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I want to make a build around mauler familiar and try to make him as strong is i can.
I was thinking on something like a bloodrager with aberrant tumor feat, max constitution (familiar only gets half your hp, so d10+5 (20 con) plus toughness and favored class makes 8 hp per familiar level... not to tanky but not so bad either. Another build would be one level of sorcerer/wizzard and then barbarian for the d12, using first level spells to buff the familiar.
A few answers here... best familiar pre improved familiar fear? and post?
Any non evil class that gives improved familiar earlier?
Any other advice?
There's a feat, mauler's endurance. You take it and you give your familiar 2 HP per your hit die. So it's like having toughness 4 times for how much HP you're giving your familiar.
Note that improved familiar's CANNOT be maulers per the FAQ.
Best maulers are the fox and crab, and racoon maybe I think?
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Take two levels of eldritch guardian fighter D10 instead of D12 and your familiar gets EVERY SINGLE combat feat you have.
Kris Verschaeve wrote: Take two levels of eldritch guardian fighter D10 instead of D12 and your familiar gets EVERY SINGLE combat feat you have.
That´s so good! thanks!
Flying fox, fox, compsognathus, raccoon, and crab, in that order but all are pretty great. I give the flying fox my vote for best because flying in huge in later levels.
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You can't take Mauler and Improved Familiar together, because they both replace Speak with Animal of Your Kind. So no Medium sized Nycar Maulers (which would be the answer if it were legal.) Earth or Air Elementals, or Mephits generally make the best fighting Improved Familiars.
The level 1 spell Shield Companion (non the level 2 spell with the same name) will help a lot with survivability, but I generally haven't had a problem.
Flying Fox or Compsognathus are probably the best Maulers, depending on how important you think flight is vs +4 Initiative.
Things to consider:
Evolved Familiar for Reach is often worth the feat if your buddy only has one attack.
Shaman familiars get some nice bonuses, Fast Healing 1 or DR 5/adamantine being the two big ones. You might want Unsworn shaman if you'd rather take more stuff in a spirit like Battle but get the Life bonus.
Spirit Binder Wizard will get your familiar better saves, BaB and feats, if you don't want your character to be melee heavy. Not PFS legal though.
Duettist Bard is worth a look, mostly because your familiar is another target for your bard buffs (/your familiar has a pocket bard to buff them.) Mirror Image goes a long way to keep your familiar alive. Consider the Battle Song of People's Revolt Masterpiece for Improved Spell Sharing to buff you both in one casting.
Consider a small character for a mounted build. I've had a ton of fun with a Halfling Duettist Bard zipping around on a Flying Fox Mauler.
Eldritch Guardian is definitely cool.
What about given your familiar a mutagen via alchemist level?
it'll make the familiar sick since he isn't an alchemist unless you get a certain discovery/archetype that lets you hand off a weaker mutagen to someone else.
Oh,i see... So, so far the best is something like a Shaman/Eldritch guardian to have a flying fox with dr/5 and some feats, pretty funny concept.
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I wanted to throw out my mounted gnome barbarian/eldritch guardian/sorcerer/dragon disciple build:
1. Barb 1,
2. Sorcerer: crossblooded draconic/arcane 1,
3. Barb 2 and get Ferocious Mount so ,
4-5. Then either Barb 3-4 or Eldritch Guardian 1-2, and I grab Boon Companion at 3.
6+. Dragon Disciple, which we rule advances the Arcane familiar. Check with the GM in advance to see how Blood of Dragons interacts with Crossblooded familiar advancement.
He rides his medium fox and ragelancecharges, has oodles of HP with 18 Con(and therefore so does his fox), the fox can rage when necessary, and the gnome has a useful portfolio of arcane utility spells and dragon stuff.
Where is the Flying Fox found?
So what does that familiar look like? I was recently looking at using a chicken to emulate a Chocobo and in the end i abandoned using a familiar for the concept because the familiar wasnt really doing anything.
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I meant more of what does it look like stat and ability wise?
What does its strength end up at, can it carry an armored rider, is its natural attack capable of hitting anything?
Every time i look at a Mauler Familiar i end up seeing a flanking buddy and not much more. Eldritch Guardian at least can make that flanking useful is you spec for it but you still need to position for it and hope the squishy little helper doesnt get squished.
Tiny so plus 6 when it grows. Plus scaling strength for the archetype.
