POLL: What do you do with your familiar?

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So, how do you use your familiar? I just grab the hit points and leave him in my inventory.

Incidentally, I found a way to get rid of the familiar without killing it, so you can keep the extra hit points without the hassle of it following you or wasting an inventory spot. First, fill your inventory completely with your familiar occupying the first slot. Then activate an event that forces items into your inventory. Those new items will take the first couple inventory spots, forcing the familiar to be dropped as an item. Then you walk away without picking it back up.

Poll Information
This poll contains 1 question(s). 44 user(s) have voted.
You may not view the results of this poll without voting.

Poll Results: What do you do with your familiar? (44 votes.)

What do you do with your familiar? (Choose 5)
* To fight in melee - 2% (1)
* To scout - 14% (6)
* Their special abilities - 27% (12)
* Extra hit points - 73% (32)
* Other / Just results - 20% (9)

 

Same as you. Sits in my pack doing bugger all.

 

Yep, my mage travels around with a perpetually sleeping animal in his/her backpack too.

 

I only occasionally use them to scout or pick pockets. Mostly they just sit in the pack.

 

When I first started using one I did a little scouting but now I just put them in my pack.

 

A familiar can be used as extra storage, if you get one that can pickpocket. Drop any items you want to keep hold of, then have your familiar pickpocket you until you have no valid items, then pick up all the stuff you previously dropped. Hey presto, a bag of holding before you get to Spellhold.

 

That is a very interesting way to use familiars OTG. How many items can they hold though?

 

Yeah, that's new to me... sounds like a good idea

 

Oh I never experiment with familiars. Mine, usually a Pseudo-dragon, sits in my backpack most of the time.

Can Pseudo-dragons pick pockets too? Which familiar is the best pick-pocketer?

Hey, I occasionaly take it out, talk, pet and feed it. I am a good mageling, after all!

 

My bounty hunter had his pseudeo dragon sit in his backpack, and enyojed the extra HP. I also had the little fella cast Detect illusions from time to time, very useful. And like Silverstar, I pet him from time to time, and give him something to eat. I just like to watch the little fella squirming around

 

I tried out a familiar once. Found out they were fairly worthless except for adding some hitpoints. I don't call for them anymore.

 

He casts invisibilty 10' radius when the party needs to sneak by someone.

 

It's a gerbil, so....

 

To help with such questions, I personally compiled this chart by copying it from the Dan Simpson wlakthrough.

Alignment________Familiar_______AC___HP_____Abilities
--------------- ------------- -- -- ----------------------------------
Lawful Good______Pseudo Dragon__-2___24____50% magic resistance, renders victims unconscious, casts Blur

Neutral Good_____Pseudo Dragon__-2___24____(same as above)

Chaotic Good_____Fairy Dragon____4___24____32% magic res., casts Invisibility 10' Radius & Mirror Image 1/day

Lawful Neutral___Ferret__________0___24____50% magic res., 75% Pickpocket, Stealth, 20% Detect Traps 40%

True Neutral_____Rabbit_________-4___16____50% Detect Traps, 30% Stealth, 75% resistance to fire, cold, elec

Chaotic Neutral__Cat_____________0___24____20% Pickpocket, 99% Stealth, 50% magic res.

Lawful Evil______Imp_____________2___18_____Polymorphs, 25% magic res.

Neutral Evil_____Dust Mephit_____6___24____Casts Glitterdust 2/day, 10% magic res.

Chaotic Evil_____Quasit__________2___24____Casts Horror, 25% magic resist.


So, it's the Ferrets and the Cats who can play Bag of Holding. Some of the others have neat tricks, too: the Farie Dragon can turn your party invisible, the rabit is one "Resist Fre/Cold" away from being able to trigeer flamestrike traps and the like in order to heal itself, and a spare Horror that doesn't tie up you primary casters (from the Quasit) is hard to see as a bad thing.

Mostly, however, familiars are laibilities best kept in your pack. So it goes.

Futilly,
The Medusan Exile

[ December 02, 2006, 20:19: Message edited by: Taluntain ]

 

I have them sit in my pack for extra HP.

Looking at my current game (CG Fighter>Thief), I'll occasionally use the Invisibility 10' Radius ability.

 

Familiar sits in my pack. It's an hp buffing item, nothing more. Once or twice during the game I may release my famililar briefly, just to remind myself that it's supposed to be more than a hp buffing item. But back in the pack it always goes, quickly. It's otherwise just one more thing to worry about, and the risk of having it get killed overshadows any other benefits it might otherwise offer.

 

In the pack! As Marceror said, it is too much of a risk to your character to have them wandering around.

 

It's a waste to keep your familiar in your pack if you don't have to.

I find the following familiars useful:

Fairy Dragon = Casts invisibility 10'.

Imp = Can polymorph in mustard jelly to absorb magical attacks of liches, and gnoll/spider in instances where its attacks are needed).

Dust Mephit = Can cast Glitterdust and Glass Dust. Quite useful.

Quasit = Can cast Horror once per day.

 

Suprisingly, evil familiars are more useful in combat situations. Pseudo-dragon totally SUCKS! Is there a safe method of changing the familiar without changing your alignment?

 

@Mountain Hare: They do have occasionally useful abilities that they can be taken out to use now and again. However, they are too much of a liability to have wandering loose- they can't stand melee for long and the disadvantages of losing a familiar, for me at least, mean that they spend most of their time looking over CHARNAME'S shoulder.