[PF]Improved Familiar

[PlusSixPelican]

So, if one were to take Improved Familiar (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/general-feats/improved-familiar), what among the options are considered good options? I'm liking the Entropic (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/templates/simple-template-entropic-cr-0-or-1-1) creatures, but I might be undervaluing Mephits (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/outsiders/mephit). So, Playground, thoughts?

[stack]

I believe fairy dragons can cast as low 3rd level sorcerers, allowing them to use sorcerer wands without UMD checks. There's some little fairy thing ed Lyrakien Azata with high charisma, boosting it's UMD checks. Casting from wands is one of the best uses for an improved familiar. Share spells can be fun too, give your familiar a dazing snapdragon fireworks to use its move action each round.:smallbiggrin:

Imps are considered useful too, as are ratlings (cast from any scroll).

[StreamOfTheSky]

I currently have a tumor familiar w/ the feat and I took Faerie Dragon, it's awesome. Especially if the DM allows you to give it your choice of spells known, feats, and skills; which seems reasonable - not every FD is going to have the same spells known, etc...

Best feat for any familiar is Additional Traits, since the traits system is stupid broken and you can easily end up gaining 2 things that are better than a feat or do things no feat can do, for the price of a feat. For example, Magical Knack so the FD has effective CL of 5...

Silvanshee used to be good until paizo nerfed their lay on hands to never increase w/ their effective HD.

Imps are the classic choice since 3E; just a solid suite of abilities overall.

Cacodaemon also looks good to me.

If the party has no other means of it, I cannot speak highly enough of a familiar that has Telepathy, to secretly communicate between PCs in front of others. You have to look in the "languages" section, it's not listed with other special abilities.

[Keneth]

Well, the most enticing options have already been listed; Faerie dragons, lyrakien, (consular) imps, and ratlings are some of your best options. Quasits are slightly worse than imps, but still pretty good. Brownies aren't half bad either if you don't mind having a creepy humanoid running around you.

Overall, you should take a familiar with a decent Cha score, so that it can UMD efficiently. And of course, it needs to have hands so that it can use wands, scrolls, etc (otherwise there's no point in having one). If you're gonna go for entropic/fiendish/whatever familiar, monkey is probably the safest bet as far as usefulness goes, but while they get some decent bonuses, they're seriously underwhelming compared to the stronger familiars.

If you have Int 13 and Cha 13 on your caster, you can take the Evolved Familiar feat and give it the Skilled evolution for a whopping +8 racial bonus to UMD. That option is especially useful for familiars that have a low Cha score and/or don't have UMD as a class skill.

As for shared spells, I'm more fond of dazing burning gaze, just for the coolness factor. :smallbiggrin:

[QuidEst]

Fairy Dragons can't hold wands, unfortunately.

As mentioned, Ratlings are a lot of fun. It's a great way to get all those fun Bard spells!

There's a CN answer to Faerie Dragon. It gets Freedom of Movement on itself, can boost your speed by 10 feet (stacking with enhancement bonuses), gets a scaling breath weapon, and can lay down an emergency Obscuring Mist.

Silvanshee is nice for Sorcs, Oracles, and Summoners who've managed to get a familiar- they can grant a Paladin's Charisma-to-saves bonus to an ally for ten minutes once per day. They act as a universal translator, speaking to any animals or species. Plus, they can turn into mist for 5 minutes per day (in one minute increments) and get one personal Dimension Door per day.

[StreamOfTheSky]

Why can't a FD hold wands? They can manipulate the somatic and material components of spells.

[QuidEst]

Why can't a FD hold wands? They can manipulate the somatic and material components of spells.

Well, casting as Sorcs, I presume they're not using material components. You could be right, though.

[Squirrel_Dude]

Arranged alphabetically, the ones I like the most

Auger Kyton
Cacodaemon
Doru Div
Faerie Dragon
Imp Devil
Ratling

They either have a nice form of movement, good SLA, telepathy, or nice detection abilities, in some combination. Ratling, F. Dragon, and the Doru Div are probably the three best IMO.

[StreamOfTheSky]

Well, casting as Sorcs, I presume they're not using material components. You could be right, though.

Sorcerers get free Eschew Materials feat. That is the only reason they don't use them. Faerie Dragon does not have this feat.

[QuidEst]

Sorcerers get free Eschew Materials feat. That is the only reason they don't use them. Faerie Dragon does not have this feat.

Yeah. I just find it a little odd that all those dragons are going around with material component pouches strapped to them.

[Keneth]

Both faerie dragons and pseudodragons can use magic items like wands normally. Faerie dragons even have ranks in UMD by default.

Tidepool dragons might be a bit of a gray area though, since they have crustacean pincers, rather than clawed hands. I'd still rule they can use most magic items though.

[PlusSixPelican]

If it helps, the character in question is Chaotic Neutral, so I can't take Kytons or Imps, since they're too many alignment-steps away.

[Carth]

Arbiter inevitables (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/outsiders/inevitable/inevitable-arbiter) are a solid choice, because they're incredibly hard to kill. Regeneration/chaotic? How many things by bass that? Oh, and they also have immunity to non-lethal damage, so the badass red dragon can bite, claw, and breath weapon the inevitable all day long without hurting it.

[PlusSixPelican]

Arbiter inevitables (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/outsiders/inevitable/inevitable-arbiter) are a solid choice, because they're incredibly hard to kill. Regeneration/chaotic? How many things by bass that? Oh, and they also have immunity to non-lethal damage, so the badass red dragon can bite, claw, and breath weapon the inevitable all day long without hurting it.

Non-lethal might not mean what you think it means. It's not *all damage that wouldn't be able to one-shot you* it's nonlethal damage, such as from Admonishing Ray (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/a/admonishing-ray). Also, Chaotic myself, I'd bash the Arbiter over the head with a 2-by-4 before letting it follow me around.

[Carth]

Oops, sorry, didn't realize regeneration had changed from 3.5 to PF.

[Keneth]

Arbiters are still pretty tough regardless (just keep them away from demons), but they're kinda boring overall.

If you have a lot of gold, you can also make yourself a homunculus. There are plenty of rules in PF on how to modify and customize constructs, as long as you can afford it.

[PlusSixPelican]

I'm considering getting a Mephit, but I don't know which one I like. Part of that is due to the lack of art, in all honesty.