Str 9, Dex 13, Con 12, Int 2, Wis 14, Cha 5
It could carry and armoured rider with heavy load belt for sure.
I use it on a Eldritch Guardian, Mutation Warrior, and Martial Master. Flying flank buddies at level 7 is great. Lots of other things you can do with different builds. Menacing amulet of mighty fist. Martial master means I can change the builds as needed.
Tiny is +4 Str, -2 Dex.
At level 8 Bard (and 2 paladin levels that don't add familair stuff,) my flying fox has 22 Str. 2 from the Halfling racial trait Caregiver, so 20 for a normal level 8 Mauler:
9 base
+4 Polymorph modifier from Tiny.
+2 Battle Form base strength bonus.
+3 +1 Str at 3rd,5th,7th.
+2 Enhancement from a Str belt.
With Bard song and Flagbearer going, he's +19/1d6+14 for his bite attack, with Reach from Evolved Familiar (so that he's got he same reach as Lance/Longspear, and we can hover at 10' to control an area against non-flying creatures. That's without anything like Eldritch Guardian that'll get you feats like Power Attack to bump that.
For a small rider like a halfling, you want a 16 Str (76lbs Light load)when you get Battle Form at 3rd level so it can carry you.
9Base+4Poly+2Mauler+1Level=16 Str. You're good.
Ya sorry I lumped the 4 size and 2 mauler battle form together. Thanks for clarifying.
Markov nice familiar build as always.
At 16 strength you could push into medium load if your in full plate, the familiar in armour and gear you could get close. Without the heaviest stuff you will be fine. But it's worth watching.
The wasp familiar makes a pretty strong mauler. It's one of the few options that can be both an improved equivalent and a mauler.
You can have an improved mauler familiar, if you take the magical child archetype of the vigilante class.
Then, add at least two levels of fighter (eldritch guardian), to give it combat feats.
Personally, I'd go for an arbiter inevitable. As it is an outsider, it already has martial weapon proficiencies. And it has high str and flies. Take the heavy armor proficiency to suit it up in heavy armor and go wreak havoc!
Don't forget niceties like the evolved companion feat :)
Edit: wreak havoc in the name of law, justice, and order, that is ;)
I like the idea of the familiar being the center piece of the build.
Cant the wasp familiar from the calistria feat be a mauler as well? Basically turning into a mauler imp at like 7th level?
No idea why it's not on PFSRD or Nethys but the Tinkerer Alchemist from Inner Sea Intrigue is a nice archetype for a familiar build...
Sadly it gives up Mutagen & can't take it as a Discovery. Slap Mauler on the Clockwork Spy/Familiar and you've got a solid melee familiar you can share infusions with. A nice flying mount for a small character as well.
A construct can't benefit from the mauler morale bonus, and I don't think it can use the size increase given that all polymorph effects require Fort saves and few effect objects.
Bazaku Ambrosuis wrote: What about given your familiar a mutagen via alchemist level? It seems to me that what the Tumor Familiar Discovery is really great for is the Protector Familiar. Level 5 Protector Familiars put Shield Other on their hosts. And Tumor Familiars get Fast Healing 5 to offset the damage of yours that it soaks up.
But you are thinking Mauler Familiar. But even so, a Mauler Tumor Familiar is likely to take a lot of Damage, and the ability to retreat to your Body to get Fast Healing 5 is pretty cool.
Meanwhile, there are a lot of Familiars that are out-of-their elements most of the time, Crab Familiars, for instance. If you have an Aquatic Familiar who is adventuring on land, you need to provide some sort of safe environment for that Familiar to retreat to, like a fish tank, or if that Familiar is a Tumor, your own body.
Archives of Nethyss, Mauler Familiar wrote: At 5th level, whenever the mauler’s master drops a foe whose Hit Dice are at least 1/2 its level to below 0 hit points, the mauler’s empathic link surges with power, granting both the mauler and its master a +2 morale bonus to attack and damage rolls for 1 round.... At 3rd level and every 2 levels thereafter, a mauler’s Strength score increases by 1.... the mauler’s size becomes Medium and the mauler gains a +2 bonus to Strength Mauler Familiars grant global attack and damage bonuses, so I think it will favor a character build with a large number of attacks/round such as a Natural Attack Build, an Attack of Opportunity Build, or at least take Great Cleave.
