Need help with casters' Familiar rules

[DarkEarth_98]

Okay, A while ago, before starting a new campaign with some friends, I started wondering why no one wanted to summon familiars while being a sorcerer or a wizard.. They told me it was unuseful and was nothing but experience-points-wasters... But I wanted to make a sorcerer, and began searching informations about familiars. I have some questions that are still unanswered, and I'd be very thankful if someone could help me...

Ok first of all, I'm a 3rd level elven sorcerer with Improved Familiar. This time I tried to improve my roleplaying by adding different things, such as a familiar that would sort of be logical to have with my character's story (he has dragon blood). I took a Pseudodragon as my familiar (my alignment permitted it), and now I'm thinking about tactics that could help me make a better use of my familiar.

1- Is it possible to cast spells on my familiar?

2- If so, could it be possible later on to use the polymorph spell on him, to change him into a black dragon (size depending on its HD), knowing that the creature (which is controlled by me, its master) must be "willing" the physical change? If so, what would be its HP, stats, etc?

3- If it is possible, I'd like to make my familiar my own "guardian", or "fighter", I would cast spells or shoot arrows while he'd go fight with the other party members (even though I know people would tell me "ARE YOU CRAZY? HE'LL DIE IN NO TIME!" -- Are there any other rules that I should be aware of, before starting using it in battle?

4- If I take the feat that lets the familiar gain the same special effects of the spells the sorcerer casts on himself, could my familiar, for instance, transform into a dragon at the same time I cast polymorph on myself?


As you can see, I am trying to make a better use of my familiar, something that I've never seen people do. If you have any advice, or if you can answer my questions, I'd be very thankful =)

 

[kenobi65]

Ok first of all, I'm a 3rd level elven sorcerer with Improved Familiar. This time I tried to improve my roleplaying by adding different things, such as a familiar that would sort of be logical to have with my character's story (he has dragon blood). I took a Pseudodragon as my familiar (my alignment permitted it)

Well, there's a big problem right there. According to the Improved Familiar feat, your PC has to have an arcane caster level of at least 7th to qualify for a pseudodragon familiar. Sorry...

 

[kenobi65]

In response to your actual questions:

1) Yes, you can cast spells on him. The "Share Spells" ability doesn't preclude you from being able to cast other effects on him.

2) Yup, I think you could cast polymorph on him (I don't see how he wouldn't be willing to be an even bigger dragon...) As far as your other questions on that one, you should read the description of polymorph more closely...the answers are in there. He's limited in HD to your level when you cast it, so that limits the size of the dragon; he'd get the Str, Dex, and Con of a dragon of that size, and retain his mental stats.

3) No specific rules I can think of...you'll just want to be really careful, because he's not terribly tough (remember that he only has 1/2 of your HPs). Still, in certain circumstances, with his sleep poison attack, reasonable AC, and spell resistance, the pseudodragon can be effective in combat.

4) I'm not familiar with any feat that does this; "share spells" is a specific ability that a spellcaster shares with his familiar:

Share Spells: At the master’s option, he may have any spell (but not any spell-like ability) he casts on himself also affect his familiar. The familiar must be within 5 feet at the time of casting to receive the benefit.
If the spell or effect has a duration other than instantaneous, it stops affecting the familiar if it moves farther than 5 feet away and will not affect the familiar again even if it returns to the master before the duration expires. Additionally, the master may cast a spell with a target of “You” on his familiar (as a touch range spell) instead of on himself.

I believe your example would work, but note that if your familiar goes further than 5' away from you, the effect on him ends!

 

[Aliro]

Two spells from the Complete Arcane come to mind: enhance familiar and fortify familiar. You should use them judiciously, or better yet, commission/create an item for your familiar with those effects always active. I did this with a socerer from an old FR campaign, and it seemed to do the trick.

Cheers,
Aliro

 

[DarkEarth_98]

Thanks for the help =) this is great, because at least I can make a nice team with my familiar... the only weird thing is that in my textfile it doesn't say that I need to be a 7th level caster to have Improved Familiar... I might be wrong though, because I don't have the book that has this feat's description with me right now, so I can't check that up until I borrow it again..

