Special Mount / Familiar feats

[Cabral]

See reply below for 3.5 Update

I've been considering replacing the special mount and familiar class abilities with feats. Here are my initial thoughts:

Invest Mount [General]
You enhance your mount's natural intelligence and form a strong bond with it.
Prerequisite: Ride skill 5 ranks, Handle Animal 10 ranks, ability to cast spells, Mounted Combat.
Benefit: The mount gains 1 HD, +2 to natural armor, +1 strength, +4 Intelligence, share spells, share saving throws, and empathic link. The mount becomes a magical beast (recalculate BAB, Saves, and hit points for a magical beast)

Saddle Expert [General]
Prerequisite: Ride Skill 10 ranks, Improved Initiative, empathic link with mount.
Benefit: You grant your mount Improved Evasion while mounted.

Gifted Mount [General]
Your training allows your mount excell beyond the abilities of others of its kind.
Prerequisite: Invest Mount, Skill Focus (Handle Animal)
Benefit: The mount gains +2 Intelligence, 1 HD, and +1 to any ability per 4 full hit dice above the minimum for its size.

Hardy Mount [General]
Your training enhances your mounts toughness
Prerequisite: Invest Mount, Skill Focus (Handle Animal)
Benefit: The mount's natural armor bonus improves by 4 and the mount gains +2 Strength, +2 Constitution, and +2 HD.

Master of Beasts [General]
Your mount can rally animals of its type.
Prerequisite: Invest Mount, Mount Charisma 13+
Benefit: The mount gains the Command ability.

Summon Familiar [General]
You summon a magic creature to be your companion.
Prerequisite: Handle Animal 5 ranks, Ability to cast first level spells.
Benefit: You summon a Tiny or smaller animal to be your familiar, the type changes to Magical Beast (recalculate BAB, Saves, and hit points for a magical beast) and it gains +2 to natural armor, +6 Intelligence, share spells and empathic link. The familiar becomes a magical beast (recalculate BAB, Saves, and hit points for a magical beast) You may spend a language point to learn your familiar's language. You familiar has half your hit points and considered as having a number of hit dice equal to your level.

Familiar Coduit [General]
You can cast touch spells through your familiar.
Prerequisite: Ability to cast second level spells, Summon Familiar.
Benefit: You can use the familiar to deliver touch spells; you must be in contact with the familiar when the spell is cast.

Great Familiar [General]
Prerequisite: Summon Familiar, Ability to cast 3rd level Transmutation spells.
Benefit: Your familiar grows by one size category.

Gifted Familiar [General]
Your training allows your Familiar to excell beyond the abilities of others of its kind.
Prerequisite: Summon Familiar, Handle Animal 10 ranks, Skill Focus (Handle Animal)
Benefit: The Familiar gains +4 Intelligence, +1 to any ability per 4 full hit dice above the minimum for its size.

These are just the starting point and need a lot of work. Perhaps they can be consolidated to allow for a lot of flexibility.

 

[Crothian]

Are you going to be granting extra feats to Paladins, Wizards, and Sorcerers? It seems harsh to force them to spend the few feats they have already for these abilities.

 

[Cabral]

Yes, if I use this, I'll grant Paladins, Wizards, Sorcerers, the CG Paladin in Defenders of the Faith, plus some other classes bonus feats with a list of what feats they can pick with the bonus feat.

 

[Crothian]

The feats you have listed all look pretty good. However, before I pass judgement I'm interested in knowing how many extra feats they get and what's on the feat list. So far, though I think this could work very well.

 

[las]

You could always make Prc to give them more feats that way they would haft to whant the feats so they would also whant the Prc.

 

[Cabral]

The Paladins would get some of the fighter feats, the divine feats, and the above feats (I'm planning on consolidating them into One set of Animal Companion feats with two different paths after the first, or two different beginnings that allow you to qualify for the later feats.

The Wizards/Sorcerers, could choose from the same Wizard bonus feat list with the above added to it.

 

[Cabral]

I was just thinking that perhaps some of these feats should be feats that mount/familiar takes, not that paladin/wizard/sorcerer takes. Kind of like if they had specialized feat that granted them a cohort (but none of the other aspects of the leadership feat.) I was thinking that the abilities that rely on the character would be taken by the character, the others would be taken by the mount/familiar.

 

[Xarlen]

I really hope these feats are for Nonwizard/sors. Considering how Sor/Wiz get Summon Familiar at 1st level, and the abilities thereafter, I think it's sort've... a waste. To take a feat that you allready have (Summon familiar) just to get the grow familiar?

Unless, of course, you're gutting the 'Arcane spellcasters get familiars'?

