Hi.
So, one of the players (a fighter) wanted to have a dragon familiar (pseudodragon to be specific). The thing is, he want to take care of this creature and use it to attack and interact in a very wide way with the environment, and grow it like a pokemon or something like that.
I checked the core rules (the book I have) and found that familiars are like crows, cat, dogs; a variety of small animals or creatures with a very limited interaction and low stats. This player wanted to have one creature with a very high stats and actions in comparison with another "standard" familiars. I think that is very powerful.
My doubt is, can he have a familiar like this? Must I have some considerations to the familiar so he can keep it? How can I treat it?
Thanks a lot for your answers.
http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/monsters/pseudodragon.html
He would need to take the Improved Familiar feat and be at least 7th level if memory serves to take a pseudodragon familiar. He can improve his familiar with gear and feats as well as spells he can cast on his familiar or share if he is an appropriate level.
Pseudodragon is a valid choice for the feat Improved Familiar.
EDIT: Ninja'd. Yes, 7th level is the correct level. I believe the associated alignment is Neutral Good.
|
ALso he need to have a class Feature for getting a Familiar.
Which a fighter doesn't have. SO he cant take Impro Familiar.
Additionally your friend over estimates the Power of a Familiar and I think he want a Companion which is also a class Feature.
Which has another problem the list doesn't have Dragons (only Dinos)
I think your Friend needs read into the rules a bit because he wants things from 3 different aspexts of the game.
If he doesn't want to multiclass and want to have a Familiar/Companion I would make a 3-4 Feat penality to grand it (Incl Impr Familiar etc)
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
He may want to look at the mauler familiar archetype and try becoming an eldritch guardian as this will give him something that is not only effective but potentially really cool.
This person wants an animal companion, not a familiar.
There are a couple options to get more combat ready familiars, but the priblem is that familiars don't really 'grow'. They just gets some of their master's stats stapled onto them, then some natural armor/int bonuses.
Mauler archetype for familiars gives strength bonuses instead of int bonuses... but that is incompatable with improved familiars, and pseudo dragons are both poor choices not only compared to other improved familiars even if you did apply the archetype (they pale in comparison to imps that can grab regular weapons, and still have a sweet suite of slas), but they are even poor compared to some of the base familiars for that role. The fox is much better for the role.
And again- familiars don't 'grow'. They don't gain HD. They don't get extra feats normally- and that means even switching to mauler usually doesn't really make it combat ready. You have to have the player character take speical options (such as eldritch guardian fighter) in order to give them feats. Not sure if your player is cool with that... especially since you are not really going to ever aim with DPS with this familiar- you are looking for tricky builds like with dirty trick.
You are better off, overall, to ask the player to pick an animal companion class and just reskin a bird.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Leadership feat.
Leadership feat.
+1 much simpler solution to the problem if the GM is ready for that "potential" can of worms.
Couldn't a Summoner Fit this well other than its not a fighter. I mean their Eidolon levels up with them right?
You could certainly grab a quadruped and make it wyvern-ish.
Couldn't a Summoner Fit this well other than its not a fighter. I mean their Eidolon levels up with them right?
Yes the Eidolon does level up with them. However I believe that the player in question is trying to achieve a very specific kind of flavor that summoner just does not really fit to well.
Ok, I think I'll let him try with Leadership or DonKalleOne' solution, about the penalty.
Thanks a lot guys :)
I expect he would do quite well being an eldritch guardian fighter with a Rhamphorhynchuses mauler familiar. Not truly a dragon, but fairly dragon-like.
As a GM, I would certainly be willing to add some non-mechanical flavor to make it more of a dragon if they wanted, particularly appearance etc.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I agree with the others who have said that the Eldritch Guardian archetype from Familiar Folio is a good way to do this. It is a fighter archetype that gives away the first two Fighter bonus feats and Bravery in order to have a fully functional Familiar that shares ALL combat feats with the fighter provided they can see and hear each other.
They would still need to take Improved Familiar in order to qualify for the Pseudo Dragon.
There are feats to gain a familiar, but I believe you cannot qualify for Pseudodragon Improved Familiar with them.
Iron Will -> Familiar Bond -> Improved Familiar and optionally Improved Familiar Bond
Technically, you do not qualify for Pseudodragon Improved Familiar with Eldritch Guardian or these feats, but I think it is fair to say you would just need to be character level 7th to fit the "Arcane Spellcaster Level" required.
Technically, you do not qualify for Pseudodragon Improved Familiar with Eldritch Guardian or these feats, but I think it is fair to say you would just need to be character level 7th to fit the "Arcane Spellcaster Level" required.
I disagree that Eldritch Guardian wouldn't qualify.
Familiar (Ex): At 1st level, an eldritch guardian gains a familiar, treating his fighter level as his effective wizard level for the purpose of this ability. This ability replaces the bonus feat gained at 1st level.
Wizards are arcane spellcaster's, so for the purpose of familiars a 7th level Eldritch Guardian should be considered a 7th level wizard that can't cast any spells.
I agree that the Iron Will -> Familiar Bond -> Improved Familiar Bond feat chain as written would not allow for improved familiars. It is slightly more restrictive in what it gives.
I agree with the others who have said that the Eldritch Guardian archetype from Familiar Folio is a good way to do this. It is a fighter archetype that gives away the first two Fighter bonus feats and Bravery in order to have a fully functional Familiar that shares ALL combat feats with the fighter provided they can see and hear each other.
They would still need to take Improved Familiar in order to qualify for the Pseudo Dragon.
Well , assume it is fine since the DM clearly is willing to house rule apparently , but usually a fighter cant get the improved familiar feat since he doesnt get caster levels for the purpose of said feat, unless they made a FAQ about it?
Another possible alternative is to take Leadership and take the dragon or psuedodragon as your cohort. You don't get all the benefits of a familiar, but it does get to level.
To be honest, though, what he is describing is closer to a Summoner's eidolon, instead of a familiar. If he were to multiclass as a Summoner, and shape his eidolon into a dragon, he can level it up and do all sorts of "pokemon" things with it. That's actually how I see most Summoners in my games. Either their genie binders, angel or demon/devil bound, or they're pokemon masters.
Ah you are right. I didn't see the slight wording difference.
effective wizard level for the purpose of this ability
vs
wizard level for determining the familiar’s abilities
Minor difference but possibly enough to allow the Eldritch Guardian to qualify.
I expect in most home games most GMs rule that 'the familiars abilities wizard level' is what is used for improved familiar, even though the RAW wording makes it questionable for anyone other than an actual arcane spell-caster to take improved familiar.
I certainly would have no issue in my games with allowing any of the alternate methods of gaining familiars to have an improved familiar.
This feat allows you to acquire a powerful familiar, but only when you could normally acquire a new familiar.