This is the other thing I wondered... does the familiar always has 1/2 of my hp, even when I use polymorph on him?

Oh and by the way, this is one of the Feats I thought I'd take soon:

"ENSPELL FAMILIAR [General]
You can cast spells on your familiar over a distance.

Benefit: You are always considered to be in contact with your familiar for the purpose of casting shared spells. Thus, any spell you cast on yourself also affects your familiar, as long as it is within 1 mile of you.

Normal: The familiar must be within 5 feet of the caster at the time such a spell is cast."

 

[kenobi65]

Thanks for the help =) this is great, because at least I can make a nice team with my familiar... the only weird thing is that in my textfile it doesn't say that I need to be a 7th level caster to have Improved Familiar... I might be wrong though, because I don't have the book that has this feat's description with me right now, so I can't check that up until I borrow it again..

In the online SRD, that little tidbit is in a table, which is why you may not be able to see it in your text file.

Check it out here:
http://www.wizards.com/d20/files/v35/Feats.rtf

(Note that the feat has a prerequisite of "sufficiently high level (see below)". The minimum level for taking this feat varies, based on which critter you're taking as an improved familiar.)

Just in case you can't see it, the minimum levels for various familiars listed in the feat are:
3rd: Celestial hawk, fiendish tiny viper
5th: Small elemental (any type), shocker lizard, stirge
7th: Pseudodragon, imp, quasit, formian worker, homunculus, ice mephit

 

[kenobi65]

Oh and by the way, this is one of the Feats I thought I'd take soon:

"ENSPELL FAMILIAR [General]
You can cast spells on your familiar over a distance.

Benefit: You are always considered to be in contact with your familiar for the purpose of casting shared spells. Thus, any spell you cast on yourself also affects your familiar, as long as it is within 1 mile of you.

Normal: The familiar must be within 5 feet of the caster at the time such a spell is cast."

I'm not sure that that would help the issue of whether the polymorph would cease to function on your familiar if he was (or moved) further than 5' from you. By a literal reading of that feat, it'd seem to help with distance for casting, but not necessarily for distance for duration. Those two issues are laid out separately in the description of the "share spell" ability (see above).

 

[DarkEarth_98]

Ok thanks alot... yeah well it seems I forgot to put some things in my text file... and for the feat above, I believe it's logical that if you can cast a spell on a familiar that is 1 mile away from you with it, it should keep the spell, and not just... lose it when leaving the 5 ft area, because, well, the feat would be simply useless... the familiar would lose the effects of the spell just after you casted the spell... but I may be wrong. Anyways, I'm gonna talk about that with my DM and see what he decides

 

[kenobi65]

and for the feat above, I believe it's logical that if you can cast a spell on a familiar that is 1 mile away from you with it, it should keep the spell, and not just... lose it when leaving the 5 ft area, because, well, the feat would be simply useless... the familiar would lose the effects of the spell just after you casted the spell... but I may be wrong. Anyways, I'm gonna talk about that with my DM and see what he decides

I agree that it's interpretation. If my interpretation is right, it doesn't render the feat useless...instantaneous spells work just fine (then again, just how many instantaneous, personal-targeting sor/wiz spells are there? ). I admit that I'm just being very literal, but if the writer of that feat meant for it to cover what you're thinking about, he should have said so.

 

[Mekabar]

This is the other thing I wondered... does the familiar always has 1/2 of my hp, even when I use polymorph on him?

Back to that question, which caught my interest as well. Is a familiar generaly hard-coded to 1/2 its master's Hitpoints? The Polymorph spell does by its description not alter the HP of its subject, but does so with the CON stat, i.e. a normal character would potentially receive bonus Hitpoints from a tough polymorph form. However, it's not so clear what happens to a familiar. Does anyone know?
And to follow this thought, if the master ever increases his HP by any means (Amulet of Health, False Life, Bear's Endurance), does the familiars HP increase instantly as well, on top of a potential spell sharing?