3.P - If Your Familiar or Psicrystal Could Have Class Levels...

[MaxiDuRaritry]

...5 less than your own instead of gaining Hit Dice (for a psicrystal) or instead of counting as your class level (for a familiar)...

...what would you want to "encourage" it to take?

I'd probably say psion, myself, either telepath or shaper, which are my favorites. Spellcasting equivalent without all the messy components that are difficult (if not impossible) for such critters to use. Perhaps a level of rogue to start out with for extra sneakiness and a bit of swordsage for some teleporty goodness.

[Thunder999]

Well outside of improved familiars it has to be something int based, it's the only good stat (and it's only good because it scales with the master's level).

If they can manage verbal/somatic components then wizard is probably the best pick, if not then psion will have to do, or for PF Psychic.
The reason I'd rather have a caster than a manifester is pretty simple, psionic powers are often self only and I'd much rather have a familiar able to cast spells on me.

In pathfinder there's something to be said for using the familiar archetype that grants it charisma boosts instead of int boosts and taking bard levels,everyone likes a bard and it could learn Arcane Concordance for you (Bard 3, personal, 10ft radius, +1 enhancement bonus to allied spell DCs and allies can apply Enlarge Spell, Extend Spell, Silent Spell, or Still Spell for free to all their spells)

[Ramza00]

Would you allow Thought and Emotion components to replace Verbal and Somatic components for spells since psicrystals have no hands and they think rather than speak?

( Of course removing the immunity to mind affecting effects as well )

[MaxiDuRaritry]

Would you allow Thought and Emotion components to replace Verbal and Somatic components for spells since psicrystals have no hands and they think rather than speak?

( Of course removing the immunity to mind affecting effects as well )Psicrystals can definitely speak (see below), and they should be able to use somatic components while their ectoplasmic limbs are out. Of course, the latter requires the master to enable them, but still.

From http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/classes/psion.htm#psicrystals:
A psicrystal can speak one language of its owner’s choice (so long as it is a language the owner knows). A psicrystal can understand all other languages known by its owner, but cannot speak them. This is a supernatural ability.

And if you can find a way to sub those components out, by all means. But that kind of thing is why I prefer psionics for anything that isn't stock-standard humanoid.

[Ramza00]

Well I was thinking thought singer bard which is an arcane caster with traditional spells but also has a Psionic collective and can boosts its master’s ml as one of its thought songs.

[smasher0404]

5 levels below your own means that your familiar is not going to be very melee capable against ECL-appropriate threats, and its spellcasting is going to be 2 spell levels behind and at a CL 5 lower than where it should be. The most bang for your buck are probably classes that provide static benefits without too much mandatory gold/stat investment. Somatic Components funnily enough can be handled by the Surrogate Spellcasting feat (Savage Species). So some picks with that philosophy (and with Surrogate Spellcasting on the table) in mind:


Dragon Shaman (PHB II)

A single level of Dragon Shaman grants unlimited out of combat healing with the Vigor aura (although only up to half of your max), a small bonus to melee weapon damage, or limited energy resistance. The breath weapon is basically free extra damage against enemies without evasion/energy immunity and can stack on a limited-energy immunity/the entangled condition via breath feats.

Savant (Dragon Compendium)
The worse of the two classes with every class skill, Savant is primarily useful because it can grant the entire party pseudo-skill ranks in a couple of skills (notable call-outs include Spot/Listen, Hide, and Disguise) via Skill Assistance. While it is at Character Level -5, it does give a much higher probability of success than a zero-rank roll. Not a great use for the familiar, but probably one of the better ones for the class.

Bard (PHB)

Given how slow Inspire Courage progression is anyways, you can optimize IC fairly equivalent to a cohort that happens to be a bard. You'll need to get some sort of item to make its charisma positive for the IC-boosting spells, but still a fairly nice boost for any martials in your party. If you have a Dragon or Drakken familiar, you can even toss Dragonfire Inspiration (Dragon Magic) into the mix.

[Maat Mons]

Oh man! I'd play as a muckdweller, since they're both a +0 LA player race and an option for Improved Familiar.

My muckdweller Wizard would have a muckdweller Wizard for his familiar. And then he'd have a muckdweller Wizard for his familiar. And so on, and so forth, down the line until the -5 level thing forces us to stop.