Prof. Löwenzahn |
Damagewise, yes, I doubt improved familiars will ever be very useful.
They got other things they can do in combat though, delivering touch spells (frostbite or chill touch seem awesome), healing or casting whatever SLA's they have or using aid another.
In a game I run I allowed the witch who has a Silvanshee familiar to trade their constant "speak with animals" SLA to meet the prerequesites for archetypes, she Chose Valet though.
Lorewalker |
Oh, certainly not. It just depends on what you want them to do.
A wand-wielding familiar can be a decent sized benefit in combat. Wands like haste, vanish, magic missile, resist energy and cure light wounds can be pretty beneficial in a fight.
A familiar that has Beast Shape 4 cast on it, and turned into a Gorgon has a pretty nice breath weapon.(As the DC for the ability equals the DC for the polymorph spell)
avr |
Some of them would be decent enough in melee anyway. A small earth elemental for example.
Then there's endless specialty types. A dweomercat cub is an antimage weapon. A pseudodragon is a stealthy infiltrator with a knockout poison. Chuspiki have an air blast which scales with HD, which the familiar bond should supply.
Firebug |
I've got a decent Protector familiar that is combat effective.
Its a Squirrel. He's Diminutive, so we share a square.
Ok, its an Alien Squirrel. (Evolved Familiar: reach(bite))
And it has all my combat feats. Eldritch Guardian. (also 1-level dip Unchanged Monk, 1-level dip Unchained Rogue, for bonus feats)
Monkey Style, paired opportunist, agile amulets of mighty fists for both of us.
And "We" serve Kurgess. (Intrepid Rescuer feat, provoke an AoO from an enemy attacking a prone ally)
And we're always prone, if anything attacks us, we both hit them back.
It helps that I (with a hat of disguise) pretend to be a Merfolk on dry land, with all the flopping around and justification of being prone all the time...
Mathmuse |
My NPC bloodrager has a Clockwork Familiar via the bloodline familiar alternative and the Improved Familiar feat. A bloodrager's familiar has a full BAB progression, so it hits very well. A 1st-level Enlarge Person spell, cast via spell sharing, is enough for it to help in combat.
However, I, the GM, let my 12th-level bloodrager learn a 3rd-level sorcerer-wizard-shaman-witch spell Polymorph Familiar. That choice was overpowered, because she can now transform her familiar into many Large battle-ready clockwork creatures for 12 minutes.
Thus, spells can substitute for the Mauler familiar abilities.
Garbage-Tier Waifu |
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A gun-using Eldritch Guardian who took Exotic Weapon Proficiency (firearms) grants that to their familiar, along with their other combat feats. A familiar with hands (an imp, a lyrakien or a monkey, for example) can utilize firearms and even make use of Amateur Gunslinger if the master has it. This turns a familiar into a mini Gunslinger for squeezing extra damage per round and benefit most from being smaller. Eldritch Guardian also stacks with Trench Fighter.
Lorewalker |
My NPC bloodrager has a Clockwork Familiar via the bloodline familiar alternative and the Improved Familiar feat. A bloodrager's familiar has a full BAB progression, so it hits very well. A 1st-level Enlarge Person spell, cast via spell sharing, is enough for it to help in combat.
However, I, the GM, let my 12th-level bloodrager learn a 3rd-level sorcerer-wizard-shaman-witch spell Polymorph Familiar. That choice was overpowered, because she can now transform her familiar into many Large battle-ready clockwork creatures for 12 minutes.
Thus, spells can substitute for the Mauler familiar abilities.
Only grants the form of small creatures.
"This spell functions as beast shape I, except it grants your familiar the form of any Small animal. Your familiar retains all of its special abilities and continues to grant you the special ability associated with its normal shape (such as a bat familiar's bonus on Fly checks).
At caster level 7th, this spell functions as beast shape II. At caster level 9th, it functions as beast shape III. At caster level 11th, it functions as beast shape IV."
Mathmuse |
[Polymorph Familiar] Only grants the form of small creatures.
Polymorph Familiar wrote:"This spell functions as beast shape I, except it grants your familiar the form of any Small animal. Your familiar retains all of its special abilities and continues to grant you the special ability associated with its normal shape (such as a bat familiar's bonus on Fly checks).
At caster level 7th, this spell functions as beast shape II. At caster level 9th, it functions as beast shape III. At caster level 11th, it functions as beast shape IV."
Ah, the word "Small" had not registered when I read the spell, and the phrase, "it grants your familiar the form of any animal," seemed to mean that it transformed your familiar rather than you.
I guess it is not overpowered after all. In fact, it now appears weaker than Beast Shape I. Nevertheless, a wizard can cast Beast Shape I, II, III, or IV on his familiar via Share Spells, so my original comment that spells can substitute for the Mauler familiar archetype still stands.
How "the form of any Small animal" interacts with Beast Shape II, III, and IV is a question for the rules forum. For example, does it really mean to prevent transforming my tiny familiar into a tiny animal? (My bloodrager likes to disguise her familiar as a snapping turtle when she disguises herself as a 1st-level wizard.)
Avoron |
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How about spirit binder wizard 3/carnivalist unchained rogue 2/arcane trickster X?
Pick the diviner (foresight) school, take the Magical Knack trait to make up for your lost caster levels, grab Accomplished Sneak Attacker to boost your sneak attack and qualify for arcane trickster, and then take Improved Familiar for a small aether elemental familiar with the school familiar archetype and the spirit of your beloved paladin family member.
Aether elementals have flight, blindsense, darkvision, a host of immunities, and most importantly, natural invisibility. With the carnivalist archetype, your familiar shares your sneak attack damage. With the spirit binder archetype, it has a full base attack bonus and good Fort and Will saves. It also gets a free feat, let's just say Additional Traits for Heirloom Weapon and The Vessel Between. It can wield its masterwork composite longbow and wear armor with no ACP (masterwork studded leather, darkleaf cloth leather lamellar, or mithral kikko). The school familiar archetype gives it an initiative boost, access to your foresight power, automatic surprise rounds, and at-will detect magic, while retaining share spells for crucial buffs like sense vitals and true strike.
By level 7, it will be making longbow attacks with something like +15/+10 against Dex-less AC for 4d6+2 damage, raised to 6d6+2 with sense vitals. If it doesn't feel like attacking, it can perform ranged telekinetic combat maneuvers with the occasional boost from true strike, or it can just fling creatures and objects wherever it wants to with telekinetic throw. This can be further boosted with buff spells, magic weapons and armor, bonuses to dexterity, and eventually (heaven forbid) sniper's goggles.