Best Familiars & Animal Companions... and Why? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Best Familiars & Animal Companions... and Why? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Kilsek of Sheverash
02-23-04, 06:30 PM I just started playing two characters at once in the Realms, an Earth Genasi Druid, and Earth Genasi Wizard, and I wanted your opinions on good choices for familiars and animal companions.

For the druid, I'm already happy with the Wolf. Classic, strong, cool.

It's the familiar I'm a little unsure about - haven't picked it yet. For flavor, I was thinking going Earth Elemental using a feat. Nice foil with the character's Earth Genasi race.

Any familiars or animal companions you've selected and played that *surprised* you with how good and flavorful they were?
Mith
02-23-04, 06:35 PM What alignment is your wizard? If you want to spend a feat, I think that the celestial familiars from the BoED are very cool. Neutral good familiar gets magic missile at will, CL 3 - not too shabby.
PhaedrusXY
02-23-04, 06:42 PM I like a bat familiar from the standard choices. It can fly for recon/spying/scouting work, it is small and easily hidden, and it has blindsight. It's fun to cast Darkness on the bat and use him as a big mobile cloud that you can direct as a free action on your turn (via mental commands) to follow a particular enemy, or divide up the battlefield along a particular line.

He also makes a good guard for your camp at night, since he can see as well in Darkness as in light, up to the limit of his Blindsight. And he can automatically see hidden and invisible enemies, per the SRD. . Invisibility, darkness, and most kinds of concealment are irrelevant, though the creature must have line of effect to a creature or object to discern that creature or object. The creature usually does not need to make Spot or Listen checks to notice creatures within range of its blindsight ability.

Edit: Good god. I just looked in the SRD, and they nerfed the holy hell out of the bat's sensory abilities in 3.5. Now it has blindsense instead of blindsight, and the range is only 20 ft. instead of 120 ft. like it was in 3.0. I so hate some of the crap they did with the 3.5 conversion. We use it in our games, but some of it really burns me up. :headexplo
Kilsek of Sheverash
02-23-04, 06:46 PM I didn't know the Book of Exalted Deeds has some familiars/animal companions in it, thanks for the tip! The Earth Genasi Wizard is NG, so hopefully that qualifies him for one.

Magic missile at will? Wow, that's um, pretty cool, especially at low levels.

And a bat for the blindsight-based recon is a cool idea, I hadn't thought about how great a recon-type familiar it really does make.
Mith
02-23-04, 07:07 PM OK, here's the deal with the BoED familiar:

You have to take a feat called Celestial Familiar to get it. It requires caster level 7 to actually gain this familiar. That means that strictly by the rules, you could only take it as early as level 9, under normal circumstances. If your DM is nice, you may be able to convince him to let you delay your level 6 feat to level 7 and get it then. That's the bad part.

Here's the good part:
Speed 30 ft
Burrow speed 10 ft
AC starts at 20
tongues (your familiar can talk to anything with a language)
Detect Evil, Detect Magic, See Invisibility, Diguise Self, at will
Protection from Evil on itself at will
Magic Missile (CL 3) at will

By the level you can get this thing, the magic missile at will may not seem like a lot, but it can do this every round of every combat, and has a reasonable speed on its own. So you've got some combat ability that doesn't really put your familiar at risk, you've got a lot of utility between See Invisibility, Detect Magic, and Detect Evil, you've got a decent spy with disguise self at will, and you've got a great interpreter. Oh, its Int starts out at 11 - not a dumb familiar in any way, and between that and tongues you shouldn't ever run into the comprehension/communication problems that some DMs like to throw at spying familiars. IMO, it's not a bad deal.

You also don't get alertness from it, IIRC. Your familiar ability progression is stunted by 7 levels, if I'm understanding the feat's text correctly. This is something I personally disagree with - if you spend a feat to get a better familiar, you should get the improvement on top of familiar ability progression. That's just me though, not anything official or supportable.

