Familiars: A Better Companion

[Gez]

Fantasy Flights Spells & Spellcraft has a system where you expend XP to give your familiar enhancements.

So far my toad has Cute (people have to make a will save to hit him), Flight (little wings), Glow (as torch at will), See Invisibility (which I also get when he's within 5'), and Speak Common.

In character, most of the powers are actually side effects of me trying to give him enhanced powers, but it's still fun.

Damn ! Now this book too seems interesting ! Argh... Not enough money... Must invest in hypnotizer auks...

 

[Pbartender]

Also don't forget that Familiars can use some magic items too...

I plan on making a "Familiar's Collar" Magic Item. Allows a familiar to cast Mage Hand, Open/Close and Prestidigitation at will, and Ray of Frost 5 times/day.

 

[Deadguy]

Out of curiosity - what items would people let a snake use?

I am tempted to allow the use of rings, slipped over the tail. But would anything else be usable?

 

[silvertable81]

Don't forget the 5th level spell, Permanent. It's my understanding that any spell you can cast on yourself, can affect the famliar the exact same way. At level 5, the familiar and master can speak, Give him tongues.

 

[Deadguy]

Hmmm... yeah, permanence is another neat way to add powers to a familiar. Again, why hadn't I thought of that? I must be getting old!

I'll take a look though the list of permanenced spells and see what might be handy for them. Tongues seems a neat idea, though.

Oh, and I'll be rude and *bump* if anyone has any ideas about the permissible form(s) of magic items for a snake.

 

[Crothian]

Permancy can be dispelled rather easily. One of the Dragon Mags had some cool familiar stuff in it.

I think a snake could have a collar, and a cape. Some glasses would be cool as well. Maybe a boot on its tail.

 

[maransreth]

PrC solution

At the netbook of classes we are currently reviewing a PrC that is exactly for this. The classes focusses more on familair abilities than gaining spell power. It is near complete, just a few things to iron out.

 

[Deadguy]

I very much look forward to seeing this class, maransreth!

BTW, a big thanks to all those involved in the Netbook of Classes for their hard work. It looks like things are going really well!

 

[fba827]

I know you weren't looking for spells but T&B had some spells specifically for enhancing a familiar. Any of those spells + permanence.

OR use those enhancing familiar spells to give you a "base line" -- you can then turn those into XP costs to give those benefits to the familiar on a permanent basis... will take some more thought than pulling something right out of the book, but if you run out of easily-available possibilities, that's always a good fall back. (well, presuming you have access to that book).

On a very similar note, Masters of the Wild gives XP cost for boosting up an animal companion some amount. Even though Animal companions and familiars are different, if you have access to that (for a quick reference) that could provide a base line for comparision when coming up with XP costs for other things for the familiar.

 

[Deadguy]

Hmm, I am definitely moving toward the idea of a short Prestige Class that teaches a Wizard or Sorcerer (or Adept, I guess) how to enhance their familiar through permanent XP expenditure, and probably give access to a few specialised Familiar Feats (the sort that allow wholescale changes to an extant familiar, e.g. adding a template).

Of course, I have to put all this together in a package that works...

Cheers to everyone who has helped.