Luckmann
2018-06-13, 06:20 AM
Today I came across an odd one. I'm playing in a game (first 3.5 game I've ever played regularly in, actually, so I keep coming up with stuff and tripping over things I've never thought about before, especially since me and the veteran GM are basically the only ones that aren't completely new to not just D&D, but roleplaying in general) and very recently my GF joined and I helped make her character and so on and so forth, but not thinking before I act lead to me simply assuming (don't ask me why, it's indefensible, I have no idea what I was thinking :smallsigh:) that the Obtain Familiar feat depended entirely on character level.
And at a whim today, while trying to theorycraft a bit to help another player that is a rogue but really wants a familiar, I realized that.. hold on, isn't it weird that with a single-level dip into any arcane casting class, this so far full-level rogue (currently level 8 or 9) can get a full Familiar at the cost of a feat? Even though that's not necessarily a great deal (after all, many of the benefits are essentially lost - the character will never be a true caster anyway), it meant to me that Obtain Familiar as a feat is wildly more powerful than a single-level dip into, say, Wizard; because a Wizard with only 1 level will only really only ever have a 1st-level Familiar.
So I checked the feat. And I re-read it. And I re-re-read it. And then I realized that it still doesn't make all that much sense to me.
Specifically, this section, which says: "For the purpose of determining familiar abilities that depend on your arcane caster class level, your levels in all classes that allow you to cast arcane spells stack."
But the thing is, as far as I can discern, nothing in the basic descriptions of Familiars depend on arcane caster class level. :smallconfused: I checked through both the Official SRD (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/classes/sorcererWizard.htm#familiars) and the D&DWiki SRD (http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/SRD:Familiars). The closest thing is the section which says: "Levels of different classes that are entitled to familiars stack for the purpose of determining any familiar abilities that depend on the master’s level." But for the purpose of Obtain Familiar, this obviously does not apply, since Obtain Familiar in itself is not a different class that entitles you to a familiar - in fact, the character in question technically has no levels in any class that is entitled to a familiar.
I believe that the feat is merely badly worded, and RAW, the familiar would technically never progress since there are no "classes that are entitled to familiars", and that the RAI was supposed to be that all arcane caster class levels stack for the purpose of determining any familiar abilities, regardless of whether those classes are entitled to a familiar or not. Making this entirely a DM fiat issue to fix, meaning that the rogue in question could just ask the DM if he can count his total character level instead. Would screw a bit with my girlfriend's character, but just a tiny bit (all her levels save 1 is an arcane caster anyway).
But more importantly, am I missing something?
And at a whim today, while trying to theorycraft a bit to help another player that is a rogue but really wants a familiar, I realized that.. hold on, isn't it weird that with a single-level dip into any arcane casting class, this so far full-level rogue (currently level 8 or 9) can get a full Familiar at the cost of a feat? Even though that's not necessarily a great deal (after all, many of the benefits are essentially lost - the character will never be a true caster anyway), it meant to me that Obtain Familiar as a feat is wildly more powerful than a single-level dip into, say, Wizard; because a Wizard with only 1 level will only really only ever have a 1st-level Familiar.
So I checked the feat. And I re-read it. And I re-re-read it. And then I realized that it still doesn't make all that much sense to me.
Specifically, this section, which says: "For the purpose of determining familiar abilities that depend on your arcane caster class level, your levels in all classes that allow you to cast arcane spells stack."
But the thing is, as far as I can discern, nothing in the basic descriptions of Familiars depend on arcane caster class level. :smallconfused: I checked through both the Official SRD (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/classes/sorcererWizard.htm#familiars) and the D&DWiki SRD (http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/SRD:Familiars). The closest thing is the section which says: "Levels of different classes that are entitled to familiars stack for the purpose of determining any familiar abilities that depend on the master’s level." But for the purpose of Obtain Familiar, this obviously does not apply, since Obtain Familiar in itself is not a different class that entitles you to a familiar - in fact, the character in question technically has no levels in any class that is entitled to a familiar.
I believe that the feat is merely badly worded, and RAW, the familiar would technically never progress since there are no "classes that are entitled to familiars", and that the RAI was supposed to be that all arcane caster class levels stack for the purpose of determining any familiar abilities, regardless of whether those classes are entitled to a familiar or not. Making this entirely a DM fiat issue to fix, meaning that the rogue in question could just ask the DM if he can count his total character level instead. Would screw a bit with my girlfriend's character, but just a tiny bit (all her levels save 1 is an arcane caster anyway).
But more importantly, am I missing something?