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View Full Version : Optimizing a Morphic, Living Spell Familiar



tuesdayscoming
2012-09-19, 06:38 PM
I'm working on a character whose basic concept is to combine the Changeling Wizard 5 variant (Morphic Familiar, Races of Eberron) with the Spell Sovereign prestige class (Dragon 357 p.76). The end result is a slightly-less-than-full caster with Living Spell familiar, and who can change his familiar's spell at will as a full-round action (the familiar's action, not the character's own). Notably, the entry for spell familiar says that you can choose from "any spell of the appropriate level that can be made into a living spell." There is no requirement that you be able to cast the spell you choose, or even that that spell be on your class list. A nifty trick, I think, and one that should be both powerful and fun to play.

I'm looking for tricks to optimize this concept further.

The build as yet is just Wizard 5/Spell Sovereign 10. Feats are largely up in the air, aside from the Improved Familiar prerequisite.

The maximum spell level for a Spell Sovereign's familiar (at level 10) is 4th. Sanctum Spell might be able to give us spells of up to 5th level. The third level ability of the Ambient Tempest PrC (Bestiary of Krynn, p.134) would allow us to pump this up to level 6 spells. Unfortunately, this latter method also loses us another caster level, giving up 9th level spells before epic. Are there any other, similar tricks that we could apply to bring up the max Living Spell level, preferably without losing 9ths ourselves?

Alternatively, are there any feats or other prestige classes (5 levels to fill, assuming we don't take Ambient Tempest) that you could see making the Living Spell Familiar significantly more useful/powerful?

Thanks!

Jeff the Green
2012-09-19, 06:53 PM
Depending on the wording of the Spell Sovereign (I don't have that issue available), Uncanny trickster or Legacy Champion might allow you to get a higher level living spell.

tuesdayscoming
2012-09-19, 06:56 PM
Depending on the wording of the Spell Sovereign (I don't have that issue available), Uncanny trickster or Legacy Champion might allow you to get a higher level living spell.

That's a good idea, but unfortunately I don't think it works. It simply says that the max spell level for your familiar increases at (IIRC) 4th, 7th, and 10th. It's not a formula based on your class level, which I believe is required for the UT/LC hack to work.

Jeff the Green
2012-09-19, 11:59 PM
That's probably for the best. Well, not from an optimization standpoint, but definitely from a DM's.

In that case I only have two useful bits of advice. First is Alienist (CA). It'll really only do much once you hit ECL 20, but at that point it will add the pseudo natural template to your familiar. You'll lose the ability to summon non-pseudonatural creatures and you'll gradually go insane, but you've got a pet living spell so I'm guessing sanity wasn't your strong point to begin with. Pseudonatural is a better template for beat sticks than celestial or fiendish, so you can still be a decent minionmancer. If you go this route, I suggest being a conjurer and giving up Scribe Scroll for Augmented Summoning since it'll save you a couple crappy feats.

The other bit is to check out Dictum Mortuum's familiar handbook (http://dictummortuum.blogspot.com/2011/08/familiars-handbook.html). It's got some good advice on feats and spells to share.

No, wait; I lied. I have one more bit of advice: Amulet of Ooze Riding. :smallamused:

Urpriest
2012-09-20, 12:01 PM
The Fleshwarper's Size Increase might be nice.