So that's one option, if you are willing to wait to get it.
Kilsek of Sheverash
02-23-04, 10:12 PM Originally posted by PhaedrusXY

Edit: Good god. I just looked in the SRD, and they nerfed the holy hell out of the bat's sensory abilities in 3.5. Now it has blindsense instead of blindsight, and the range is only 20 ft. instead of 120 ft. like it was in 3.0. I so hate some of the crap they did with the 3.5 conversion. We use it in our games, but some of it really burns me up. :headexplo

Like I tell one of my players, if you take an objective look at most of the changes, they make a lot of sense as far as game balance goes. And I further tell him, it's just a shame we were spoiled with some of the overpowered rules in 3.0!

Seriously, a familiar that ALWAYS makes Listen and Spot checks for its master, starting at 1st level... doesn't that sound at least a bit overpowered to you?
PhaedrusXY
02-23-04, 10:28 PM Yeah, I know, I know. From a balance standpoint, it makes sense. But from thinking about how bats actually are in real life, it's stupid. The main way of hunting for their food is using Echolocation. If anything in the real world has Blindsight, it would be a bat.

They are still really good, since they still automatically notice something within their Blindsense radius, but they still get a 50% miss chance for not "seeing" it (which doesn't matter, unless you're using them to deliver touch attacks). But the radius going from 120' to 20' is a huge change. It makes it useless as far as detecting an ambush, because by the time the enemy is 20 feet from you, it's too late.

Well... I guess useless is a harsh term. If the bat is flying ahead at a distance, it could still detect the ambush and tell you before you get to it. But if you're sitting in camp at night, and attackers creep up to ambush you, by the time the bat detects them, it will be too late. (I guess you could have him "lap" the perimeter of the camp all night, while he's hunting for bugs...)

I think WotC is definitely taking the stance of erring on the side of game balance, in the game balance vs. realism tradeoff, with the 3.5 changes. Which I guess is a good thing, since this is a game foremost, not a reality simulation.
Kilsek of Sheverash
02-23-04, 11:24 PM Originally posted by PhaedrusXY

I think WotC is definitely taking the stance of erring on the side of game balance, in the game balance vs. realism tradeoff, with the 3.5 changes. Which I guess is a good thing, since this is a game foremost, not a reality simulation.

Very well put, and I agree that's their take on things when something has to tip one way or the other.

Btw, the bat's still a decent choice. You came up with a great idea in having it "circle the camp" on watch that still lets it make good use of its shallow blindsense.

It's also amazing to see someone back up on calling a 3.5-izing of some rules "useless," saying it might be too harsh. That same regular player of mine now calls all the Spell Focus and Greater Spell Focus feats "useless," now that their DC bonuses have been halved. They're only a fair or decent choice now, rather than a no-brainer on Spell Focus: Evocation, like in 3.0. And according to the designers, no feat or spell etc. should be a no-brainer.

Speaking of no-brainers, any other close-to-no-brainer familiars and animal companions you've taken? Or ones that didn't seem all that great at first but ended up suprising you, either game-effects-wise or roleplay-wise?
PhaedrusXY
02-24-04, 12:38 AM Well, wolves are great animal companions because of their Trip ability. I also like the Raven as a familiar (and thrushes, if you use stuff from Tome and Blood), because they can speak one language that their master knows.

I have an elf in a game that has a bluebird as a familiar. It is in the thrush family, and so can speak one language (DM said elven, since my character grew up in an elven village and never met a member of another race until he started adventuring). It is also alot less conspicuous than a big, black Raven would be.

Later on, the big cats are great because of their Pounce ability, and bears are good for Improved Grab. But the grappling rules are really messed up for creatures with natural weapons. Look at the end of THIS THREAD (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=184583&highlight=natural+AND+grappling) to see what I'm talking about. It just takes a bit of sensible DM interpretation and/or house ruling to fix it, but as written bears actually aren't good grapplers. :uh-huh: :nonono:
Thelon Fairblade
02-24-04, 12:45 PM Lantern Archons (LG, Celestial Familiar feat) are pretty good.

Tongues, Magic Circle against Evil, Aura of Menace (DC 12) always on. Greater Teleport (self +50 pounds), Aid, Detect Evil, Continual Flame at will. Flight 50' (perfect), Darkvision 60', two innate d6 ranged-touch (+2) light rays. Bad part: 4 hp.
PhaedrusXY
02-24-04, 01:16 PM Originally posted by Thelon Fairblade
Bad part: 4 hp. Familiars have half their masters HPs.
Votan
02-24-04, 07:51 PM Originally posted by Kilsek of Sheverash
I just started playing two characters at once in the Realms, an Earth Genasi Druid, and Earth Genasi Wizard, and I wanted your opinions on good choices for familiars and animal companions.

