Buffing the Weasel - Stupid Familiar Tricks [Archive] - Wizards Community

Buffing the Weasel - Stupid Familiar Tricks [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
otomik
03-25-05, 06:32 AM So you're level 7 and your familiar that was once amusing has become more of a liability than a functional arcane affectation. They really don't get any more abilities as you progress in levels, the most impressive thing about them (at least until level 13) is that they have hit points equal to half of yours. Chances are you're lacking for hit points. Politely ask your cleric companion (or anyone capable of casting Imbue with Spell Ability) to cast it on your familiar. I suggest a spell load including Cure Light Wounds, Ressurgence, Sanctuary and Shield Other or Cure Moderate Wounds (though you must pick 2 1st level and 1 2nd level). You can tell your mini cleric to cast any one of those spells on you as a free action, all while in the safety of your pack. You can tell him to go to others and heal which is convienent since the cleric may be busy, incapacitated or too far away (clerics are more frontline, wizards are artillery).

the Shield Other spell is a little more effective than a Cure Moderate Wounds in terms of boosting a mages hit points but it puts the familiar at some risk. Any time you take more 50 percent damage your familiar is going into negative territory and possibly dying. A good solution to this is to pick up the Improved Familiar feat and select the Ice Mephit. mephits have the ability to regenerate under certain conditions, cast ray of frost on your canteen regularly, this will provide ice to activate the ice mephits' fast healing ability (and having icewater is nice anyway). Now your familiar is generating 2 hit points a round that he can share with you, even if he goes unconscious he will be going unconscious while one hand is clutching some ice in your canteen so it's much less dangerous for him to go into negative levels.

Wizard level 7 might have a total of 26 hit points, his ice mephit familiar will have 13, it will take at least 26 points of damage to the wizard before the familiar goes unconscious (more if this takes a few rounds with the fast healing), and it will take at least 46 points of damage to the wizard to kill his familar (getting better as levels progress, but already we're talking about huge instant death-type damage). a Wizard that used to go unconscious at 26 and die at 36 damage, now takes 49 to go unconscious and 59 to kill, and you still get a lot of nice ancillary benefits.

possible problems:
1. It's ambiguious whether or not some familars can cast, by 7th level all familiars can speak with their master but only the raven speaks a proper language. The wizards website implies that this is a legal tactic.
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/tt/20050307a It's arguable if they have "humanlike" hands to cast, weasels have 5 fingers but no opposable thumb (though they are known for their abilities as healers and basilisk killers).
http://bestiary.ca/beasts/beast150.htm
2. don't forget to get all the components for your new tiny cleric, miniature divine focus, platinum rings for the shield other spell, etc. Maybe the cleric would get a kick out of making a mini-me and converting your familiar to their deity.
3. your DM might not be thrilled with the idea so it might not work out roleplaying-wise, but I don't think this is overpowered, it is a forth level spell afterall (though that might be a pittance to higher level characters).
Gnarl
03-25-05, 07:03 AM Rats also have paws similar to a weasel's, it probably should fit too.
I like the idea a lot too, having a healing mini cleric that looks like a rat.

You also have imbue familiar with spell, it's a 6th level spell though. But once your rat gets it's hands on magic jar, it gets very wicked. Mouahahahahah, I love rats.
Nukacola
03-25-05, 08:38 AM http://kaweahoaks.com/html/weasel.htm

I did a Google search for weasel paws, that's what I found. They look an awful lot like a cat's paws, definetly not humanlike.
Pinky's brain
03-25-05, 08:50 AM Someone on the CO board suggested something slightly more abusive than that ... max your UMD ranks and let your familiar activate magic items.
otomik
03-25-05, 09:17 AM yeah I'm looking at the suggested familiars list and it looks like none of them have developed enough hands to cast, activating magic items might be easier. The only mundane animal with developed hands that is suitable in CR and size would be the monkey, which is kind of cool. I'd give them a bonus +3 climb (just like the lizard familiar), too bad the monkey lacks a throwing attack...

