Share Spells for a Familiar

[Snowbluff]

What spells should people share with their familiar?

I have a 9 BAB gish with some decent HP, and I was wondering if I should polymorph it or something.

[Fax Celestis]

On a thread a big back people suggested cloud of knives and ring of blades for a shrapnel-gish. "When people get near me" effects are great to share on a familiar.

[Snowbluff]

Well, it's a PF thing, because my PF DM was considering letting PoW be a thing.

I'd Cloud of Knives to the moon if this was 3.5. I'd even finish my Suigintou build.

[avr]

PF has some spells of that kind. Call the Void, Elemental Aura, Wreath of Blades. Call the Void is pretty good.

Polymorph effects are going to be quite limited because your familiars strength is unlikely to be good (& PF polymorphs add modifiers rather than setting strength to a fixed value.) Though, to get around the no hands problem for wands it's entirely possible to use Monstrous Physique II to temporarily turn your familiar into a doppleganger which gets to activate any wand as if it were on its class spell list.

If you've got something like Dazing Spell and the Snapdragon Fireworks spell you can have your familiar fire them off to lock enemies down while you execute full attacks or whatever.

[Snowbluff]

I've been looking into it. Polymorph is good with a strong familiar. While base familiars are wimpy, Earth Elementals are strong. Polymorph Familiar is good and bad. It gives some nices forms without sacrificing too many spell slots on a leveling sorc. However, I think your familiar can not use its magic items if you do this, though.