Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Redkun 07-02-07, 04:40 AM	I have a player who wants to take Improved Familiar in order to have a Pseudodragon familiar. As you'll probably already know, the description for Improved Familiar in the DMG (page 200) lists the pseudodragon as an appropriate familiar for a 7th level arcane caster (which he is). However, when I looked up Pseudodragon in the MM (page 210), I noticed that it has Level Adjustment +3. Having been iffy on LA in the past, I looked it up in the online glossary (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/glossary). Some creatures' level adjustment entries include the word "(cohort)." Although these creatures may be problematic as PCs, they make good companions for a character who has taken the Leadership feat. Some other creatures aren't intended for use as PCs or cohorts but can become companions through the use of the Improved Familiar feat. In these cases, the level adjustment entry is a dash followed by the words "(Improved Familiar)." Now here's the million gp question: does this mean that if my player takes the Improved Familiar feat and acquires a Psuedodragon familiar, his ECL is increased by +3?
Kouk 07-02-07, 06:46 AM	Level Adjustment only matters if you are using that creature as a PC or NPC. The character taking the Improved Familiar is the same ECL as any other character taking any other feat. As a character, a Pseudodragon would be a tiny flying blindsensing poison stinging little guy, and his various abilities would make him possibly more formidable than a human if you were to make characters with them, hence the level adjustment. This will just be a Familiar though, not a character and is limited in its advancement. The (cohort) indicates that it will be less of a problem allowing a Pseudodragon as a cohort for a character with the Leadership feat than as a character itself, though not by much I would wager.
goawayugh 07-03-07, 01:24 PM	You only need to worry about LA if you are using it as a PC. It has NOTHING to do with anything else at all.