Familiars...?

[moscatabaco]

I meant to post something like this for a while...

How come V's the only character with a familiar? Both Nale and Xykon could have one... of course, odds are that Xykon blew his in a sadistic irreverent sacrifice, but Nale is the sort of character that relies almost entirely on minions, and a snake familiar (+3 in bluff) would be perfect for him. Any thoughts...?

[Scarab83]

Because familiars are the single largest weakness to a sorceror. At least, in my opinion they are.

It's like a lich wearing his own phylactery on a charm bracelet.. just not quite so severe.

[Chronos]

How do we know they don't have familiars? Even V's familiar isn't usually on-panel, and V has a lot more screen time than either of the villains. Maybe someday we'll see a strip where Nale says "Hey, this would be a good job for my familiar", and *poof*, a viper appears.

[holywhippet]

Both Nale and Elan are also combat types, if not pure combat types. If your familiar bites it you lose a point of constitution IIRC. That's not good for regular characters and certain not good for melee types.

[Scarab83]

Both Nale and Elan are also combat types, if not pure combat types. If your familiar bites it you lose a point of constitution IIRC. That's not good for regular characters and certain not good for melee types.

Elan couldn't have a familiar even if he wanted to. He's not a sorcerer.

[Omnipotent_One]

The in game reason is they all probably took varients which make the player give up their familiar.

The real reason is because a joke just isn't as funny if you overuse it.

[Icewalker]

This has been brought up quite often, as well as Belkar's animal companion. It's pretty much shrouded in almost as much mystery as V's gender.

[Keld Denar]

Elan couldn't have a familiar even if he wanted to. He's not a sorcerer.

Actually, there is an Obtain Familar feat which is aimed primarily at bards, since they are the only core arcane caster that doesn't get one. It can also be used by hexblades, beguilers, and anyone else who can cast arcane spells. The prereq for it is the ability to cast 1st level arcane spells, so a bard wouldn't be able to take it until they get their 3rd level feat. It's not a bad feat for a bard either, since you can get a bonus to diplomacy or bluff, and alertness for free. Therefore, it's basically a combination of skill focus and bluff, which means 2 feats for the price of 1 + 100 gold.

[Kurald Galain]

Maybe someday we'll see a strip where Nale says "Hey, this would be a good job for my familiar", and *poof*, a viper appears.

:sabine: Since when do you have a familiar?

(actually, couldn't Thog be Nale's familiar? He's got the (lack of) int for it...)



It's kind of silly that since 3rd ed, some people think of a familiar mostly as a flat bonus to some skill or save :smallbiggrin:

[kpenguin]

:sabine: Since when do you have a familiar?


I just... had a vision... of Sabine and Nale and a viper... WHAT IN THE TWELVE GODS' NAME IS WRONG WITH ME?!

[Vargtass]

I just... had a vision... of Sabine and Nale and a viper... WHAT IN THE TWELVE GODS' NAME IS WRONG WITH ME?!

It could be that you are slowly turning into a penguin with white cape and a staff... <checks avatar> ... AAAAAHHHH!!!!

[Nomadic]

No, it's more likely that his belkar's romantic interest thread grew a life of its own and is now controlling his mind. I predict that we will all be dead in about 27 minutes...

[evileeyore]

I just... had a vision... of Sabine and Nale and a viper... WHAT IN THE TWELVE GODS' NAME IS WRONG WITH ME?!

Make it an eel or an octopus and WE'RE ON THE SAME PAGE! AHHHHHH!