Looking for a skill monkey/caster with a strong familiar

[danzibr]

In an upcoming campaign (starting at level 7) our party composition looks something like this:

Dwarf melee
Dwarf melee
Aasimar Favored Soul (healer/buffer/ranged)
Goliath Paladin (more melee)
me

Originally I was going to go human Spellthief/Rogue/Spellwarp Sniper with an item familiar, but recently I had a change of heart. In particular, I want a regular familiar (I'll probably go Improved Familiar or something), but it would be nice to have a really buff familiar. I'm thinking Duskblade or Hexblade would be cool for the HP and BAB, but then the party would be terribly lacking in the skill monkey department.

Any suggestions? Maybe I can stick with the Spellthief/Rogue/Spellwarp Sniper route, but having a tough familiar would be cool.

[Waker]

With such a melee heavy group, you might want to consider going with a bard. The hp and bab wouldn't be quite as impressive as Duskblade or Hexblade, but the skill points and spells available are far more impressive.

[RndmNumGen]

I think there's a spell in Complete Adventurer called Augment Familiar or something like that. As I recall, it gives something like +4 Strength and +4 Constitution to your familiar.

[dspeyer]

I'll second bard. The music should be good for your party, and the spell list is pretty broad.

The classic answer is beguiler. You get powerful magic sooner but with a more restricted spell list (arcane disciple helps a little). Being int-based helps with skills too.

There are also multiclass possibilities, such as Factotum 3 / Wizard 2 / Unseen Seer X. Spell progression lags at first, but eventually surpasses bard. Broadest spell list. Again int-based, though the wizard levels mean slightly fewer ranks than the beguiler. The factotum's skill-related class abilities more than make up for this. Note that Unseen Seer does *not* progress familiar, so you'll want to trade that away and take the Acquire Familiar feat (and maybe practiced caster so you don't lose familiar powers for the factotum levels).

[Saph]

You could go with a Beguiler or Bard, then take Obtain Familiar and Improved Familiar. Both fill the skillmonkey role. HP isn't amazing in either case (d6) but at least it's better than a sorcerer or wizard and you're unlikely to be on the front line anyway with so many melee characters in the party.

[Randomguy]

What about spellthief 1/wizard 5/Spellwarp Sniper 5/Unseen Seer 9? (or spellthief 1/wizard 4/Unseen seer 1/spellwarp sniper 5/Unseen Seer 9).

You get decent BAB (not nearly good enough to gish, but it will make your familiar stronger) and slightly better hp than a normal wizard. You also steak spells as a level 20 spellthief and can wear light armour (master spellthief feat ftw).

A bard would have a better familiar (more hp, slightly better BAB), but you've got much better casting and can buff your familiar up.

Here's a familiar handbook. (http://dictummortuum.blogspot.com/2011/08/familiars-handbook.html)

[Psyren]

Beguiler + Obtain Familiar gets my vote.

[hex0]

Trickster Spellthief/Duskblade/Spellwarp Sniper (or Daggerspell Mage, for that matter) works decent. Maybe some Unseen Seer action.

It is tough to have both a tough familiar (because it is dependent on YOUR hp), and be a skill monkey. They are almost mutually exclusive. Factotums do get a d8 hit die and better skills than a Beguiler, though.

[Godskook]

I'd suggest:

Rogue 1/Wizard 4/Unseen Seer X/Daggerspell Mage Y

Take a Dragon Familiar, which will typically be beefier than a normal familiar.

[Razanir]

My group has a wizard whose owl familiar has 29 AC. 10 + 2 size + 3 dex + 4 natural + 10 from a 3rd party item.

