Familiars: Does EVERYONE take the toad?

[Sejs]

Toad is fine. In my game we traded the +2 con for the Toughness feat (+3hp). I don't like it when people go out of their way to screw someone over just because they chose toad.

Other familiars I've seen:

Raven: particularly after the player in question had just gotten off a big Discworld binge. The familiar was named Quoth, and by the bird's own admission, he was "Only in this familiar gig for the eyeballs".

Tiny Spider.

Yappy Wire-haired Terrier named Snuffles.

Rat.

Black Cat: character was a female wizard who was the granddaughter of a night hag. Had an amusing tendancy to carry around a pointy black witchin' hat (her own term for it), brew potions in her pitted iron 'travel-sized' cauldron, threaten to curse people, and give the evil eye. Was a hoot to play alongside.

Imp (via Improved Familiar). The caster in question crafted, ahead of time, an evil-outsider only Helm of Opposite Alignment that included a save penalty. Found out an imp's name, summoned it via a speciffic-creature variant summon spell, plunked the helm on it's head, confirmed it's alignment had shifted to Chaotic Good, then bound it as a familiar. Asked if one of the imp's polymorph forms could be human.. DM agreed. Caster was quite happy thereafter with his Imp/Familiar/Personal Assistant.

 

[herald]

I took the Crow. Delivering touch spells after buffed can be kinda cool.

 

[astralpwka]

My half-orc necromancer took the rat, because I can't see toads being happy around rotting corpses. I think the dust would irritate him also.

 

[Arani Korden]

Toad is fine. In my game we traded the +2 con for the Toughness feat (+3hp). I don't like it when people go out of their way to screw someone over just because they chose toad.

That's what Toad familiars give in d20 Modern, and I suspect 3.5.

 

[Brown Jenkin]

Never. And wizards/sorcs are my favorite classes of the standard lot.

I much prefer a bird of some sort... Depending on how much the DM is willing to allow, Ravens, Crows, Owls, and Hawks have all been great familiars for me. I even had a chickadee one time (For a gnome).

I like birds as well. I have a thrush (TaB) works much like a Raven. I am particularly fond of them for the bonus ability of speach. My thrush has proven invaluable at times as a walkie talkie with the rest of the group.

As for other birds you left out the chicken. +2 Eggs/day for breakfast.

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

The wizard in our party took the Rat. Since some of the other party members didn't like him very much, the wizard himself was frequently referred to as "The Rat" as well.

Oh, and the familiar survived several encounters that the wizard didn't...

 

[Davelozzi]

The only wizard in my campaign took an owl.

 

[Henry]

So far, I've played exactly one Wizard who had a familiar, and it was a raven. I had this whole Scandinavian theme going on, so I was a Dwarf named Rune who wore his beard in silver braids, and my Raven was named Munin.

 

[Drezden327]

That's what Toad familiars give in d20 Modern, and I suspect 3.5.

I think your right about toads giving the toughness feat in 3.5, however, rumor has is toughness is being changed to +1HP per LEVEL, so in essence you will still get the HP benefit of the toad, but not the other benefits of an increase in Con. Not too shabby.

 

[The_Gneech]

Actually, our games tend to be pretty "out there" with the familiars. So far we've had a wolf, a blink puppy ('cause it was so low on HD/HP when it was first aquired), and a leopard.

Every player's had at least one, as you might expect, so it's not really unbalanced within the context of the group, and the strange abilities of the blink dog (now that she's matured some) have made for some great campaign moments.

Have I mentioned that I let enemy spellcasters have improved familiars as freebies, too? The "blink dog vs. very young white dragon" battle was actually the highlight of one of my game sessions.

And yet, I am extremely stingy re: magic items. Go fig!

-The Gneech