Ways to get Familiars for Archivists

[Segev]

So, the Archivist is the Wizard of divine casters, and he's got some really cool stuff. Sadly, he does not have a familiar, and he doesn't qualify for Obtain Familiar due to being Divine rather than Arcane. Using the minimum number of levels possible (i.e., getting one as soon as possible), how might one get a non-human (so no Southern Magician!) Archivist a Familiar?

[Hand_of_Vecna]

Knight of the Raven from the Ravenloft Campaign Seting gives you a raven that can deliver touch spells and returns each dawn if killed. It reguires BAB 4 though so we're looking at getting in at level 9.

Mystic Wanderer from Magic of Faerun is easy to qualify for and grants a familiar at level 2 (Character Level 7).

There's always Wild Cohort for an animal buddy, but I'm guessing you really want a familiar.

[Segev]

Familiar is the goal, yeah. Preferably a way that a non-human can treat his Archivist level as his "arcane caster level" for it. Geomancer might work, but that requires multiclassing anyway, and takes a while.

[Chronos]

The simplest way, of course, would be a one-level dip in Wizard. Note that most of a familiar's abilities don't depend on your class level, and Share Spells doesn't specify that it only works with arcane spells.

You probably want something that doesn't interfere with your archivist casting progression, but I figured we should get the simple one out of the way.

[Dusk Eclipse]

I didn't remember Obtain familiar... if you can get 3 flaws and a trait you could go with an Azurin commoner .

1-Take the spelgifted trait for +1 CL on conjuration (and -1 on others),
2-Take Magical Training (as a sorc for cha synergy) and make one of your spells Acid Splash (conjuration)
3-Take spell thematics and select Acid splash as you 0 level thematic spell, now you have CL 3 when casting Acid splash.
4-Now take Obtain familiar and get whichever you want except for raven or owl (Share spells only works at a 5ft range IIRC)
5-Take Shape Souldmeld Acid Spittle
6-Take Share Souldmeld
7.????
8-Profit.
By yours truly.:smallbiggrin:

Edit: Note that I am refering to how to get a familiar without taking levels in an arcane class, I was too lazy to crop out the commoner/incarnum stuff.

[Fouredged Sword]

You qualify for geomancer without a dip. Anyspell meets the "ability to cast 2nd level arcane spells" requirement.

Archivist 5 / geomancer 10 / archivist 5 works well.

[Dusk Eclipse]

Doesn't Anyspell specifies it needs to be prepared in a Domain slot (which archivist lack)?

[Fouredged Sword]

That does throw a knot into the plan. I think one of the completes covered what to do if a spellcaster without domain slots gained access to a domain. I think it makes sense to read anyspell as prepping an arcane spell into the slot it was cast from, but I recognize that without another source to quote, this is RAI.

[Chronos]

On the other hand, the Initiate of Mystra feat (in addition to its anti-anti-magic role) will let you cast Anyspell as a normal cleric spell. Presumably, that works somehow or another (though how is unclear), so an archivist might be able to use it the same way a cleric of Mystra does (however that is).

[Rebel7284]

Initiate of Mystra technically requires CLERIC level 4.

You can get domain slots from Holt Warden dip.

[Fouredged Sword]

If eberon is on the table, Sovereign speaker is easy to qualify for and will expressly grant a 3rd level domain slot and the spell domain to prepare anyspell with.

[Chronos]

Initiate of Mystra technically requires CLERIC level 4.Well, 3, but yes. My point was, though, that it's possible for Anyspell to be cast out of a non-domain slot in at least one situation, and if you make a ruling for how that works, it'll presumably also apply to other situations where you cast it out of a non-domain slot.

[sleepyphoenixx]

Archivists can take any Initiate feat they qualify for as a cleric of the same level.

On Initiate feats (quoted from Dragon Magic):

any character of a class that must select a deity and that uses the cleric spell list for spellcasting can treat his level in that class as if it were a cleric level for the purpose of qualifying for an initiate feat. For example, a favored soul (see Complete Divine) who had chosen Bahamut as his deity and who had reached 3rd level could select the Initiate of Bahamut feat. The character would then gain the benefit of the feat and would add the given spells to his favored soul spell list. Since the favored soul casts from a limited list of spells known, he still must add those spells to his spells known list as normal to cast them.

You can get access to Anyspell by taking a level of Contemplative or any other domain-granting PrC and cast domain spells from your normal slots.

On domains for non-clerics (quoted from Complete Divine):

If a noncleric enters a prestige class that allows access
to a domain, the character still gains access to the domain.
She can use the granted power bestowed by the domain
normally. If she memorizes spells like a druid, paladin,
or ranger, then she can simply choose to memorize one of
that domain’s spells instead of one of her usual spells, but
never more than one domain spell of each level. If she is a
spellcaster who keeps a spellbook as a wizard does, then she
must fi nd or purchase a scroll of that spell and pay the usual
price to scribe the spell into her spellbook. In cases where
the spell is only divine the wizard may scribe a divine scroll
into his book. The wizard then may memorize one domain
spell of each level each day. If the noncleric is a spontaneous
caster like a sorcerer or favored soul, then she may select a
domain spell to add to her spells known whenever she would
have an option to choose a new known spell.

If you're fine with dipping for a familiar your best bet would be a level of Druid. Take Urban Companion (Cityscape WE) and the Swift and Deadly ACF (UA) and you get a beefed up familiar and wisdom to AC for a single level dip.
Dragon 325 has feats that allow different classes to stack for AC, special mount and familiar. You can look there if you want your Archivist levels to add to your familiar abilities.

[Urpriest]

Archivists can take any Initiate feat they qualify for as a cleric of the same level.

On Initiate feats (quoted from Dragon Magic):

That specifically says you have to be a class that picks a deity, though. Archivist doesn't.

[Segev]

That is an odd distinction, since clerics themselves needn't pick deities.

[Chronos]

And for that matter, anyone at all can pick a deity (it just makes very little difference for non-divine-casters).

On another note, that passage from Complete Divine must be confusing to players who started playing with 3rd edition, since the core rules never refer to "memorizing" spells. That was the old 2nd edition terminology; the new term is "preparing". Which makes a lot more sense, anyway.

[Diarmuid]

That is an odd distinction, since clerics themselves needn't pick deities.

In Forgotten Realms, where Initiate of Mystra comes from, clerics do have to pick a deity.

[Fouredged Sword]

In that setting, all divine casters pick a deity. This means that an archivist must also pick a deity in FR.

[Chronos]

And actually, there's not even anything that says that archivists are any less likely than clerics to have deities, and most of them are explicitly religious.

[molten_dragon]

So, the Archivist is the Wizard of divine casters, and he's got some really cool stuff. Sadly, he does not have a familiar, and he doesn't qualify for Obtain Familiar due to being Divine rather than Arcane. Using the minimum number of levels possible (i.e., getting one as soon as possible), how might one get a non-human (so no Southern Magician!) Archivist a Familiar?

I'll go with the simple option that no one has mentioned yet.

Just ask your DM if you can take the obtain familiar feat despite being a divine caster.

[Segev]

Indeed an elegant solution, and one I'd go for, but I'm looking at this at least in part as a theoretical exercise, so house rules aren't helpful in this particular instance.