If you are willing to cheese a little you can have the familiar UMD stuff, and get an extra action that way. Personally I do not really like it, but the mechanics are sound.
Hey Pathfinders!
So, I've got a question here regarding the "Improved Familiar" feat; the question is, basically, is it worth it? Yes, no, why, why not? I've looked into it myself, and asked a few friends and I'm simply unable to come to a conclussion, so I thought to myself; "Why not ask on the Paizo forum?!", so that's what I'm doing now! :D
If there's another thread like this (which there might very well be), I was unable to find it and I apologize.
Improved Familiar is basically the Leadership-light feat. An ordinary familiar is generally not very useful; without some majorly friendly GM rulings, your centipede isn't very useful in any context other than as a scout, and extremely fragile in that capacity as well.
So think about why you would want to take the Leadership feat. What would you want to get from your cohort? You could, for example, get a support caster/healer. You could get a magic item crafter if you use the Valet archetype. You could get a crowd-control specialist, or a divination specialist. With the right spells, you might even be able to get an off-tank (although this would be hard to pull off), and you could get a much better scout with much better survivability.
Mechanically you shoot your own character in the foot to get a slightly cooler companion that may be able to use UMD depending on your GM. Losing that free +4 to initiative is a pretty big con. I love the idea of having an outsider familiar and I love the extra options, but it sucks to pay up a feat so you can lose something.
Extra actions are always nice.
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My sorceress in PFS has her Lyrakien Azata familiar, mostly for roleplay, but sometimes as a scout.
Cuorecielo, the Lyrakien, doesn't have quite as good a UMD as the sorceress, but she gets to use the cure light wounds wand. She also has the True Speech ability, so language problems with spoken stuff are reduced. But, as I said, the roleplay is the best part of it. Cuorecielo is outspoken in her beliefs and somewhat bossy in her demeanor. She chastised a lamia pretty thoroughly for spitting at her little self. (The lamia proceeded to spit again, which might have been a good lesson to learn, but, oh well.)
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Mechanically you shoot your own character in the foot to get a slightly cooler companion that may be able to use UMD depending on your GM. Losing that free +4 to initiative is a pretty big con. I love the idea of having an outsider familiar and I love the extra options, but it sucks to pay up a feat so you can lose something.
I know this may be shocking, but not everybody takes a familiar for the initiative bonus. I tend to pick out a critter I think my character would like, then look at the mechanical benefits. I love familiars and I don't think I've ever taken one that improves initiative.
Improved Familiar:
-makes it easier to keep your familiar alive in combat, usually through small DR
-many can use UMD
-many can use commune 1/week
-several have other useful SLAs
-many can actually talk allowing long-distance communication with other via your link
-celestial animals can smite evil(this usually a weak option but it's there)
-faerie dragons are level 3 sorcerers in their own right
It costs you a feat. PFS and many GMs will consider it a new familiar, which screws over witches a lot, as they lose all their extra spells. Only take Improved Familiar if you really intend to use your familiar to the utmost - you should be creatively thinking of interesting ways to use your familiar in every round if you can. Personally I buy a cheap stuffed animal that resembles my critter that I can sit on the table so I don't forget he's there each round.
If you want a familiar that sits in your pack and you never have to worry about it, skip the feat and stay with the static bonus you get for a basic familiar.
Improved Familiar is basically the Leadership-light feat.Hey Pathfinders!
So, I've got a question here regarding the "Improved Familiar" feat; the question is, basically, is it worth it?
Exactly this. Improved Familiar should be renamed "Improved Action-Economy". UDM and Wands give you two actions a round... Action Economy is King. Loosing Initiative sucks (If Action Economy is King then Initiative is his Queen) but getting the extra actions is worth it.
I know this may be shocking, but not everybody takes a familiar for the initiative bonus. I tend to pick out a critter I think my character would like, then look at the mechanical benefits.
Now this may shock you, but I knew that not everyone picks things by initiative, but I know its also easily the most beneficial choice. My example was the most beneficial and the largest loss, loss of initiative without gaining the action economy. In homegames I like to divorce the forced pairings so I see a cat a little more often.