Closely Bonded Familiar (3.5 Feat, PEACH)

[Noctis Vigil]

I have no idea how this would work balance-wise, but it seemed like a good idea.

Closely Bonded Familiar
Prerequisites: Must have a familiar, Knowledge(Arcana) 6 Ranks
Benefit: Your familiar is treated as if all your class levels were in the class that gave you your familiar.

[Grod_The_Giant]

I like it. Simple, logical, and right about the right level of power.

[willpell]

Thumbs up.

[DaTedinator]

The Obtain Familiar feat in Complete Arcane already does this and more. While the primary benefit is, yes, to let those without a familiar obtain one, it also makes it so all levels in all classes that give access to arcane casting improve your familiar.

So not only does it give the benefit to more than one prestige class, it also applies the benefit to the levels that don't improve spellcasting (e.g., a Sorcerer 6/Swiftblade (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/prc/20070327) 4 would have the familiar of a 10th level Sorcerer, despite only having 8th level casting).

I do like the idea of a companion feat to Obtain Familiar for those who already have a familiar in the first place, though. It could grant all the above benefits, and then some other small bonus - maybe you're treated as one level higher for your familiar, or something.

[Noctis Vigil]

Big changes. How's it look now?

[Grod_The_Giant]

Eh... could be a little dicey. If you have a 1-2 level dip into Hexblade or something, and the rest in tank classes, your familiar could wind up being mighty badass, especially with Improved Familiar.

[DaTedinator]

But to be fair, levels in the right classes (like Hexblade) can already make your familiar into a beast.

I like the feat now. I think I'd probably give it a skill prerequisite or something, but the benefit itself seems fine to me.

[willpell]

Big changes. How's it look now?

Now I say thumbs down. I haven't read Obtain Familiar but it seems overpowered. I'd probably treat your original version of this feat as an appopriate prerequisite for the text of Obtain Familiar, which would be renamed, meanwhile Obtain Familiar would become "You get the familiar of a level 1 sorc/wiz regardless of any spellcasting classes you do or do not have," which in turn could allow you to take CBF and then the erstwhile OF, resulting in a total of 3 feats to get a full-power familiar on a multiclass build. Maybe a little harsh, but I'm of a mind to nerf casters, let alone heavily optomized caster-PRC multibuilds.

[JoshuaZ]

Closely Bonded Familiar
Prerequisites: Must have a familiar
Benefit: Your familiar is treated as if all your class levels were in the class that gave you your familiar.

This seems fine to me. Sure, someone can do something like take ten levels in a non-casting class, and then take a very quick dip into a class that grants a familiar, but overall that's not a big deal. A familiar just isn't that powerful a class feature, and so a dip + feat to get a "strong" familiar isn't unreasonable.

[DaTedinator]

Now I say thumbs down. I haven't read Obtain Familiar but it seems overpowered. I'd probably treat your original version of this feat as an appopriate prerequisite for the text of Obtain Familiar, which would be renamed, meanwhile Obtain Familiar would become "You get the familiar of a level 1 sorc/wiz regardless of any spellcasting classes you do or do not have," which in turn could allow you to take CBF and then the erstwhile OF, resulting in a total of 3 feats to get a full-power familiar on a multiclass build. Maybe a little harsh, but I'm of a mind to nerf casters, let alone heavily optomized caster-PRC multibuilds.

Sure, that's fine for your game, but you can't judge other people's homebrew based off of changes that you've made to official feats.

Sticking entirely to official Wizards stuff, a caster can just grab Obtain Familiar and then get full familiar, regardless of whatever prestige classes they take (provided the classes advance spellcasting, but duh). This feat lets those who aren't pure spellcasters still have a full-powered familiar.

An important point to remember about familiars is that most of their important traits aren't tied to class level. A familiar's HD, HP, BAB, Saves, and Skills are all based on the master's total - not just those from the class that granted the familiar. Sure familiar advancement grants some nice stuff, but you can already make a pretty mean familiar with a single level dip in Wizard and then going straight Rogue or whatever.

[Noctis Vigil]

But to be fair, levels in the right classes (like Hexblade) can already make your familiar into a beast.

I like the feat now. I think I'd probably give it a skill prerequisite or something, but the benefit itself seems fine to me.

Skill prereq added.


Now I say thumbs down. I haven't read Obtain Familiar but it seems overpowered. I'd probably treat your original version of this feat as an appopriate prerequisite for the text of Obtain Familiar, which would be renamed, meanwhile Obtain Familiar would become "You get the familiar of a level 1 sorc/wiz regardless of any spellcasting classes you do or do not have," which in turn could allow you to take CBF and then the erstwhile OF, resulting in a total of 3 feats to get a full-power familiar on a multiclass build. Maybe a little harsh, but I'm of a mind to nerf casters, let alone heavily optomized caster-PRC multibuilds.


This seems fine to me. Sure, someone can do something like take ten levels in a non-casting class, and then take a very quick dip into a class that grants a familiar, but overall that's not a big deal. A familiar just isn't that powerful a class feature, and so a dip + feat to get a "strong" familiar isn't unreasonable.

JoshuaZ pretty much covered this one for me. I've honestly never played a game where the familiar did more than act as a glorified scout, so I see no issues.


Sure, that's fine for your game, but you can't judge other people's homebrew based off of changes that you've made to official feats.

Sticking entirely to official Wizards stuff, a caster can just grab Obtain Familiar and then get full familiar, regardless of whatever prestige classes they take (provided the classes advance spellcasting, but duh). This feat lets those who aren't pure spellcasters still have a full-powered familiar.

An important point to remember about familiars is that most of their important traits aren't tied to class level. A familiar's HD, HP, BAB, Saves, and Skills are all based on the master's total - not just those from the class that granted the familiar. Sure familiar advancement grants some nice stuff, but you can already make a pretty mean familiar with a single level dip in Wizard and then going straight Rogue or whatever.

Exactly. In case you were curious, this is getting use in a game I'm running when the guy levels up and takes the feat. I'll let the board know how it works once I see some playtesting, but I honestly don't see it being an issue.