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The Pet Store: A Familiar Keeper's Handbook (by Krika)
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<blockquote data-quote="Nibelung" data-source="post: 6709605" data-attributes="member: 74499"><p><strong>Originally posted by Krika:</strong></p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: 22px">Picking and Choosing: The Managerie</span></p><p></p><p> <strong>Heroic Familiars</strong></p><p>[sblock]</p><p><strong>Arcane Eye</strong> (Dra 374):The Active benefit can be useful for sneaking up ahead, and using psuedo-scry-and-die tactics to get a preemptive strike going. Other than that biggie, not much coming for this.</p><p><strong>Badger </strong>(Dra 374 ):Mix of defensive and offensive capabilities. Those who spend time bloodied will apreciate the damage bonus. The sacrifice power doesn't do very much, as few arcane users care overmuch about Con, but it has its uses.</p><p><span style="color: #0000ff">Bantam Fastieth</span> (Dra 377): Great mobility, although no shifting. Skill bonus is situational, although movement is kind of the point of this familiar. Oh well. Almost given +2 to speed though, which is nice.</p><p><span style="color: #0000ff">Bat</span> (AP): This is one of the 'bombing' familiars. Handy for flushing out lurkers, or (if your DM hates you) invisible creatures. Has redeeming qualities as a scout as well.</p><p>Bloodthorn Vine Barb (Dra 377): Forest walk is almost never useful, and the imp gives you more THP on average. Nothing to see, move along.</p><p><span style="color: #0000ff">Book Imp</span> (AP): Extensive passive benefits. Invisiblity can be a very handy trick for scouting.</p><p><span style="color: #800080">Bound Demon </span>(AP): Nice scaling source of THP. Can be a boon, but other than that, nothing here. </p><p><span style="color: #800080">Canine Construct </span>(Dra 374): If the resist all was higher, it might be helpful. As it is, it is too little to do anything. This is a suboptimal choice, unless you have some strange fascination with Warding rituals.</p><p><span style="color: #00ccff">Cat</span><span style="color: #00ffff"></span></p><p><span style="color: #00ffff"></span>(AP): One of the premier scouting familiars. No range limit, bonus to stealth. The passive bonus is just gravy on the cake. </p><p><span style="color: #ff0000">Clockwork Scorpion</span><span style="color: #ff0000"></span></p><p><span style="color: #ff0000"></span>(Dra 377): You need to have a poison or oil to make use of this, which means this requires continuing investment. Very bad, you have better things to spend money on.</p><p><span style="color: #0000ff"><strong>Coure Attendant</strong></span> (Dra 390): Very, very nice. Gains something of the Disembodied Hand's stick, but it's only once per turn, so not that broken. The active beneft on the other hand....is made of win. +2 to its defenses, and an aura 2 that forces enemies to grant CA? If it dies, and is brought back in the same encounter, you lose this, but still. Made of win.</p><p>Crafter Homunculus (AP): If you have alchemical bent, this can be helpful. The ritual bonus can also be helpful, but I don't think that there are many creation rituals with skill checks involved.</p><p><strong>Critic Lizard</strong> (Dra 397): The passive bonuses are certainly good ones (Perception arguably being the best skill, and more initiative is always good). The active feature, on the other hand, isn't bad, but unless you get alot of surprise rounds won't see much use, and isn't that strong unless you have the PP to get full use out of it.</p><p><span style="color: #0000ff">Disembodied Hand</span><span style="color: #0000ff"></span></p><p><span style="color: #0000ff"></span>(Dra 374): Being able to stow and retrieve as a free action, i.e., no limit on times per round, can do crazy things for anyone. Being able to use Thievery is just the sub-optimal icing. </p><p>Dragonling (AP): Suited for Dragon sorcerers in most ways. The surge bonus doesn't scale as you spend more surges, sadly. Others might get some use out of it. </p><p><span style="color: #0000ff">Dragonmark Reflection</span> (Dra 377): One of those who you need to be an Artificer (possibly Mark of Making too) to benefit from. Extra healing? Heck yeah! Free Arcane Mark as a standard action is also just fun to work with.</p><p><span style="color: #0000ff">Falcon</span> (AP): Farther range is always good, combined with the fact that you can shoot from it. The bonus versus oppurtunity attacks can be situational, but handy. Good for Swordmages.</p><p><strong>Fiddling Grig</strong> (Dra 390): Saves you 100 gp which is nice in the lower tiers, and gives you a bunch of rituals you probably don't have otherwise. Nice, but depending on your group might not come in handy very often. The active benefit can come in handy, but is dependant on hitting. Still, enemies losing their way to punish you for moving away is very helpful in the right situation.</p><p>Fire Lizard (Dra 374): Fire is a common damage type, so resist is helpful, and the familiar won't die from it. A solid choice, especially for sorcerers.</p><p><span style="color: #0000ff"><strong>Floating Polyp</strong></span> (Dra 397): This gives you <em>very </em>nice boosts for jumping around (especially since running starts effectively double your jump distance). The death feature might be interesting to work into a minor suicide machine, but the damage doesn't scale, sadly. Blindsight is nice for Sight of the Familiar, though.</p><p>Floating Weapon (Dra 377): For the melee focused user. Defenses are higher enough to keep it around longer, and it gives you a chance to position yourself more appropriately.