 

[Cabral]

This would replace the class abilities of Summoning a Familiar and Special Mount with bonus feats. These feats would be included in the list of bonus feats and be available to other classes. It would also allow paladins and wizards/sorcerers to focus on their companion and accelerate its progression.

 

[Cabral]

3.5 Update

First, a note: I consider Psionics to be spells. In the descriptions below, the ability to cast spells in interchangable with manifesting powers.

Invest Mount [General]
You enhance your mount's natural intelligence and form a strong bond with it.
Prerequisite: Ride skill 5 ranks, Handle Animal 8 ranks, ability to cast spells, Mounted Combat.
Benefit: By using a ritual to infuse a chosen mount with magical power. The mount may not have more HD (+LA, if applicable) than the character's caster level. If the character has multiple caster levels (ie, a cleric/wizard), total all caster levels for this feat. The mount gains 2 HD, +4 to natural armor, +2 strength, +4 Intelligence, share spells, share saving throws, and empathic link. If the mount is an Animal, it becomes a magical beast (recalculate BAB, Saves, and hit points for a magical beast). You may only have one Invested Mount at a time. The ritual takes 1 hour to cast and leaves you exhausted.

Saddle Expert [General]
Prerequisite: Ride Skill 10 ranks, Invest Mount.
Benefit: You grant your mount Improved Evasion while riding a mount that you have an empathic link with.

Gifted Mount [General]
Your training allows your mount excell beyond the abilities of others of its kind.
Prerequisite: Invest Mount, Handle Animal 12 ranks.
Benefit: The mount gains +2 Intelligence, 1 HD, and +1 to any one ability per 4 full hit dice above the minimum for its size.

Hardy Mount [General]
Your training enhances your mounts toughness
Prerequisite: Invest Mount, Base Fortitude Save +6
Benefit: You may perform a ritual to enhance an Invested Mount. The ritual takes 1 hour to cast and leaves you exhausted. The mount's natural armor bonus improves by 2 and the mount gains +1 Strength, +1 Constitution, and +2 HD.
Special: You make take this feat multiple times. The Base Fortitude Save requirement increases by +3 for each subsequent feat. (+6 the fist time, +9 for the second feat, etc) The ritual may be performed a number of times equal to the number of Hardy Mount feats possessed. The effects of the multiple rituals stack.

Master of Beasts [General]
Your mount can rally animals of its type.
Prerequisite: Invest Mount, Charisma 15+
Benefit: The mount gains the Command ability.

Summon Familiar [General]
You summon a magic creature to be your companion.
Prerequisite: Handle Animal 5 ranks, Caster Level 1.
Benefit: You summon a Tiny or smaller animal to be your familiar, the type changes to Magical Beast (recalculate BAB, Saves, and hit points for a magical beast) and it gains +2 to natural armor, +6 Intelligence, share spells and empathic link. The familiar becomes a magical beast (recalculate BAB, Saves, and hit points for a magical beast) You may spend a language point to learn your familiar's language. You familiar has half your hit points and considered as having a number of hit dice equal to your level.

Familiar Coduit [General]
You can cast touch spells through your familiar.
Prerequisite: Caster Level 3, Summon Familiar.
Benefit: You can use the familiar to deliver touch spells; you must be in contact with the familiar when the spell is cast.

Great Familiar [General]
Prerequisite: Summon Familiar, Caster Level 5, Ability to cast Transmutation spells.
Benefit: Your familiar grows by one size category.

Gifted Familiar [General]
Your training allows your Familiar to excell beyond the abilities of others of its kind.
Prerequisite: Summon Familiar, Handle Animal 10 ranks, Skill Focus (Handle Animal)
Benefit: The Familiar gains +4 Intelligence, +1 to any ability per 4 full hit dice above the minimum for its size.

Paladin Bonus Feats:
A paladin may choose from the above mount-based feats, Fighter feats, and divine feats.
A paladin gains bonus feats at 5th Level and every 5 additional levels.

Sorcerer Bonus Feats:
A sorcerer may choose any metamagic feat, item creation, or above familiar feats. In addition, other appropriate feats would be added to this list, such as bonus spell known, bonus spell slots, Arcane Preparation. A sorcerer gains a bonus feat at 1rst level, 5th Level and every 5 additional levels beyond 5th.

Wizard Bonus Feats:
A wizard may choose any metamagic feat, item creation, or above familiar feats. In addition, other appropriate feats would be added to this list, such as bonus spell known, bonus spell slots, Arcane Preparation. A sorcerer gains two bonus feats at 1rst Level and on additional feat every 3 additional levels beyond first.
Special: This replaces the wizard's standard bonus feats, including scribe scroll at 1st level.