Best Urban Companion for a melee Totemist/Druid(OA Shaman)?

[Coidzor]

Assuming that all of the dragon magazine variant familiars(that don't require Improved Familiar or some variation on the theme of paying a feat for better familiars) are on the table, which urban companion (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/we/20070228a) has the best chassis for receiving the benefits of a melee totemist's soulmelds?

As I recall, a Manticore Belt focused totemist(AKA Totemist as a ranged attacker) wants a small bird with good dexterity for mobile utility and presenting a smaller target, possibly a hummingbird or raven or something along those lines, though really, the creature with the highest dex or a hummingbird will do just fine. I imagine something similar would be desired for a Totemist focusing more on the supernatural abilities or pretending to be a dragonfire adept, since unless it's making an attack roll, the soulmelds would all be keyed off the totemist 100%, the shared soulmeld is just allowing an extra use of it, IIRC, for the most part anyway.

With melee though, you want something that doesn't have to enter opponents' squares in order to attack them unless you have the feats to make it into a Killer Gnome(type 2, IIRC), which an urban companion or familiar sadly will not get, as they are not psicrystals. The only familiars that I can think of that are small sized are the dog, badger, eagle, and possibly the small constrictor snake familiars from Dragon Magazine 277[if this is accurate (http://www.minmaxboards.com/index.php?topic=9955.0)]. AFAIK, anything greater than small size is strictly the purview of something purchased with a feat. Are there any other competitors or a clear winner?

Or to alter the question slightly, are there any familiars that make the share soulmeld feat worthwhile for a melee-focused, totemist heavy build without having to spend an additional feat on improved familiar?

[Psyren]

The 5ft. radius is a big problem for most companions/familiars since it means they're unlikely to be able to flank with you or attack different targets. And being in melee puts them in unnecessary danger that a true animal companion might at least be able to weather. Any reason in particular you want the familiar instead?

[Coidzor]

The 5ft. radius is a big problem for most companions/familiars since it means they're unlikely to be able to flank with you or attack different targets. And being in melee puts them in unnecessary danger that a true animal companion might at least be able to weather. Any reason in particular you want the familiar instead?

Having it glued to the hip is unfortunate, aye, especially for bottlenecks.

I'd prefer an animal companion over an urban companion, but right now my build is planning on having at least 6 levels of Totemist and a level of Barbarian, and only a 1-3 level dip into Shaman(OA)*. 3/4 of my PC's HP seemed better than a few animal HD for durability, plus, while I won't have stellar BAB, it'll be higher as an urban companion.

So unless I can find or make a homebrew PrC that advances divine casting, meldshaping, and animal companion, it seems urban companion is more useful to my character. Sadly, I'm too new to Incarnum to have much confidence of knowing how many levels of casting/meldshaping/when to give it binds and how many of them to give. I've only found one relevant bit of homebrew, a Totemist/Druid wildshaping focused PrC homebrew, so far, but I think my google-fu might be off and I haven't spent that much time hunting homebrew. Plus I'd then have to run it by the DM.

*I was going to dip cleric, maybe cloistered cleric, but Improved Unarmed Strike as a bonus feat, 2 domains, the potential use of an animal companion/urban companion, and a boost to unarmed strike damage seemed a bit more worthwhile than dipping (cloistered) cleric(though I might do that anyway instead of doing Shaman 3 if I want turn undead for feats). If the urban companion is basically useless to me though, I suppose that shifts things back over towards the cleric dip instead.

[Clistenes]

Have you thought about taking an Owl Urban Companion? They are in the list of familiars, and Barn Owls used to be everywhere from cities to virgin forests, so it could act and your spy and scout and would never look out of place. They have good Move Silently, Listen and Spot checks too, and a good flight speed.

[Coidzor]

Have you thought about taking an Owl Urban Companion? They are in the list of familiars, and Barn Owls used to be everywhere from cities to virgin forests, so it could act and your spy and scout and would never look out of place. They have good Move Silently, Listen and Spot checks too, and a good flight speed.

I suppose I will be putting the points into spot and listen at least to keep up its sensory abilities, but there's a druid, 2 roguish types, and 2 bardish-types, so there's not that much demand for me to add another potential scout to the mix.