</p><p><span style="color: #800080">Gadfly</span><span style="color: #800080"></span></p><p><span style="color: #800080"></span>(Dra 374): If only the bonus was for all attacks. Nothing really saves this one from consignment. </p><p>Gallant Hawk (Dra 382): Can give you a bit of defender to work with. Obviously more synergy with Swordmage, who will have more marks, but others can add defender-lite to their build. <span style="color: #0000ff">Blue</span> for swormages, who will like the extra marking in heroic.</p><p><span style="color: #800080"><strong>Hurrum</strong></span> (Dra 397): OK, being unable to go into direct sunlight kills this metaphorically and literally. That's much too big of a drawback, for what you get. You might be able to to weird things with Pacifying Drone, but there's not much here.</p><p><strong>Jank</strong> (Dra 397): Low-light vision is nice if your DM keeps track of that sort of thing. The extra damage is nice, but not great. However, if you actually keep track of survival days, this goes to <span style="color: #0000ff"><strong>Blue</strong></span>, simply because you stay neutral on the number of survival days you consume, which is awesome for long-distance hauls.</p><p><span style="color: #0000ff"><strong>Kes'trekel</strong></span> (Dra 397): Untyped damage roll bonus. That is all. Perception is nice, you might be able to cheese the pushing some. But the damage bonus is what you want here.</p><p><strong>Kivit</strong> (Dra 397): Being able to punish people for attack you has some limited use for a defender (1/enc weak Catch-22, basically). It's nice that it scales, but poison isn't the best damage type, sadly. Improved defenses against opportunity attacks and Perception bonus are nice touches, though.</p><p>Least Air Elemental (Dra 382): Doesn't mention the weight limit for the moving object. The passive benefit is situational, but if you're trained in Acrobatics you can fall small distances with little or no damage. EDIT: The issue compilation gives the weight limit at 20 lbs. So there we go.</p><p>Least Earth Elemental (Dra 382): Your hard to knock down, and you know who is is the same square as your familiar. Annnnnd not much else.</p><p>Lightning Lizard (Dra 374): A fire lizard, only with lightning. Storm Sorcerers find this to be their heroic tier familiar of choice.</p><p>Magpie (Dra 377): Disembodied Hand is strictly better. Skill bonuses really can't replace free stow/retrieve, making this not something you'll want.</p><p>Marmoset (Dra 377): It can get total +4 to Thievery. Higher than most with the ability to work locks, but still not much else to make you want to have this.</p><p><span style="color: #800080">Moon Wisp</span> (Dra 382): The light can be very handy, no more torches! The concealment negtion is a minor bombing effect that doesn't come up often. Like all Gloaming Path familiars, not very good.</p><p><span style="color: #800080">Muse Sprite</span> (Dra 382): The Messenger bit is confusing on how it works, and the rerolls come too unfrequently to be of much use. Light doesn't add much. EDIT: The compiled version clarifies Messenger. It can deliver messages within 5 miles. Still not useful.</p><p><span style="color: #ff0000">Octopus</span> (Dra 377): If you're in an aquatic campaign, this is an extremely good familiar. Dragon poo everywhere else</p><p><span style="color: #800080">Ooze </span>(Dra 382): Tremorsense can be situationally useful, and it can hide in very small places. Not really much going in this one. </p><p><span style="color: #ff0000">Oso</span></p><p><span style="color: #800080">la</span></p><p><span style="color: #00ccff">Fez</span> (Dra 375/376): The version in the Builder is horrible. If your DM lets you use the version as shown in the column, upgrade to <span style="color: #800080">Purple</span>. If your DM is insane enough to allow the original version, <span style="color: #00ccff">Sky Blue</span>.</p><p>Owl (AP): The skill bonuses are slightly better then the normal. Owl's Eyes is a great boon for scouting, if you can get the range farther. Other than that, nothing going.</p><p><span style="color: #ff0000">Parrot</span> (Dra 374): A slower raven with slightly more useful skill bonuses. Like the raven, a bad choice.</p><p>Rat (AP): A bit like the Marmoset. It can debatebly manipulate Thieves Tools, but doesn't gain a bonus to Thievery. Potential +7 to Stealth is nice though. Past that, there isn't really much here.</p><p><span style="color: #ff0000">Raven </span>(AP): The active benefit is a very medicrore RP benefit, and one with limited applications. The passive benefit is very situational. Not a good choice at all. </p><p><span style="color: #800080">Rootling</span><span style="color: #800080"></span></p><p><span style="color: #800080"></span>(Dra 372): If you spend almost all of your time in the forest, this is good. If you don't, a trap</p><p><span style="color: #800080">Saddle Squire</span><span style="color: #800080"></span></p><p><span style="color: #800080"></span>(Dra 377): Ok, you have a mount. Want a prize for it? This makes it better. But not by much. Very bad. </p><p><span style="color: #33cccc">Scouting Homunculus</span><span style="color: #0000ff"></span></p><p><span style="color: #0000ff"></span>(Dra 372): A mile is more than you will ever need it to be away from you for scouting, and is much more consistent at being stealthy. An excelent familiar, especially for scouting. </p><p>Serpent (AP): The shifting could be helpful, but it woun't come up that often. You can also bomb enemies to set up a rush past some enemies.