Uncommon familiars

[Quickbeam]

A saggy old cloth cat baggy and a bit loose at the seams.

Animate Object at will, but limited to childrens toys, which then become free-willed, duration limited to "while Bagpuss is awake".

Bagpuss:
What the @%#! is that all about? I have a bard who was his clan's youth teacher, speciallizes in storytelling and fairy tales, and carries a dragon hand puppet named Okra. But what the heck is an animated cloth kitty familiar?!? Are there other Iconic rag options? Could one draw faces on a potato and animate it as their familiar ? Please help.

 

[Cedric]

Well...

As a wizard/cleric of Boccob, I started out with a toad familiar. But later on (I was about 14-15th character level at the time), with my DM's help and approval, I made an intelligent magic item, a Blessed Book of Boccob and transferred the spirit of my familiar into it.

It doesn't provide me with the same benefits that a familiar does (free use of alertness, etc).

But it does provide me with all of the benefits for being an intelligent item.

We rolled it up right on the chart and paid the costs appropriate, right out of the book.

Locheby (the familiar/book) has the following properties:

Int 19
Cha 17
Wis 15

Detect Magic and See Invisible at will
Invisibility (30 minutes for 3/day)

Languages:
Common
Celestial
Infernal
Abyssal
Draconic

The book is also embued with an Unseen Servant on a command word, so Locheby has something to carry him around and fetch him things, when we study in the library together.

He appears as a blue leather tome with silver locks and a swirling pattern of mists on the cover.

Cedric of Boccob
Master of True Iron

 

[d20Dwarf]

Spells & Spellcraft, now available, has a lot of options for taking different kinds of familiars, and there are around 2 dozen examples given. Familiar types are Animal, Construct, Elemental, Parasite, Planar, and Undead. Not only do they all give different bonuses, but there is also an experience-based system presented to give your familiars new abilities outside the ones they normally get. Best thing about all this? No feats required!

Here are some examples:

Clockbug- +2 Reflex save, +1 caster level for calculating spell duration
Dust Devil- special abilities (powerful familiars grant no master bonus)
Ice Sparrow- special abilities
Mist Viper- darkvision 30 ft.
Scarab- +2 Reflex save

 

[Richards]

I've always been kind of partial to the osquip myself...

Johnathan

 

[Neo]

Technically speaking, a character could have any creature concievable as a Familiar, by simply summoning a Familiar and then Polymorph other'ing it into something different.

Of course a Dragon who still thinks like a toad is going to be a lousy Dragon... but would no doubt provide some amusement hopping from one place to the next and making Ribbit sounds.

 

[Quickbeam]

The responses just keep getting better and better .

d20Dwarf:
Thanks for the head's up...I'll check it out.

Cedric:
My current PC is also a cleric/wizard of Boccob. Do ya think I should get him a familiar tome too ?

Richards:
Forgive my ignorance, and I'm sure that I'll regret asking later on, but what's an osquip?

 

[Matafuego]

The only wizard left in my campaign has an Imp but I am waiting for my new underwater campaign someone would go for the octopus!!!

 

[Savage Wombat]

My wife's wild mage wanted a familiar, so traveled to an alternate Prime and cast the spell.

The thing she got - well, they never figured out what the heck it was. It's furry, built sort of like the Winslow (a stuffed alligator) but with snaggletoothed jaws and back-curling horns. It had green, mottled fur, and perfect mimicry. It also had a tendency to wander around and try to eat the other PC's meals.

 

[Richards]

Quickbeam - I understand your hesitation in asking, but this isn't like Piratecat mentioning his infamous "henway." (Actually, I'm kind of surprised he missed the opportunity here.)

An osquip is a multilegged rodent (some have six legs, some have eight, and some even have ten) with enormous incisors capable of chewing through solid stone. Osquips first appeared in the 1E Fiend Folio, and readers of Edgar Rice Burroughs' "John Carter of Mars" series of novels will undoubtedly recognize the osquip's uncanny resemblance to the ulsio.

Long-time (pre-3E) readers of Dragon might recall Ozzie the osquip, who serves as a familiar to Buntleby of the Western Grove, one of the intrepid wizards of the Monster Hunters Association. The MHA has made nearly a dozen appearances in various "Ecology" articles throughout the years, most of them back in the 2E days.

Johnathan

 

[Conaill]

Insect Swarm (again one for improved Familiar feat) grants +1 INT (+2 to Scry and Spot reflects hive link, and many eyes)

Ooh... fleas! Great for that hippie sorceror. Or maybe that should be Animal Companions for the druid.