A "Familiar" problem... spoilt for choice

[xeose4]

Hey forumites. I actually have found myself a little stuck with a character decision, and I'm not sure where to go with it.

I am currently playing a Swamp-domain Druid, with my first two levels in Evangelist (Immonhiel). I have the toad familiar, and at first I did it just to meet the Deific Obedience requirements for Immonhiel (meditate with a toad on your chest) but I eventually decided I wanted an upgrade. I took Improved Familiar; now, the way my DM usually runs it, you take the feat, and eventually you'll bump into a <new creature> that wants to be a familiar. The trade off of getting your first choice/getting the creature instantly is that he's pretty generous with the list and alignment restrictions, and you can get some unusual critters. For example, in the last campaign, the winter witch got a winter wolf for her improved familiar.

This is where my dilemma comes in; my druid befriended a [url=http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/fey/sprite[/url] that it seems the DM is suggesting I take. I do like the little guy, he's got a lot of character and is super loyal. But I have some questions, and I don't know all of the answers.

1) I know the regular familiar rules state that familiars get X intelligence at X level. does that still apply to Improved Familiar? I played with an imp before, and the DM ruled that the high intelligence was what counted. That was a different DM than this guy though, and I want to know what the official ruling is on if my sprite will stay at 6 int or be bumped up immediately before I ask this DM.

2) I'm not really sure how to use a little delicate creature that doesn't have any abilities. Like I said, I had an imp before that I was pretty comfortable with using his invisibility to deliver touch spells. That was as a sorcerer, however. Is a sprite good for the same thing on a druid?

3) Another player's witch got killed, and he was having such a miserable time with his first caster that he decided to reroll completely. The DM tried to help him out a little by giving his familiar a "memory gem" that let it take one level in a class of the player's choice. It's pretty certain that my druid (as the default healer now) will inherit this gem and it's also part of the reason I was thinking about taking improved familiar. I was really excited to get a little <creature> (cleric 1) or (bard 1). It was going to take some of the pressure off my spells. The sprite looks to be pretty terrible for that though; is there a good class to put on it that'd free me up from either needing to do damage or else needing to do quite so much support?

[boring7]

Intelligence: This has been FAQ'd several times with no response but there was actual rules text on it in 3.5. Gonna have to just ask the GM.

Uses: Give it wands of low level spells you don't want to waste an action casting, have it go to town. It can latch onto the tank and give him (effectively) fast healing 5, for example. It can also sit on your shoulder and constantly be detecting good or evil.

Memory magic: Holy hand grenades you just got a treasure. Oh sure 1 level in anything will be junk for the spells he picks up but any class you take can use all wands (or staves) to throw down buffs or specials that are always good. Vanish, Mudball, Ray of Exhaustion; there are all kinds of little spells that buff the party or debuff (often without saves/SR) the enemy. Just blinding an enemy so it can't make AoOs for one round can be a heck of a bonus when it doesn't cost you anything but a charge on a level 1 wand.

Staves are even better, because (and I only recently realized this) besides casting higher-level spells, you can recharge them off your own spell slots. Staff of travel will let your little friend teleport the both of you around the battlefield while you do more important, enemy-stomping things with your standard and full-round actions. Yeah, it's expensive, but it's cheaper than potions, easier than crossing the battlefield to tag the barbarian with a lousy +2 (or whatever), and with alternate spell lists it lets you drop all those little stackable buffs and debuffs that the party wouldn't otherwise have.

I mean, there are better critters to use, especially ones that can go invisible naturally, but you got what you got. And if you stick a headband of intellect +2 (disable device) on his head he also becomes a decent lock-picker. Might be useful from time to time.

For class, I recommend sorceror, has the least overlap with your own spell selection (it can still use what you can use) but there are ever so many options, including Summoner (spells at a lower spell level = cheaper wands).

[xeose4]

Oh, dude, thanks so much! I was actually going to ask "Can the familiar even use wands effectively when its stats are this bad?" but you reminded me that the familiar uses the master's skills for skill checks. That is so perfect, thanks a lot for reminding me of this.

Yeah, the <class 1> item was a lot of the reason I was changing out my toad. I hadn't thought about staves either - I guess I hadn't even thought about anything regarding items for the little guy since he's so tiny! Looking into resizing some items myself isn't a bad idea at all. Thanks a lot for the advice. I was really struggling to make a decision on what to do.