</p><p><strong>Shadow Raven </strong>(HoS): Perception is always good, but the defense bonus is entirely DM dependent, and so unreliable. Partial concealment on demand is always hand, though. If your DM tends to spring surprise rounds on you often, this can upgrade to a <strong><span style="color: #0000ff">Blue</span></strong>.</p><p><span style="color: #ff0000"><strong>Sitak</strong></span> (Dra 397): No. An additional language is crappy (There's a level 2 or 3 item that does better than that), skill bonuses are OK, and the active benefit is terrible. You can get better ways to boost Bluff and Diplomacy.</p><p><span style="color: #ff0000">Skull</span> (Dra 372): Basic skill bonuses, and a very situational benefit. Shouldn't you at least get resist necrotic, or something like that? </p><p><span style="color: #800080">Soarwood Wings</span> (Dra 377): Fly speeds are late game benefits, and +1 to them generally doesn't do much. It also doesn't affect powers that say "fly X squares." Being able to fly yourself or enemies out of places can be situationally useful.</p><p><span style="color: #0000ff">Specter</span> (Dra 382): Undead campaigns give this plenty of use. Incorporeal is a very nice boon for positioning it. Necrotic is also a very common damage type, so that is handy. Good overall. </p><p>Spider (AP): One of the familiars that can manipulate objects. Cool thing though is the object can be up to 5 squares away. Save penalty to slowing effects is minor, probably won't come up often.</p><p><span style="color: #800080"><strong>Sprite</strong></span> (HotF): Using Arcana to detect magic as a minor is nice....if you actually do that in combat. Free torch might be good, if your DM actually cares about that sort of thing? Nothing exciting herer.</p><p>Summoner Homunculus (Dra 377): For you who summon you own armies, i.e. Wizards. This is very helpful for when you summon things. Your personal army just got a little better. '</p><p><span style="color: #0000ff">Tiny Gelatinous Cube</span><span style="color: #00ffff"></span></p><p><span style="color: #00ffff"></span>(Dra 382): Invisible, so they can't see you, and you can eat through them. Everything organic and non-living is eatable. You can even make a wooden statue if your DM lets you! Definitely very high quality. Always a good choice. </p><p><span style="color: #0000ff">Toad</span><span style="color: #0000ff"></span></p><p><span style="color: #0000ff"></span>(Dra 374): Increases your survivability, which is always good, as well as giving a little extra healing once per encounter. A solid choice for anyone. </p><p><span style="color: #0000ff">Tome Caddy</span><span style="color: #0000ff"></span></p><p><span style="color: #0000ff"></span>(Dra 377): You can get use tomes, and don't have to hold them to use them. The summoner gets a benefit from this, especially artificers who can't use tomes normally. Tomes also have many benefits for summoners. </p><p>Warforged Faceplate (Dra 377): Ongoing damage is always bad, so this saving throw benefit is nice. No surprise is situationaly useful, but could never come up.</p><p>Weasel (Dra 374):You have the standard +5 stealth, and resistance to oppurtunity attacks. It can move around and avoid the enemy, but not much else.</p><p><span style="color: #ff0000">White Eyed Crow</span><span style="color: #ff0000"></span></p><p><span style="color: #ff0000"></span>(Dra 382): Surprise doesn't happen nearly enough to make this useful. The reroll is too situational to be very handy. All in all, not a good choice.</p><p><strong>Wrab</strong> (Dra 397): Terrible passives, but being able reroll just about any Insight check you make is incredibly useful if you need it. Being able to get scaling THP isn't bad either. Not great, but not bad either.</p><p><span style="color: #800080"><strong>Z'tal</strong></span> (Dra 397): There are better ways to move around faster available, and not many arcane characters go for the Chargecheese route. Deafened is a terrible condition to impose, but preventing opportunitiy attacks is rather nice, especially as an effect.</p><p></p><p><strong>Sha'ir Familiars</strong></p><p>[sblock]</p><p>Ah, these elementally-charged boys are ones that are specific to the Sha'ir subclass of the Wizard. Only they can access these (and there aren't any ways to multiclass into it), so unless you're playing one, you shouldn't be looking here. Also, all of them can be the origin square for a close arcane attack once per encounter.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #0000ff"><strong>Daolanin</strong></span> (HotEC): Having a roving mobile source of difficult terrain is an awesome feature, even tied to such a frail feature. Pushing on a daily isn't always useful, but being able to use it as a mobile turret to direct the push in an appropriate direction makes up for it.</p><p><strong>Djinnling</strong> (HotEC): Very, very controllery. You can slide enemies and allies (so a touch of leader in there) as a minor action, or with a daily. Not one of the stronger Sha'ir options to say the least. You might not have the minor to make the constant benefit worth it, and the daily addition is weak to say the least, even with some interesting repositioning potential.</p><p><strong><span style="color: #800080">Efreetkin</span></strong> (HotEC): Let us consider that fire is one of the most commonly resisted damage types. Let us also consider the pitful damage that is tacked onto your dailies. Let us also consider that Fire Resist isn't all that hard to get (and is often outshown by such races as Genasi and Tieflings). The weakest of the Sha'ir familiars by far.