What would you do with a bat? (or, Help! My familiar is proving relatively useless)

[The Sigil]

Slightly off the beaten path, perhaps, but if your DM (is Mojo the DM of your group) will allow it, I'd suggest using the rules found in Spells & Spellcraft - or FFG's Mastercraft Anthology (same rules, Mastercraft Anthology is $5 if you don't have Spells & Spellcraft) - and sinking some XP into improving your familiar. A familiar with a breath weapon or one that grants you Cold Resistance: 5 or Fast Healing: 1 is - mechanically at least - more interesting.

Plus, imagine the look on the rest of the party's faces when Rasputin swoops down on that stray dog in the city that's about to leap on you to give you a "kiss" and blasts it with his flaming breath weapon (like any good familiar defending his mistress), causing it to turn tail and run... and you scold him for being mean to the nice doggy and tell him to go apologize.

Better yet, once he has the ability to speak, he CAN apologize.

Loads of fun. Game mechanics aside, try to play up the relationship between you and Rasputin... have him be a well-meaning trouble-maker and you have to constantly play "mom" and steer him right. Or maybe he has a bit of an attitude on Mondays and the two of you are always bickering on Mondays about what you're wearing, etc... Or whatever.

--The Sigil

 

[Voobaha]

Here's an idea (stop me if you've heard this one)...

Put the bat in a metal box. Take him to a talent agent. Open the box and order your familiar to hop out, do a little dance and sing "hello my ragtime gal" in his best vaudeville hi-frequency squeak.

You'll make a million dollars, I guarantee it. Really.

 

[Voobaha]

You'll make a million dollars, I guarantee it. Really.

No, really!

 

[Thanee]

OT: Had to laugh at the topic when I read the first half... as I had a *real* bat in my room just recently! Trapped him/her/it (following a lucky incident) between the window and the "insect-mesh" (no clue what this is called ) and opened that to the outside in the morning, while he/she/it was asleep.

Anyways... I once (as DM) had the party run into a drow sorcerer with a bat familiar. There are some nifty tricks you can do with him. The sorcerer used his familiar as a sort of intruder alert for his cavern hideout, where some regular bats where hanging out as well, so the familiar didn't seem out of place.

The bat's blindsight allows to spot invisible attackers, and so he can warn you of anyone approaching. He can see perfectly in magical darkness, you (or a cleric) could cast a darkness spell (i.e. deeper darkness) on him (or better yet an item being carried by him, this way you can just stash it away until needed again (deeper darkness has a rather long duration )) and let him fly over a group of enemies, to effectively blind them.

Bye
Thanee

 

[tetsujin28]

I would not -- repeat NOT -- like Ozzy anywhere near it

 

[Thanee]

Other then that I always thought the wizards familiar was to cause trouble and be rather useless.

You wouldn't say that to Kira, the thrush familiar of my halfling arcane trickster, once she blasted you with her wand of cone of cold (holding it via alter self (that was 3.0 still) and using it with use magic device ). Also, once you aquire 6th level spells, Imbue Familiar with Spell Ability (Tome & Blood) becomes available and you can use it as a kinda source for "quickened" spells (nice for those low level buffs or even dispel magic (i.e. to get you out of Tenser's Transformation, if it's starting to get you into trouble )).

Bye
Thanee

 

[evileeyore]

Ahem...

"..and then He-Yah! I, um, kicked her sir."

Sorry had a Bartok moment...

On a more usefull note, i have yet to positively see a familliar used for more than the freebies associated with it. Thats why my Sorc4/Cler3/MysThe4/Courtier2 has yet to aquire one... that and a real job outside of using his astounding diplomacy skill...

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

My Rogue/Sorcerer/Arcane Trickster has a Bat Familiar. They met when my Rogue opened a door in a dungeon...and a bat flew out and slammed into his forehead, knocking the poor creature out.
The bat is now named Target!
I find that familiars are just more fun for RP purposes than anything...but the other PC in the game has a cat familiar, and Target enjoys doing flybys on on the cat. Very very funny...

 

[reapersaurus]

There are some pretty nifty tricks you can do in Arena/Tournament Games with familiars, especially ones who can fly AND can see thru darkness and invisibility.
Basically, having a familiar gives you another character's actions to activate magic items and the like.

 

[Bloodsparrow]

once she blasted you with her wand of cone of cold (holding it via alter self (that was 3.0 still) and using it with use magic device ).

What? Not held under the dorsal guiding feathers?



Sorry... I couldn't help myself.

I'm a bad person.


The first time I had a familiar, was my first regular D&D game... I had a.. Chinchilla... (Don't laugh! He was cool! ... Eventually.) He wasn't very interesting to start either. I did eventually fix that problem, but only after pulling my DM aside and telling him that I wanted a more active role for Merv and how could I do that?

And, even though I know more about the system then I did then, that's something I've always kept in mind. It's never a bad idea to pull your GM aside and say, "I'd like to get your thoughts on x...".

The only other familiar I've had was a Fairy Dragon, Banaca, for my Kender Wildmage, Sherbert. She was a little more impressive with her ability to talk, cast cleric spells, and get people high. In the end, Banaca became just as much fun to play as Sherbert, and I would sometimes play just Banaca in one shot games.

But as much fun as Banaca was... Lots of mages have had Fairy Dragons as familiars... So far, I think I'm the only <i>chinchilla</i> mage.


I even made a puppet of Merv that doubled as a dice bag. I'll see if I can find it and post a picture.

Keep the bat. Love the bat. If your DM will let you, upgrade the bat to have sonic attacks.