Improved Familiars

[DeathOfRats]

Maybe you guys think that the feat Improved Familiar is all pretty cool in itself what with getting a funky pet....but given that a toad will increase it's masters hitpoints by 3, a rat will increase Fortitude saves by +2 etc etc, what benefits do Improved familiars grant their masters? I think I am right in saying that Psuedodragons used to share their magic resistance in 2nd edition....do they still do that?

 

[Crothian]

No, the bonus have having an improved familiar is....having an improved familiar. If you have a psuedo dragon, you really don't need anything more.

 

[FrankTrollman]

If your basic question is:

"Why wouldn't I just take Leadership instead?"

I don't have an answer for you. In 3rd edition you didn't even need the feat to have a good familiar (in order to get an Imp to be your familiar you just had to find an Imp and get it to be your familiar - just like you would for a toad or a chicken).

In 3.5, they've added the line "Only a normal, unmodified animal may become a familiar." So now you'd actually need the Feat to get a Quasit as your familiar.

But Quasits are only CR 2. If you invest in a house to live in it is not unreasonable to imagine that you could get a Quasit as your follower out of Leadership - with your Cohort being a larger and more powerful Demon.

And the prereqs of Improved Familiar are more than the prereqs of Leadership. It is a waste of a feat.

-Frank

 

[Crothian]

Well, they did have the Imporoved Familiar feat in 3.0 as well and one needed it to get an Imp.

 

[Desdichado]

I don't have the foggiest idea what you're talking about, Trollman. If you wanted an imp for a familiar in 3.0 you had to take the same feat you had to take in 3.5. The option simply wasn't available through the core books alone, though -- you had to get it out of FRCS or Tome and Blood.

 

[nimisgod]

I don't have the foggiest idea what you're talking about, Trollman. If you wanted an imp for a familiar in 3.0 you had to take the same feat you had to take in 3.5. The option simply wasn't available through the core books alone, though -- you had to get it out of FRCS or Tome and Blood.

I agree. According to my PHB, it says that "A familiar is a magical, unusually tough and intelligent version of a small animal" (pg 50)

Also, Leadership is not always an option available to the players, moreso than most other core feats anyway.

 

[FrankTrollman]

But the only game restriction in 3rd edition is "small animal".

That's not "Small Animal" - they can, for example, be size Tiny or of type Vermin.

Or, for that matter, type Outsider. There wasn't a game specific type or size restriction. If you got an Imp to agree to it, it can be your familiar. It is "small" (as in: not very big, like the Toad) and it is an "animal" (as in: neither vegetable nor mineral as the "hairy spider" or Polymorph Any Object spell).

-Frank

 

[Crothian]

That's obviously not what the rules meant. Actually, if going by the core rules, there are a specific list of choices.

 

[Tewligan]

But the only game restriction in 3rd edition is "small animal".

That's not "Small Animal" - they can, for example, be size Tiny or of type Vermin.

Or, for that matter, type Outsider. There wasn't a game specific type or size restriction. If you got an Imp to agree to it, it can be your familiar. It is "small" (as in: not very big, like the Toad) and it is an "animal" (as in: neither vegetable nor mineral as the "hairy spider" or Polymorph Any Object spell).

-Frank

By that reasoning, you could have a leveled gnome or a halfling as a familiar. That's silly.
"I am Keldar the Mighty! And this is my familiar Pongo, the Only Slightly Less Mighty!"

 

[Tar-Edhel]

I think I am right in saying that Psuedodragons used to share their magic resistance in 2nd edition....do they still do that?

No benefits as is...

Except that they have funky abilities that can help you greatly. Telepathy and see invisibility is nothing to sneeze at when you get yourself a pseudodragon.

Leadership does not allow you to share your spell or give you an empathic link with your cohort.