</p><p><span style="color: #0000ff"><strong>Maridan</strong></span> (HotEC): On the other hand, this is utterly amazing. The constant benefit is campaign specific, but potentially nice. On the other hand, the daily addition blows any potential downside out of the water (see what I did there? huh?). Auto slowing, and granting allies partial concealment? That can be a game-swinger (if they daily wasn't already), and is very much worth having. The only hard part is making sure that it doesn't die before it gets surrounded.</p><p>[/sblock]</p><p>[/sblock]</p><p></p><p><strong>Paragon Tier Familiars</strong></p><p>[sblock]</p><p><span style="color: #0000ff">Air Mephit</span><span style="color: #0000ff"></span></p><p><span style="color: #0000ff"></span>(Dra 374): A slightly better version of the Book Imp. This is The Familiar of choice for Storm Sorcerers, and those with Book Imps might like to second resistance. </p><p>Ambush Vine Shoot (Dra 377): Climbing and swimming generally have better alternatives. The save penalty is very situational, and you have to be into restrained/immboilized conditions to make use of it.</p><p><span style="color: #0000ff">Arcane Wisp</span><span style="color: #0000ff"></span></p><p><span style="color: #0000ff"></span>(Dra 374): The teleporting people will like this, as it applies to all ways that you could possibly teleport. Having a save-it's-energy ability can really come in handy if you need it to stay active a lot. A solid choice</p><p><span style="color: #800080">Beholderkin</span> (Dra 374): Autodamage somebody once per encounter with a random damage type. Sadly, three out of the four are fairly common resist types, although this can be a good way to use up resist variable (x/encounter). </p><p><span style="color: #800080">Blackspawn Darkling</span> (Dra 374): Stealthy, but that's about it that you can find here. If you want a scout, but can't or won't take the better heroic tier ones, but really, why wouldn't you?</p><p>Bluespawn Nimblespark (Dra 374): It shocks them when it is hit. When its hit, it dies. Could be handy, but not a particularly useful ability, as you will in the vast majority of situations not want it to trigger.</p><p><span style="color: #0000ff">Crawling Clot</span> (Dra 377): We get a familiar that does healing by itself. Resist necrotic that increases when bloodied, a unique trait for this one, but the healing would be the draw. Excellent for builds that need a bit more healing that aren't an artificer.</p><p>Dimensional Pet (Dra 374): A slightly worse version of the Arcane Wisp. Trading a save your familiar ability for a negate teleport, which might never come up, is just a bad trade.</p><p>Earth Mephit (Dra 374): You are harder to mover around, which can be situationally handy, and you can block a space for a turn. I see some uses, but none come up very often.</p><p><span style="color: #800080">Fire Mephit</span> (Dra 374): Really, the active benefit has a heroic alternative that is much more controllable, and you don't have anything exceptional in the passive zone. </p><p><span style="color: #800080">Grayspawn Shortfang</span> (Dra 374): Tougher to kill, but nothing else is coming to mind here. </p><p>Greenspawn Banespike (Dra 374): If you have a good Bluff check, the active benefits can be an easy way to gain CA as a minor action. Slightly better than the other dragonspawn familiars.</p><p><span style="color: #33cccc">Ice Mephit</span> (Dra 374): The best bombing familiar you can have. 3X3 dificult terrain as a minor action? A well placed set can disrupt enemies plans better than you could think possible. Pair with a fighter or other sticky defender, and that's several enemies who aren't going anywhere. </p><p><span style="color: #33cccc">Living Infusion</span><span style="color: #00ffff"></span></p><p><span style="color: #00ffff"></span>(Dra 377): Take the already good Infusions of the Artificer, and throw in the Shaman's stick of spreading the love around. This makes an already good feature even better. Halving the casting time for restoration rituals is just gravy. </p><p>Minor Fowlspawn (Dra 377): Extra damage is never bad, and this gives a decent amount. Your DM might allow this damage to trigger Psychic Lock, in which case this is very good if you have powers that don't do psychic damage.</p><p><span style="color: #33cccc">Rakshasa Claw </span>(Dra 374): If you have a Disembodied Hand, trade it for this. It gives you exactly the same stuff, plus some extras. A great choice. </p><p><span style="color: #800080">Redspawn Spitfire</span> (Dra 374): A redux of the Grayspawn with a slightly more common damage type. *yawn*</p><p>Smith's Hammer (Dra 377): You get an additional use of a minor, if handy class feature and a sacrificial bonus to defenses, which is better if it is a warforged. Better choices exist for an artificer, but this is solid.</p><p>Stone Fowl (Dra 374): Being able to get a bonus against slowed, which is one of the most common conditions listed, can be a life saver, albiet one that might not come up very often.</p><p><span style="color: #800080">Tinker Feyling</span> (Dra 377): You can use Arcane Empowerment in-battle. Not enough to give this a good rating, as you can probably just use it before the battle. </p><p><span style="color: #800080">Whitespawn Snowstepper</span> (Dra 374): You can get a damage reduction, which is better if the damage is cold, even though this gives you resist cold, which will stack on it. If you are going to be in the tundra, this will do you nicely. Otherwise, just skip it.</p><p>[/sblock]</p><p></p><p><strong>Epic Tier Familiars</strong></p><p>[sblock]</p><p>Blazing Skull (Dra 374): Deserves mention as the fastest familiar on the lists going by the base speed. Basically a Skull with various fire elements included. Not a particularly good choice.