For the druid, I'm already happy with the Wolf. Classic, strong, cool.

It's the familiar I'm a little unsure about - haven't picked it yet. For flavor, I was thinking going Earth Elemental using a feat. Nice foil with the character's Earth Genasi race.

Any familiars or animal companions you've selected and played that *surprised* you with how good and flavorful they were?

I really like the raven. Part of it was that I like ravens. Part of it was that they make good messangers (able to speak and able to fly between separated party members). Besides they fit the image of a wizards familar so very well!

It has happened that I've taken a toad if I was trying to "toughen up" a wizard at low levels. This was a better idea in 3.0 then 3.5. If you think bats were nerfed . . . :bigeyes:

Better at first level but so much less than they once were.
Suliman
02-27-04, 01:33 PM I really like the owl. It's a classic familiar from legends and incredibly useful. It can deliver a touch spell via flying, they're silent flyers (great for sneaking up on people) and they have incredible listening skills (great for detecting an ambush or sneak attacks). I didn't realize how useful they are in low-light situations (although technically they have close to darkvision in real life. I saw a special on them on the animal channel or PBS, I'm not sure.) Always a good choice and a DM's bane.
BenjCano
02-27-04, 01:49 PM As far as animal companions go, I'm partial to a plain old dog. No one has a problem if your druid tries to enter town with a dog in tow, furthermore, I've always found Track to be one of the more useful feats in the Player's Guide, to get it for free is just icing on the cake.

For a familiar, both the rat and the ferret have something very nice going for it; they shore up a saving throw that would otherwise suffer from being an arcane caster. Also, though the rat more than the ferret, they benefit from being just about as inconspicuous as you could like.
Disturbed1
02-27-04, 02:41 PM you can use the Improved familiar feat to get stuff like a worg or a blink dog, winter wolf, or a few other options.

theres also the dragon familair feat, which lets you get a wyrmling dragon as your familiar(big suprise there huh), which is pretty cool if you ask me.

there is also a book out from some 3rd party co that is $5 for the book, and it has all these special abilities you can add to your familiar. you spend like 100gp and then a certain amount of exp, and pray over the familar and he gets the ability. ones off the top of my head are like: dmg reduction 5/+1(300exp), energy resistence/immunity, breath weapon, see invis, invis(alot better than the spell), fly, etherealness, and some otehr cool things.

very cool if your dm will let you use those.

dis1
lukelightning
02-27-04, 03:45 PM Familiar: Rat. They can sneak around great, climb, swim, and hide, and fit perfectly into a dungeon setting. And when you are high enough level they can talk to other rodents, great for getting info and scouting around. Bird familiars are great for that reason too.

Improved Familiar: Lantern archon or imp (obviously not for the same character). Lantern archons have great abilities, and imps are just cool.

Animal companion: Leopard or tiger or dire ape. Leopards are medium sized and are very mobile, with their climb ability. Tigers are just awesome, and dire apes have reach and rend.
Votan
02-27-04, 04:38 PM Originally posted by Disturbed1

theres also the dragon familair feat, which lets you get a wyrmling dragon as your familiar(big suprise there huh), which is pretty cool if you ask me.

So then you if go into statis for a thousand years you can emerge with a Great Wyrm familar??? Or if you are an elf and just wait for a while . . . :smirk:

This is too cool to be legit! :cool:
TaisharMalkier
02-27-04, 11:01 PM Zug Zug.

I actually compared some of the top animal companions (AKA actually wrote out what they'd be @ level 20) - those being wolf, dire wolf, and dire tiger. The conclusions are:

Wolf sucks. Sure, it's classic, but at 20th level, its horrible. His trip has a horrible modifier (like +6/7 with base stats + level stats), his attack bonus is nothing to write home about - the single advantage they have over a higher animal companion is insane AC (end up around 28~). I'd never pick one.

Dire wolf is a very good choice if you're looking for trip. His mod ends up at maybe 15~, his attack bonus is better, he has more HP then the wolf, and still pretty good ac (like 24~). Best option if you want the trip.

