Familiars: Isn't there a better way?

[Deaths_Fist]

UA has a feat called Item Familiar which looks pretty neat.

True, but it's difficult to retroactively apply sometihng like that to a character. A ritual like Arcane Earthbond can be done any time. Plus, Item Familiars are astonishingly broken if one takes them from some time near first level. Combine a barely-epic-level specialist wizard who just recieved Epic Spellcasting, max ranks in spellcraft, a magic item that adds as much to spellcraft as a character at his level should be able to afford, plus enough skill points invested into Item Familiar as he needs to have a bonus to spellcraft equal to his ranks(!) and you've got an epic caster who can easily afford and even more easily cast incredibly destructive, unresistable epic spells, even without doing things like making it a ritual spell and such. Even Asmodeus doesn't stand a chance. Given, Epic Spellcasting is a little broken as-is, but Item Familiar perpetuates such things at DOUBLE the rate.

 

[dunbruha]

UA has a feat called Item Familiar which looks pretty neat.

UA also has the Specialist Wizard Variants. For example, an Abjurer gains Resistance to Energy and gives up the ability to obtain a familiar.

 

[Ogrork the Mighty]

I've posted a similar thread under House Rules to discuss options to replace the Summon Familiar ability.

 

[Deaths_Fist]

UA also has the Specialist Wizard Variants. For example, an Abjurer gains Resistance to Energy and gives up the ability to obtain a familiar.

Which works fairly well for specialist wizards. What about generalists? Or what if the specialist ability just doesn't seem like it'd be useful to your character or game? A great example is a wizard of mine, a necromancer, who specializes on the negative energy aspect of necromancy rather than the reanimation focus which one sees EVERYWHERE. Say I wanna throw bolts of raw negative energy around instead of having a familiar or undead cohort. How powerful should these bolts be, at the standard cost of a familiar?

 

[Lord Pendragon]

Say I wanna throw bolts of raw negative energy around instead of having a familiar or undead cohort. How powerful should these bolts be, at the standard cost of a familiar?

1d4-3

 

[Bauglir]

Perhaps you could have an arcane-fire like ability (burning spells to project negative energy blasts)

Say 1d4 damage/spell level; No SR/Save
If you burn a cantrip it deals 1 point of damage

Undead/Constructs would be immune.

 

[mikebr99]

For a familiar with extra kick... try the bonded summoner PrC.


Mike

 

[Deaths_Fist]

Perhaps you could have an arcane-fire like ability (burning spells to project negative energy blasts)

Say 1d4 damage/spell level; No SR/Save
If you burn a cantrip it deals 1 point of damage

Undead/Constructs would be immune.

Hey, good idea. This is the sort of thing I'm looking for.

 

[Ridley's Cohort]

Compensation for giving up a Familiar? Skill Focus in a Wizard/Sorceror class skill.

The balance of the familiar is it is only really useful if you put it in potential danger. Otherwise it is a few odd bonuses for a small risk.

 

[Conaill]

How about a staff? Witches have familiars, real wizards carry a staff ([discworld reference] preferably with a knob on the end[/discworld reference])

And I'm not talking about the souped-up wands in the DMG either. A wizard's staff should be something that channels and enhances his spellcasting abilities, and grows with him in power.

A good start would be to allow a wizard to use the staff to substitute for any magical focus (or to incorporate one, if there is a price attached to the focus), and to cast spells with somatic components, so the archetype of a wizard reading from a spellbook held in one hand, and casting with a staff in the other is actually possible. Add to that the ability to cast touch spells through the staff, so you can add some damage on top of the spell, plus you can use weapon enhancements to increase your hit chances.

Neither of these abilities are all that powerful, and they probably don't outweigh all the benefits a familar grants. You could easily add in a few other benefits, such as free Combat Expertise when using a staff (it is a good defensive weapon, after all), Weapon Focus, or even Weapon Finesse. You could even allow *ranged* touch attacks to benefit from the staff's weapon enhancements.