Pseudodragon for sorcerers?

[Elixia]

Hello again (long time no see)

you guys are the ultimate wealth all d20 systems knowledge and i need your help!

Last session our DM gave the group a Pseudodragon. Since i was the one that spoke to it the most and was warm to it the most, its befriended me. The DM said i could have him as familiar according to the PF rules set http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/monsters/pseudodragon.html

Now he's right when you read the link, ANY spellcaster can have it. it doesn't say wizard only. Now i'm a sorceress, and i'll be shamefully honest the group using Hero lab to build our characters (flinches) and i cant add the dragon as a familiar. Cant take the improved familiar feat because prerequisites required the ability to HAVE a familiar.

i know, i know. you should be able to write your own character. Call it lazy since it is, I now know how to build and should stop with the crutch! going off topic were thinking of banning hero lab in future characters since we end up jimmy rigging the character sheets with supplement and approved 3rd party abilities. like warding weapon spell, share memory etc etc and now this!

so, going back on topic. Can a sorcerer have a pseudodragon as familiar? am i reading the rules correctly? looking at this link here http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/general-feats/improved-familiar i think i may of answered my own question. no.

EDIT:
'They are wary of evil folk but can bond with sorcerers and wizards as familiars' now your just trying to confuse me. Perhaps only certain bloodline then ...

[Pilo]

http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/sorcerer/bloodlines/bloodlines-from-paizo/arcane-bloodline

Sorcerer with the arcane bloodline can have a familiar, if it is not your case, you are screwed, you have to homebrew it or you can just keep this creature as a friend, as long as you can feed it with eggs and butter.

Usually, improved familiar does not worth it.

[Elixia]

nope! im draconic! (ironic huh?) I guess it'll just be a friend to me and the party then :)

[T.G. Oskar]

Is it pure PF or are 3.5 materials allowed?

If the latter is true, you can get a familiar through the Obtain Familiar feat, which only requires a caster level between 6th or 9th. IIRC, the feat is on Complete Arcane. Not sure if there's an equivalent on Ultimate Magic, but you should consider it if that's the case.

Though, that's only IF you desire to have a familiar. Pseudodragons aren't so hot unless you get them early on, as the save DC for their stinger poison is pretty low and it can hardly be improved. They get both telepathy and blindsense, so they can communicate with you at a distance. The 3.5 version is slightly better because of the higher SR and extra feat (even though it's Alertness, it does get a +2 to Perception/Listen & Spot). However, if you can find a way to improve the poison's save, it can be a decent way to send enemies to sleep.

[Gnaeus]

Is it pure PF or are 3.5 materials allowed?

If the latter is true, you can get a familiar through the Obtain Familiar feat, which only requires a caster level between 6th or 9th. IIRC, the feat is on Complete Arcane. Not sure if there's an equivalent on Ultimate Magic, but you should consider it if that's the case.


You can do it in PF, but not quite as easily. The feat is Eldrich Heritage: Arcane, which gives you the bloodline power of another sorc bloodline, in this case the Arcane bloodline, therefore you get a familiar.

The hitch is that it needs a prereq feat. Skill Focus with the bloodline class skill (which in this case is Knowledge (any). So you are spending 2 feats on a kind of mediocre improved familiar. BUT you can use one of your draconic sorc bonus feats to satisfy this with Skill Focus Knowledge (Arcana).

In this case, from a purely power level, I would just let him be a friend to the party. If for fluff reasons you really want the pseudodragon to be your special friend, take Leadership at level 7, and make him your cohort. This has 3 advantages.
1. The pseudodragon will advance (although very slowly) by character levels, which is generally better than familiar advancement.
2. You will eventually get followers as a side benefit, in case you need someone to fix the rip in your cloak or carry the bags.
3. It takes only 1 feat instead of 2.

Leadership can be a very, very powerful feat, and many DMs ban it. But I think it is pretty sensible in this fashion. YMMV.

[Elixia]

The hitch is that it needs a prereq feat. Skill Focus with the bloodline class skill (which in this case is Knowledge (any).

AHHA! I have done that already!

so there is a way, just gonna ponder this though. like some of you have said the psuedodragon isn't very good as a familiar and TBH I'm already mixing my character with lvl 13 draconic sorc and lvl 1 Lore oracle. been 'buying' extra oracle features with the 'extra revelation' feats and the spell list are so similar that the build works. Not sure if i should spend 2 feats when i only have 3 left on a gets a familiar. hmmmmm

now the leadership idea, there's something to consider ....

[Gnaeus]

It isn't actively bad. If your DM is effectively giving you the benefits of improved familiar for free, Pseudodragons get blindsense (good for stopping ambushes), Telepathy, and if the DM will let you milk the sleep poison a ready supply of poison for disabling enemies. Also, it can talk and it has hand-like-claws, Which means that if you take ranks in UMD it can pretty clearly UMD a wand. So give it a utility wand or some damage spell it can spam every round.

Where it sucks is compared with some of the other available improved familiars. A Lyrakien, for example, has better flight, better immunities, and a very nice set of spell-like abilities capping out with a free Commune once per week.

But if you have to actually take improved familiar to get the pseudodragon, send it on its way and get an outsider instead.