I'm thinking about how to create a familiar that can contribute as effective combatant, using options from Familiar Folio.
IMO, there are several ways to approach this:
1. Beastblade Magus:
Beastblade Magus
At 11th level, you get a free AoO every time your familiar delivers a touch spell.
Pre-buff your familiar with Frostbite, and go to town.
If you want an Improved Familiar, you need some way to qualify as arcane caster; SLAs no longer work because of a recent FAQ.
Improved familiars do not qualify for any familiar archetypes other than Sage, because they do not gain the *speak with animals* or *speak with master* abilities.
3. Bloodrager:
Bloodrager
Bloodragers have the option to trade their 1st-lvl bloodline power for a Bloodline Familiar.
Good Combat familiar options:
Draconic(Your familiar can sprout wings and fly)
Abyssal(Your familiar deals more damage with natural attacks)
Arcane(Your familiar gains more powerful buffs)
Destined(Your familiar delivers spells more easily)
You have several options:
1)ValetGoat familiar; use various Teamwork feats.
Amplified Rage only works if you adventure with/are a Skald or have some other easy way to allow your familiar to rage.
2)Use a Mauler familiar, together with the feat Mauler's Endurance to increase the HP of your familiar.
You may want an improved familiar with SLAs or Fast Healing/Regeneration instead; or the ability to use weapons.
Improved familiars do not qualify for any familiar archetypes other than Sage, because they do not gain the *speak with animals* or *speak with master* abilities.
Any advice/helpful comments/something crucial that I have missed?
Any useful magic items for familiars that allow them to fight/survive better?
1st: Cantrips, Bloodrage, Bloodline(Arcane), Bloodline Familiar(Goat), Fast Movement(+10'); Spirit's Gift
2nd: Uncanny Dodge
3rd: Blood Sanctuary; Celestial Servant
4th: Bloodcasting, Rage Powers(Energy Resistance(Sonic), Lesser Spirit Totem), +1 CHA; (Eschew Materials)
5th: Meta-Rage; Improved Familiar(Lightning Elemental)
6th: Bloodline feat(Rime Spell)
7th: DR 1/-; Toughness
8th: Bloodline Power(Greater Arcane Bloodrage), Bloodline Spell(Magic Missile), +1 CHA
9th: Bloodline feat(Intensify Spell); Power Attack
10th: DR 2/-
11th: Greater Bloodrage, Bloodline Spell(Invisibility); Dazing Assault
12th: Bloodline feat(Combat Reflexes), Rage Powers(Savage Dirty Trick, Come and Get Me), +1 CHA
13th: DR 3/-; Quicken Spell
14th: Bloodline Spell(Lightning Bolt), Indomitable Will
15th: Bloodline feat(Disruptive); Spell Perfection(Shocking Grasp)
16th: DR 4/-, Bloodline Power(True Arcane Bloodrage), +1 CHA
17th: Bloodline Spell(Dimension Door), Tireless Bloodrage; Celestial Obedience(Arqueros)
18th: Bloodline feat(Spellbreaker)
19th: DR 5/-; Teleport Tactician
20th: Bloodline power(Caster's bane), Mighty Bloodrage, +1 CHA
1st lvl:
You have 12 HP; your Goat familiar has 6 HP and DR 5/adamantine.
4th lvl: You have two rage powers, minor spellcasting(allowing you to buff your familiar) and a celestial goat as familiar.
8th lvl: You have a celestial lightning elemental as familiar who can deliver Rime Frostbites and bullrush/trip/disarm metal-wearing or -wielding enemies with ease.
12th lvl: You have Come and Get me, Dazing Assault and Combat Reflexes; your familiar can now deliver Intensified Shocking Grasps.
16th: You have Spell Perfection, allowing you to apply Metamagic more easily.
20th: You have Teleport Tactician/Celestial Obedience(Arqueros), allowing you to AoO anyone who teleports/charges in the area you threaten.
Mauler familiars grow to medium, hence they are eligible as mounts. And once you can ride one, you can give it this beauty here removing the need for valet.