I got this picture in my head of a wizard with a monkey on his should throwing crap and scorching rays like like miniture laser cannon on The Predator's shoulder.

how does imbue familiar with spell ability work to avoid the casting problems?
Nukacola
03-25-05, 09:32 AM Hey, that brings up a funny idea. Fireball's material component is a small ball of guano (is it bat guano? anyway..) It'd be hilarious if the spell-imbued monkey crapped into its hand (as monkeys are wont to do), balled it up, and used that as the fireball component. That'd bring the game to a screeching halt, i guarantee it.
Finarin Panjoro
03-25-05, 09:33 AM Buffing the Weasel has got to be the funniest thread title I've seen this year. :rofl:
Bonzai
03-25-05, 10:48 AM My Pale Master has a Stitched flesh Bat familiar. So it has flight, blindsense, and allows me to control 4hd more in undead. To make it even better, I spell stiched it. Since it has 14 wisdom, it can cast the following spells per day;

Three times a day: Negative Energy Ray
Twice a Day: Web, Darkness
Once a Day: Fireball, Vampiric Touch, Summon Undead 1

I love this. In combat it will hover at range and cast darkness, and blast away. With it's blindsense it has an advantage. It can heal my minions, it's self, and my PC (thanks to tomb tainted soul). Ironically, it has a higher caster lvl than my PC, as it's Caster lvl is equal to it's hd, which is equal to my Character lvl. Aslo, if ever it needs to do something that requires a pair of hands, or if it needs to carry something it summons a skeleton to do it for him.
otomik
03-25-05, 12:09 PM from the SRD, sorcerer's entryA slain or dismissed familiar cannot be replaced for a year and day.that kind of makes the whole Improved Familiar feat useless. Familiars are pretty poorly conceived and authors like Kestrel don't even know what they've created.
http://www.giantitp.com/cgi-bin/GiantITP/ootscript?SK=154
Pinky's brain
03-25-05, 12:26 PM Whereas Druids can have something like a Fleshraker dinosaur running along side them ... indeed familiars come up short.
otomik
03-25-05, 12:58 PM what bothers me about it is not that they're getting short changed compared to other classes or anything, it's that it's an integral part of the arcane character concept, they give bonuses that you're entitled to but it really doesn't fit everyone's character concept, and they really don't do enough to be worth the risk of ever taking them out of your pack. They die and you get a big xp loss, loss of their stat bonus after that you have the option of raising them for 5,000gp, waiting a year and a day to replace them or just giving up on the stat bonus.
tiercel
03-25-05, 03:59 PM If you are a bard with the Obtain Familiar feat (Complete Arcane) -- or an Arcane Trickster -- not only is it easy to get your familiar a pile of UMD ranks, but he can be mini-diplomat too -- take raven, which speaks, and you can allow him to do Diplomacy, Bluff, Sense Motive checks.... and/or, of course, you can invest in Hide, Move Silently, and Sleight of Hand.... the BBEG will feel pretty silly when that rat he didn't notice has taken his material component pouch and/or divine focus, or the Gem of Power he needs to invoke the Seven Standing Stones under the Winter Solstice.

Yeah... with the Improved Familiar feat, as written, you kind of have to plan ahead, and know from 1st level that you are "saving up" for a better familiar. Personally, as a DM I'd probably houserule that the penalty/waiting period is waived once, for the purpose of using the feat when it is first gained. That's just me though.

Oh, yeah, and "buffing the weasel" as a thread title.... snrrrrk. :D
Wyrd Bearer
03-25-05, 04:53 PM Whereas Druids can have something like a Fleshraker dinosaur running along side them ... indeed familiars come up short.

