Weasels & Ravens & Toads...Oh my!

[Krieg]

OK I absolutely HATE the fact that familiars are a mandatory part of the 3.0/.5 Wizard & Sorcerer's repertoire.

I don't mind familiars, I just don't feel that EVERY mage should be forced to have a pet.

Now when I get around to running a standard D&D campaign (as opposed to my current AU/Midnight & CoC/Harn conglomerations) I'm planning on removing familiars as class abilities for Wizards & Sorcerers.

To make up the difference I'm thinking about giving Wizars an additional 2 skill points per level & bumping the Sorcerer's base HD to a D6.

I'm also planning on bringing back "Find Familiar" as a 1st lvl spell for those Wiz/Sor who decide that they would find a familiar beneficial. (It will be a "complex" spell as I still intend to steal quite a bit from AU.)

Now time for the feedback...

Do the SP & HD bumps feel like a fair trade-off for familiars?

Would a "Find Familar" Feat be a better alternative for the Sorcerer?

Any alternate ideas to replace familiars?

 

[Jeph]

OK I absolutely HATE the fact that familiars are a mandatory part of the 3.0/.5 Wizard & Sorcerer's repertoire.

I don't mind familiars, I just don't feel that EVERY mage should be forced to have a pet.

They aren't. Summoning a familiar is not only optional, but takes a good deal of time and money.

And Familiars basically provide two bonus feats to the caster: Alertness, and then either Skill Focus, Lightning Reflexes, Great Fortitude, Iron Will, or toughness. You could just assign some ability like Lore at first level: "The Sorcerer/Wizard gains a +2 bonus to two skills of their choice." That's roughly equivalent.

 

[Krieg]

They aren't. Summoning a familiar is not only optional, but takes a good deal of time and money.

In the inflated world of 3.X, neither one day nor 100gp really qualify as "a good deal".

And Familiars basically provide two bonus feats to the caster: Alertness, and then either Skill Focus, Lightning Reflexes, Great Fortitude, Iron Will, or toughness. You could just assign some ability like Lore at first level: "The Sorcerer/Wizard gains a +2 bonus to two skills of their choice." That's roughly equivalent.

Now we're getting to the meat of the matter.

FWIW I also want to help further differentiate the "studios" Wizard from the more "physical" Sorcerer, thus the two changes I'm contemplating.

 

[bensei]

Also, a caster who wants to have a cohort should think twice if he wants a familiar, too.

 

[Mercule]

FWIW I also want to help further differentiate the "studios" Wizard from the more "physical" Sorcerer, thus the two changes I'm contemplating.

The mandatory high Int and better skill selection for Wizard already does this. In our game, we give the Sorcerer 4 skills/level rather than 2. A Wizard is still almost always more skilled than a Sorcerer.

 

[DaveStebbins]

So how about changing Summon Familiar to a feat? Give wizards and sorcerers a free feat at first level. The free feat must be chosen from a short list which includes Summon Familiar.

This gives the player the choice of whether they want one or not for their arcane PC. The DM can tailor the feat list depending upon what makes sense in his campaign. As a feat, summon Familiar could even be chosen after first level, though I would scale back the caster level type benefits so they don't apply to caster levels gained before the feat was taken.

I prefer to play mages (when I play), and many of my wizard PCs would not have familiars. This would give them some options other than just walking away from familar-gained benefits. Since familiars also have drawbacks, I would be very careful about what I used as possible replacement feats but, in general, I like this idea.

Hmmm... I may have to think about this as a house rule. Thanks for bringing the subject up.
-Dave

 

[CRGreathouse]

I don't think that the ability to summon familiars is worth a feat. I've DMed and played many wizards who never summoned a familiar, and I didn't feel weaker -- I didn't have the skill bonuses, to be sure, but I also didn't have to try to protect the 8hp critter (depending on the wizard's Con and level, of course) or lose the XP when it died.

Really, I don't think that wizards and sorcerers without familiars should gain any special benefit.