Best.Pet.Evar

[shilsen]

Ahmus, the pyromaniac ninja weasel familiar of the sorcerer Thaylar in my first Eberron campaign. Ahmus couldn't cast himself, but he really liked seeing things burn, so he would often whisper to Thaylar during difficult negotiations and other tense situations, "Come on, boss - fireball him! Please?"

He wasn't actually a ninja but was nicknamed the ninja weasel simply because he was incapable of blowing a Ref save. Whenever he and Thaylar got hit with an area effect needing a Ref save, Ahmus made it (and with evasion, took no damage) and Thaylar usually blew it. There was only one time when Ahmus rolled a 1, which I described as Thaylar dropping and rolling, leaving Ahmus hanging in mid-air for a split second while the lightning bolt zapped him, giving him an all-body afro. The weasel was traumatized for a while after that.

He was also damn handy, often digging out healing potions and, on more than one occasion, helping to rescue his trapped/kidnapped master. It's not that he was a strange familair or anything like that, but I just played him as having a lot of personality, and the players loved him (PCs not so much).

 

[Dragon Snack]

In my last campaign one of the players had a mount named Stepper. Stepper was a normal Warhorse, if slightly scrawny (player wanted to roll HP for him and rolled low).

Stepper saved the parties bacon a few times, including landing the killing blow on an Efreeti. Stepper is also the only surviving member of that party, since they left their mounts behind before facing the Dragon...

 

[Kapture]

In my college game, I put a Sabertooth Tiger into a cold dungeon. When they ran across it, one of the players decided to talk to it.

Feeling whimsical, he answered. He ended up haning with the group for a year's worth of gaming, but never did anything. I finally decided that he was a polymorphed Deva. The reason he never did anything is because of the heaven-hell compacts, that basically said gods couldn't interfer on the mortal plain unless another god was doing so. The Deva was the servant of a god. At the end of the game, the Bigbad turned out to be a demi god. So the tiger attacked, growing wings. And got slaughtered.

 

[Klaus]

Back when I was DMing 2e, one of the players had a pseudo-shadowdragon familiar. I had a plush Fignment (Disney dragon from EPCOT Center) to stand in for the critter, and everyone had fun.

 

[xmanii]

In 2e, a Minotaur with 55 hp we were fighting got hit with Polymorph Other and turned into a rat. The Wizard ended up making it his Familiar. Other than having 55 hp, it was a normal rat, save for it's occasional (and completely ineffectual) attempts to head-butt people...

lol, too funny, head-butting people.

 

[Stormborn]

We rarely use them, but I had a Paladin once who, instead of a mount, could call a celestial hound named Harrier. She was the pet that had protected him from raiders at the cost of his own life returned from the Shining Realms to fulfill his vows and honor his family commitments.

Just got the XP to level up to 6th in out current campaign. I am strongly considering Improved Familar for my Sorcerer - looking at a small air elemental. Haven't decided.

 

[lazarus1020]

In one memorable campaign the fighter bought a hunting cat. This cat seemed to be the better of the two at fighting. The fighter eventually decided to give the cat a ring to improve the its AC. The party got really upset over this. A short time later the party joins with a paladin, a ranger, and a cleric while searching for a means to escape the underdark. The party finally decide in the mist of a combat to turn on the cat while the fighter is busy. The NPC ranger is beside the cat when the party attacks it. The battle then becomes three sided as the fighter and the NPC's attempt to save the cat from the party and the goblins( i truely can't remember if it was goblins, kobolds, or orcs) decided to run away. The NPC cleric kept healing the cat, while the fighter, NPC paladin and ranger slaughtered the party. After the battle the fighter looted his fallen commrades and retired happily with his hunting cat.

 

[Agamon]

Mr. Nevermoore, the party wizard's raven familiar in RttToEE. He was condescending, snobbish and sarcastic with a bit of a british accent, modelled somewhat off of Stewie Griffen.

Wizard: "I'm going to turn you invisible so you can fly into the next room and scout it out for us."

Mr. Nevermoore: "Oh, yes, what a spendid idea! Send the bird in to do your dirty work. I'm not a bleeding canary, you oafish fool! Go scout it yourself!"

 

[demiurge1138]

My party in Age of Worms took on a death master (if you've played Age of Worms, the necromancer Filge), who brings a lot of "pets" to the table. Like Chumley, the bugbear zombie capable of saying only his name (ala a Pokemon). Chumley proved to be extremely popular with the party, but was alas incinerated in a wall of fire by the dread master's former boss, a warlock (

Spoiler

the crime-lord Balabar Smenk

). So in revenge, once the warlock was dead he got animated as a flameskull. Understandably, the flameskull still despises the party but is forced to serve them regardless. Nobody said, however, that he has to like it.

The first D&D game I was ever in had a neat pet, too. Bob, the she-weasel (dire, specifically) was the animal companion of the party cleric (who had the Animal domain). Bob saved the entire party at least once - when we were all down in a pit and attacked by bugbears, Bob was the only one at surface level and drained two of the three bugbears dry before we were able to get out. Poor Bob was exploded by a fireball cast by an orc shaman... and Bob's exploding debris was enough to knock out the party rogue.

Demiurge out.

 

[MacMathan]

Had a Tiny Fire-Elemental familiar named Zippo, for a pyro-obsessed dwarven mage. Quite useful and enjoyed being imbued to cast his own spells.

Does Meepo count? In our group he became enamored with the half-orc cleric and took up a Medium heavy crossbow that he had to stand on and strain to reload.