Dire tiger is simply a beast. He ends up with 50%ish more hp then the dire wolf (double the wolf), does much more damage, and gets pounce. The main disability is very low AC. He also has slightly better saves then normal because he has more HD at 20 then the wolf or dire wolf (like 18 instead of 14). Best option if you want damage.

Basically, the lower level animal companion you get, the higher AC it has (and special abilities earlier *shrug*). The higher level you go, the more HP, attack bonus, and damage it does.

Cheers
Kilsek of Sheverash
02-27-04, 11:04 PM Cool, excellent analysis, thx TM.

I'm new to the world of Druids and animal companions, so I have a question that you inspired.

Can I "trade in" my animal companion? For example, how do I go about "switching" to a different one? Or are you bound to the one you have always? What about feats that let you pick something higher level - what happens to your existing animal companion?

Thanks!
PhaedrusXY
02-27-04, 11:32 PM You can dismiss an animal companion any time you want. I thought there was a certain wait time before you could get another one, but I could be wrong.

If a druid releases her companion from service, she may gain a new one by performing a ceremony requiring 24 uninterrupted hours of prayer. This ceremony can also replace an animal companion that has perished.I didn't see anything more than the 24hrs required for the ceremony in the SRD.
Nick Soapdish
02-28-04, 03:27 AM Just a comment ...

if you're using 3.5 and want a scouting familiar, you probably need to stick with the raven or thrush or something that can speak a language. In 3.5, the familiar only has an empathic link with its master instead of telepathic.
Castlmike
02-28-04, 04:37 AM Familiars are "supposed" to be normal animals who become magical beasts when summoned.

Votan mentioned the humble toad for 3.0 which gave you the +2 con and an additional HP a level.

In 3.5 the toad still grants his master +3 HP. Personally think pretty big deal in a low level campaign levels 1 - 4 or so.

Depending on your campaign your DM might allow a corollax which is a tiny magical beast basically a parrot with SR12 and the ability to colorspray and DR5/silver because with a successful handle animal check DC25 it can be persuaded to become a long term companion (MM2 with out requiring a special feat) if you were willing to adventure to get one.

Might allow a Blood Hawk Fiend Folio (Tenser's Castle) or a Greater Raven (Raven's Bluff) still magical beasts so DM call.
pddisc
02-28-04, 06:31 AM I played a spellsword, concentrating more on the combat side. I had a two-handed falchion with a rod of lesser maximisation built into the hilt (generous DM and Craft Magic Arms and Armour feat). The great thing was - I had a shield that floated next to me, which had my ferret hanging off it (increased his AC too! Total concealment!).

At the start of the adventury part of the day (when we were cruising the astral plane, looking for githyanki), he had a chill touch cast on him - a touch per level. If we got into a combat, he would hurl himself at the enemy, and attempt to bite. Being only a ferret, most things ignored him, until he got a hold - at which point he was doing a point of damage plus the damage from the spell every round. If this got particularly annoying for someone, and they started to attack him, he would be alright - at half the hp of the master. That meant the ferret had more hp than the party's rogue.

We killed a red dragon :D
PhaedrusXY
02-28-04, 06:33 AM Originally posted by Nick Soapdish
Just a comment ...

if you're using 3.5 and want a scouting familiar, you probably need to stick with the raven or thrush or something that can speak a language. In 3.5, the familiar only has an empathic link with its master instead of telepathic. It was called an empathic link in 3.0 too, but then in the text it said telepathic. Guess they got around to fixing that. That sucks. That was one of the best things about familiars. Even with that, I know some people never took them when they played wizards because they didn't think it was worth the risk of XP loss if they died.
phb
02-28-04, 09:22 AM One thing that hasn't been mentioned. With a familiar, you get a lot of options with alter self if you choose a familiar as large as possible. With a bat you get pretty much only the stirge as an alternate form, with a cat or a weasel you get more options for interesting magical beast forms. With alternate familiar feats there are probably lots more options.
CaptMeathead
02-28-04, 04:57 PM Originally posted by Kilsek of Sheverash
Any familiars or animal companions you've selected and played that *surprised* you with how good and flavorful they were?