</p><p>Chaos Shard (Dra 374): Dominated is always a bummer, but the real draw is the active benefit. You can use this to target people way out of your range normally. Great for wizards in that respect.</p><p><span style="color: #0000ff">Gibbering Pet</span><span style="color: #0000ff"></span></p><p><span style="color: #0000ff"></span>(Dra 374): One in four chance to effectively speak all languages is great, and the others are all useful at this tier. The active benefit is great for messing with artillery and controllers. Sadly though, you will most likely only get one or two uses out of it. </p><p>Lingering Nightmare (Dra 377): For those of you who focus on fear powers, this provides a nice way to further debuff your enemies. Besides that, nothing special here.</p><p><span style="color: #0000ff">Shadow Incarnate </span>(Dra 374): Lightly obscuring the square might draw the enemies attention if it isn't in the shadows, and you can do a scry-and-die with scouting ahead. Has some stealthy bonuses for a good scouting familiar. </p><p><span style="color: #800080">Silver Lamp</span><span style="color: #800080"></span></p><p><span style="color: #800080"></span>(Dra 377): Very demon specific. If you're not fighting demons, all the good effects of this go to waste, and you're left with pretty much nothing.</p><p>[/sblock]</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Nibelung, post: 6709605, member: 74499"] [b]Originally posted by Krika:[/b] [SIZE=6]Picking and Choosing: The Managerie[/SIZE] [b]Heroic Familiars[/b] [sblock] [b]Arcane Eye[/b] (Dra 374):The Active benefit can be useful for sneaking up ahead, and using psuedo-scry-and-die tactics to get a preemptive strike going. Other than that biggie, not much coming for this. [b]Badger [/b](Dra 374 ):Mix of defensive and offensive capabilities. Those who spend time bloodied will apreciate the damage bonus. The sacrifice power doesn't do very much, as few arcane users care overmuch about Con, but it has its uses. [COLOR=#0000ff]Bantam Fastieth[/COLOR] (Dra 377): Great mobility, although no shifting. Skill bonus is situational, although movement is kind of the point of this familiar. Oh well. Almost given +2 to speed though, which is nice. [COLOR=#0000ff]Bat[/COLOR] (AP): This is one of the 'bombing' familiars. Handy for flushing out lurkers, or (if your DM hates you) invisible creatures. Has redeeming qualities as a scout as well. Bloodthorn Vine Barb (Dra 377): Forest walk is almost never useful, and the imp gives you more THP on average. Nothing to see, move along. [COLOR=#0000ff]Book Imp[/COLOR] (AP): Extensive passive benefits. Invisiblity can be a very handy trick for scouting. [COLOR=#800080]Bound Demon [/COLOR](AP): Nice scaling source of THP. Can be a boon, but other than that, nothing here. [COLOR=#800080]Canine Construct [/COLOR](Dra 374): If the resist all was higher, it might be helpful. As it is, it is too little to do anything. This is a suboptimal choice, unless you have some strange fascination with Warding rituals. [COLOR=#00ccff]Cat[/COLOR][COLOR=#00ffff] [/COLOR](AP): One of the premier scouting familiars. No range limit, bonus to stealth. The passive bonus is just gravy on the cake. [COLOR=#ff0000]Clockwork Scorpion[/COLOR][COLOR=#ff0000] [/COLOR](Dra 377): You need to have a poison or oil to make use of this, which means this requires continuing investment. Very bad, you have better things to spend money on. [COLOR=#0000ff][b]Coure Attendant[/b][/COLOR] (Dra 390): Very, very nice. Gains something of the Disembodied Hand's stick, but it's only once per turn, so not that broken. The active beneft on the other hand....is made of win. +2 to its defenses, and an aura 2 that forces enemies to grant CA? If it dies, and is brought back in the same encounter, you lose this, but still. Made of win. Crafter Homunculus (AP): If you have alchemical bent, this can be helpful. The ritual bonus can also be helpful, but I don't think that there are many creation rituals with skill checks involved. [b]Critic Lizard[/b] (Dra 397): The passive bonuses are certainly good ones (Perception arguably being the best skill, and more initiative is always good). The active feature, on the other hand, isn't bad, but unless you get alot of surprise rounds won't see much use, and isn't that strong unless you have the PP to get full use out of it. [COLOR=#0000ff]Disembodied Hand[/COLOR][COLOR=#0000ff] [/COLOR](Dra 374): Being able to stow and retrieve as a free action, i.e., no limit on times per round, can do crazy things for anyone. Being able to use Thievery is just the sub-optimal icing. Dragonling (AP): Suited for Dragon sorcerers in most ways. The surge bonus doesn't scale as you spend more surges, sadly. Others might get some use out of it. [COLOR=#0000ff]Dragonmark Reflection[/COLOR] (Dra 377): One of those who you need to be an Artificer (possibly Mark of Making too) to benefit from. Extra healing? Heck yeah! Free Arcane Mark as a standard action is also just fun to work with. [COLOR=#0000ff]Falcon[/COLOR] (AP): Farther range is always good, combined with the fact that you can shoot from it. The bonus versus oppurtunity attacks can be situational, but handy. Good for Swordmages. [b]Fiddling Grig[/b] (Dra 390): Saves you 100 gp which is nice in the lower tiers, and gives you a bunch of rituals you probably don't have otherwise. Nice, but depending on your group might not come in handy very often. The active benefit can come in handy, but is dependant on hitting. Still, enemies losing their way to punish you for moving away is very helpful in the right situation. Fire Lizard (Dra 374): Fire is a common damage type, so resist is helpful, and