highly effective improved familiars

[taltamir]

what are some of the more effective improved familiars you can take?
I think the best one is the eladrin coure, becuase it has an always on (toggleable at will) circle of protection agasint evil. +2 AC, +saves, and immunity to charms and compulsions to anyone within the effect.
The fighter gets dominated? send it to sit on his shoulder for the rest of the battle.... or laugh and continue fighting as on his next turn he charges you, only to regain his mind when he comes within 10 feet of you.
Its other abilities are also awesome for scouting and survivability (immunties, resistances, DR, ER, incorporability, etc).
it can also speak and has prehensile hands, thus spellcasting via UMD is a given.

A much worse familiar option but with interesting in game effect is the dragon familiar. A when a dragon familiar turns 5 years old it harmlessly "moves on" (no penalty for breaking the bond) and remains a loyal ally for the rest of its draconic life (unless you abused it). you are then free to get a new dragon hatchling as a familiar.
it can also speak and has prehensile hands, thus spellcasting via UMD is a given.

this one is from the SRD. http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/devil.htm#imp
The imp familiar is the best core only familiar, by far.

At will—detect good, detect magic, invisibility (self only); 1/day—suggestion (DC 15). Caster level 6th. The save DC is Charisma-based.

Once per week an imp can use commune to ask six questions. The ability otherwise works as the spell (caster level 12th).

Alternate Form (Su)
An imp can assume another form at will as a standard action. Each imp can assume one or two forms from the following list: Small or Medium monstrous spider, raven, rat, and boar.

it can also speak and has prehensile hands, thus spellcasting via UMD is a given. it can pretend to be a raven familiar with alternate form, while also being invisible... there is an invisible raven on your shoulder who is actually an imp.

[Soranar]

familiar mounts are pretty useful (sharing spells and skilsl is just great)

if you're medium you can take a hippogriff for a flying mount or a winter wolf for a fighterish mount

if you're small you can ride a hellhound which gets great sneaking bonuses and an insane survival bonus to track by scent (+8)

if you're using a wand of the divine spell that makes you a fighter (+6 str and fighter BAB) you share it with your familiar, making you a rather deadly combo

[taltamir]

familiar mounts are pretty useful (sharing spells and skilsl is just great)

what now? what is a familiar mount and which book do I find it in?

[deuxhero]

I assume it is familiar used as a mount, not any specail feat or ACF.


I think Imps are good. 6 questions once a week Commune for free is pretty neat. Plus it can speak and has the limbs for UMD.

[AbyssKnight]

I think he just means a familiar large enough to serve as a mount.

[KellKheraptis]

The ultimate in versatile and powerful familiars : the improved familiar of the changeling wizard who took the 5th level substitution. Welcome to the most versatile cohort ever :)

[taltamir]

I think he just means a familiar large enough to serve as a mount.

AFAIK by RAW the familiar MUST be 2 sizes smaller then you. (or was it 3 sizes?)
Alternative familiar of different sizes are given for smaller and larger creatures to choose from

[Runestar]

The pseudo-dragon seems quite useful, between its excellent senses and telepathy.

[taltamir]

The pseudo-dragon seems quite useful, between its excellent senses and telepathy.

how is either of those actually useful? (I don't mean it as a put down, I am curious about effective strategies I have no thought about)

[Kelb_Panthera]

One of the worst things that can happen to a sorc/wiz is for them to be caught by surprise. The pseudo-dragon can help prevent this, especially if you can get your DM to okay the little guy retraining one of his feats for mindsight. Telepathy can make silent communication amongst party members a matter of simplicity.

[taltamir]

One of the worst things that can happen to a sorc/wiz is for them to be caught by surprise. The pseudo-dragon can help prevent this, especially if you can get your DM to okay the little guy retraining one of his feats for mindsight. Telepathy can make silent communication amongst party members a matter of simplicity.

ah, that certainly will be awesome.
it was simply my understanding that familiars do not get feats, period. Which has hampered my choice of familiars and their functionality quite a lot.
Imagine having flyby attack + quickdraw (for wands) :)

The silent communication is a good one, It didn't occur to me that he could listen to you think, then convey what you thought to another telepathically, very nice ability when used this way.

[Sinfire Titan]

AFAIK by RAW the familiar MUST be 2 sizes smaller then you. (or was it 3 sizes?)
Alternative familiar of different sizes are given for smaller and larger creatures to choose from

Not a rule. Small Air Elemental+Gnome Wizard+Reduce Person=1st level spell that nearly duplicates Phantom Steed.

Worgs too (CW).

