Blink Dog, Beguiler, or Pseudodragon?

[Saph]

So my character Titania in the Neverending Dungeon has just hit level 6 and taken the Improved Familiar feat, and now I get to summon a familiar for her. For those who don't know, the Neverending Dungeon's a solo gestalt dungeoncrawl created by Tanaric and now run by Term1nally S1ck. It's extremely high-lethality, and as far as I know Titania's only the third character to survive to 6th-level.

I've narrowed down the choices to a Blink Dog, a Beguiler, or a Pseudodragon, and I'm having a hard time picking between them.

Blink Dog

Pros: Almost impossible to kill. Good flanker in combat. Scent. Travels really really fast. Two feats that can be retrained.
Cons: Doesn't hit hard enough to be an effective fighter. Weakest detection abilities.

Beguiler (Shining South)

Pros: Permanent True Seeing as a (Su) ability. Hands.
Cons: True Seeing only affects it, not me. No attacks. Small size. Requires level 7.

Pseudodragon

Pros: Flight. Blindsense. Telepathy. Spell resistance. Save-or-die poison attack. Tiny size. Very high Hide score for scouting.
Cons: Poison save DC is pitiful. Tiny size. Requires level 7.

Suggestions?

[Greenish]

Could you link your character, it'd make easier to weigh the options.

[Saph]

Sure. Here you go.

Titania

[Eldariel]

I always go with Pseudodragon and try and acquire Psychic Reformation (through Limited Wish or another means, once available) at some point to trade its feat for Mindsight. That'll get you a very reliable detector with Blindsense and Mindsight, with all the usual Familiar-goodies and nice base stats thanks to the Dragon-type (it has fairly good skills, for one). And poison...well, you know how you can buff it.

Due to familiars' poor HP, I'd mostly keep them out of combat anyways so Blink Dog kinda loses points there and Beguiler...well, it's quite impressive but Mindsighted Pseudodragon has more utility. Without Mindsight, Beguiler may win out, but yeah...

[Froogleyboy]

Totally go with Pseudodragon, simply for the badass factor of having a dragon sitting on your shoulder

[Saph]

I'm allowed to retrain feats every time I gain a Hit Dice, which extends to my familiar, so I can get a Pseudodragon at level 7 and retrain his feat at level 8.

However, I'm planning on getting Mindsight myself at level 9, so I'm not sure whether it's worth it or not just for the speed-up.

[Greenish]

I'd go with beguiler, it's a nifty looking critter, and the powers of True Sight and Opposable Thumbs sound rather useful. I'm not too familiar with the Neverending Dungeon though.

[Saph]

The premise of the Neverending Dungeon is that you're on your own, in a gigantic dungeon filled with things that want to kill you. Everything is trapped, there are no resting areas except between levels, and you have to fight overoptimised equal-CR encounters.

On the other hand, you get to be gestalt, which kinda balances it out.

[Eldariel]

I'm allowed to retrain feats every time I gain a Hit Dice, which extends to my familiar, so I can get a Pseudodragon at level 7 and retrain his feat at level 8.

However, I'm planning on getting Mindsight myself at level 9, so I'm not sure whether it's worth it or not just for the speed-up.

Hm, you'd save a feat and a level if you use Pseudodragon for Mindsight instead; of course, it's not exactly the same, but with Telepathy, the information exchange should be reasonably expedient. On the other hand, True Seeing is quite hard to acquire outside Summons/Planar Binding without paying anything, so that's a point in Beguiler's favor.

Alter Self-forms are somewhat better for Pseudodragon; you can give it rather impressive Fly-speeds with the spell, among others. Polymorph covers both types anyways so no differences there; for that you'd really want an Outsider-type Familiar (but I'm guessing Imps aren't your style? They have 14 base Cha for UMD, among others; it'd be a solid option, and legal for LN. Pseudodragon wouldn't by the letter but I'm guessing you've gotten around that?).

[nekomata2]

Well, if its extremely lethal, having mindsight for that one extra level might make a difference, plus you could retrain it when you acquire mindsight yourself...