Just remember that a familiar is magically bound and has a respectable about of loyalty to their master. An animal companion is just that, a badger or what have you, that walks by the druid's side and does what it wants and occasionally does what the druid wants as well. (*grumbles* dang people who play animal companions like they are just another PC under their control)

As for buffing your familiar, take the stitched flesh familar from Libris Mortis and then spell stitch it as Bonzai mentioned. Just make sure to choose a high wisdom familiar to get the most out of it, like a toad or raven. Or just play a regular one and take all the familiar buff spells from complete warrior and arcane.

I don't see much use in the combat familiar feat. I'd much rather have something I can stuff in my pocket or bag of holding when I need to protect it.
PhaedrusXY
03-25-05, 05:16 PM Shield Other on a familiar with fast healing and/or regeneration is a great idea. A druid or shaman could also do this with their animal companion, and they could use the Vigor line of spells to grant both them and their companion Fast Healing temporarily. I made a thread a while back about the best uses of the Share Spells ability. I'll stick this in there later, and link to this thread. Oh yeah, and I agree that this is one of the best thread titles I've seen. :D
otomik
03-26-05, 03:08 AM Regeneration would work much better than fast healing but a standard familar following the guidelines has to be a mundane animal no bigger than tiny with a CR no better than 1/3. An improved familar still no bigger than small and CR no better than 3. So honestly how many creatures like that have regneration let alone fast healing?
PhaedrusXY
03-26-05, 05:08 PM So honestly how many creatures like that have regneration let alone fast healing?Alot of them... after you Polymorph them into something with Regeneration. :D Use Polymorph Any Object, and you can even make it permanent.
otomik
03-26-05, 06:26 PM but i thought you didn't get special qualities from a polymorph, regeneration is a special quality.
PhaedrusXY
03-26-05, 06:40 PM but i thought you didn't get special qualities from a polymorph, regeneration is a special quality.Ok, you're right. I houserule that you get all Extraordinary abilities in my games, and had forgotten that you don't normally. Imps are one of the familiars you can get with Improved Familiar (at least you could with the 3.0 version). They have Fast Healing 2. So do Quasits. The Fiendform spell also specifically grants you all the abilities of fiends that you polymorph into with it I think, so you could use it instead of the normal Polymorph spell.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
otomik 03-25-05, 06:32 AM	So you're level 7 and your familiar that was once amusing has become more of a liability than a functional arcane affectation. They really don't get any more abilities as you progress in levels, the most impressive thing about them (at least until level 13) is that they have hit points equal to half of yours. Chances are you're lacking for hit points. Politely ask your cleric companion (or anyone capable of casting Imbue with Spell Ability) to cast it on your familiar. I suggest a spell load including Cure Light Wounds, Ressurgence, Sanctuary and Shield Other or Cure Moderate Wounds (though you must pick 2 1st level and 1 2nd level). You can tell your mini cleric to cast any one of those spells on you as a free action, all while in the safety of your pack. You can tell him to go to others and heal which is convienent since the cleric may be busy, incapacitated or too far away (clerics are more frontline, wizards are artillery). the Shield Other spell is a little more effective than a Cure Moderate Wounds in terms of boosting a mages hit points but it puts the familiar at some risk. Any time you take more 50 percent damage your familiar is going into negative territory and possibly dying. A good solution to this is to pick up the Improved Familiar feat and select the Ice Mephit. mephits have the ability to regenerate under certain conditions, cast ray of frost on your canteen regularly, this will provide ice to activate the ice mephits' fast healing ability (and having icewater is nice anyway). Now your familiar is generating 2 hit points a round that he can share with you, even if he goes unconscious he will be going unconscious while one hand is clutching some ice in your canteen so it's much less dangerous for him to go into negative levels. Wizard level 7 might have a total of 26 hit