Obtaining Familiar

[Daisy]

A Warlock does not normally have a familiar. The feat "Obtain Familiar" (CAr) allows them to get one. So far, so good. But there are some nice, more-advanced familiars such a Celestial Familiar (BoED) that look more appealing. However, what confuses me are the prerequisites:

Prerequisites: Able to acquire a new familiar, minimum level requirement (see below).

What does "Able to acquire a new familiar" mean, exactly? Does it mean:

I had a familiar, either as a Wizard/Sorcerer or another Arcane class that used Obtain Familiar feat, lost/dismissed it/never actually got one, and now want another, or
I simply have the requisite Arcane caster levels?

If it is the former then I can't see how a non-Wizard/Sorcerer can obtain a Celestial Familiar without first taking Obtain Familiar and then either losing/killing their familiar or not actually acquiring one despite having the feat (and thus having a dead feat for three levels until the next one becomes available). That seems like quite a tax!

[Maat Mons]

I’m pretty sure whoever wrote the prerequisites doesn’t actually know how the feat works.

For example, notice that the feat adds all the Improved Familiars to the options you can choose from when selecting a familiar. So you’re not picking a familiar when you gain the feat. You pick a familiar later when you do the ritual to summon a familiar. So what the heck does the feat mean when it says “compatible alignment” and “sufficiently high arcane spellcaster level.” Compatible with what? And sufficient for what? At the time you take the feat, which is when you check the prerequisite, you haven’t picked a familiar. There’s no way to know which row of the table to refer to until you’ve actually chosen a familiar, which you don’t do until you perform the ritual, which you do after you’ve already acquired the feat.

And don’t get me started on losing the benefits of a feat if you cease to meet the prerequisites. Once you summon a familiar, you no longer have “the ability to summon a new familiar.” So you lose the feat, because you no longer meet the prerequisite. And that means you lose the benefit of the feat, which is the ability to have your familiar. Which means you lose your familiar. Which was the thing preventing you from being able to obtain a new familiar. Which mean you now qualify for the feat again, but maybe only after a year and a day, if losing your familiar by losing the feat has the same limitations as dismissing your familiar or it dying.

Just recognize that the writer was an idiot, and ask the DM to houserule something sensible.

[Gruftzwerg]

You have to either delay your pick if you want an improved familiar or you have to wait 1 year and have to pay the xp cost.

There are 2 build options to bypass this (was recently asked):
- Changeling Wizard has an ACF that lets your familiar transform into any form available for you as familiar.
- Druid can get Urban Companions as ACF. Those are basically familiars with 3/4 of master's max HP, but they are summoned like normal animal companions (24h prayer, no XP penalty on death).


If you are looking for good imp. familiar options for warlocks, have a look at the Dread Bloom Swarm. The option to pick it as Imp. Familiar comes from Dragon #329 and the stats can be found in the MM III.
It has some nice abilities (note that DC's scale by default: 10 + 1/2HD (master's HD) + CHA (from familiar)
But the real great part it, that you can heal it via Summon Swarm (which you can use at will).
Sole downside is that you need to be a 13th lvl arcane caster to get it.

[Daisy]

Thanks to both. Glad to know it's not just me that gets confused by the wording in some of these books!

I'll check with my DM, see what they say. If they let me have it with just Celestial Familiar feat then fine. If they require two feats then it's probably not worth it.

[Elkad]

...ask the DM to houserule something sensible.

This.

Every table I've played at lets you trade in a familiar for an improved one without killing the old, waiting a year, etc. However, in the case of non-familiar arcane classes (including trading your familiar away for something else), you need both Obtain and Improved/Celestial/.. if you want one of the better ones.

Often that trade may be RPed in some way. One of the standard ones I've used - My L1 rat was actually an Imp, stuck in it's alternate form via some handwave curse. At L7 (and with the appropriate feat) it turned back into an Imp.

Still worth 2 feats to get one of the Improved varieties, unless your build is extremely tight. In which case you probably don't want a familiar at all.