[Jarian]

I'd go with the Beguiler, for the overwhelming usefulness of constant True Seeing.

Constant True Seeing. I mean, c'mon. How many things could that have bypassed if you had it?

Give it a wand of something to activate with its tail and hey - combat usefulness!

[Greenish]

The premise of the Neverending Dungeon is that you're on your own, in a gigantic dungeon filled with things that want to kill you. Everything is trapped, there are no resting areas except between levels, and you have to fight overoptimised equal-CR encounters.

Oh, I know the premise, I just haven't looked into it deeper.

[Saph]

Alter Self-forms are somewhat better for Pseudodragon; you can give it rather impressive Fly-speeds with the spell, among others. Polymorph covers both types anyways so no differences there; for that you'd really want an Outsider-type Familiar (but I'm guessing Imps aren't your style? They have 14 base Cha for UMD, among others; it'd be a solid option, and legal for LN. Pseudodragon wouldn't by the letter but I'm guessing you've gotten around that?).

Alter Self-ing the Pseudodragon is something I've considered, but it means losing most of its nice abilities, and it wouldn't get the breath weapon of any of the wyrmlings it turned into.

Imps are a possiblity, despite my reluctance to use Evil outsiders. I'm not sure if it would be worth it, though - it isn't powerful enough to threaten the kind of combat monsters I have to fight, and I don't know if its abilities stack up against Mindsight/True Seeing.

And interestingly, the Pseudodragon's quite legal. You're allowed to pick an Improved Familiar that's up to one step away on both the alignment axes - very handy.

[Dusk Eclipse]

Totally go with Pseudodragon, simply for the badass factor of having a dragon sitting on your shoulder

+1 to pseudodragon, I completely agree with froogleboy, they are THE most BA familiars one can get (imps are a close second for me)

I aslo agree with Eldariel that Mindsight a level earlier could save your hide.

[Saph]

I'd go with the Beguiler, for the overwhelming usefulness of constant True Seeing.

Constant True Seeing. I mean, c'mon. How many things could that have bypassed if you had it?

Annoyingly, surprisingly few. Though it would have made that Greater Invis-ed enemy a lot less of a pain.

[Sliver]

there are no resting areas except between levels

The second floor had a couple...

[Jarian]

Annoyingly, surprisingly few. Though it would have made that Greater Invis-ed enemy a lot less of a pain.

I was thinking more along the lines of the illusionary platforms over the lava which struck me as cruel and unusual when I learned about them.

[Saph]

Hmm, just had an interesting thought. Since a familiar counts as having as many HD as its master, would a Pseudodragon's familiar's poison save DC scale accordingly?

[Greenish]

Hmm, just had an interesting thought. Since a familiar counts as having as many HD as its master, would a Pseudodragon's familiar's poison save DC scale accordingly?

If the poison is an "effect", this might fly, at least by RAW.

[Lycanthromancer]

Hmm, just had an interesting thought. Since a familiar counts as having as many HD as its master, would a Pseudodragon's familiar's poison save DC scale accordingly?

It doesn't gain actual hit dice, but is treated as it had hit dice for things that affect it; whether this means the poison scales or not is up to the DM, though I'd guess no.

Also, take a human beguiler. That extra feat comes in handy.

[Eldariel]

Alter Self-ing the Pseudodragon is something I've considered, but it means losing most of its nice abilities, and it wouldn't get the breath weapon of any of the wyrmlings it turned into.

Imps are a possiblity, despite my reluctance to use Evil outsiders. I'm not sure if it would be worth it, though - it isn't powerful enough to threaten the kind of combat monsters I have to fight, and I don't know if its abilities stack up against Mindsight/True Seeing.

Regarding Imp: Free Communes are quite useful in my experience, and at least predict what you need to prepare if nothing else. Imps are always Invisible, have fair base Fly and yes, make for awesome Polymorph pets. The suggestion isn't worthless either though the DC is quite low by default. It'd probably be martially the most impressive option, and 14 Charisma is great for UMD, which you could retrain some of its skill points for (I think?) and its DR is Supernatural, which is quite nice with regards to Polymorph too.