points, his ice mephit familiar will have 13, it will take at least 26 points of damage to the wizard before the familiar goes unconscious (more if this takes a few rounds with the fast healing), and it will take at least 46 points of damage to the wizard to kill his familar (getting better as levels progress, but already we're talking about huge instant death-type damage). a Wizard that used to go unconscious at 26 and die at 36 damage, now takes 49 to go unconscious and 59 to kill, and you still get a lot of nice ancillary benefits. possible problems: 1. It's ambiguious whether or not some familars can cast, by 7th level all familiars can speak with their master but only the raven speaks a proper language. The wizards website implies that this is a legal tactic. http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/tt/20050307a It's arguable if they have "humanlike" hands to cast, weasels have 5 fingers but no opposable thumb (though they are known for their abilities as healers and basilisk killers). http://bestiary.ca/beasts/beast150.htm 2. don't forget to get all the components for your new tiny cleric, miniature divine focus, platinum rings for the shield other spell, etc. Maybe the cleric would get a kick out of making a mini-me and converting your familiar to their deity. 3. your DM might not be thrilled with the idea so it might not work out roleplaying-wise, but I don't think this is overpowered, it is a forth level spell afterall (though that might be a pittance to higher level characters).
Gnarl 03-25-05, 07:03 AM	Rats also have paws similar to a weasel's, it probably should fit too. I like the idea a lot too, having a healing mini cleric that looks like a rat. You also have imbue familiar with spell, it's a 6th level spell though. But once your rat gets it's hands on magic jar, it gets very wicked. Mouahahahahah, I love rats.
Nukacola 03-25-05, 08:38 AM	http://kaweahoaks.com/html/weasel.htm I did a Google search for weasel paws, that's what I found. They look an awful lot like a cat's paws, definetly not humanlike.
Pinky's brain 03-25-05, 08:50 AM	Someone on the CO board suggested something slightly more abusive than that ... max your UMD ranks and let your familiar activate magic items.
otomik 03-25-05, 09:17 AM	yeah I'm looking at the suggested familiars list and it looks like none of them have developed enough hands to cast, activating magic items might be easier. The only mundane animal with developed hands that is suitable in CR and size would be the monkey, which is kind of cool. I'd give them a bonus +3 climb (just like the lizard familiar), too bad the monkey lacks a throwing attack... I got this picture in my head of a wizard with a monkey on his should throwing crap and scorching rays like like miniture laser cannon on The Predator's shoulder. how does imbue familiar with spell ability work to avoid the casting problems?
Nukacola 03-25-05, 09:32 AM	Hey, that brings up a funny idea. Fireball's material component is a small ball of guano (is it bat guano? anyway..) It'd be hilarious if the spell-imbued monkey crapped into its hand (as monkeys are wont to do), balled it up, and used that as the fireball component. That'd bring the game to a screeching halt, i guarantee it.
Finarin Panjoro 03-25-05, 09:33 AM	Buffing the Weasel has got to be the funniest thread title I've seen this year. :rofl:
Bonzai 03-25-05, 10:48 AM	My Pale Master has a Stitched flesh Bat familiar. So it has flight, blindsense, and allows me to control 4hd more in undead. To make it even better, I spell stiched it. Since it has 14 wisdom, it can cast the following spells per day; Three times a day: Negative Energy Ray Twice a Day: Web, Darkness Once a Day: Fireball, Vampiric Touch, Summon Undead 1 I love this. In combat it will hover at range and cast darkness, and blast away. With it's blindsense it has an advantage. It can heal my minions, it's self, and my PC (thanks to tomb tainted soul). Ironically, it has a higher caster lvl than my PC, as it's Caster lvl is equal to it's hd, which is equal to my Character lvl. Aslo, if ever it needs to do something that requires a pair of hands, or if it needs to carry something it summons a skeleton to do it for him.
otomik 03-25-05, 12:09 PM	from the SRD, sorcerer's entryA slain or dismissed familiar cannot be replaced for a year and day.that kind of makes the whole Improved Familiar feat useless. Familiars are pretty poorly conceived and authors like Kestrel don't even know what they've created. http://www.giantitp.com/cgi-bin/GiantITP/ootscript?SK=154
