POLL: What do you do with your familiar?

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Bag 'em, what use is a familiar when you cast a fireball?
"Please see if my CON is in the lost & found".

 

You didn't mantion the mephit which I don't really understand. Glitterdust is better than horror. Under horror enemies run away or become enraged and attack you. Blinded enemies justs tand there while you kill them. Given that the mephit gets 2 casts per day and the quasit only gets 1, I can't see how the mephit isn't better.

Of course familiars casting anything at enemies, or even being out of the pack near enemies is very dangerous. Which is why I like the Fairy Dragon - it can cast inivisibility without going anywhere near anythign that might cause it any harm.

 

I mentioned Horror over Gliterdust because Horror is an area effect. If you're quick, you can cast it where you know enemies to be, then put the Quasit back in your pack before they see you.

 

Presumably there's a script somewhere that the familiars use, same as there is for planetars and other summons, so it's probably possible to script your familiar to jump into your pack, or at least run away, when an enemy comes close enough... Time for some digging...

 

A familiar is a must-have. Actually, I choose (or change via SK, if need be) my alignment to get the one I want - and that would be an imp most of the time. (after the Hell trials my PC is evil and hopelessly corrupted anyway, so...)

The imp ususally sits in my pack, messing with treasures and artifacts. But it is set free to scamper about now and then. During some of the less risky random encounters it also enjoys action as a sword spider. Wont have it turn moody.

 

Silverstar:

I don't know? You could try ShadowKeeping it in.

Decados:

Which if why you don't let them enter melee. This is rather easy, given that they are pretty speedy creatures (especially the Imp). Morph the Imp into a Gnoll. He moves like lightning.

ister:

Well, the Dust Mephit only gets one cast of Glitterdust per day. He gets two casts of 'Glass Dust' per day.

So is Glitterdust...

Treilheim:

The imp is immune to fire, both magical and normal. Use sunfire as much as you want! I'm not sure about the dust mephit or quasit.

 

No. The dialogue to put your familiar back in your pack (which you need to do for area transit) checks your alignment on the L/C axis and creates the appropriate familiar in your backpack. So if you have an LE character and want the CE familiar, you get it once at best, and further problems may even develop...

From experience I can tell you that going off on the G/E axis does not work. I had a CN F/M/T character who failed the Hell Trials (for RP reasons) and turned NE. I figured it would solve itself and give the proper familiar, but I was wrong. Instead, it gave me the TN familiar (rabbit) in the pack when I put the cat back in, and then when I tried to take it out again, the familiar disappeared from my pack without anything appearing in the game.

Now, admittedly this is a good way to free up the inventory slot the familiar takes up without losing the benefits, but it doesn't get you a different familiar. It would take a full-fledged mod to get that.

 

That's interesting! I never thought about alignment changes and what consequences it may have on familiars.

I once tried to take advantage of the pseudo-dragon's sleep on hit effects. It wasn't that he kept dying - I just made sure the monster locked onto another character the same way you'd use a tank and kensai combo - but he kept missing! Lousy THAC0.... I got to try the cat and imp next time.

 

I voted for extra HP, special abilities and other. Special ability that I like is pickpocket of course. Very useful for a solo mage.

I like ferrets, cats and rabbits. I wish I could have all these three at once but there is not such a mod I think. I sometimes let them out of my backpack and speak and pet them.

 

That was an example spell. There are other elemental and non-elemental area-effect spells (skull trap, cone of cold, death fog...) and you're not the only one casting them .
Better put your little pet rabbit in a box and use your party to fight.

 

My fammiliar sits im my backpack. Because I play mage/cleric there is no need for him to cast invisibility.

 

@Mountain Hare:

Naturally I wasn't suggesting that they should be leading the charge. However, melee is not the only way to inflict damage. With low hit points, they make an easy target for archers to take out when they have reached a decent thac0. Additionally, any spells flying around may well be the death of them- even if the familiar wasn't the original target.

 

After the my little dragon saved my highly wounded and exhaused party from the den of beholders with his invisibility spell, I would say familiars can be useful and worth the slot in the pack; those abilities can make the difference sometimes.

 

Well, your character is still CN. Your alignment change in the Hell Trial is a trigger, as far as I remember, so if you open your savegame in an editor like IESE, he should still show as being CN, even though he´s NE in the game. Maybe some of those triggers screw up the familiar. Don´t take my word for it though.

 

I keep mine in the backpack. Though sometimes I take it out and feed it or talk to it.

 

Or so it would seem, though its description says it can render an enemy unconscious for a whopping 120 seconds. That does really sound potentially useful.

I just checked it out by Ctrl+Q-ing it, it's really messed up actually. Its THAC0 should be 13 according to its description, but it's actually 17 (you can get it to 16 by casting Strength on it ). Its AC is 0 rather than -2 but it becomes -3 after it casts Blur.
I've been attacking some people in the Copper Coronet with it and the unconciousness never kicks in.
Very pseudo indeed...

It also wears a Ring of Invisibility as a girdle and its gender is "Neither".

I couldn't find a mod to fix it (I'm patched and Baldurdash fixed). But I may not have searched hard enough.

I'm new here by the way, this was my first post. How do you do.

[ April 04, 2007, 17:53: Message edited by: Don't stow thrones in glass houses ]

 

i actually use my familiar to kill goblins in irenicus's dungeons, and help me fight off amalas, but that's it.