Draconic Familiar dispute

[Darklion880]

My DM thinks draconic familiar requires improved familiar regardless that it says nothing about it as a requirement to get that feat he says then I'm sure the books mess up sometimes and quotes improved familiar saying how it lets you choose from a familiar not in the designated list. So who's right in this argument? Thanks for the help

[eggynack]

I'm not sure what part of improved or dragon familiar even comes close to implying that you need the former to get the latter. Dragon familiar gives you the ability to pick a dragon familiar, with or without improved familiar.

[Gavinfoxx]

Feats do exactly what they say they do.

Improved Familiar gets you one list, with their own requirements.
Draconic Familiar gets you another, with it's own requirements.

They have nothing to do with one another.

[Telonius]

The Dragon Familiar feat does not require Improved Familiar. I don't see any compelling reason it would be a typo, especially since neither the text nor the table list it. The text goes on at length about how Dragon Familiars work, and Improved Familiar is not mentioned once. As far as I can tell, as-written and as-intended, Improved Familiar is not required.

Dragon Familiar presents a special situation, since Dragon Familiars (and only Dragon Familiars) would be very much affected by age. Because they would become more powerful between Wyrmling and Very Young, the feat specifies you lose the familiar as soon as it ages out. This is different enough from the Improved Familiar feat that I'd say it presents an entirely separate case. (A 700-year-old elf might have the same cat familiar it started out with, for example).

However, the "Improved Familiar" feat could possibly encompass dragons, if the DM rules it does. From the text:

The list in the table above presents only a few possible improved familiars. Almost any creature of the same general size and power as those on the list makes a suitable familiar. Nor is the master’s alignment the only possible categorization.

And, as always, Rule Zero applies. If the DM says Improved Familiar is a prereq to Dragon Familiar, then it is; it would just be a houserule prereq, not an official one.

[Captnq]

I'm 70% done with the familiar handbook.

The answer is: They Don't Stack. They don't require each other.

[iceman10058]

i had a similar issue with a pally once trying to get him a draconic special mount, had to take 2 seperate feats to get it to make the dm happy. you just have to weigh the pros and cons of it and determine if using 2 feats as a wizard is worth having a draconic familiar, when you can polymorph a regular familiar at later levels to a dragon if u want to and he cannot say no.