Bug Familiars [Now with swarms!]

[Jack Simth]

Normal familiars can actually be more useful (especially at low-levels) than most people give them credit for. See, first off, they're still the animal, with all it's abilities:

Use the basic statistics for a creature of the familiar’s kind, but make the following changes:

And

Skills: For each skill in which either the master or the familiar has ranks, use either the normal skill ranks for an animal of that type or the master’s skill ranks, whichever are better. In either case, the familiar uses its own ability modifiers. Regardless of a familiar’s total skill modifiers, some skills may remain beyond the familiar’s ability to use.

(Note: The following is moslty only meaningful before about 5th level)
A Hawk has a +16 spot check (+8 Racial, +2 Wis, +2 Alertness, +4(Presumeably) ranks). Stealth-dedicated Rogues are going to have issues hiding from the thing (Max ranks, 18 base dex halfling with Reduce Person has a hide check of +16 at first level - dead heat, and the Halfling is putting a lot of effort into it, including borrowing a spell; tack on Stealthy and Skill Focus(Hide) and the Rogue has a decent chance).
A Bat has 20 foot blindsense. You can't hide from it (Core, anyway) within that 20 feet without being incorporeal or on another plane. The Listen and Spot +8 aren't bad, either. Hide +14 is handy. Great night watchman.
A Cat has Hide+16, Move Silently +8, but only Spot and Listen +3. Decent scout.
An Owl has Listen +16. As it's harder to get bonuses to Move Silently than it is to Hide, the Owl will have a pretty good idea that you're out and about, if not exactly where you are.
A Rat has Hide+16, Move Silently +12, as well as having actual climb and swim speeds - sure, it's slow, but it can go very nearly anywhere, and usually won't be noticed.
A Raven is mostly useful for it's ability to talk to you in a normal fasion. Because it can talk to the rest of the party, too.
Viper: Meh, some DM's will let you milk it for cheap poison (and at DC 10, it's dirt cheap) but for the most part, others are more worthwhile... but it is useful to the Sorcerer wanting to Bluff his way to fame.
Toad: Well, it's Amphibious, and has the highest Hide check of them all... but while the +3 HP is handy at first, it's nearly useless, otherwise.
Weasle: Not quite as sneaky as the rat, but traveles faster.
Vermin don't get skills... but they get darkvision. Of course, as all familiars are magical beasts, they all argueably have Darkvision-60....

 

[Li Shenron]

You think? Hmm...I thought that since the other familiar abilites were feat-equivalents (Skill Focus, Iron Will, Great Fortitude, etc.) then a Spell Focus equivalent wouldn't be too terribly unbalancing. It's certainly more useful, however.

I think that most familiars give benefits that are comparable with a feat, but usually the feat is not top-notch.

Arcance Defense is a feat that gives you +2 to all saves vs a specific school (although it requires Spell Focus, so it's already upper in the chain). I think it would be ok to give the full +2, especially because these familiars are totally useless in combat.

BTW, I still use the 3.0 familiars, including the +2 Con toad, and it's not as powerful as becoming a mandatory choice.

 

[trav_laney]

Arcance Defense is a feat that gives you +2 to all saves vs a specific school (although it requires Spell Focus, so it's already upper in the chain). I think it would be ok to give the full +2...

I like it...I was wanting some school-specific abilities to be linked to these new familiars, since that is really the only thing they have going for them. Butterflies are a metaphor for change, and that suits Transmutation perfectly.

One of my players pointed out something to me...something that any DM worth his dice should have already known. A wizard doesn't choose the familiar in order to gain power, he chooses a familiar that suits his persona and mannerisms. (Indeed, in some campaigns the familiar chooses the wizard.) This familiar has a symbiotic relationship with the master, and each one begins to take on qualities of the other. That is why wizards with cat familiars get a bonus to their Move Silently checks...they are slowly becoming more cat-like. And this is why familiars gain new abilities...as the wizard gains power, his familiar also becomes more powerful.

The roleplaying aspects of the game should always trump the urge to min/max a character. So I sheepishly admit that skill bonuses, while sucky from my munchkin-esque point of view, are probably the most appropriate bonuses a familiar should grant its master.

So with these things in mind, I've updated the bug list. And added a few more bugs.