Also, with the Eldritch Guardian thing, you have a Teamwork Feat buddy and a Flanking buddy, so also consider a Sneak Attack build.
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Take Possessed Hand, Hand's Autonomy, and Hand's Detachment as an Eldritch Guardian. Get your own hand as a familiar. It uses the Crawling Hand's stats, so it's diminutive with a starting strength of 13. The side increase to medium from diminutive brings a +6 to Strength, so it's at 19 before you add the mauler's +2 or leveling bonuses.
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That's so many feats to spend on that, but a medium sized disembodied hand running around smashing face is too creepy and cool.
Plausible Pseudonym wrote: A construct can't benefit from the mauler morale bonus, and I don't think it can use the size increase given that all polymorph effects require Fort saves and few effect objects. Losing out on the morale bonus from a kill is a minor annoyance.
As far as polymorph goes, there's no blanket Fort save for polymorph effects that I can find. I think you're confusing it with construct traits
Construct Traits wrote: Constructs are immune to death effects, disease, mind-affecting effects (charms, compulsions, phantasms, patterns, and morale effects), necromancy effects, paralysis, poison, sleep, stun, and any effect that requires a Fortitude save (unless the effect also works on objects, or is harmless). There is no Fort save for the Battle Form (Su) effect.
Zabraxis wrote: No idea why it's not on PFSRD or Nethys but the Tinkerer Alchemist from Inner Sea Intrigue is a nice archetype for a familiar build...
** spoiler omitted **
Sadly it gives up Mutagen & can't take it as a Discovery. Slap Mauler on the Clockwork Spy/Familiar and you've got a solid melee familiar you can share infusions with. A nice flying mount for a small character as well.
Also, you can't mauler this because it counts as Improved Familiar, which doesn't get speak with animals of it's kind.
Unless it's from a Magical Child vigilante.
TristanTheViking wrote: Take Possessed Hand, Hand's Autonomy, and Hand's Detachment as an Eldritch Guardian. Get your own hand as a familiar. It uses the Crawling Hand's stats, so it's diminutive with a starting strength of 13. The side increase to medium from diminutive brings a +6 to Strength, so it's at 19 before you add the mauler's +2 or leveling bonuses. Not to mention a natural climb speed, blindsense, and the Grab ability.
This is an incredibly awesome concept though. :)
How would hand slot magic items, or gauntlets included as part of heavy armor, affect the Mauler's change in size? Battle Form is a Supernatural ability with no indicators about altering equipment, ala Enlarge Person.
So what could we do with that?
just wana check. is there anything in the rules that says a small pc can't use their mauler familiar as a mount? i must ride my rabid medium sized bunny into battle just once.
zainale wrote: just wana check. is there anything in the rules that says a small pc can't use their mauler familiar as a mount? i must ride my rabid medium sized bunny into battle just once. Quite legal, assuming your rabbit is strong enough to carry you and your gear. Checking the stats that's up to 45 pounds at light load, 135 at heavy.
Though it's not going to be all that rabid. One attack at -1 for 1d6-1 damage? It will be good at jumping though.
I like Cat Familiars with Evolved Familiar(pounce) as Maulers. Really nice with Coordinated Charge.
i weight less then 45 pounds and i am just wearing clothing....
who takes that feat you or the familiar?
Coordinated Charge is a teamwork and combat feat, so you'd both have it if you're an Eldritch Guardian Fighter. You'd have to take Evolved Familiar though.
Chess Pwn wrote: There's a feat, mauler's endurance. You take it and you give your familiar 2 HP per your hit die. So it's like having toughness 4 times for how much HP you're giving your familiar.
Note that improved familiar's CANNOT be maulers per the FAQ.
Best maulers are the fox and crab, and racoon maybe I think?
As a tiefling Alchemist I went with the tumor familiar discovery giving myself a flying fox formed familiar with the mauler archetype.
It basically has fast healing 5 when it reattaches to you as a tumor which is nice. I discussed it with my GM and he's agreed to allow me to give it a mutagen since it's technically a tumor and therefore part of myself. I then use (Share spells ability) to grant it the benefits of buff (Extracts/spells) such as shield, bulls strength, and enlarge person (which i can choose to not use on myself and only my familiar).
Enlarge person on the already medium sized mauler form, makes a large sized flying bat. It will lose spell effects if if leaves my side, so I invested skills ranks in ride and fly... I then ride this giant melee bat tumor monster, abusing the 60 ft fly speed and 10 foot reach to flank with my other party members while my scrawny little alchemist, lobs bombs from above.
