Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Kouk 05-19-07, 11:31 PM	I have been thinking about Familiars and how they are used by the casters in groups I have been either a player or DM for. Usually they exist in some magical pocket dimension until the party wants an extra set of eyes or a scout/delivery boy for some reason. My theory is that the penalties are just too high to use a familiar for somewhat risky things, let alone delivering spells during combat (whether touching a friend or foe). If the familiar dies: If the familiar dies or is dismissed by the sorcerer, the sorcerer must attempt a DC 15 Fortitude saving throw. Failure means he loses 200 experience points per sorcerer level; success reduces the loss to one-half that amount. However, a sorcerer’s experience point total can never go below 0 as the result of a familiar’s demise or dismissal. A slain or dismissed familiar cannot be replaced for a year and day. A slain familiar can be raised from the dead just as a character can be, and it does not lose a level or a Constitution point when this happy event occurs. Not just sorcerers, but that is the SRD. The penalties for a dead familiar is an XP hit whether you save or not, and a year to summon a new one. Not to mention that you are without the little special abilities that familiars grant. Even dismissing a familiar counts like it was killed for some reason. Many times spellcasters also craft, and I think they want to prevent losing any more XP than they already have to from making things or getting killed in horrible glabrezu-related accidents. This also makes me wonder what the feats that make familiars more combat-ready are even for, unless you love gambling. How unbalancing would it really be if a familiar's death or dismissal carried no risk of XP penalty, and you could summon a new one in a much shorter amount of time - perhaps 1 month, or maybe 1 week? You would still have to suffer through the loss of your "beloved friend" and you would probably miss that bonus Alertness and whatever granted benefits you gained, and you would still have to pay the GP cost. Maybe the GP summoning cost could be scaled based on character level, such as 100gp per level, or something along those lines? I want to make it "safe" to do things with a familiar other than flying overhead looking for approaching enemies, or just granting Alertness and never leaving the master's side. So, now I would like you all to tell me how this is unbalanced and why. I don't see an inherent problem with a disposable familiar compared to one you have to wear rubber gloves to handle, so that is why I want some other opinions.
Fireclave 05-20-07, 12:01 AM	I, and most others, would agree that the penalties for having your familiar killed are way too harsh compared to the mechanical addvantages you get. A druid can replace her companion almost immediately and hit costs her no additonal xp or gp on her part. And a year and a day is way too long to regain one of your class features. Maybe a month at the most. However, I will admit that I agree with the flavor of the xp loss. Your familiar isn't just an fuzzy sidekick. It's an literal extention of yourself. When it dies, part of you dies as well (that, and I don't like the idea of loyal, sapient creatures being only thought of as disposable cannon fodder). I just don't think the xp loss should be so high, or instead there should be some more abilities to represent that "extension of one's self" connection. Which is why I made this (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?p=11227903#post11227903).