Pretty helpful for the bloodrager. Grab draconic bloodline, undersized mount (although, you can ride a mount not your size anyway, you just get some negatives) and you have a flying mount at first level. And then you both start raging if you later down the line grab some primalist rage powers. And then you coordinated charge because hey, why not?
Witch with the Strength patron and a Sage familiar can have it get some pretty nice INT to STR going on, and unlike mauler, it's not even medium yet, opening the gates for moar STR buffs.
1st lvl:
You are a weak DEX-focused magus; use cantrips and spells to contribute.
4th lvl: You have a weak familiar; Dervish Dance allows you to deal some damage in melee.
8th lvl: You have an improved familiar(Nycar/Arbiter Inevitable for Regeneration; Silvanshee Agathion or Dweomercat Cub for pounce) buffed with Spirit's Gift; Spelldance allows you to gain a swift-action buff once per minute dancing.
12th lvl: You have Familiar Spellstrike and various Metamagicks(Intensified Shocking Grasps for 10d6 dmg; Rime Frostbites for debuffs)
16th: You have Spell Perfection(Shocking Grasp); you'll be using Empowered Intensified Shocking Grasps to deal 15d6 dmg with Spell Combat; you have Spellbreaker and Counterstrike to AoO mages.
20th: You have Teleport Tactician/Celestial Obedience(Arqueros), allowing you to AoO anyone who teleports/charges in the area you threaten.
You can replace feats with Evolved Familiar, if you want.
IMHO, you should make the choice based on the kind of character you want to play... any of the three can make for effective familiars.
personally, I'd probably go for an eldritch guardian/mutation fighter. build as a half-orc with the toothy racial... and focus bonus feats on natural weapons... that might seem like a waste at first (with only 1 natural attack, that doesn't do much damage) but at 7th you take feral mutagen- then you have claw/claw/bite most of the time. And, since their familiars gain all their combat feats, your familiar is getting a lot of mileage from those same feats. half-orcs also qualify for the martial versatility (and martial mastery) human feat(s), so you could turn focus/specialization/imp. crit/etc with bite into all natural weapons...
I'm looking at combining Eldritch Guardian with the Brawler archetype for the fighter. You then stack your feats towards having pummeling charge and coordinated charge. This allows you to let your familiar charge, getting a full pummeling charge attack. The familiar's charge triggers your charge, through coordinated charge, getting a full pummeling charge attack. And finally, you take your normal full attack action.
Magus and monster walk up. Magus makes an attack. Familiar delivers touch spell. Magus gets AoO, makes an attack. Familiar gets AoO from paired opportunist, delivers another touch spell with an unarmed strike/natural attack. Magus gets AoO.Familiar gets AoO from paired opportunist...
Elemental familiars have an unusual advantage- if they are humanoid in shape, they actually have simple weapon proficiency. Give them a nice morning star or maybe a long spear. Nice, simple enhancement for attack bonuses. Then, maybe throw some light armor with 0 ACP on there too? With 0 ACP, there is no practical penalty for not being proficient in armor.
Imagine a nice earth elemental with a stone spirit's gift? Combined with its high starting natural armor and the scaling AC boost, that is the very definition of sturdy.
Consider the paladin archetype Chosen One, you get a free familiar at level 1, get improved familiar to take a Silvanshee at 7 (it has pounce) and at level 11 when you smite, it smites too. That's crazy damage, but only against evil critters.
Why not just hire a henchman? They require no feats, cost very little money and are easily replaced. And they're probably just as squishy...
Henchmen are not a class feature, and as such they require you to work things out more with your GM. And many GMs do not like giving you things like that (leadership is one of the most banned feats, after all)
The investment is your argument for allowing it.
Plus, since it gets half your HP, familiars can get a fairly decent chunk when you are a d10 class. And there is a feat that allows your mauler archetype familiar to get an extra +2 hp per level- that at least puts it on par with d8 classes.
Combined with the customization found with the eldritch guardian (since it gets your combat feats), you can get something rather nice. Hell, depending on your choice, you can pretend it is an animal companion that doesn't need handle animal checks (that is how I would play a medium sized mauler fox, at least).
