Multiple familiars

[Avianmosquito]

I could swear there was a feat in some book somewhere that gave you a familiar. What book was that, again? I can't seem to find it.

[Nifft]

Dragon Magazine issue #280.

Same article as the "share spells within 1 mile" feat.

[Crake]

Obtain familiar from complete arcane is probably what you're looking for. It requires caster level 3, and 4 ranks in knowledge arcana. Many see it as a better option than the base class familiar, because a) you can get it for just a feat, wheras the traded features (such as immediate magic for a wizard, hello abrupt jaunt!) cannot be, and b) the familiar gained from obtain familiar has it's abilities tied to your caster level rather than your class level, which most people generally prestige out of sorcerer/wizard, leaving the familiar in the dust, abilities wise.

[Demonique]

I thought you couldn't have more than one familiar anyway?

[thorr-kan]

I thought you couldn't have more than one familiar anyway?
The Extra Familiar feat from the Dragon Mag above is an exception.

[Crake]

I thought you couldn't have more than one familiar anyway?

Obtain familiar makes no mention of being unable to select it and gain a second familiar if you already possess one, so there's no reason to believe that you are only limited to a single familiar at a time. Obtain familiar would get you a second familiar.

Funnily enough, the summon familiar class feature says that if you have a second class that grants you a familiar, you can only have one familiar at a time, but by RAW, that limitation only applies if you have a second class. Without a second class, you could get a second familiar from a non-class source and gain another familiar.

[Ciolfire]

Obtain familiar makes no mention of being unable to select it and gain a second familiar if you already possess one.


You obtain familiar in the same manner as a sorcerer or wizard.

A sorcerer or wizard cannot obtain more than one familiar, so this feat doesn't allow to circumvent this.
It's not written in the feat description because the description itself redirect directly to the sorcerer Summon Familiar class feature in the PHB.

In other terms it only simulate the class feature "Summon familiar" for all your arcane caster classes.

[Crake]

A sorcerer or wizard cannot obtain more than one familiar, so this feat doesn't allow to circumvent this.
It's not written in the feat description because the description itself redirect directly to the sorcerer Summon Familiar class feature in the PHB.

In other terms it only simulate the class feature "Summon familiar" for all your arcane caster classes.

That's incorrect, because the summon familiar class feature doesn't say that you can only have 1 familiar, it says that if you have 2 classes that grant a familiar you can only have one. So if you're single classed and get obtain familiar, you'd gain access to a second one, because you still only have 1 class granting you a familiar. Cheesy? Yes. Against the rules as written? No.

[Ciolfire]

I still disagree with you.

The "as a sorcerer or wizard" part is the key here, even if it's a feat it behave in the same way as the class feature and so is subject to the same restrictions.

In addition. it's your arcane class(es) that allow you to get a familiar, with or without the feat (and that is why you need an arcane caster level to take it).

[Bronk]

The "as a sorcerer or wizard" part is the key here...

I think it's more the part where it says "A Sorcerer can obtain a familiar." That's the part where it shows it's singular instead of plural, saying 'a familiar' instead of 'can obtain familiars'. Later, the wizard section says it works like the sorcerer, so that takes care of that too.

[Menzath]

A character with more than one class that grants a familiar may
have only one familiar at a time.

I think that is the relevant text we were looking for. So all you have to do is have only one class that grants a familiar 😁.

Thank you tome of magic. So a shadow caster can pick up the shadow familiar feat and the obtain familiar feat, now all you need is one "class" to give you a familiar and that's three!
There might be a way to get a fourth but I cannot remember off the top of my head.

Bonus points for taking levels of wizard with the unearthed arcana nercomancer variant to make them all skeletons, then bonded summoner to make them elementals (thank you necro elementals, you prove it can be done), and finish with a touch of fleshwarper so they are also abberations. Maybe pick up dragon familiar somewhere along the way too. Oh and shadow familiar gives them all the dark template as well.