Tell me about your familiars

[iwatt]

OPS (Owl Positioning System)

The sorc has a Celestial Owl (mproved Familiar). which he's boosted up the wazoo. We also allow customization of feats and skills, so the best observation platform is by far the owl (alertnes...skill focus spot...good wisdom). Coupled with the darkvision and superior low light vision, it's very hard to keep things hidden.

Thankfully, the sorc is pretty overprotective of his familiar, so he doesn't send him on too many spying missions.

becasue of OPs though, the dwa¡rves in my campaign construct owl-proof hallways (they curve sligthly to break line of sight).

 

[SWAT]

Used a feat to get a second familiar. I had a rat named Marlowe and a squirrel named Jinx (had to restrain myself not to call him Jacob).

They'd spend most of their time playing hide and seek and running after each other... on me. Imagine meeting a halfling wizard who doesn't seem to notice the critters crawling all over him.

 

[Driddle]

I cannot urge this strongly enough: Have your familiar vaccinated!

My last two familiars, a dog and a cat, died from heartworm and feline leukemia, respectively. And before that my badger contracted rabies.

Be responsible and pay attention to your familiars' health. They can't do it themselves.

 

[Desdichado]

BTW, I really dislike the Improved Familar feat. It seems natural that a more powerful wizard would have a more powerful familar. Thus, I prefer the familar rules from Mongoose's Hidden Toad Crouching Monkey book.

I agree; I like the feat, because I like a distinct familiar from a flavor perspective, not because I necessarily believe that it should cost a feat. I'd like to have a look at those rules next time we game, especially since it looks like it'll be at your place. You may have all kinds of stuff I want to borrow.

 

[Stockdale]

Sure thing Mr Dyal.

 

[Khayman]

I've had two characters with familiars. One was the quartermaster aboard a pirate vessel (rogue/wizard), who had an ancient scabrous parrot named Budge. He left it in the rigging to spy on the crew, then report back to the captain... those handy little birds speak Common, after all.

The second was when I was playing a Thayan ghoul wizard in FR. He had an undead cat that he picked up in a Mulhorand tomb... imagine an Egyptian mummified cat and you get the idea.

 

[diaglo]

NeeLum had a rat familiar named Cand.

needless to say Angelsboi was not happy with my choice of character nor familiar.

 

[kigmatzomat]

Played a sorceror (Summoner) with "extra familiar" and "widen share spell" feats from Dragon mag. His two familiars were a cat and a bat. Since their shared spells worked out to a mile, they did a lot of recon under the effects of Mage Armor, Invisibility, Blur and Cat's Grace. In combat he'd toss a Fireshield up so that anyone who managed to hit them would find it unpleasant and move on to other targets. Combine with a grey bag of tricks to pull out a few small animal decoys and your familiars just fade into the background.

The bat was great because it could see invisible targets. And virtually nobody notices a cat in a (medieval) urban setting so it did a lot of spying.

 

[trowizilla]

My wizard's familiar is a weasel named Sleek. Anyone ever watch Rugrats? (I may be betraying my age here). Anyone know the character of Angelica? Basically, that's Sleek. She's prissy, vain, and snarky, especially about other people's fashion sense, and feels the need to primp in front of any reflective surface. She's also very fond of crickets, prefering to chew them one leg at a time, but she catches bunnies and such for the rest of the party sometimes.
It's great, because Keswyn (char) is very straightforward, while Sleek can get out all my sarcastic comments in character. Also, the bit where the familiar gets to use whichever skill points are higher, master's or its own, is useful for keeping watch, finding directions, etc.
She also makes a good Lassie: "Mommy's trapped by bandits, go wake up the rest of the party!"

 

[Judas]

The only familiar any of my characters had, was a fighter/mage from 2nd Edition. He researched the right areas and time of day, so he could get a pseduodragon as his familiar. He got it, had it for quite some time, then 3rd edition came out. During conversions we let him keep it, and he's been with him ever since.