If you were using a class that was 3 / 4 bab, had access to a familiar and only 2+int to skills. Would you go mauler or Sage?

[Malik Gyan Daumantas]

Pretty much this.

[Algarik]

I'd always go Sage, no matter what, I'm not a fan of sending my familliars into certain death.

I like sage familliars too, because i feel like they get more of a personality since they get their own skill ranks. It's also funny that for some character your familliar will probably end up smarter than you lol.

[Mark Hoover 330]

I personally prefer Sage, with the featsEvolved Familiar on the PC and, with special permission from the GM, the feat Additional Traits on the familiar through retraining.

For the Evolution I'd take Skilled: Use Magic Device, with the Traits selected as Pragmatic Activator and Underlying Principles. This gives my Sage familiar Use Magic Device as an Int-based skill with a +1 Trait bonus and a +8 Racial bonus to it. UMD is a Class skill for sages and they get their own skill ranks, so as long as it maxes out UMD the familiar will always be a minimum of +13 in addition to the number of skill ranks and the Int penalty/bonus it has.

By level 5 your Familiar should have a +18 to UMD. Also by level 5 you've got some discretionary GP set aside for consumable magic items, such as wands. Your familiar needs to roll a 2 or better to use any wand on you from this point forward. Enlarge Person, Bull's Strength, Haste... take your pick, they're all good buffs to have.

As you level, consider buying your little buddy a Headband of Intellect or a ridiculously expensive Wand of Visualization of the Mind (Intelligence). The Headband gives the Familiar another +2, +4 or +6 Enhancement to UMD while the wand grants a +5 untyped bonus to Int-based skills for 24 hours/charge used.

When you get to about 8th, 10th level all those niche utility or buff spells you're not really sure if you'll need but you want around, like Air Bubble or Wind Walk or whatever, make for good, cheap scrolls. The familiar at this point should have a +22 UMD by 8th level, before factoring in the Headband or the Wand, so it should be able to use any scroll with a CL of 4 or lower on a roll of 2 or better. Also, hopefully by this point your Sage familiar is speaking and has a reliable way to pull out and hold a scroll.

On the flipside, a Mauler familiar that doesn't share your combat feats or pick up new feats through your class abilities is just a mildly strong flanker. Honestly, it might be just as advantageous to take Handle Animal, train a reliable mount and then have your familiar use buff spell wands on you both.

[DeathlessOne]

Sage, without hesitation. The only time I'd consider Mauler familiar is with a classes that has Full BAB and a large amount of HP.

[Melkiador]

Even with full BAB and hit points, Mauler doesn't feel like a great choice to me. It's ok with an Eldritch Guardian, because of some tricky feat builds. And it can make a decent mount if you are small. But it's not usually so tough or capable to consider sending into melee.

[David knott 242]

One big advantage of Sage is that it is compatible with Figment, which really helps with the familiar's durability (as it is pretty nearly impossible to kill such a familiar permanently).

[DeathlessOne]

David knott 242 wrote:

One big advantage of Sage is that it is compatible with Figment, which really helps with the familiar's durability (as it is pretty nearly impossible to kill such a familiar permanently).

I use such a combination for my character in Tyrant's Grasp. A venerable Aasimar Barbarian (now Mortal Usher) that started to get senile in his old age, thinking himself some sort of wizard. I took VMC Wizard and roleplay the Sage/Figment familiar as his sort of split personality responsible for the magical abilities he displays on occasion (which actually come from Item Mastery feats).

Character is an ungodly mess but one of my favorites, hands down. And he hits like a damn lightning bolt.