Symbiont/Familiar Character? I dare!

[Vorandril]

So here's the deal, I am pondering a method of how to play a character where I act as another character's familiar or as a Symbiont. rom a Roleplaying perspective that's not difficult (Just take the given stats for the familiar/Symbiont and start having a dandy time RPing).

But I want to be a separate entity, with abilities that just buff my fellow party member I'm helping.

So, mighty playground, I challenge you thusly;

How would one do this, and at as low of a level as possible?

Let the brainstorming BEGIN!

[teslas]

I actually have experience with this. We had a person in a game that could not be active or show up consistently, so when they did, they just played the druid's animal companion. We handled it by having the animal be awakened (the template), but the spell was bought at a discount from a senile old druid so it would wink in and out, seemingly at "random", explaining why sometimes it was intelligent and why it was not. This is an option at level 1 for druids, obviously, and other characters can reach a slightly weaker version with the Animal Cohort feat that WotC has online:
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/re/20031118a


You could literally just play a person's familiar. They are intelligent, and if you're a raven (or parrot or something) you can actually talk. You can, of course, do this at level 1 to boot. Your support role would have to depend on magical items, but there are a lot of things you could do. There is a familiar handbook that covers all of this in great detail, and along with a base understanding of the game, should provide you with all the inspiration you need.

Hell, just being able to fly around and make spot checks is useful for that matter, let alone the wands you're using or the touch spells you're delivering.


You can't do it until level 6, but if someone took the Leadership feat and got some kind of animal or non-humanoid that'd essentially be the same thing, eh?

[Aemoh87]

So here's the deal, I am pondering a method of how to play a character where I act as another character's familiar or as a Symbiont. rom a Roleplaying perspective that's not difficult (Just take the given stats for the familiar/Symbiont and start having a dandy time RPing).

But I want to be a separate entity, with abilities that just buff my fellow party member I'm helping.

So, mighty playground, I challenge you thusly;

How would one do this, and at as low of a level as possible?

Let the brainstorming BEGIN!

Well I have done this before where I "played" as my cohort who I was possessing... I also used Dvati (Dragon Compendium) as my race so I possessed his weapon as well. The class I used was Fiend of Possession from the Fiend Folio, I recommend using a psionic class to enter as you can still use your powers when possessing. It was a very good time. An alternate idea is play as a Tibbet in cat form, appearing to be your wizard cohorts/party member's familiar.

There are other polymorph shenanigans you could use too, but I wouldn't recommend those.

[Vorandril]

And thoughts in regards to a Symbiont style character?

An intelligent magical item perhaps could work? Though I'm unsure of how to approch -that- particular monster as well.

Edit-------
Additionally: What spurred this idea was actually my catching up on yet another webcomic.
http://grim.snafu-comics.com/?comic_id=200
In this one, the Nergal Demon is the lovecraftian aberation thingy in the black text in green highlights. And got me pondering how to make the character work.

About the awakened spell: As I'm looking at it I'm more interested in the "familiar" be an actual, standalone character than an RP'd feature of someone else's character. =)

[teslas]

The DMG approaches intelligent items pretty well...
http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/intelligentItems.htm

You could also be a legacy intelligent weapon so that you level up, kinda. Go find a copy of "Weapons of Legacy".

I don't have any depth of knowledge of symbionts, so can't help much there.

edit for your above edit:

About the awakened spell: As I'm looking at it I'm more interested in the "familiar" be an actual, standalone character than an RP'd feature of someone else's character. =)

That's extremely easy. Just play a character that's weird, then. Just because you're your own character with levels and what-all else (not that you couldn't pick your own feats/skills as an awakened animal or whatever) doesn't stop someone from calling you their familiar, companion, cohort, friend, compatriot, or whatever other word you care to use.

[NiteCyper]

So here's the deal, I am pondering a method of how to play a character where I act as another character's familiar or as a Symbiont. rom a Roleplaying perspective that's not difficult (Just take the given stats for the familiar/Symbiont and start having a dandy time RPing).

But I want to be a separate entity, with abilities that just buff my fellow party member I'm helping.
This (http://www.minmaxboards.com/index.php?topic=6220) thread wanted something very similar, though specifically a bird.


And thoughts in regards to a Symbiont style character?
In the the thread that I linked to, I link to the Symbiotic Creature Template - Handbook (http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/19863774/Symbiotic_Creature_Template_-_Handbook).


How would one do this, and at as low of a level as possible?
One of the lowest level options is the Hengeyokai race (Oriental Adventures) with the 3.5e update which makes them have LA +0. They have access to a list of animal forms, which includes (in the order listed in Table 1-3: Hengeyokai Animal Forms (page 12)) badger, carp (http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=10475.msg355018#msg355018), cat, crab, crane, dog, fox, hare, monkey, raccoon dog, rat, sparrow, and weasel.

[Vorandril]

... I completely forgot about Weapons of Legacy... Well put me on a pole and call me a gerbil...

[Vorandril]

NiteCyper... I love you. In a way only a cephalopod can love an Oriental Adventures character. <3

[NiteCyper]

Thanks for the display of affection and for spelling my name correctly.

Playing the cohort opens up the option of playing as the much beloved, normally-out-of-reach-because-of-being-cohort-only, LA +0 Beguiler (http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=7631.0) race from the Shining South supplement (of the Forgotten Realms campaign setting) (pages 60-61). They are one of the sneakiest races, they're cute, and they have True Seeing (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/trueSeeing.htm) all of the time, among other bonuses.

If you decide to go with a chirping bird and take levels in Bard (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/classes/bard.htm), maybe you could Perform (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/skills/perform.htm) (bird-song). Bards are famous for their buffing potential with stuff like the Dragonfire Inspiration [Draconic] feat (Dragon Magic, page 17).

[Vorandril]

Then let us take this brain teaser one step further;
How does one be a symbiont in a similar fashion as say, the Soul Tick? So that I might attatch to another PC?

As I browse the Creature of Legacy seems like a viable option. Is there a method that does not hinge on a 5HD prerequisite?