How can Sorcerers get Familiars?

[Truedragon]

Ok so is it possible for a Sorcerer to get a Familiar without taking the Arcane Bloodline (or the Serpentine Bloodline)?

A friend of mine wants to play a Draconic Bloodline Sorcerer with Psudodragon familiar but he can't take the Improved Familiar Feat without first having a basic familiar.

So is there another way to get a Familiar besides the previously stated bloodlines or taking a level of Wizard? Maybe some obscure Feat or something?

[Deadmanwalking]

You can take the Eldritch Heritage Feat line for Bloodlines you don't have, so doing that with Arcane Bloodline would work. It's two Feats rather than one, but the familiar will level with you, and it opens up the ability to grab some other Arcane Bloodline goodies.

Aberrant Bloodline Sorcerers can also get a Tumor Familiar, but that doesn't help someone with Draconic.

[Thanis Kartaleon]

Not even that obscure. Eldritch Heritage, in Ultimate Magic. Requires Skill Focus (any knowledge) to pick it up with the Arcane bloodline, netting you the 1st level power (arcane bond).

EDIT: Ninja'd by Deadmanwalking, but I will up my ante by providing a link to the feat in question. Oh wait, that's in his post. Time for sleep, methinks.

[Johnny_Devo]

You could take the tattooed sorcerer archetype. However, that makes you lose eschew bonus materials, the 7th level bloodline feat, and the 9th level bloodline power.

EDIT: You also lose the 1st level bloodline power, didn't catch that at first.

[Deadmanwalking]

Thanis Kartaleon wrote:

EDIT: Ninja'd by Deadmanwalking, but I will up my ante by providing a link to the feat in question. Oh wait, that's in his post. Time for sleep, methinks.

Nah, I edited it in. You're not missing things, I'm just tricksy.

[Pounce]

Finally, you can also choose to get a bloodline familiar, trading your first-level bloodline ability and delayed bloodline spells (you get them a level later) for a familiar.

[Greylurker]

I think there is a feat in the Familiar Folio that lets you have a familiar.

there is also Unchanined VMC-Wizard that gives you one at 3rd level.

[Devilkiller]

If the PC can be human I'd probably go with Eldritch Heritage (Arcane) and set that up by taking the Focused Study racial trait for humans. Then you can take Skill Focus as a bonus feat at 1st level and get two more free Skill Focus feats at levels 8 and 16.

The Familiar Bond feat also might be worth checking out if your friend would prefer Iron Will as the prerequisite feat instead of Skill Focus in a Knowledge skill. The familiar you get from Familiar Bond has some limitations though.

Finally, there's variant multiclassing from Unchained. The Witch and Wizard options both give you a familiar along with some other stuff like hexes or school abilities, some of which are actually pretty nice. Giving up roughly half your feats might seem like a bad deal, but if you consider the two feat cost of getting a familiar you're basically ahead at levels 1-6, break even at 7, and don't really lose a feat from your build until level 11, by which time you've gained several potentially cool abilities. If you take the Wizard path you even get a bonus feat at 15th level.

The biggest problem with all this is that you can't get a faerie dragon familiar before 7th level, possibly 9th with Eldritch Heritage (what you use to fulfill the level requirement is a somewhat debated subject)

[Samasboy1]

Familiar Bond feat from Familiar Folio. Requires Iron Will and doesn't get all familiar abilities. Improved Familiar Bond nabs the missing familiar abilities, but isn't needed if he will go Improved Familiar.

1 level of Wizard, Witch, Shaman, Carnivalist Rogue... Lots of options with a level dip.

[Truedragon]

Pounce wrote:

Finally, you can also choose to get a bloodline familiar, trading your first-level bloodline ability and delayed bloodline spells (you get them a level later) for a familiar.

OOOOoooh! That Bloodline Familiar thing is perfect! Thanks!