The item is for 150 gp and 10 lbs, +10 to your familiars AC while he's in his carrying backpack thing (similar to those carriers for babies)

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

My first choice would be an Illumian (Krau/anything), Beguiler 1/ Wizard (Conjurer) 4/ Ultimate Magus, with flaws for Practiced Spellcaster: Beguiler, Versatile Spellcaster, Able Learner, and get Obtain/Improved Familiar. Trade your Wizard-granted familiar for Abrupt Jaunt for survivability, and probably use Martial Wizard to get Improved Initiative instead of Scribe Scroll. I'd go with an Imp or Quasit familiar, which is extremely useful as a skillmonkey (he uses your ranks after all), it can throw around Tanglefoot Bags, and you can Polymorph it into an Outsider form for combat ability. Note that with Versatile Spellcaster you can spend Beguiler spell slots two at a time to cast Wizard spells you've learned, and it also grants early access to knowledge of the next higher level of Beguiler spells. With Krau and Practiced Spellcaster you'll be adding 10/10 UM to Wizard spellcasting. It's not tanky at all, but between Abrupt Jaunt and various Batman tricks it should have high survivability.


I'll agree that a Bard would be an excellent choice with such a combat-heavy party. I'd start out Spellthief 1/ Bard X, probably to end up Spellthief 1/ Bard 8/ Mindbender 1/ Sublime Chord 2/ Casting PrCs 8. Take Master Spellthief later on and you'll have some caster level stacking shenanigans from its interaction with Sublime Chord. Get the standard Inspire Courage optimization (Song of the Heart, Badge of Valor, Inspirational Boost, Words of Creation if good/exalted, possibly DFI), use Obtain/Improved Familiar for probably something with several attacks/round (Krenshar, Quasit, or Hippogriff), and maybe even pick up Wild Cohort (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/re/20031118a) for yet another companion you can inspire. Consider using Savage Bard (www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/variantCharacterClasses.htm#bardVariantSavageBard) and possibly adapt Spellthief as per Wilderness Rogue (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/variantCharacterClasses.htm#rogueVariantWilderness Rogue) to fit a similar theme, so you add some nature-friendly skills to the party as well.

[dspeyer]

My first choice would be an Illumian (Krau/anything), Beguiler 1/ Wizard (Conjurer) 4/ Ultimate Magus, with flaws for Practiced Spellcaster: Beguiler, Versatile Spellcaster, Able Learner, and get Obtain/Improved Familiar. Trade your Wizard-granted familiar for Abrupt Jaunt for survivability, and probably use Martial Wizard to get Improved Initiative instead of Scribe Scroll. I'd go with an Imp or Quasit familiar, which is extremely useful as a skillmonkey (he uses your ranks after all), it can throw around Tanglefoot Bags, and you can Polymorph it into an Outsider form for combat ability. Note that with Versatile Spellcaster you can spend Beguiler spell slots two at a time to cast Wizard spells you've learned, and it also grants early access to knowledge of the next higher level of Beguiler spells. With Krau and Practiced Spellcaster you'll be adding 10/10 UM to Wizard spellcasting. It's not tanky at all, but between Abrupt Jaunt and various Batman tricks it should have high survivability.

I think you missed the skill-monkey part. Except the first level, this is 2+int with a very small list.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

I think you missed the skill-monkey part. Except the first level, this is 2+int with a very small list.

Able Learner plus Beguiler at 1st level, on an Int-SAD character, is a perfectly capable skillmonkey that can contribute far more than most standard skillmonkey classes/builds.

[Urpriest]

For maximizing skills and BAB, I think the best option is Bard based.

Bard 8/Full BAB 2/Sublime Chord 2/Abjurant Champion 5/Sacred Exorcist 3

ends up with BAB 16, has decent hit dice throughout, enough caster level for full familiar progression, 6+Int skill points for the first 8 levels where it counts and decent skill points later.

[danzibr]

Thanks for all the replies. I've actually always wanted to play a Bard for various reasons, and now seems like a great opportunity! I did look at Beguiler and some other classes (like Duskblade and Hexblade, which would have great familiars but sucky skill monkeys), but ultimately think I'll be heading the Bard route. I'll have to hit up some handbooks and look further into the suggestions. I'll try to get up my build when I figure it out.

[Person_Man]

Just remember your most important spell - Alter Self. You can Share Spells with your Familiar. Thus your Familiar can turn into a Dinosaur or whatever.