Something familiar to ride?

[Driddle]

How does a riding dawg compare with the standard familiars listed with the Wizard/Sorcerer class descriptions and the improved familiars available through the feat of the same name?

I'm trying to arrange for halfling wizard to acquire a familiar he can actually ride, and to that end I'd like to come up with a solution -- ala the standard riding dawg -- fairly close to the core rules. The improved familiar feat, if I remember correctly (I'm at the office) is flexible in that it allows for other animals "of the same approximate size and power" (my paraphrase). And if I follow that guideline, I need to figure out how the dawg compares for level access.

Normally I'd put this note in the "rules" section, but I'm also open to other suggestions and gaming experiences. You might be able to point me in another direction. I know at least a few of you can't help but point out how worthless familiars are in general...

((And, NO, I don't want to mess around with a druid/ranger animal companion. It's not an option for this character concept, so don't even bother. Please.))

 

[silentspace]

check out the improved familiars in Complete Warrior. A worg is there. A hipogriff too if I recall correctly.

 

[frankthedm]

((And, NO, I don't want to mess around with a druid/ranger animal companion. It's not an option for this character concept, so don't even bother. Please.))

Then be ready to loose XP once in a while. Sentient foes know how much mobility a mounted character has. That mount will have quite the bulls eye on it when they want to get their blades into you. I'd actually recommend trying to work with the DM to let you trade your “Familiar” for an “animal companion”. Fewer bells and whistles, but no XP hit when it dies and far easier to replace.

The Worg is your best bet though if you are confined to ‘in print’. Share spells will probably keep it alive, though, just don’t cry when it dies and your XP gets zapped.

 

[Driddle]

Then be ready to loose XP once in a while. Sentient foes know how much mobility a mounted character has. That mount will have quite the bulls eye on it when they want to get their blades into you. I'd actually recommend trying to work with the DM to let you trade your “Familiar” for an “animal companion”. Fewer bells and whistles, but no XP hit when it dies and far easier to replace.

The Worg is your best bet though if you are confined to ‘in print’. Share spells will probably keep it alive, though, just don’t cry when it dies and your XP gets zapped.

A minor experience point loss isn't a serious problem in a long-running game. It's not like there's some sort of race to see who can get the most points the fastest.

 

[frankthedm]

Minor...Modest I'd say. True it is not that bad, but it is still more than most would be willing to give up making magical items.

It just amuses me the arcane caster classes, often assumed to be the most moraly dubious, are the same ones that have to protect thier pets the most. Yet the nature worshiping Druids and rangers can, and are expected to, use thier furry friends as meat shields to be regained in but a day's efforts.

 

[Driddle]

Yeah.

 

[GreatLemur]

It just amuses me the arcane caster classes, often assumed to be the most moraly dubious, are the same ones that have to protect thier pets the most. Yet the nature worshiping Druids and rangers can, and are expected to, use thier furry friends as meat shields to be regained in but a day's efforts.

Yeah, that's always been a major issue for me. WotC loves to makes class features out of combat-capable pets, but I've never really been able to buy an adventurer throwing the wolf or horse or hawk or whatever that he's supposed to have some incredibly close relationship with into harm's way. I mean, it's a different story when a caster summons up a celestial or dire critter who'll just pop back home when it's "killed" on the Prime Material. But a druid who trains a badger from infancy to bite at orcs' ankles is a pretty crappy servant of nature.

 

[taliesin15]

Generally, I would think most familiars a character can ride are strong enough to engage in regular melee at lower levels. There's a druid halfling IMC whose pretty standard animal companion riding dog has been one of the best fighters in the group.

 

[Driddle]

... A druid who trains a badger from infancy to bite at orcs' ankles is a pretty crappy servant of nature.

I concur.
I've never been able to appreciate the gaming style of players who thrust companion critters (familiars included) into situations that are assuredly fatal. Maybe possibly scrambling them to distract the enemy and/or bite at the bad guy's heels once, but anything beyond that is abusive. Or at least difficult to justify from a roleplaying perspective. That's why I said earlier that I don't believe the experience point loss is a big deal -- because I don't let my familiars die, it's not an issue at all.

A combat strike-force campaign concept, on the other hand ... (shrug) Well. To each his own.

 

[Moonstone Spider]

Actually I think it's perfectly reasonable for a Druid to revere nature and also treat animals like cannon-fodder.

Nature is pretty danged cruel, after all, and doesn't protect the individual at all. Look at how lions will starve and even eat their own cubs in a pinch, for instance.