Yes, as a matter of fact! My Wizard recently aquired a dire "corn chip".......awesome....simply.....awesome.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Kilsek of Sheverash 02-23-04, 06:30 PM	I just started playing two characters at once in the Realms, an Earth Genasi Druid, and Earth Genasi Wizard, and I wanted your opinions on good choices for familiars and animal companions. For the druid, I'm already happy with the Wolf. Classic, strong, cool. It's the familiar I'm a little unsure about - haven't picked it yet. For flavor, I was thinking going Earth Elemental using a feat. Nice foil with the character's Earth Genasi race. Any familiars or animal companions you've selected and played that surprised you with how good and flavorful they were?
Mith 02-23-04, 06:35 PM	What alignment is your wizard? If you want to spend a feat, I think that the celestial familiars from the BoED are very cool. Neutral good familiar gets magic missile at will, CL 3 - not too shabby.
PhaedrusXY 02-23-04, 06:42 PM	I like a bat familiar from the standard choices. It can fly for recon/spying/scouting work, it is small and easily hidden, and it has blindsight. It's fun to cast Darkness on the bat and use him as a big mobile cloud that you can direct as a free action on your turn (via mental commands) to follow a particular enemy, or divide up the battlefield along a particular line. He also makes a good guard for your camp at night, since he can see as well in Darkness as in light, up to the limit of his Blindsight. And he can automatically see hidden and invisible enemies, per the SRD. . Invisibility, darkness, and most kinds of concealment are irrelevant, though the creature must have line of effect to a creature or object to discern that creature or object. The creature usually does not need to make Spot or Listen checks to notice creatures within range of its blindsight ability. Edit: Good god. I just looked in the SRD, and they nerfed the holy hell out of the bat's sensory abilities in 3.5. Now it has blindsense instead of blindsight, and the range is only 20 ft. instead of 120 ft. like it was in 3.0. I so hate some of the crap they did with the 3.5 conversion. We use it in our games, but some of it really burns me up. :headexplo
Kilsek of Sheverash 02-23-04, 06:46 PM	I didn't know the Book of Exalted Deeds has some familiars/animal companions in it, thanks for the tip! The Earth Genasi Wizard is NG, so hopefully that qualifies him for one. Magic missile at will? Wow, that's um, pretty cool, especially at low levels. And a bat for the blindsight-based recon is a cool idea, I hadn't thought about how great a recon-type familiar it really does make.
Mith 02-23-04, 07:07 PM	OK, here's the deal with the BoED familiar: You have to take a feat called Celestial Familiar to get it. It requires caster level 7 to actually gain this familiar. That means that strictly by the rules, you could only take it as early as level 9, under normal circumstances. If your DM is nice, you may be able to convince him to let you delay your level 6 feat to level 7 and get it then. That's the bad part. Here's the good part: Speed 30 ft Burrow speed 10 ft AC starts at 20 tongues (your familiar can talk to anything with a language) Detect Evil, Detect Magic, See Invisibility, Diguise Self, at will Protection from Evil on itself at will Magic Missile (CL 3) at will By the level you can get this thing, the magic missile at will may not seem like a lot, but it can do this every round of every combat, and has a reasonable speed on its own. So you've got some combat ability that doesn't really put your familiar at risk, you've got a lot of utility between See Invisibility, Detect Magic, and Detect Evil, you've got a decent spy with disguise self at will, and you've got a great interpreter. Oh, its Int starts out at 11 - not a dumb familiar in any way, and between that and tongues you shouldn't ever run into the comprehension/communication problems that some DMs like to throw at spying familiars. IMO, it's not a bad deal. You also don't get alertness from it, IIRC. Your familiar ability progression is stunted by 7 levels, if I'm understanding the feat's text correctly. This is something I personally disagree with - if you spend a feat to get a better familiar, you should get the improvement on top of familiar ability progression. That's just me though, not anything official or supportable. So that's one option, if you are willing to wait to get it.
