SO when do you take this feat? Do you have to wait until level 7 to take it if you want say a psuedo dragon? Or can you take it at level 3 and wait until level 7 to reap the benefit of the psuedo dragon?
By that logic could you take it at level 1, wait until level three and get the lesser improved familiars? What if you have something that increases your caster level for a specific school of magic (or just increases your caster level in general)?
Well, the unclear point is the requiement "Ability to acquire a new familiar". Personally, I think everyone with a familiar fulfils this requirement at level 1 as I think you can just release the bond and forge a new one with another companion at any time - though I don't think the rules specificalls state this somewhere.
So, for MY understanding, you can take the feat at any time and switch out familiars whenever you want with the 1 week delay and the 200gp per level ritual mentioned in the familiar description - or 1 day, 500gp per level if you are a witch, of course. Personally, if the familiar is released instead of killed, I'd not even make the player wait a week/day, but in RAW, you should.
Since Failiars are a class feature, I would not let prestige classes count when determing the available familiars. So no Pseudodragon for a Wizard 5/Fighte1/Eldritch Knight 10 in my game.
SO when do you take this feat? Do you have to wait until level 7 to take it if you want say a psuedo dragon? Or can you take it at level 3 and wait until level 7 to reap the benefit of the psuedo dragon?
By that logic could you take it at level 1, wait until level three and get the lesser improved familiars? What if you have something that increases your caster level for a specific school of magic (or just increases your caster level in general)?
You wouldn't meet the pre-requisite for taking the feat at level 1 if you were planning on just waiting to gain the familiar (pre req shown on page 127 of the core rule book). Depending on your GM you might be able to just hang on to the empty feat slot until level 3 if you wanted, but that's more of a house rule I would think.
In order to gain the feat at level 1 you would have to have something at level 1 that created a persistent and passive effect that increased your caster level to 3 for at least 24 hours (see page 112 of the rule book). However that would again fall under the realm of "saving" a feat for later because you would not have had the effect in place prior to becoming level 1 and starting the game...see how we're almost getting into time travel? But I've seen weirder things fly in some groups.
The point here is that a temporary spell, potion, whatever, won't do the trick for meeting a feat pre-requisite, level dependant ability, or ability score pre-requisite. For example you couldn't cast Cat's Grace on a fighter with 9 dexterity to give him access to feats requiring a dexterity of 13 (unless the duration was over 24 hours). However if he acquired an item like a Belt of Incredible Dexterity +4 he could start to pick up those feats after 24 hours. In both cases he'd then lose the use of those feats and associated feat chains if he ever steps in an antimagic field, loses the belt or the persistent passive effect ends.
I think a much simpler plan within the RAW would be to slug it out until level 3 or 6, take the feat since you would meet the minimum level to summon at least the level 3 familiars, then wait until level 7 to bind a psuedo-dragon. In the mean time you can have standard familiars, or even the level 3 and 5 familiars through the "replacement" policy in the wizard class. I personally think familiar hopping is cheesey, but hey that's my opinion so who cares what I think.
It's a long time to wait for your very own Psuedodragon minion but hey...it's improved!!
Depending on your GM, you may be able to make contact with the Psuedodragon beforehand but you wouldn't be able to use it as a familiar until the conditions were correct. But again, that's a house ruling and/or table discussion. I once let a druid bond with a bear early on and it was essentially a wild animal that he had a checkered history with and he wasn't able to convince it to actually help him out until the appropriate level. Until that point it offered ample roleplaying opportunity and gave me something wreck the party's day with when the bear decided to show up and maul the druid or eat their camp food. Just think what your GM could do with a wiley and precocious psuedodragon for six whole levels of adventuring!?
What special abilities do the improved Familiar familiars give. All the regular familiars give skill bonus, what skill bonus would a Pseudo Dragon give. Diplomacy maybe?
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What special abilities do the improved Familiar familiars give. All the regular familiars give skill bonus, what skill bonus would a Pseudo Dragon give. Diplomacy maybe?
No, Imp Familiars don't give skill bonuses as far as I am aware, it is as simple as the fact that they are SIGNIFICANTLY better in every other aspect than the normal stock animals you can get, even as low as level 3 the celestial/fiendish animals (Or dire rat) are just much more hearty than the regular familiars.
Definitely not worth it then unless my current familiar happens die at 7th level or later. Then I'd have to pay the price reguardless and might as well go for an improved familiar. Of course going with out spells till I get the feat would definitely hurt.
Eh, I would allow a transformative ritual for just about any critter to critter transformation. Cat to pseudodragon seems okay as well, dragons are rather feline in build, and pseudodragon's always struck me as very "cat-like" in personality.
Then again, I run familiars as being effectively permanent conjured animals drawn from the caster's own power, rather than a critter bought at the local market and then jammed full of mystic energy. So in my world, its not a big deal to shift the body of your familiar, since you're just reshaping the form you conjured for it.
Even witch's work for this, especially the final version APG witch (where the familiar type is no longer tied to the spells granted). The familiar is an emissary from some unknown power; it just happens to look like a fox at the moment.
As long as the GP and time cost for a "new" familiar is paid, I don't see a problem with shifting your familiar around as much as you want (although you may end up with a familiar with identity issues). The wizard who levels up and puts a point into Con and crafts a belt of con may decide his familiar's toad form just isn't very stylish anymore, time for a lizard!
Your mileage may vary, but it works great in my games.