually be superior when it comes to summoning, since summon nature's ally has basically no creatures that would fall into that classification.

[Korak The Boisterous]

If it weren't already in progress I'd suggest the Instructor archetype, though you could always retrain which would mostly consist of getting rid of your familiar and taking on an apprentice cohort. it modifies leadership to work off your intelligence score also.