There's the problem with any mauler familiar, it's an animal without amazing hit points or defences or attack values. And it costs money to replace unlike a companion, phantom or eidolon. But yeah, a cat is an OK familiar for clawing fools if you have enough buffs to give it.
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There's the problem with any mauler familiar, it's an animal without amazing hit points or defences or attack values. But yeah, a cat is an OK familiar for clawing fools if you have some sort of buffs to give it.
Considering the Chassis i plan to use is the bonded familiar and the feat path i plan to go looks something like this.
1.Weapon Finesse
3.Mauler's Endurance
5.Evolved Familiar
7.Inspired Strike
Bonus Feat:Improved Familiar
9.Spirits Gift
11.Improved Share Spells
13.Focused Inspiration
I like to think It'll be able to do decently well, maybe not as a frontline combatant but certainly enough that it can hold it's own
Post-nerf spirit's gift is not worth getting, except maybe at levels 1-2.
I'm not sure how the bonded investigator archetype is going to help - studied combat/strike won't work for it, polymorphs won't add to the mauler abilities since mauler works via polymorphing, and it'll be forever before inspiration will be useful in combat for it. I would say that with the given plan it is unlikely to be useful before improved familiar replaces it.
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Post-nerf spirit's gift is not worth getting, except maybe at levels 1-2.
I'm not sure how the bonded investigator archetype is going to help - studied combat/strike won't work for it, polymorphs won't add to the mauler abilities since mauler works via polymorphing, and it'll be forever before inspiration will be useful in combat for it. I would say that with the given plan it is unlikely to be useful before improved familiar replaces it.
I've actually thought about it and looked into it, and as far as i can tell there is nothing that says you HAVE to pick an improved familiar once you get the feat. As for the rest, i can just replace it with toughness, more hp.
In that case it's looking like a useful fighter at 9th level or so assuming you pick up combat inspiration then. That's a long wait in most games.
(an improved familiar might cut that back to 7th level, but of course that wastes the mauler's endurance feat)
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If you want something a little less likely to earn your GM’s ire, consider a lap dog Mauler Familiar. They use the same statistics as foxes, so it doesn’t break anything at all, and you can actually justify having one as they have a listed cost to buy one. Of course, you don’t have to buy your Familiar, I’m just saying, if you actually spent money to acquire it, and it only has the one attack, your GM might be less likely to try to kill the thing.
That honestly might work considering i have to wait till level 2 anyway, but i can't find the stats on the lap dog.(Oh wait says so right there, nvm)
I have a character that will be using a cat mauler familiar... though the build I’m taking uses the Nature Shaman as a base for that late game conversion into a small cat animal companion.
Cat may not be the most optimal mauler option... but it is perfectly viable...