Pinky's brain 03-25-05, 12:26 PM	Whereas Druids can have something like a Fleshraker dinosaur running along side them ... indeed familiars come up short.
otomik 03-25-05, 12:58 PM	what bothers me about it is not that they're getting short changed compared to other classes or anything, it's that it's an integral part of the arcane character concept, they give bonuses that you're entitled to but it really doesn't fit everyone's character concept, and they really don't do enough to be worth the risk of ever taking them out of your pack. They die and you get a big xp loss, loss of their stat bonus after that you have the option of raising them for 5,000gp, waiting a year and a day to replace them or just giving up on the stat bonus.
tiercel 03-25-05, 03:59 PM	If you are a bard with the Obtain Familiar feat (Complete Arcane) -- or an Arcane Trickster -- not only is it easy to get your familiar a pile of UMD ranks, but he can be mini-diplomat too -- take raven, which speaks, and you can allow him to do Diplomacy, Bluff, Sense Motive checks.... and/or, of course, you can invest in Hide, Move Silently, and Sleight of Hand.... the BBEG will feel pretty silly when that rat he didn't notice has taken his material component pouch and/or divine focus, or the Gem of Power he needs to invoke the Seven Standing Stones under the Winter Solstice. Yeah... with the Improved Familiar feat, as written, you kind of have to plan ahead, and know from 1st level that you are "saving up" for a better familiar. Personally, as a DM I'd probably houserule that the penalty/waiting period is waived once, for the purpose of using the feat when it is first gained. That's just me though. Oh, yeah, and "buffing the weasel" as a thread title.... snrrrrk. :D
Wyrd Bearer 03-25-05, 04:53 PM	Whereas Druids can have something like a Fleshraker dinosaur running along side them ... indeed familiars come up short. Just remember that a familiar is magically bound and has a respectable about of loyalty to their master. An animal companion is just that, a badger or what have you, that walks by the druid's side and does what it wants and occasionally does what the druid wants as well. (grumbles dang people who play animal companions like they are just another PC under their control) As for buffing your familiar, take the stitched flesh familar from Libris Mortis and then spell stitch it as Bonzai mentioned. Just make sure to choose a high wisdom familiar to get the most out of it, like a toad or raven. Or just play a regular one and take all the familiar buff spells from complete warrior and arcane. I don't see much use in the combat familiar feat. I'd much rather have something I can stuff in my pocket or bag of holding when I need to protect it.
PhaedrusXY 03-25-05, 05:16 PM	Shield Other on a familiar with fast healing and/or regeneration is a great idea. A druid or shaman could also do this with their animal companion, and they could use the Vigor line of spells to grant both them and their companion Fast Healing temporarily. I made a thread a while back about the best uses of the Share Spells ability. I'll stick this in there later, and link to this thread. Oh yeah, and I agree that this is one of the best thread titles I've seen. :D
otomik 03-26-05, 03:08 AM	Regeneration would work much better than fast healing but a standard familar following the guidelines has to be a mundane animal no bigger than tiny with a CR no better than 1/3. An improved familar still no bigger than small and CR no better than 3. So honestly how many creatures like that have regneration let alone fast healing?
PhaedrusXY 03-26-05, 05:08 PM	So honestly how many creatures like that have regneration let alone fast healing?Alot of them... after you Polymorph them into something with Regeneration. :D Use Polymorph Any Object, and you can even make it permanent.
otomik 03-26-05, 06:26 PM	but i thought you didn't get special qualities from a polymorph, regeneration is a special quality.
PhaedrusXY 03-26-05, 06:40 PM	but i thought you didn't get special qualities from a polymorph, regeneration is a special quality.Ok, you're right. I houserule that you get all Extraordinary abilities in my games, and had forgotten that you don't normally. Imps are one of the familiars you can get with Improved Familiar (at least you could with the 3.0 version). They have Fast Healing 2. So do Quasits. The Fiendform spell also specifically grants you all the abilities of fiends that you polymorph into with it I think, so you could use it instead of the normal Polymorph spell.