Familiar Cleric


Advice


Hey Pathfinders,
I'm building a Cleric for an upcoming Reign in Winter game. So far I know I want to be an Aasimar, and I want to worship Abadar. I've been thinking on Eldrich Heritage to pick up a familiar. I've heard wondrous things about Oracles with familiars and I don't see why the same wouldn't work for a Cleric (as long as I meet the CHA requirements). I'm just not sold on spending so many feats for a bird that can deliver touch spells. Skill Focus in a Knowledge skill is mostly a throw away feat, so I won't pick up the familiar until level 3. Level 5 I know I want Divine Protection. At some point I want to take improved Familiar (probably at level 9) so I can take a Lyrakien (High CHA so it can use magic device).

I also wanted to be able to do some summoning, but that requires a long feat tree as well, so I don't think I can do both. Does anyone have any experience building a cleric with a familiar and if it's honestly worth it?


A few things:

1) Familiars are fantastic. I strongly recommend them. They're a great source of other ideas, can be great scouts, can assist with skills/attacks/etc with aid another, and may have skills you do not.

2) Summoning is one of the most powerful abilities in the game. Even if you don't grab the two recommended feats (and two feats isn't a long feat chain), you should still be casting summoning spells when you can to turn the tide of battle. The feats are Not required, they just make you better at it. It's ok to not get them if you want to focus your feats elsewhere, but don't neglect to cast them or keep them prepared.

3) Depending on the knowledge, it isn't a throw away feat. Knowledges that identify monsters are some of the better skills in the game. They allow you to identify strengths and weaknesses of monsters so you and your allies can target them where it hurts. Without knowledge skills, your cleric wouldn't know that many golems are immune to magic.


bookrat wrote:

A few things:

1) Familiars are fantastic. I strongly recommend them. They're a great source of other ideas, can be great scouts, can assist with skills/attacks/etc with aid another, and may have skills you do not.

2) Summoning is one of the most powerful abilities in the game. Even if you don't grab the two recommended feats (and two feats isn't a long feat chain), you should still be casting summoning spells when you can to turn the tide of battle. The feats are Not required, they just make you better at it. It's ok to not get them if you want to focus your feats elsewhere, but don't neglect to cast them or keep them prepared.

3) Depending on the knowledge, it isn't a throw away feat. Knowledges that identify monsters are some of the better skills in the game. They allow you to identify strengths and weaknesses of monsters so you and your allies can target them where it hurts. Without knowledge skills, your cleric wouldn't know that many golems are immune to magic.

1) Totally agree

2) Summoning is a deep feat tree. You have to take Spell Focus Conjuration first (which is likely a wasted feat on a Cleric who doesn't cast any conjuration spells that have a saving throw). Augmented Summoning, Superior Summoning (extra doods!) and finally the big one: Sacred Summons (which lets me summon some things as a standard action instead of full round...meaning I don't have to take concentration checks if I get attacked during the round). If I take them all, that's takes me all the way up to 9th level.

3) The knowledge skill focus still feels a bit wasted. We have a wizard in the party who is going to be way better at identifying monsters.

Update: I just learned about the Eagle domain from Ultimate Magic. One thing I didn't catch is that if I worship Abadar, I won't be able to meet the alignment restriction for the familiar. If I switch to Shelyn, I can try to talk my GM into letting me swap the Air domain for the Eagle domain, which gives me a hawk familiar at full level.


I did this with a bard and picked up a fox with the pilferer archetype, which I advanced to a lyrakien.

Pilferer gets non-detection and a bonus to stealth checks. Foxes are already tiny, so they have a very large stealth bonus. While not the highest among familiars, they also have good perception and a 40 foot move speed. They end up being very good at sneaking in and checking things out and escaping.

Lyrakiens are even better at this, with an 80 foot perfect fly speed, constant freedom of movement, and a high initiative. They also have a handful of useful abilities to keep around, like a free cure light and the ability to remove fatigue and exhaustion.


I find Superior Summons is not all that worth it. It's usually better IMO to summon one big bad monster instead of a few littler ones. Unless you're summoning 20 lantern archons or something.

And the list of monsters you can get with Sacred Summons is pretty tiny.

I'd say the only really important one is Augment Summoning.


You forget the power of Summon Good Monster in conjunction with Sacred Summons.

Mostly the really nasty stuff are the endless supply of Fire Elementals!

^_______^


Wait, what do fire elementals have to do with Sacred Summons or Summon Good Monster?

Also, keep in mind that most of the monsters on the Summon Good Monster list don't work in conjunction with Sacred Summons, although it does give you a few interesting new options.


