Making a Butterfly of Doom [3.5]

[Bad Wolf]

I was thinking of switching out my crow familiar (+3 on Fort saves) for the butterfly in Dragon Magazine (+3 on Spellcraft checks). I have a feat that's highly dependent on Spellcraft, so I thought this was a good choice.

The problem is, I feel like it would get easily hurt. Is there a way to buff it up so it stands a chance of surviving an encounter? If you could actually find a way to make it a threat, that would also be useful.

[Divide by Zero]

Not any more fragile than any other familiar, I don't think.

And of course, there's a handbook for that. (http://dictummortuum.blogspot.com/2011/08/familiars-handbook.html)

[Ratatoskir]

Okay, I think I can help you. First, learn teleport. And probably some scrying stuff. It vitally important that you can accurately and near instantaneously transport yourself (and your butterfly of course) vast distances for this to work. And don't take any quests that are time sensitive, because this requires a bit of prep. Also, avoid scenarios where collateral damage is a bad thing. Now time to enact the plan!

1. Start by scrying the BBEG's lair, really get to know where its at.
2. Teleport to the other side of the plane.
3. Have your butterfly do its thing. Sometime in the next infinite time, a hurricane should hit the BBEG, hopefully killing him. Maybe take a vacation while you are waiting.

[Ellowryn]

Well, its a butterfly so you could always stick it in your robe, or a familiar pocket if you have an item with one, just something to give it total cover in combat so it cant be targeted or hit with AoE abilities.

[NotScaryBats]

Okay, I think I can help you. First, learn teleport. And probably some scrying stuff. It vitally important that you can accurately and near instantaneously transport yourself (and your butterfly of course) vast distances for this to work. And don't take any quests that are time sensitive, because this requires a bit of prep. Also, avoid scenarios where collateral damage is a bad thing. Now time to enact the plan!

1. Start by scrying the BBEG's lair, really get to know where its at.
2. Teleport to the other side of the plane.
3. Have your butterfly do its thing. Sometime in the next infinite time, a hurricane should hit the BBEG, hopefully killing him. Maybe take a vacation while you are waiting.

This is hilarious~!!

[Jeff the Green]

familiar pocket

This. It's a level 1 spell that lasts hours/level and gives your familiar an extradimensional pocket it can enter (a free action for you if it's touching you or if it can speak). The air in there lasts an hour, and you or your familiar can refresh it with two free actions.

[Uncle Pine]

Familiar pocket works. Or you could PAO your familiar butterfly twice into a shadesteel golem (or something like that). Granted, it wouldn't gain the golem's special qualities (and it would still have its normal HP), but iirc shadesteel golems have pretty high AC.
SRD says that only a normal ummodified animal can become a familiar: it doesn't specify that you can't turn it into giant construct after it's become a familiar.

EDIT: Also, if you manage to get the butterfly the special qualities of what you PAO it into, you could just PAO your familiar into an aleax of itself.

[backwaterj]

Hmm, not finding the particular article but I'm guessing butterfly would be either Fine or Diminutive, half your HP, with evasion and possibly vermin immunities (assuming these work with the familiar's Intelligence score). Probably a Dex monster, Fort not so much. Could be useful for delivering touch spells, though it would provoke while doing so (hmm, cross-class ranks in Tumble maybe?) though if you want to keep it out of danger probably not the wisest choice.

Doesn't seem that fragile to me, and definitely more survivable than the Tiny raven unless you give it a real-world equivalent adult life span. And that's before any familiar pocket shenanigans.

As for buffs, nearly anything that works on you should work on the familiar, often without even spending another spell. This could even include divine spells if you're so inclined.

If nothing else, fall back on the old standby: don't mention the familiar unless you really need it. :smallwink:

[Bad Wolf]

Okay, I guess I'll get that as a spell, until I can get that Belt of Many Pockets from Complete Arcane I've been aiming for...it can hold your familiar indefinitely with no need for air, food, or water.

Okay, got that down. Is it possible to apply any templates to it that would increase its durability?

[Gnome Alone]

"A butterfly?"

"No one ever suspects the butterfly."

[Zaq]

I don't have the link handy, but there used to be spells on the WotC website that would permanently apply an elemental template to your familiar. They weren't fantastically useful, but they were something.

[Gnome Alone]

That does sound like exactly the kind of thing that students at wizard academy would do out of sheer boredom.

"Hey Cranthabaltazzinar, what're you to up tonight?"
"Not much. Turning my raven into a flame creature."
"Oh. Huh. Um... why?"
"Ah'unno."