the familiar won't die from it. A solid choice, especially for sorcerers. [COLOR=#0000ff][b]Floating Polyp[/b][/COLOR] (Dra 397): This gives you [i]very [/i]nice boosts for jumping around (especially since running starts effectively double your jump distance). The death feature might be interesting to work into a minor suicide machine, but the damage doesn't scale, sadly. Blindsight is nice for Sight of the Familiar, though. Floating Weapon (Dra 377): For the melee focused user. Defenses are higher enough to keep it around longer, and it gives you a chance to position yourself more appropriately. [COLOR=#800080]Gadfly[/COLOR][COLOR=#800080] [/COLOR](Dra 374): If only the bonus was for all attacks. Nothing really saves this one from consignment. Gallant Hawk (Dra 382): Can give you a bit of defender to work with. Obviously more synergy with Swordmage, who will have more marks, but others can add defender-lite to their build. [COLOR=#0000ff]Blue[/COLOR] for swormages, who will like the extra marking in heroic. [COLOR=#800080][b]Hurrum[/b][/COLOR] (Dra 397): OK, being unable to go into direct sunlight kills this metaphorically and literally. That's much too big of a drawback, for what you get. You might be able to to weird things with Pacifying Drone, but there's not much here. [b]Jank[/b] (Dra 397): Low-light vision is nice if your DM keeps track of that sort of thing. The extra damage is nice, but not great. However, if you actually keep track of survival days, this goes to [COLOR=#0000ff][b]Blue[/b][/COLOR], simply because you stay neutral on the number of survival days you consume, which is awesome for long-distance hauls. [COLOR=#0000ff][b]Kes'trekel[/b][/COLOR] (Dra 397): Untyped damage roll bonus. That is all. Perception is nice, you might be able to cheese the pushing some. But the damage bonus is what you want here. [b]Kivit[/b] (Dra 397): Being able to punish people for attack you has some limited use for a defender (1/enc weak Catch-22, basically). It's nice that it scales, but poison isn't the best damage type, sadly. Improved defenses against opportunity attacks and Perception bonus are nice touches, though. Least Air Elemental (Dra 382): Doesn't mention the weight limit for the moving object. The passive benefit is situational, but if you're trained in Acrobatics you can fall small distances with little or no damage. EDIT: The issue compilation gives the weight limit at 20 lbs. So there we go. Least Earth Elemental (Dra 382): Your hard to knock down, and you know who is is the same square as your familiar. Annnnnd not much else. Lightning Lizard (Dra 374): A fire lizard, only with lightning. Storm Sorcerers find this to be their heroic tier familiar of choice. Magpie (Dra 377): Disembodied Hand is strictly better. Skill bonuses really can't replace free stow/retrieve, making this not something you'll want. Marmoset (Dra 377): It can get total +4 to Thievery. Higher than most with the ability to work locks, but still not much else to make you want to have this. [COLOR=#800080]Moon Wisp[/COLOR] (Dra 382): The light can be very handy, no more torches! The concealment negtion is a minor bombing effect that doesn't come up often. Like all Gloaming Path familiars, not very good. [COLOR=#800080]Muse Sprite[/COLOR] (Dra 382): The Messenger bit is confusing on how it works, and the rerolls come too unfrequently to be of much use. Light doesn't add much. EDIT: The compiled version clarifies Messenger. It can deliver messages within 5 miles. Still not useful. [COLOR=#ff0000]Octopus[/COLOR] (Dra 377): If you're in an aquatic campaign, this is an extremely good familiar. Dragon poo everywhere else [COLOR=#800080]Ooze [/COLOR](Dra 382): Tremorsense can be situationally useful, and it can hide in very small places. Not really much going in this one. [COLOR=#ff0000]Oso[/COLOR] [COLOR=#800080]la[/COLOR] [COLOR=#00ccff]Fez[/COLOR] (Dra 375/376): The version in the Builder is horrible. If your DM lets you use the version as shown in the column, upgrade to [COLOR=#800080]Purple[/COLOR]. If your DM is insane enough to allow the original version, [COLOR=#00ccff]Sky Blue[/COLOR]. Owl (AP): The skill bonuses are slightly better then the normal. Owl's Eyes is a great boon for scouting, if you can get the range farther. Other than that, nothing going. [COLOR=#ff0000]Parrot[/COLOR] (Dra 374): A slower raven with slightly more useful skill bonuses. Like the raven, a bad choice. Rat (AP): A bit like the Marmoset. It can debatebly manipulate Thieves Tools, but doesn't gain a bonus to Thievery. Potential +7 to Stealth is nice though. Past that, there isn't really much here. [COLOR=#ff0000]Raven [/COLOR](AP): The active benefit is a very medicrore RP benefit, and one with limited applications. The passive benefit is very situational. Not a good choice at all. [COLOR=#800080]Rootling[/COLOR][COLOR=#800080] [/COLOR](Dra 372): If you spend almost all of your time in the forest, this is good. If you don't, a trap [COLOR=#800080]Saddle Squire[/COLOR][COLOR=#800080] [/COLOR](Dra 377): Ok, you have a mount. Want a prize for it? This makes it better. But not by much. Very bad. [COLOR=#33cccc]Scouting Homunculus[/COLOR][COLOR=#0000ff] [/COLOR](Dra 372): A mile is more than you will ever need it to be away from you for scouting, and is much more consistent at being stealthy. An excelent familiar, especially for scouting. Serpent (AP): The shifting could be helpful, but it woun't come up that often. You can also bomb enemies to set up a rush past some enemies. [b]Shadow Raven [/b](HoS): Perception is always good, but the defense bonus is entirely DM dependent, and so unreliable. Partial concealment on demand is always