RumpinRufus wrote:

Wait, what do fire elementals have to do with Sacred Summons or Summon Good Monster?

Also, keep in mind that most of the monsters on the Summon Good Monster list don't work in conjunction with Sacred Summons, although it does give you a few interesting new options.

Nothing. They have everything to do with administration of copious amounts of butt-kicking in Reign of Winter, however.

Grand Lodge

1 person marked this as a favorite.

I was going to suggest Eagle/Monkey/Frog domains. You can keep Abadar and take the Separatist Archetype to pick up one of those (losing light crossbow proficiency isn't really a tradeoff.) You can also worship Besmara, who can trade a domain for a familiar directly. I'm playing a Trickery/Eagle worshipper of Raven in a home game and quite like the familiar. I'm not sure I would invest three feats in it, though (Focus, Eldritch Heritage, Improved Familiar.)

I think Clerics get a lot better use out of Deliver Touch Spells than Wiz/Sorc. Don't forget they can hold the charge for an arbitrary amount of time.

Some basic ideas on this front:
Cast Guidance between fights and have your buddy hold the spell. Free +1 for someone without costing a PC action.
Cast <Animal> <Stat> and have your buddy drop it on you/the frontline guy at the start of a fight. You have to be pretty sure a fight's going to start, or you may lose the spell if you decide you need to cast something else. But a free pre-buff is quite handy.
If you're more melee focused, cast Cure X Wounds (where X is 1-2 levels below your max spell) before a fight. Now you can go to town in melee, channel, etc. If someone needs a spot heal, your buddy can pop down and heal while you keep rolling. If you decide you want to cast something, there's probably someone that can use the heal before you cast.
If you know the last big fight of the day is coming up, having a hawk flying above holding the charge on a Breath of Life is a great insurance policy.

Imbue with Spell Ability on your familiar can be nice. In particular, once you have an Improved Familiar with Regeneration or Fast Healing, Shield Other is the gift that keeps on giving. Feathers casts Shield Other on you, then gets in the box where he won't get hurt. Take solace that if anything does enough damage to kill him through Shield Other, it would have killed you instead. He can also cast it on the Tank, but then he's a bit more exposed trying ot keep in range.

I'd also try to pick up a cracked version of one of these (or a full version once you're rolling in cash.) To expand your buddy's stash of action economy.

Scarab Sages

Since Abadar's sacred animal is Monkey, see if your GM will allow you to take the Monkey Druid Domain as one of your domains. It will give you a monkey familiar without needing to spend the feats on Eldritich Heritage.

Edit: Ninja'd. Separatist is a better legal way to pick up the druid domain.


Swish! wrote:

2) Summoning is a deep feat tree. You have to take Spell Focus Conjuration first (which is likely a wasted feat on a Cleric who doesn't cast any conjuration spells that have a saving throw). Augmented Summoning, Superior Summoning (extra doods!) and finally the big one: Sacred Summons (which lets me summon some things as a standard action instead of full round...meaning I don't have to take concentration checks if I get attacked during the round). If I take them all, that's takes me all the way up to 9th level.

I play a lot of summonses. Not the class, just casters who summon. Wizards, clerics, etc...

There's really only two that are important: spell focus and augmented summons. Superior summons is something I rarely use; I just don't find having one extra guy that's a bit weaker to be that much more valuable than summoning at the current level of the spell. The single higher level summon is almost always better. The only times I find that to be an exception is at higher levels, 10+. By then, you'll have the extra feats to spare to pick it up, even with everything else you want.

Sacred summons can be useful, but it certainly isn't required. Heck, it's even completey useless for most wizards, who don't exert an alignment aura. When summoning, just get used to a full round actions. And I certainly wouldn't call a "useful only occasionally" a required feat.

So really, it's only two feats, and even then you can get by without them. Summoning is powerful enough on its own without the feats. The feats just add something a little special to them.

Basically, what I'm saying is that you should do everything you want without worrying about the summoning feats, but still cast summoning spells. Extra creatures means extra attacks, extra AoO, extra flanking buddies, more spaces occupied so enemies can't get into good position, and extra targets for the enemy that won't be hitting you. Plus they can cast spells as you go up in level. So go and get your familiar, and even improved familiar! And whatever else you may want (another skill focus + eldritchc heritage for an animal companion? GM permitting). And maybe, if you have the feats later, you can pick up the summoning feats. But they aren't required. :)

Community / Forums / Pathfinder / Pathfinder First Edition / Advice / Familiar Cleric All Messageboards

Want to post a reply? Sign in.