[Zaq]

Found 'em! This one (http://archive.wizards.com/dnd/article.asp?x=dnd/sb/sb20011020a) will turn your familiar into a celestial/fiendish/axiomatic/anarchic creature. Weirdly, it's a Cleric-only spell, so you'll need a scroll of it—it even specifies that you can't use it on someone else's familiar, so you can't just hire someone to do it. It's 3rd level, though, so you could actually get a potion of it and feed it to your butterfly. I think. Anyway, this one (http://archive.wizards.com/dnd/article.asp?x=dnd/sb/sb20011109a) is the elemental one I was thinking of. Unfortunately, you'd lose the bonus to Spellcraft that the butterfly gives you, so you probably don't want this one.

Anyway, Celestial gives them (slowly scaling) acid/cold/electricity resistance, SR 5 + HD, and DR/magic. Fiendish gives (slowly scaling) cold/fire resistance, SR 5 + HD, and DR/magic. Axiomatic gives scaling fire/acid/cold/sonic resistance and SR 2 × HD. Anarchic gives fast healing, non-scaling acid/cold/electricity/fire/sonic resistance, and DR/magic too late to matter. If you have the choice, I think Axiomatic is going to be the best option, though the fast healing Anarchic gets can be cute. But of course, you're probably going to have to pick based on your alignment.

[ShurikVch]

Planar Familiar (https://www.wizards.com/dnd/article.asp?x=dnd/sb/sb20011020a)

[Rebel7284]

There are also a few spells that give your familiar a temporary boost. Less effective than hiding ultimately, but could be nice.

http://dndtools.eu/spells/spell-compendium--86/augment-familiar--3853/
http://dndtools.eu/spells/spell-compendium--86/imbue-familiar-with-spell-ability--3889/

Looks like tome and blood has some spells for familiars as well.

And, of course, there is sharing your buffs with it. Greater Mage armor is always useful, not to mention Heart of Earth, Greater Mirror Image, etc, etc, etc. :)

[Bad Wolf]

I don't think I'll be able to convince my DM to give it the Axiomatic template, as I'm Chaotic, but maybe the Anarchic might work. Can it lower its polymorphing immunity when I cast Polymorph on it?

[Zaq]

I don't see a provision for voluntarily lowering their polymorph immunity, no. You could talk to your GM about it, but I think RAW, you're not going to be able to use Polymorph on it.

[Jeff the Green]

I don't see a provision for voluntarily lowering their polymorph immunity, no. You could talk to your GM about it, but I think RAW, you're not going to be able to use Polymorph on it.

As I recall there's an argument that you can lower any immunity. There's an example somewhere where an elf lowers her immunity to sleep effects, for instance.

[ShurikVch]

If you OK with evil familiar, you can polymorph your butterfly into humanoid and cast Nar Fiendbond (http://dndtools.eu/spells/lost-empires-of-faerun--30/nar-fiendbond--1569/) on it.
When Polymorph wear off, you will get half-fiendish butterfly
http://th02.deviantart.net/fs70/200H/f/2011/261/e/b/discord_butterfly_by_lcpsycho-d4a905w.png

[Bad Wolf]

If you OK with evil familiar, you can polymorph your butterfly into humanoid and cast Nar Fiendbond (http://dndtools.eu/spells/lost-empires-of-faerun--30/nar-fiendbond--1569/) on it.
When Polymorph wear off, you will get half-fiendish butterfly
http://th02.deviantart.net/fs70/200H/f/2011/261/e/b/discord_butterfly_by_lcpsycho-d4a905w.png

A Chaotic Evil Anarchic Half-Fiend Butterfly familiar...Buff it up with a few spells, and it could take out low-lvel fighters. Love it.

[dascarletm]

"A butterfly?"

"No one ever suspects the butterfly."

Solid reference. :smallbiggrin:

[Rubik]

Familiar pocket works. Or you could PAO your familiar butterfly twice into a shadesteel golem (or something like that). Granted, it wouldn't gain the golem's special qualities (and it would still have its normal HP), but iirc shadesteel golems have pretty high AC.
SRD says that only a normal ummodified animal can become a familiar: it doesn't specify that you can't turn it into giant construct after it's become a familiar.

EDIT: Also, if you manage to get the butterfly the special qualities of what you PAO it into, you could just PAO your familiar into an aleax of itself.You can Shapechange it into an undead or Polymorph Any Object your familiar into a corpse, then Animate Dead, and Haunt Shift it into an
adamantine Mecha-Mothra.

Or just turn it into something that looks like the spoiler in my signature.

[Bad Wolf]

You can Shapechange it into an undead or Polymorph Any Object your familiar into a corpse, then Animate Dead, and Haunt Shift it into an
adamantine Mecha-Mothra.

Or just turn it into something that looks like the spoiler in my signature.

I'd rather not have multiple books thrown at my head, but thanks for the suggestion.