[Kelb_Panthera]

ah, that certainly will be awesome.
it was simply my understanding that familiars do not get feats, period. Which has hampered my choice of familiars and their functionality quite a lot.
Imagine having flyby attack + quickdraw (for wands) :)

The silent communication is a good one, It didn't occur to me that he could listen to you think, then convey what you thought to another telepathically, very nice ability when used this way.

Just to be clear, a familiar gets as many feats as a normal creature of its type does, and it's also my understanding that if the familiar's actual HD+con would produce more HP than half his masters, you use that number instead.

[Runestar]

it was simply my understanding that familiars do not get feats, period. Which has hampered my choice of familiars and their functionality quite a lot.

They would get feats as normal for their normal HD. A pseudo-dragon has 1 feat by virtue of its 2 dragon HD, which you could work with your DM to replace.

I wasn't actually thinking about mindsight, since it already has blindsense 60ft. I was thinking more along the lines of it using blindsight to detect the location of invisible/hidden foes, then alerting the party via telepathy. It would also make for a fairly effective scout due to its excellent senses.

It also has a fairly potent poison attack (and the DC scales with HD), though the pseodo-dragon would probably be too fragile to build around it.

[Lord Vukodlak]

beholderkin are highly effective familiars because they can deliver touch spells with their eye rays.

Oh and another advantage for imps. A familiar has the same skill ranks that you do. this means a familiar with hands such as an imp can craft alchemy if you can.

A thing to remember about a psudodragon's Telepathy is its not a telephone.
The creature can telepathically talk to and hear the entire party at once but the entire party can't hear each other, this should make communication difficult. Imagine the entire party of four speaking four different languages and familiar acting as translator. When I played a character with telepathy I kept having to explain that to my party.

Where it does shine is in detecting foes with blindsense then altering the party. Nothing like ambushing the ambusher.

[Kelb_Panthera]

It may not be a telephone, but it's a decent short range radio

and one with a built in translator at that.

[Demons_eye]

Speaking of effective familiars, what spells can make a familiar a tank/combat buddy?

[Sinfire Titan]

Speaking of effective familiars, what spells can make a familiar a tank/combat buddy?

Body of War, from the Spell Compendium.

Dragonshape, PH2.

[AbyssKnight]

Any personal buff spell (Target: You) even if it wouldn't normally affect the familiar. Ex: Fiendform to transform into a demon or devil.

Augment Familiar (SpCom 17)
Enhance Familiar (SpCom 82)
Fortify Familiar (SpCom 98)
Imbue Familiar with Spell Ability (SpCom 120)

[taltamir]

Speaking of effective familiars, what spells can make a familiar a tank/combat buddy?

alter self, polymorph, shapechange.

[Roc Ness]

Y'know, the Improved Familiar feat also says you can make any other creature around that power level a familiar.

So doesn't that open up a whole bunch of creatures you could make a familiar?

[Thurbane]

AFAIK by RAW the familiar MUST be 2 sizes smaller then you. (or was it 3 sizes?)
Alternative familiar of different sizes are given for smaller and larger creatures to choose from

Complete Warrior has a whole bunch of larger, combat/mount type familiars, as mentioned above.

[Runestar]

The creature can telepathically talk to and hear the entire party at once but the entire party can't hear each other, this should make communication difficult.

Talking is technically a free action, though I expect any DM to impose limits on how quickly the pseudo-dragon can convey messages to and from PCs.

[Pluto]

Speaking of effective familiars, what spells can make a familiar a tank/combat buddy?

I really like Mental Pinnacle.
(And Imbue Familiar, but that probably went without saying).

And Hunter's Eye/Cloud of Knives, but that's because I only really use my familiar as an Unseen Seer.

[FishAreWet]

MIRROR MEPHIT.

Why yes I'd like Simulacrum as a SpA at will.

[Kelb_Panthera]

I really like Mental Pinnacle.

That really seems like a spell you'd want to cast on your familiar instead of yourself, rather than one to share. Turning a toad into a half-hearted psion is a pretty good improvement, turning a sorc/wiz into a half-hearted psion not so much.

[arguskos]

MIRROR MEPHIT.

Why yes I'd like Simulacrum as a SpA at will.

Yeaaaaaaaaaaah, any DM who permits you to take this as an Imp Familiar, deserves what he gets.

[FishAreWet]

It's explicitly granted in some adventure. Shattered Gates?

[taltamir]

That really seems like a spell you'd want to cast on your familiar instead of yourself, rather than one to share. Turning a toad into a half-hearted psion is a pretty good improvement, turning a sorc/wiz into a half-hearted psion not so much.

oh, that is just an AWESOME idea...

[BenTheJester]

Salt and Sand Mephits are nice