Familiar          Special
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Beetle, scarab         Cast Abjuration spells at +1 caster level
Beetle, fire           Light 20'
Bumblebee              +2 to Reflex saves
Butterfly              +2 to saves vs. Transmutation spells
Centipede              +3 to Hide checks
Cockroach              +2 to Fortitude saves
Cricket                +2 to saves vs. Enchantment spells
Dragonfly              +3 to Spot checks
Firefly                Cast Divination spells at +1 caster level, Light 20'
Locust                 +3 to Jump checks
Mantis                 +2 to saves vs. Illusion spells
Moth                   Immunity to sleep effects
Scorpion               +3 to Climb checks
Spider, hunter         +3 to Jump checks
Spider, web-spinner    +3 to Move Silently checks

...especially because these familiars are totally useless in combat.

That is another problem altogether, I think. These bugs aren't balanced with each other...some are absolutely harmless, while some are poisonous. I think I might have to make some changes to some of these bugs to make them at least as useful as the SRD familiars. Any ideas? Butterflies with hypnotic wing colors? Stinkbugs with noxious vapor attacks? Madegasgar cockroaches with a frightening hiss?

 

[babomb]

That is another problem altogether, I think. These bugs aren't balanced with each other...some are absolutely harmless, while some are poisonous. I think I might have to make some changes to some of these bugs to make them at least as useful as the SRD familiars. Any ideas? Butterflies with hypnotic wing colors? Stinkbugs with noxious vapor attacks? Madegasgar cockroaches with a frightening hiss?

What if your familiar isn't just a cockroach, but a SWARM of cockroaches?

 

[Notmousse]

What if your familiar isn't just a cockroach, but a SWARM of cockroaches?

Then you should seriously consider the benefits of bathing.

 

[Vrecknidj]

Have you ever tried catching a house fly? How about

House Fly (+3 to Escape Artist checks)

And, there are rumors of ants being able to carry away picnic baskets, so...

Ant (treat carrying capacity as if the spellcaster were a quadruped)

Haven't figured out what to do with a mosquito or a wasp yet.

This is an excellent thread.

After a while, when this gets all worked out and folks have a chance to really consider them, maybe, we'll look at publishing this in Knowledge Arcana, if the original author consents.

Dave

 

[trav_laney]

What if your familiar isn't just a cockroach, but a SWARM of cockroaches?

Holy crap...that is awesome! Perfect for this particular nefarious spellcaster NPC that I have in my campaign. It's a bit too powerful to be a standard familiar, though...might have to require the Improved Familiar feat to allow this one. But I like it. A lot.

 

[trav_laney]

Have you ever tried catching a house fly? How about

House Fly (+3 to Escape Artist checks)

And, there are rumors of ants being able to carry away picnic baskets, so...

Ant (treat carrying capacity as if the spellcaster were a quadruped)

Haven't figured out what to do with a mosquito or a wasp yet.

Excellent suggestions! I'll add 'em to the next updated list. Might have to change 'em up a bit for balance and what-not, but it's all good.

Let's see...mosquito? Blood-sucking spreaders of tropical illness...so they should probably have the same stats as a stirge, and give a bonus to saves vs. disease. And they would probably require the Improved Familiar feat, since they have two special attacks (attach, drain).

For the wasp (or hornet)...umm...poison sting, bonus to Spot checks?

 

[Li Shenron]

That is another problem altogether, I think. These bugs aren't balanced with each other...some are absolutely harmless, while some are poisonous. I think I might have to make some changes to some of these bugs to make them at least as useful as the SRD familiars. Any ideas? Butterflies with hypnotic wing colors? Stinkbugs with noxious vapor attacks? Madegasgar cockroaches with a frightening hiss?

Different familiars don't have to be equally good at combat. When balancing them against each other, consider each of them as a whole, with regard to:

- how useful it can be to harm an opponent (e.g. poison capability)
- how useful it can be to deliver touch attacks (depends on its defenses)
- how useful for scouting
- how useful for tracking (usually not useful at all)
- how useful as a watch/alarm
- how useful as a messenger

and of course

- how useful the bonus it gives to its master

For example, the 3.0 toad was virtually useless for all those above (except perhaps as a watch) due to its slowliness. Which is why it had such a huge bonus (+2 Con).*

So first think about what those new familiars can be useful for. THEN balance them about by increasing/decresing the bonus to the wizard. The other way around can be much more complicated.


*edit: The unfortunate fate with the toad familiar was that a lot of players took a familiar only for the bonus, and if you do so then the toad is obviously much better than any other. But that was just what it was meant to be!

 

[Shades of Green]

- how useful for scouting

A cockroach would be perfect for scouting - roaches could squeeze through very small openings (compared to their body's size) and are quite hard to spot. Now with the Speak with Master ability it gains when the wizard gets to level 5, it would be a perfect spy's tool.