Kilsek of Sheverash 02-23-04, 10:12 PM	Originally posted by PhaedrusXY Edit: Good god. I just looked in the SRD, and they nerfed the holy hell out of the bat's sensory abilities in 3.5. Now it has blindsense instead of blindsight, and the range is only 20 ft. instead of 120 ft. like it was in 3.0. I so hate some of the crap they did with the 3.5 conversion. We use it in our games, but some of it really burns me up. :headexplo Like I tell one of my players, if you take an objective look at most of the changes, they make a lot of sense as far as game balance goes. And I further tell him, it's just a shame we were spoiled with some of the overpowered rules in 3.0! Seriously, a familiar that ALWAYS makes Listen and Spot checks for its master, starting at 1st level... doesn't that sound at least a bit overpowered to you?
PhaedrusXY 02-23-04, 10:28 PM	Yeah, I know, I know. From a balance standpoint, it makes sense. But from thinking about how bats actually are in real life, it's stupid. The main way of hunting for their food is using Echolocation. If anything in the real world has Blindsight, it would be a bat. They are still really good, since they still automatically notice something within their Blindsense radius, but they still get a 50% miss chance for not "seeing" it (which doesn't matter, unless you're using them to deliver touch attacks). But the radius going from 120' to 20' is a huge change. It makes it useless as far as detecting an ambush, because by the time the enemy is 20 feet from you, it's too late. Well... I guess useless is a harsh term. If the bat is flying ahead at a distance, it could still detect the ambush and tell you before you get to it. But if you're sitting in camp at night, and attackers creep up to ambush you, by the time the bat detects them, it will be too late. (I guess you could have him "lap" the perimeter of the camp all night, while he's hunting for bugs...) I think WotC is definitely taking the stance of erring on the side of game balance, in the game balance vs. realism tradeoff, with the 3.5 changes. Which I guess is a good thing, since this is a game foremost, not a reality simulation.
Kilsek of Sheverash 02-23-04, 11:24 PM	Originally posted by PhaedrusXY I think WotC is definitely taking the stance of erring on the side of game balance, in the game balance vs. realism tradeoff, with the 3.5 changes. Which I guess is a good thing, since this is a game foremost, not a reality simulation. Very well put, and I agree that's their take on things when something has to tip one way or the other. Btw, the bat's still a decent choice. You came up with a great idea in having it "circle the camp" on watch that still lets it make good use of its shallow blindsense. It's also amazing to see someone back up on calling a 3.5-izing of some rules "useless," saying it might be too harsh. That same regular player of mine now calls all the Spell Focus and Greater Spell Focus feats "useless," now that their DC bonuses have been halved. They're only a fair or decent choice now, rather than a no-brainer on Spell Focus: Evocation, like in 3.0. And according to the designers, no feat or spell etc. should be a no-brainer. Speaking of no-brainers, any other close-to-no-brainer familiars and animal companions you've taken? Or ones that didn't seem all that great at first but ended up suprising you, either game-effects-wise or roleplay-wise?
PhaedrusXY 02-24-04, 12:38 AM	Well, wolves are great animal companions because of their Trip ability. I also like the Raven as a familiar (and thrushes, if you use stuff from Tome and Blood), because they can speak one language that their master knows. I have an elf in a game that has a bluebird as a familiar. It is in the thrush family, and so can speak one language (DM said elven, since my character grew up in an elven village and never met a member of another race until he started adventuring). It is also alot less conspicuous than a big, black Raven would be. Later on, the big cats are great because of their Pounce ability, and bears are good for Improved Grab. But the grappling rules are really messed up for creatures with natural weapons. Look at the end of THIS THREAD (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=184583&highlight=natural+AND+grappling) to see what I'm talking about. It just takes a bit of sensible DM interpretation and/or house ruling to fix it, but as written bears actually aren't good grapplers. :uh-huh: :nonono:
Thelon Fairblade 02-24-04, 12:45 PM	Lantern Archons (LG, Celestial Familiar feat) are pretty good. Tongues, Magic Circle against Evil, Aura of Menace (DC 12) always on. Greater Teleport (self +50 pounds), Aid, Detect Evil, Continual Flame at will. Flight 50' (perfect), Darkvision 60', two innate d6 ranged-touch (+2) light rays. Bad part: 4 hp.
PhaedrusXY 02-24-04, 01:16 PM	Originally posted by Thelon Fairblade Bad part: 4 hp. Familiars have half their masters HPs.