hand, though. If your DM tends to spring surprise rounds on you often, this can upgrade to a [b][COLOR=#0000ff]Blue[/COLOR][/b]. [COLOR=#ff0000][b]Sitak[/b][/COLOR] (Dra 397): No. An additional language is crappy (There's a level 2 or 3 item that does better than that), skill bonuses are OK, and the active benefit is terrible. You can get better ways to boost Bluff and Diplomacy. [COLOR=#ff0000]Skull[/COLOR] (Dra 372): Basic skill bonuses, and a very situational benefit. Shouldn't you at least get resist necrotic, or something like that? [COLOR=#800080]Soarwood Wings[/COLOR] (Dra 377): Fly speeds are late game benefits, and +1 to them generally doesn't do much. It also doesn't affect powers that say "fly X squares." Being able to fly yourself or enemies out of places can be situationally useful. [COLOR=#0000ff]Specter[/COLOR] (Dra 382): Undead campaigns give this plenty of use. Incorporeal is a very nice boon for positioning it. Necrotic is also a very common damage type, so that is handy. Good overall. Spider (AP): One of the familiars that can manipulate objects. Cool thing though is the object can be up to 5 squares away. Save penalty to slowing effects is minor, probably won't come up often. [COLOR=#800080][b]Sprite[/b][/COLOR] (HotF): Using Arcana to detect magic as a minor is nice....if you actually do that in combat. Free torch might be good, if your DM actually cares about that sort of thing? Nothing exciting herer. Summoner Homunculus (Dra 377): For you who summon you own armies, i.e. Wizards. This is very helpful for when you summon things. Your personal army just got a little better. ' [COLOR=#0000ff]Tiny Gelatinous Cube[/COLOR][COLOR=#00ffff] [/COLOR](Dra 382): Invisible, so they can't see you, and you can eat through them. Everything organic and non-living is eatable. You can even make a wooden statue if your DM lets you! Definitely very high quality. Always a good choice. [COLOR=#0000ff]Toad[/COLOR][COLOR=#0000ff] [/COLOR](Dra 374): Increases your survivability, which is always good, as well as giving a little extra healing once per encounter. A solid choice for anyone. [COLOR=#0000ff]Tome Caddy[/COLOR][COLOR=#0000ff] [/COLOR](Dra 377): You can get use tomes, and don't have to hold them to use them. The summoner gets a benefit from this, especially artificers who can't use tomes normally. Tomes also have many benefits for summoners. Warforged Faceplate (Dra 377): Ongoing damage is always bad, so this saving throw benefit is nice. No surprise is situationaly useful, but could never come up. Weasel (Dra 374):You have the standard +5 stealth, and resistance to oppurtunity attacks. It can move around and avoid the enemy, but not much else. [COLOR=#ff0000]White Eyed Crow[/COLOR][COLOR=#ff0000] [/COLOR](Dra 382): Surprise doesn't happen nearly enough to make this useful. The reroll is too situational to be very handy. All in all, not a good choice. [b]Wrab[/b] (Dra 397): Terrible passives, but being able reroll just about any Insight check you make is incredibly useful if you need it. Being able to get scaling THP isn't bad either. Not great, but not bad either. [COLOR=#800080][b]Z'tal[/b][/COLOR] (Dra 397): There are better ways to move around faster available, and not many arcane characters go for the Chargecheese route. Deafened is a terrible condition to impose, but preventing opportunitiy attacks is rather nice, especially as an effect. [b]Sha'ir Familiars[/b] [sblock] Ah, these elementally-charged boys are ones that are specific to the Sha'ir subclass of the Wizard. Only they can access these (and there aren't any ways to multiclass into it), so unless you're playing one, you shouldn't be looking here. Also, all of them can be the origin square for a close arcane attack once per encounter. [COLOR=#0000ff][b]Daolanin[/b][/COLOR] (HotEC): Having a roving mobile source of difficult terrain is an awesome feature, even tied to such a frail feature. Pushing on a daily isn't always useful, but being able to use it as a mobile turret to direct the push in an appropriate direction makes up for it. [b]Djinnling[/b] (HotEC): Very, very controllery. You can slide enemies and allies (so a touch of leader in there) as a minor action, or with a daily. Not one of the stronger Sha'ir options to say the least. You might not have the minor to make the constant benefit worth it, and the daily addition is weak to say the least, even with some interesting repositioning potential. [b][COLOR=#800080]Efreetkin[/COLOR][/b] (HotEC): Let us consider that fire is one of the most commonly resisted damage types. Let us also consider the pitful damage that is tacked onto your dailies. Let us also consider that Fire Resist isn't all that hard to get (and is often outshown by such races as Genasi and Tieflings). The weakest of the Sha'ir familiars by far. [COLOR=#0000ff][b]Maridan[/b][/COLOR] (HotEC): On the other hand, this is utterly amazing. The constant benefit is campaign specific, but potentially nice. On the other hand, the daily addition blows any potential downside out of the water (see what I did there? huh?). Auto slowing, and granting allies partial concealment? That can be a game-swinger (if they daily wasn't already), and is very much worth having. The only hard part is making sure that it doesn't die before it gets surrounded. [/sblock] [/sblock] [b]Paragon Tier Familiars[/b] [sblock] [COLOR=#0000ff]Air Mephit[/COLOR][COLOR=#0000ff] [/COLOR](Dra 374): A slightly better version of the Book Imp. This is The Familiar of choice for Storm Sorcerers, and those with Book Imps might like to second resistance. Ambush Vine Shoot (Dra 377): Climbing and swimming generally have better alternatives. The save penalty is very