Pretty flavorful and mechanically pretty great. I think at 4th level and giant/fully buffed form the bat carries a 28 str score. The only problem is that the single natural attack still uses the BAB + Dex and his AC in giant form isn't great especially with his fragile hp. but the fast healing 5 at the end of combat is nice if he survives.
christian kramer wrote: Enlarge person on the already medium sized mauler form, makes a large sized flying bat. Multiple dweomers that increase size don't stack. Also, your familiar isn't a person.
Unless your GM was houseruling in your favor again.
christian kramer wrote: I then ride this giant melee bat tumor monster, abusing the 60 ft fly speed I was thinking about doing this with a Gnome or Halfling, taking 2 or more levels in Fighter, Eldritch Gaurdian to gain the Mauler Familiar. I was thinking of taking Panther Style Feats, maybe charge, Bull Rush, and Overrun Feats, taking Harder they Fall to get around the Size limits. Eldritch Gaurdians' Famliars know all the Combat Feats their masters know.
Chess Pwn wrote: it'll make the familiar sick since he isn't an alchemist unless you get a certain discovery/archetype that lets you hand off a weaker mutagen to someone else. christian kramer wrote: It basically has fast healing 5 when it reattaches to you as a tumor which is nice. I discussed it with my GM and he's agreed to allow me to give it a mutagen since it's technically a tumor and therefore part of myself. I then use (Share spells ability) to grant it the benefits of buff (Extracts/spells) such as shield, bulls strength, and enlarge person (which i can choose to not use on myself and only my familiar). That's nice that your GM "allowed" you to do something the tumor familiar discovery already explicitly says you can do.
Tumor Familiar wrote: An alchemist’s extracts and mutagens are considered spells for the purposes of familiar abilities like share spells and deliver touch spells.
Scott Wilhelm wrote: Also, your familiar isn't a person.
Unless your GM was houseruling in your favor again.
Share Spells is a thing, and Enlarge Person is on the Alchemist's Extracts list.
So...who has made a killer bunny with the Mauler archetype? Even though it stinks mechanically, I'm tempted to do that or go with a squirrel...
Edit: On a second read though, I can see that the battle bunny is a thing.
I'm very tempted to make a character with the Rabbit of Caerbannog as his familiar...
One of my characters with a combat familiar has a squirrel.
However, its a protector archetype. Eldritch Guardian Fighter, dip or two into Monk. Essentially the character(and the familiar) fight while prone (monkey style) because he's pretending to be a Merfolk(hat of disguise), and merfolk have fins so they can't stand of course. Intrepid Rescuer, Paired Opportunist, Weapon Finesse/Piranha Strike/Agile Amulets of Mighty Fists, Evolved Familiar for reach on its bite and shake to combine.
The main shtick is: If you attack either the 'merfolk' or his guardian-angel-squirrel they both hit you back.
Ok...resurrecting this old thread.
I'm playing a Gnome Transmuter...with a goat as her familiar, using the mauler archetype...because...GOAT MAGE!!!
Along with that, I'm taking evolved familiar as a feat in order to bump its damage...and taking toughness for myself (in addition to having a 14 CON...so it's gonna be a tough goat)
the goal...ride the enraged goat into battle, slinging spells from its back as it wreaks havoc on my enemies!!
Spamcannon wrote: Ok...resurrecting this old thread.
I'm playing a Gnome Transmuter...with a goat as her familiar, using the mauler archetype...because...GOAT MAGE!!!
Along with that, I'm taking evolved familiar as a feat in order to bump its damage...and taking toughness for myself (in addition to having a 14 CON...so it's gonna be a tough goat)
the goal...ride the enraged goat into battle, slinging spells from its back as it wreaks havoc on my enemies!!
Flying fox (bat) gets way better stats for a mauler and a mount
Markov Spiked Chain wrote: You can't take Mauler and Improved Familiar together, because they both replace Speak with Animal of Your Kind. So no Medium sized Nycar Maulers (which would be the answer if it were legal.) Earth or Air Elementals, or Mephits generally make the best fighting Improved Familiars.
You can KIND OF take mauler and improved familiar together with the wasp familiar feat. It locks you into calistria, a code of conduct, and a less good imp though.
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