Votan 02-24-04, 07:51 PM	Originally posted by Kilsek of Sheverash I just started playing two characters at once in the Realms, an Earth Genasi Druid, and Earth Genasi Wizard, and I wanted your opinions on good choices for familiars and animal companions. For the druid, I'm already happy with the Wolf. Classic, strong, cool. It's the familiar I'm a little unsure about - haven't picked it yet. For flavor, I was thinking going Earth Elemental using a feat. Nice foil with the character's Earth Genasi race. Any familiars or animal companions you've selected and played that surprised you with how good and flavorful they were? I really like the raven. Part of it was that I like ravens. Part of it was that they make good messangers (able to speak and able to fly between separated party members). Besides they fit the image of a wizards familar so very well! It has happened that I've taken a toad if I was trying to "toughen up" a wizard at low levels. This was a better idea in 3.0 then 3.5. If you think bats were nerfed . . . :bigeyes: Better at first level but so much less than they once were.
Suliman 02-27-04, 01:33 PM	I really like the owl. It's a classic familiar from legends and incredibly useful. It can deliver a touch spell via flying, they're silent flyers (great for sneaking up on people) and they have incredible listening skills (great for detecting an ambush or sneak attacks). I didn't realize how useful they are in low-light situations (although technically they have close to darkvision in real life. I saw a special on them on the animal channel or PBS, I'm not sure.) Always a good choice and a DM's bane.
BenjCano 02-27-04, 01:49 PM	As far as animal companions go, I'm partial to a plain old dog. No one has a problem if your druid tries to enter town with a dog in tow, furthermore, I've always found Track to be one of the more useful feats in the Player's Guide, to get it for free is just icing on the cake. For a familiar, both the rat and the ferret have something very nice going for it; they shore up a saving throw that would otherwise suffer from being an arcane caster. Also, though the rat more than the ferret, they benefit from being just about as inconspicuous as you could like.
Disturbed1 02-27-04, 02:41 PM	you can use the Improved familiar feat to get stuff like a worg or a blink dog, winter wolf, or a few other options. theres also the dragon familair feat, which lets you get a wyrmling dragon as your familiar(big suprise there huh), which is pretty cool if you ask me. there is also a book out from some 3rd party co that is $5 for the book, and it has all these special abilities you can add to your familiar. you spend like 100gp and then a certain amount of exp, and pray over the familar and he gets the ability. ones off the top of my head are like: dmg reduction 5/+1(300exp), energy resistence/immunity, breath weapon, see invis, invis(alot better than the spell), fly, etherealness, and some otehr cool things. very cool if your dm will let you use those. dis1
lukelightning 02-27-04, 03:45 PM	Familiar: Rat. They can sneak around great, climb, swim, and hide, and fit perfectly into a dungeon setting. And when you are high enough level they can talk to other rodents, great for getting info and scouting around. Bird familiars are great for that reason too. Improved Familiar: Lantern archon or imp (obviously not for the same character). Lantern archons have great abilities, and imps are just cool. Animal companion: Leopard or tiger or dire ape. Leopards are medium sized and are very mobile, with their climb ability. Tigers are just awesome, and dire apes have reach and rend.
Votan 02-27-04, 04:38 PM	Originally posted by Disturbed1 theres also the dragon familair feat, which lets you get a wyrmling dragon as your familiar(big suprise there huh), which is pretty cool if you ask me. So then you if go into statis for a thousand years you can emerge with a Great Wyrm familar??? Or if you are an elf and just wait for a while . . . :smirk: This is too cool to be legit! :cool:
TaisharMalkier 02-27-04, 11:01 PM	Zug Zug. I actually compared some of the top animal companions (AKA actually wrote out what they'd be @ level 20) - those being wolf, dire wolf, and dire tiger. The conclusions are: Wolf sucks. Sure, it's classic, but at 20th level, its horrible. His trip has a horrible modifier (like +6/7 with base stats + level stats), his attack bonus is nothing to write home about - the single advantage they have over a higher animal companion is insane AC (end up around 28~). I'd never pick one. Dire wolf is a very good choice if you're looking for trip. His mod ends up at maybe 15~, his attack bonus is better, he has more HP then the wolf, and still pretty good ac (like 24~). Best option if you want the trip. Dire tiger is simply a beast. He ends up with 50%ish more hp then the dire wolf (double the wolf), does much more damage, and gets pounce. The main disability is very low AC. He also has slightly better saves then normal because he has more HD at 20 then the wolf or dire wolf (like 18 instead of 14). Best option if you want damage. Basically, the lower level animal companion you get, the higher AC it has (and special abilities earlier shrug). The higher level you go, the more HP, attack bonus, and damage it does. Cheers