situational, and you have to be into restrained/immboilized conditions to make use of it. [COLOR=#0000ff]Arcane Wisp[/COLOR][COLOR=#0000ff] [/COLOR](Dra 374): The teleporting people will like this, as it applies to all ways that you could possibly teleport. Having a save-it's-energy ability can really come in handy if you need it to stay active a lot. A solid choice [COLOR=#800080]Beholderkin[/COLOR] (Dra 374): Autodamage somebody once per encounter with a random damage type. Sadly, three out of the four are fairly common resist types, although this can be a good way to use up resist variable (x/encounter). [COLOR=#800080]Blackspawn Darkling[/COLOR] (Dra 374): Stealthy, but that's about it that you can find here. If you want a scout, but can't or won't take the better heroic tier ones, but really, why wouldn't you? Bluespawn Nimblespark (Dra 374): It shocks them when it is hit. When its hit, it dies. Could be handy, but not a particularly useful ability, as you will in the vast majority of situations not want it to trigger. [COLOR=#0000ff]Crawling Clot[/COLOR] (Dra 377): We get a familiar that does healing by itself. Resist necrotic that increases when bloodied, a unique trait for this one, but the healing would be the draw. Excellent for builds that need a bit more healing that aren't an artificer. Dimensional Pet (Dra 374): A slightly worse version of the Arcane Wisp. Trading a save your familiar ability for a negate teleport, which might never come up, is just a bad trade. Earth Mephit (Dra 374): You are harder to mover around, which can be situationally handy, and you can block a space for a turn. I see some uses, but none come up very often. [COLOR=#800080]Fire Mephit[/COLOR] (Dra 374): Really, the active benefit has a heroic alternative that is much more controllable, and you don't have anything exceptional in the passive zone. [COLOR=#800080]Grayspawn Shortfang[/COLOR] (Dra 374): Tougher to kill, but nothing else is coming to mind here. Greenspawn Banespike (Dra 374): If you have a good Bluff check, the active benefits can be an easy way to gain CA as a minor action. Slightly better than the other dragonspawn familiars. [COLOR=#33cccc]Ice Mephit[/COLOR] (Dra 374): The best bombing familiar you can have. 3X3 dificult terrain as a minor action? A well placed set can disrupt enemies plans better than you could think possible. Pair with a fighter or other sticky defender, and that's several enemies who aren't going anywhere. [COLOR=#33cccc]Living Infusion[/COLOR][COLOR=#00ffff] [/COLOR](Dra 377): Take the already good Infusions of the Artificer, and throw in the Shaman's stick of spreading the love around. This makes an already good feature even better. Halving the casting time for restoration rituals is just gravy. Minor Fowlspawn (Dra 377): Extra damage is never bad, and this gives a decent amount. Your DM might allow this damage to trigger Psychic Lock, in which case this is very good if you have powers that don't do psychic damage. [COLOR=#33cccc]Rakshasa Claw [/COLOR](Dra 374): If you have a Disembodied Hand, trade it for this. It gives you exactly the same stuff, plus some extras. A great choice. [COLOR=#800080]Redspawn Spitfire[/COLOR] (Dra 374): A redux of the Grayspawn with a slightly more common damage type. *yawn* Smith's Hammer (Dra 377): You get an additional use of a minor, if handy class feature and a sacrificial bonus to defenses, which is better if it is a warforged. Better choices exist for an artificer, but this is solid. Stone Fowl (Dra 374): Being able to get a bonus against slowed, which is one of the most common conditions listed, can be a life saver, albiet one that might not come up very often. [COLOR=#800080]Tinker Feyling[/COLOR] (Dra 377): You can use Arcane Empowerment in-battle. Not enough to give this a good rating, as you can probably just use it before the battle. [COLOR=#800080]Whitespawn Snowstepper[/COLOR] (Dra 374): You can get a damage reduction, which is better if the damage is cold, even though this gives you resist cold, which will stack on it. If you are going to be in the tundra, this will do you nicely. Otherwise, just skip it. [/sblock] [b]Epic Tier Familiars[/b] [sblock] Blazing Skull (Dra 374): Deserves mention as the fastest familiar on the lists going by the base speed. Basically a Skull with various fire elements included. Not a particularly good choice. Chaos Shard (Dra 374): Dominated is always a bummer, but the real draw is the active benefit. You can use this to target people way out of your range normally. Great for wizards in that respect. [COLOR=#0000ff]Gibbering Pet[/COLOR][COLOR=#0000ff] [/COLOR](Dra 374): One in four chance to effectively speak all languages is great, and the others are all useful at this tier. The active benefit is great for messing with artillery and controllers. Sadly though, you will most likely only get one or two uses out of it. Lingering Nightmare (Dra 377): For those of you who focus on fear powers, this provides a nice way to further debuff your enemies. Besides that, nothing special here. [COLOR=#0000ff]Shadow Incarnate [/COLOR](Dra 374): Lightly obscuring the square might draw the enemies attention if it isn't in the shadows, and you can do a scry-and-die with scouting ahead. Has some stealthy bonuses for a good scouting familiar. [COLOR=#800080]Silver Lamp[/COLOR][COLOR=#800080] [/COLOR](Dra 377): Very demon specific. If you're not fighting demons, all the good effects of this go to waste, and you're left with pretty much nothing. [/sblock] [/QUOTE]
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The Pet Store: A Familiar Keeper's Handbook (by Krika)
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