Outsiders like the Lyraken have hands and thus are proficient with all the martial weapons. Usually they have finesse as a feat already
I'd suggest the figment archetype. Yes, it is even more squishy than the normal familiars but it's not a big deal if it dies now and then because it will be back the next day.
Goat figment with one of reach, bleed or claws as first evolution. As the familiar gets all the combat feats there are some nice options.
Reach build: Get a reach weapon for the fighter, the reach evolution for the goat and the paired opportunists teamworkfeat. With that you have the basics.
Should you go improved familiar you can take a small earth elemental.
There are some pretty good improved familiars, but you need an arcane caster level to select pretty much anything.
The mauler has the most obvious synergy, but I think a lot of archetypes work well for a fighter. They are just better out of combat.
The Emissary is imo pretty cool and about on par with the mauler. Casting guidance at will is going to be a +1 to a usefull roll for at least one party members (more if the familiar has time to cast it for everyone). Share will is good for you, the question is how to make the most of the domain influence is good with the right domains. Emissary's emboldening further shores up your weak save.
Pilferer works well with a fighter with dirty fighting as it buffs up its steal bonuses. I imagine it will work best for something with hands like a monkey or at least good grasping claws (ferrets or birds could work).
Mascot works well with feats that boost your aid another, I think halflings had some nice things there, and the sage special feat lets it give attack bonuses when it IDs an enemy and stays in its space, so you need to help it be more survivable (something like circling offense could be mean). The bodyguard gets a few bonus feats that can help you reduce damage or protect a squishie better, but it helps to make it at least small so it can threaten and occupy a space.
I've always wondered about that part of Improved Familiar. Where the table says "Arcane Spellcaster Level", does it mean caster level as an arcane spellcaster, or does it mean levels in a class granting arcane spellcasting?
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I've always wondered about that part of Improved Familiar. Where the table says "Arcane Spellcaster Level", does it mean caster level as an arcane spellcaster, or does it mean levels in a class granting arcane spellcasting?
My interpretation would be the latter. In the context of the Eldritch Guardian, the bit about "treating his fighter level as his effective wizard level for the purpose of this ability," would seem to be enough to green-light Improved Familiar. And honestly, if a DM was going to nitpick to the point where that was off the table, that would be a yellow flag for me.
If you are willing to dip for fun and profit, a single level in Witch and Wizard (Beast Bonded and Spirit Binder) will allow you to give actual feats to your familiar, rather than just sharing the combat feats. Not to mention the spellcasting you'll pick up.
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If your GM allows it take a dwarf caiman with the speeds of a crocodile (base:20 swim:30) instead of the normal 10/40.
Overall, when you don't go mauler, you are highly restricting viable choices:
1. Feint build. Since it works off of a skill check
2. Flanking. needs small+. Probably a goat.
3. Some trick build where it just activates one of your abilities. Like teamwork feats. Coordinated charge is a prime example.
4. Some weird trick builds, like going double dazzling display with the disheartening display feat: it lets you get enemies to the point that they are running in a single turn. A bit hard with small- size though, since this is an intimidate build.
And note- mauler does all of that.
But if you are looking for viable melee familiars, and you can take improved familiar, then earth elemental is fine. If they are human shaped, they have simple weapon proficiency (a major problem for most familiars- you would need to take an exotic weapon to give them proficiencies, even if you had something with hands like a monkey). They have decent natural armor, and a burrow speed (pretty sure they can earthglide with equipment though, so they can be pretty good scouts). They have power attack and bull rush from the get go (heck, you could have an archer, and use them as bodyguards).
I recently ran a Barbarian(Savage Technologist) 5, Ranger(Trophy Hunter) 3, Fighter(Eldritch Guardian) 2, with a Pooka improved familiar who would sit on my shoulder and plink people with a musket while I fought them with pistol and falcata.