Kilsek of Sheverash 02-27-04, 11:04 PM	Cool, excellent analysis, thx TM. I'm new to the world of Druids and animal companions, so I have a question that you inspired. Can I "trade in" my animal companion? For example, how do I go about "switching" to a different one? Or are you bound to the one you have always? What about feats that let you pick something higher level - what happens to your existing animal companion? Thanks!
PhaedrusXY 02-27-04, 11:32 PM	You can dismiss an animal companion any time you want. I thought there was a certain wait time before you could get another one, but I could be wrong. If a druid releases her companion from service, she may gain a new one by performing a ceremony requiring 24 uninterrupted hours of prayer. This ceremony can also replace an animal companion that has perished.I didn't see anything more than the 24hrs required for the ceremony in the SRD.
Nick Soapdish 02-28-04, 03:27 AM	Just a comment ... if you're using 3.5 and want a scouting familiar, you probably need to stick with the raven or thrush or something that can speak a language. In 3.5, the familiar only has an empathic link with its master instead of telepathic.
Castlmike 02-28-04, 04:37 AM	Familiars are "supposed" to be normal animals who become magical beasts when summoned. Votan mentioned the humble toad for 3.0 which gave you the +2 con and an additional HP a level. In 3.5 the toad still grants his master +3 HP. Personally think pretty big deal in a low level campaign levels 1 - 4 or so. Depending on your campaign your DM might allow a corollax which is a tiny magical beast basically a parrot with SR12 and the ability to colorspray and DR5/silver because with a successful handle animal check DC25 it can be persuaded to become a long term companion (MM2 with out requiring a special feat) if you were willing to adventure to get one. Might allow a Blood Hawk Fiend Folio (Tenser's Castle) or a Greater Raven (Raven's Bluff) still magical beasts so DM call.
pddisc 02-28-04, 06:31 AM	I played a spellsword, concentrating more on the combat side. I had a two-handed falchion with a rod of lesser maximisation built into the hilt (generous DM and Craft Magic Arms and Armour feat). The great thing was - I had a shield that floated next to me, which had my ferret hanging off it (increased his AC too! Total concealment!). At the start of the adventury part of the day (when we were cruising the astral plane, looking for githyanki), he had a chill touch cast on him - a touch per level. If we got into a combat, he would hurl himself at the enemy, and attempt to bite. Being only a ferret, most things ignored him, until he got a hold - at which point he was doing a point of damage plus the damage from the spell every round. If this got particularly annoying for someone, and they started to attack him, he would be alright - at half the hp of the master. That meant the ferret had more hp than the party's rogue. We killed a red dragon :D
PhaedrusXY 02-28-04, 06:33 AM	Originally posted by Nick Soapdish Just a comment ... if you're using 3.5 and want a scouting familiar, you probably need to stick with the raven or thrush or something that can speak a language. In 3.5, the familiar only has an empathic link with its master instead of telepathic. It was called an empathic link in 3.0 too, but then in the text it said telepathic. Guess they got around to fixing that. That sucks. That was one of the best things about familiars. Even with that, I know some people never took them when they played wizards because they didn't think it was worth the risk of XP loss if they died.
phb 02-28-04, 09:22 AM	One thing that hasn't been mentioned. With a familiar, you get a lot of options with alter self if you choose a familiar as large as possible. With a bat you get pretty much only the stirge as an alternate form, with a cat or a weasel you get more options for interesting magical beast forms. With alternate familiar feats there are probably lots more options.
CaptMeathead 02-28-04, 04:57 PM	Originally posted by Kilsek of Sheverash Any familiars or animal companions you've selected and played that surprised you with how good and flavorful they were? Yes, as a matter of fact! My Wizard recently aquired a dire "corn chip".......awesome....simply.....awesome.