Familiars: Does EVERYONE take the toad?

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Spellcasters in my games usually take cats, though I've got a Sorcerer player in one of my games who got a bat named Target.

 

[Nebuchadnezzar]

I always choose the toad. The Con bonus is great, and IMO greater than any other familiar bonus. The only familiar bonuses that come close to that of the toad's +2 Con is the rat's +2 Fortitude and the weasel's +2 Reflex. Discussing whether the rat or the weasel is a better choice than the toad (from a power gamer's perspective) is like having an argument over whether the gnome is better than the dwarf.

 

[Azul]

Yappy Wire-haired Terrier named Snuffles.

My forest gnome illusionist/rogue from a while back had a huge orange tabby (almost as big as him) named Snuffles. The cat was a travelling companion and living pillow/bedroll.

That same campaign had our fighter/sorcerer (heavy on the fighter) pirate acquire a parrot as her familiar (just used the raven speech ability)

 

[Xael]

A toad!?! TOAD!? Who would want a toad when you can have Ravens or something else much cooler? *Chuckle* Toads...

 

[Chronosome]

MY last character had a weasel ("Sniffer"), and my current's got a monkey ("Sewel").

 

[ChaosMage]

Strange... not only have I never had a player take toad, every wizard or sorcerer in my group has always taken a raven; the talking familiar is just too cool to pass up. And yes, Quoth and Nevermore seem to be strangely popular choices for names for these familiars...

 

[Psion]

I've seen one PC with a toad.

Weasel is pretty popular.

 

[kengar]

I've had 3 players take levels of Sor/Wiz. One took toad, one took weasel and the last took raven. The two non toad players are heavy on the RP. The Sorcerer with the toad is a bit of a powergamer. He's ok though, he keeps it in check fairly well. That being said, it's the general consensus of the 3 power gamers in my group that you'd have to be goofy NOT to take toad.

This actually sparked a near-argument between the biggest powergamer in the group and the "raven-taker." She was an Arcane Archer in the making. The PG-er thought she was "hurting the party" by taking a "useless" familiar since she was one of the fighter types. He thought the extra HP were too much to give up. Needless to say, the other player shut him down fast and the others sided with her. It never really got to the point of arguing, just "earnest advice."

It was enough for me to nearly house-rule it away forever. I think it's ridiculous for 1) a familiar to grant score bonuses and 2) if you're going to do that, to only have one that does.

I would hope for 3.5 that it is switched to Toughness and they leave the feat at +3hp.

 

[Kraedin]

No one in my campaign takes familiars anymore; they've seen to many die to area effect spells that aren't Reflex half.

I would say, considering the liability a familiar represents, the toad is the only one good enough to warrant using at all.

 

[ForceUser]

I'm just wondering. Every person that puts out there character and is like: look at this! usually takes a level of sorc/wiz so they can get the toad familar (+2 CON). I mean that is just lame.

And realistically, toads wouldn't be very good familiars. They need to be wet most of the time, they make a lot of noise and are terrible scouts unless you happen to be near a swamp. I think that taking a toad familiar should also give you -2 CHA due to the warts you would get. THAT will teach those munchkins.

For this reason, my friends and I have house-ruled that the toad familiar grants the Toughness feat, not +2 Con. As valuable as hit points are in 3E - much moreso than in previous editions of the game due to damage dealt being so fast and furious - it can be tough not to rationalize a familiar that grants you an extra hit point every level. Especially since wizards and sorcerers aren't exactly built on hit points.

Perhaps the toad familiar's bonus was intended to offset the creature's general lack of utility. After all, it can't fly, or speak a language, or effectively deliver a touch attack. Pretty much all it can do well is hide. At any rate, to encourage greater diversity in familiars we made the change. Ironically, this has led to a player fasination with combining things such as the Improved Familiar and Leadership feats to acquire much more powerful familiar than usual. Nobody's satisfied with bats, cats, and rats I guess. Ah well.