As for Alter Self, it only loses Poison and Blindsense; if you have Mindsight, that should be a fair trade most of the time and 120' fly-speed from e.g. Wyrmling Brass is a very solid option, as are the various burrows and such. I think it's going to be useful as a scout in many cases and since Alter Self is dimissable...well, yeah, just use it in its normal mode when appropriate. I think the extra option definitely adds points for Pseudodragon.

And interestingly, the Pseudodragon's quite legal. You're allowed to pick an Improved Familiar that's up to one step away on both the alignment axes - very handy.

Ah, so that's how you worked around the limit! Cunning Yeah, I always read it as the same as Cleric's limitation; very good note there.


As for poison, far as I read it should scale; it's derived off HD and stat and since it uses your HD when its HD is in question, it should use your HD to base the poison off.

[Lycanthromancer]

Imps can get alternate forms, meaning they can be polymorphed with the type change.

Monstrous spiders, anyone?

[Saph]

Bear in mind that the things you fight at the higher levels of the Neverending Dungeon are really really dangerous. Anything that you polymorph a familiar into has to be very survivable. That was why I initially considered a Blink Dog.

A Tiny familiar has some evasion options, though, which should keep it safe.

[Lycanthromancer]

Bear in mind that the things you fight at the higher levels of the Neverending Dungeon are really really dangerous. Anything that you polymorph a familiar into has to be very survivable. That was why I initially considered a Blink Dog.

A Tiny familiar has some evasion options, though, which should keep it safe.

Definitely imp.

Take the Reserves of Strength feat, turn it into a nightmare, and have it take Assume Supernatural Ability (astral projection) and Assume Supernatural Ability (etherealness).

[Jarian]

Take the Reserves of Strength feat, turn it into a nightmare, and have it take Assume Supernatural Ability (astral projection) and Assume Supernatural Ability (etherealness).

Well, yeah, if you want to make the ban list bigger, sure.

(RoS alone should do it. That's not even touching on Assume Supernatural Cheese.)

[Lycanthromancer]

Regardless of what you do, you can take a single level in, say, totemist, and take the Share Soulmeld feat.

[Eldariel]

Well, yeah, if you want to make the ban list bigger, sure.

(RoS alone should do it. That's not even touching on Assume Supernatural Cheese.)

You don't need RoS for Polymorphing into Nightmare though; it's got 6 HD which is precisely what Titania (and by extension, her familiar) will have and what's her CL.

You can defensively share some buffs with the familiar for at least some Temp HP, AC and miss chance. Especially once you get Inc 3 and can start persisting stuff. It should be possible to make it somewhat survivable, especially if you can generate a Wand of Wings of Cover for it to UMD.

[Saph]

Regardless of what you do, you can take a single level in, say, totemist, and take the Share Soulmeld feat.

I was thinking of that. Couldn't find any soulmelds I really liked for a familiar, though.

You can defensively share some buffs with the familiar for at least some Temp HP, AC and miss chance. Especially once you get Inc 3 and can start persisting stuff. It should be possible to make it somewhat survivable, especially if you can generate a Wand of Wings of Cover for it to UMD.

Oh, that's OK. I can make a Tiny familiar pretty much unkillable. The only issue is when it gets too big to hide.

UMDing might be interesting, though I can't help thinking the Pseudodragon might be more dangerous taking shots with its poison attack and hoping for a low roll on the enemy Fort save.

[Jarian]

You don't need RoS for Polymorphing into Nightmare though; it's got 6 HD which is precisely what Titania (and by extension, her familiar) will have and what's her CL.

I was talking about Reserves of Strength and Assume Supernatural Cheese in general, and Reserves of Strength in particular. (I didn't even consider Polymorph in the sea of cheddar, there.) One strict reading of it will be enough for T.S. to send it to the banlist, if past experience is any judge.

However, DM intervention never stopped the boards before, so continue.

[Saph]

Isn't Assume Supernatural Ability from Savage Species, in any case? That would make it 3.0 and so illegal anyway (saving TS the trouble of banning it).