Familiar for a Rogue?

[Gaius Marius]

First, how do you call a character who is an awakened animal, class rogue?

a skill monkey!

All right. I was watching Aladin, and I remembered that many thieves/rogues in fiction have sometimes an animal with them who can do lockpicking/pickpocketing.

How hard would it be to add the familiar (with skills) to a rogue?

[Eldan]

There is the Obtain Familiar feat, but that requires at least some casting. Your best bet is probably to get a caster level from a dip, then take the feat. Beguiler might be fitting, or a prestige class.

[Gaius Marius]

How about a Warlock? Would that be acceptable? Plus, they got surprising synergy with the rogue class, IMHO.

[Volthawk]

Alternatively, Wild Cohort (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/re/20031118a).

[dsmiles]

Alternatively, take Leadership at 6th, and get an awakened animal cohort.

Alternatively to said alternative, take Item Familiar. It's a pretty nifty feat.

[holywhippet]

The assassin PrC gives you arcane casting - but you do need to be evil.

The obtain familiar feat requires 3 levels of being an arcance caster though. You need to pick one that matches your character. Bard might be worthwhile if you are going for the charming/diplomatic type rogue (which Alladin would be).

You could just take a single level in druid to get an animal companion, or four levels in ranger.

There are options to buy animals in the game.

Catch is, I don't think any animal that hasn't been enhanced with magic will be able to pick locks.

[Kalim]

I think Factotum 2/Rogue X will get you off in the right direction - Arcane Dilettante should qualify you for Obtain Familiar and Improved Familiar.

All those tasty extra skills don't hurt, either.

[KillianHawkeye]

The obtain familiar feat requires 3 levels of being an arcance caster though.

It actually requires an arcane caster level of 3rd (or higher). You could obtain this by taking one level in an arcane spellcasting class and taking the Practiced Spellcaster feat (and having at least 3 Hit Dice).

[JeminiZero]

Best way I think is to take a splash in Druid (or 4 levels in Ranger if you are using Swift Hunter or similiar). Then use the Urban Companion ACF from Cityscape to swap your Animal Companion for an Urban Companion, which is almost exactly like a familiar (i.e. uses your BAB and skills for checks).

Except that it has 3/4 your HP, and if it dies, you DO NOT lose XP, and merely need to wait 24 hours to replace it.

So next time you see a trap that might potentially kill you, you know who to send to disarm it. :smallwink:

[realbombchu]

Best way I think is to take a splash in Druid. Then use the Urban Companion ACF from Cityscape to swap your Animal Companion for an Urban Companion, which is almost exactly like a familiar (i.e. uses your BAB and skills for checks).

Dang, you beat me to it. Remember that there are much better choices than a monkey for your familiar too. A bat might be the best in the PHB, but some people like ravens more. Spellthief is an option too.

[Jack Zander]

Dang, you beat me to it. Remember that there are much better choices than a monkey for your familiar too. A bat might be the best in the PHB, but some people like ravens more. Spellthief is an option too.

Monkey is pretty fuggin' good though. It can manipulate any objects the same way a human can. I don't think you can make the same argument for a bat, though a raven might still be able to pick locks... maybe.

[Volthawk]

Monkey is pretty fuggin' good though. It can manipulate any objects the same way a human can. I don't think you can make the same argument for a bat, though a raven might still be able to pick locks... maybe.

Raven familiars can speak one language. That might be useful.

[realbombchu]

Bats have blindsight, so they're good at using touch spells against invisible targets. Ravens can activate wands if you know Use Magic Device because they can talk. Thrushes can too if they can carry the wand (A 5 oz. bird cannot carry an 8 oz. wand.) All 3 can fly. Monkeys are good for skills though, yes.

[holywhippet]

Bats have blindsight, so they're good at using touch spells against invisible targets. Ravens can activate wands if you know Use Magic Device because they can talk.

Unless you've cast improved invisibility on your bat familiar I'd not recommend that kind of thing. Familiars have only half your HP which for a wizard tends to mean not many. Putting it in the line of fire (and having it deliver touch spells) could get it killed and make your suffer an XP hit.

I have often thought a familar would be a good thing for a healer type though - you could send your familiar over the the other side of the battlefield to deliver your healing spells.

[KillianHawkeye]

I have often thought a familar would be a good thing for a healer type though - you could send your familiar over the the other side of the battlefield to deliver your healing spells.

Works just as well for a buffer, since a lot of buff spells are touch range. Of course, that's assuming you don't just do all your buffing before combat starts.

My favorite use for a flying familiar is to get to a party member who's in a hard to reach place and channel a dimension door or teleport spell to extricate him.

[holywhippet]

Works just as well for a buffer, since a lot of buff spells are touch range. Of course, that's assuming you don't just do all your buffing before combat starts.

My favorite use for a flying familiar is to get to a party member who's in a hard to reach place and channel a dimension door or teleport spell to extricate him.

Buffing sort of depends on the situation and the spell. If you get surprised by the combat you'll have to buff on the fly. Otherwise, it's best to do it beforehand so you don't have to waste actions in combat - unless it's a really short lived spell which will be half expired before combat even begins.

Is that dimension door/teleport trick actually legal? Technically both spells are supposed to transport you and whoever/whatever you are touching. Might be a bit of a stretch to treat it as a touch spell deliverable via familiar. I suppose it works by RAW though.

[KillianHawkeye]

Well, here's what it says:

If the master is 3rd level or higher, a familiar can deliver touch spells for him. If the master and the familiar are in contact at the time the master casts a touch spell, he can designate his familiar as the "toucher." The familiar can then deliver the touch spell just as the master could. As usual, if the master casts another spell before the touch is delivered, the touch spell dissipates.

So teleport is a touch spell, and the familiar is designated as the toucher. As far as I'm concerned, that effectively makes him the caster.

It may not be RAW, but it doesn't really matter. If you're trying to teleport your friend to your own location (because your friend fell down a pit, or is on the other side of a lake of lava, or something), it doesn't matter if you teleport too because you're already there.

[Thurbane]

If you're open to 3rd party material, The Book of Familars (Troll Lord Games) has rules for familiars for all classes. Some of the rules are a little wonky, but I like the concepts...

[Kaeso]

It's not a familliar, but I think there's a web enhancement feat that grants you an animal cohort somewhere on the web.

[Kaeso]

It's not a familliar, but I think there's a web enhancement feat that grants you an animal cohort somewhere on the web.

[Volthawk]

It's not a familliar, but I think there's a web enhancement feat that grants you an animal cohort somewhere on the web.

I linked to it earlier. Also, you double-posted the same thing.