Improved Familiar

[BenjaminB]

I wouldn't hose a player who is happy with his familiar- and wants to spend a hard-earned feat to make him a touch better.

I'd run it like some kind of special magical ritual he researches then performs- you know, circle of wierd glyphs, familiar at the center, chanting, candles, burning herbs. Then- whamo! Familiar upgraded.

Still the same familiar, only now imbued with the essence of the higher planes- and a stronger moral compas, so watch out.

Same goes for Improving your familiar into a completely different creauture. Just use the stats on the new creature (bumped up for the character's level) and the old creature's appearance (where it still applies- a upgrading your cat to a psuedodragon might give you a winged cat with a reptile tongue and poison bite).

It wouldn't give the character an unfair advantage- he'd spend a feat, meet the level reqirements, and the player would be happy with the result.

If it doesn't hurt anything, I just find a cool way to work it into the game.

-Ben

 

[Lord Pendragon]

Acutally I believe they also have the spells "Celestial Familiar" and "Fiendish Familiar". The "Planar Familiar" was just used to changed your present familiar into an elemental (as I recall. I could be wrong).

Not quite. The two spells in the Spellbook feature on WoTC site are Planar Familiar and Elemental Familiar. Elemental Familiar is a 3rd-level wiz/sor spell that allows you to change your familiar into a tiny elemental. Planar Familiar is a 3rd-level cleric spell that allows you to change your familiar into a morally-aligned critter (Good-Celestial, Evil-Fiendish, Lawful-Axiomatic, Chaotic-Anarchic). There's also one called Undead Familiar but I figured that one wasn't really relevant to this thread.