Obtain Familiar or Wild Cohort?

[FuryOfMetal]

I'm a warlock and i have a spare feat, I'd rather do something more interesting than Improved Initiative.

-So first which book is obtain familiar in?
-Second i can see the familiar being more useful for utility, the cohort being more combat based obviously.

Thoughts?

[Scarey Nerd]

Obtain Familiar is a feat from Complete Arcane, it requires you to have 3 arcane spellcaster levels and Knowledge Arcane 4 ranks.

[FuryOfMetal]

Cool, thank you. Well I'm Warlock 4 and I'd like a friend i can depend on :D My DM would definitely allow me to get the feat with Warlock 4, even if it doesn't really qualify (would it? :S) so I'll just buy some knowledge (arcana) which is also helpful in general.

So now what book is improved familiar in? I think it's named that...the one where you can gain better animals as I'd like an imp or something else suitably dark.

[Scarey Nerd]

Cool, thank you. Well I'm Warlock 4 and I'd like a friend i can depend on :D My DM would definitely allow me to get the feat with Warlock 4, even if it doesn't really qualify (would it? :S) so I'll just buy some knowledge (arcana) which is also helpful in general.

So now what book is improved familiar in? I think it's named that...the one where you can gain better animals as I'd like an imp or something else suitably dark.

Warlock qualifies, as far as I know. As for Improved Familiar, it's mentioned in the DMG, but I'm not too sure where it is in reality, possible Complete Arcane again. For familiar, if you want something dark, may I suggest the Quasit, though you need to be high level for that, or if you want something a little more fun, try a Huitzil, which are pot-bellied dragon things from Dragon Magic, that give +3 Sleight of Hand and are generally funny

[vartan]

Improved Familiar is on the SRD

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/feats.htm#...rbyTypeSubtype

There is also a version of it in the FRCG

[FuryOfMetal]

I've compared the Quasit and the Imp, and i think i'll go with Imp. They're both 3HD and have basically the same abilities, but the quasit can 1/day cause fear and the imp can 1/day use suggestion. I just like suggestion. But I'm a level 4 warforged, first feat went on mithral body, second on obtain familiar so i have to wait until 6th for improved familiar. In the mean time I'll have to make do with the utility of a hawk or something. Thanks for the help :)

[Andion Isurand]

the Hummingbird familiar grants its master a +4 bonus on Initiative checks.

Dragon 323 page 98
Use the stats for a Thrush Familiar, which are on DMG p203

Of course hummingbirds have good manuverability...
and birds generally fly much faster than 40 ft. statistical speed.

What is the Average Airspeed Velocity of an Unladen Swallow?

[aivanther]

An Imp, as I like suggestion more than cause fear.

One thing to recommend familiar over the cohort is UMD, your Imp can use it, and especially if you go hellfire warlock, an imp with a wand of lesser restoration can cure you. Or, you could just dip binder.

[Escheton]

eternal wand of alter self or something of that nature combined with the same of the familiar buffs makes him a true monster.

[faceroll]

I've compared the Quasit and the Imp, and i think i'll go with Imp. They're both 3HD and have basically the same abilities, but the quasit can 1/day cause fear and the imp can 1/day use suggestion. I just like suggestion. But I'm a level 4 warforged, first feat went on mithral body, second on obtain familiar so i have to wait until 6th for improved familiar. In the mean time I'll have to make do with the utility of a hawk or something. Thanks for the help :)

By RAW, giving up the hawk familiar to get the imp incurs many penalties.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

You can take Improved Familiar as early as 3rd level (the minimum to gain any of the listed familiars), but you cannot gain an Imp familiar until you reach level 7. Note that if you get a familiar from the base list and later dismiss it to get another, you'll still lose 200 XP per spellcaster level, or half of that with a DC 15 Fort save. Don't get one early unless you want to lose 700 or 1400 XP at level 7 when you get the Imp.

[Scarey Nerd]

By RAW, giving up the hawk familiar to get the imp incurs many penalties.

One of the most severe penalties being that you cannot get another familiar for a year and a day.

[FuryOfMetal]

You can take Improved Familiar as early as 3rd level (the minimum to gain any of the listed familiars), but you cannot gain an Imp familiar until you reach level 7. Note that if you get a familiar from the base list and later dismiss it to get another, you'll still lose 200 XP per spellcaster level, or half of that with a DC 15 Fort save. Don't get one early unless you want to lose 700 or 1400 XP at level 7 when you get the Imp.

Completely forgot about that, but i don't think my DM will be leveling through experience, but by just saying "well done go up a level ". I took mithral body at lvl1, obtain familiar at 3, and i'll take improved familiar at 6.

Also yes i will be warlock/binder 1/HFW

And whilst using my imp for UMD would be helpful, i have max in UMD. Besides familiars don't gain HD, they just have half of their masters hp, so i couldn't increase it's ranks.

[Gaiwecoor]

And whilst using my imp for UMD would be helpful, i have max in UMD. Besides familiars don't gain HD, they just have half of their masters hp, so i couldn't increase it's ranks.

Ah, see you're doing it right. You don't increase its ranks, because its ranks don't matter!

Skills
For each skill in which either the master or the familiar has ranks, use either the normal skill ranks for an animal of that type or the master’s skill ranks, whichever are better. In either case, the familiar uses its own ability modifiers. Regardless of a familiar’s total skill modifiers, some skills may remain beyond the familiar’s ability to use.

Keep your UMD maxed, and the familiar can use the wands for you while you do other stuff. Edit: And since you're using an Imp, its 14 Cha doesn't hurt either

[Endarire]

Since familiars are mostly a hassle for me, I advise a Wild Cohort. Replacing them is less painful.

If your group can reliably Persist heroics (Spell Compendium 113), then you can get Improved Initiative.

[Coidzor]

Can warlocks use eternal wands? I think they might be able to. If so...Hound of Doom is a good one that gets it for most of a long fight and all of most fights, is somewhat competitive with the feats at least. Well, as a combat familiar.

And whilst using my imp for UMD would be helpful, i have max in UMD. Besides familiars don't gain HD, they just have half of their masters hp, so i couldn't increase it's ranks.

If you have max UMD, it has max UMD.

As a secondary wand-caster, a familiar... well, secondary wand-casters are going to be more powerful but more spendy.