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Favourite familiar in BGEE?

elminsterelminster Member, Developer Posts: 16,317
I was bored and looking at the familiars in BGEE. I'm just curious what familiar people like and why?

So that there isn't a mountain of text here I've hidden the various familiar abilities and bonuses behind a spoilers tag (in case people need reminding).



LAWFUL GOOD, NEUTRAL GOOD: Pseudo Dragon
– Hit Points: 12
– Armor Class: 0
– Magic Resistance: 35%
– Combat: 2 attacks per round at 15 THAC0 for 1d3 damage
– Special Abilities: Can cast Blur once per day. Regenerates 1 HP/round. Immune to level drain, sleep, and petrification.

CHAOTIC GOOD: Fairy Dragon
– Hit Points: 12
– Armor Class: 6
– Magic Resistance: 25%
– Combat: 2 attacks per round at 15 THAC0 for 1d2 damage
– Special Abilities: Can cast Mirror Image once per day. Immune to level drain, sleep, and petrification.

LAWFUL NEUTRAL: Ferret
– Hit Points: 12
– Armor Class: 2
– Magic Resistance: 35%
– Combat: 2 attacks per round at 15 THAC0 for 1d3 damage
– Special Abilities: Has 50% in Pick Pockets, 25% in Hide in Shadows/Move Silently, and 20% in Detect Traps. Can cast Blur once per day. Immune to level drain, sleep, and petrification.


NEUTRAL: Rabbit
– Hit Points: 12
– Armor Class: 3
– Magic Resistance: 45%
– Combat: 2 attacks per round at 15 THAC0 for 1d2 damage
– Special Abilities: Has 20% in Move Silently/Hide In Shadows and 40% in Find Traps. Has 75% resistance to fire, cold, and electricity.

CHAOTIC NEUTRAL: Cat
– Hit Points: 12
– Armor Class: 2
– Magic Resistance: 35%
– Combat: 2 attacks per round at 15 THAC0 for 1d3 damage
– Special Abilities: Has 15% in Pick Pockets and 65% in Move Silently/Hide In Shadows. Can cast Blur once per day. Immune to level drain, sleep, and petrification.

LAWFUL EVIL: Imp
– Armor Class: 4
– Hit Points: 9
– Magic Resistance: 15%
– Combat: 1 attack per round at 17 THAC0 for 1d6 damage
– Special Abilities: Has 100% resistance to fire, cold, and electricity. Can cast Polymorph Self once per day. Regenerates 1 HP/round.

NEUTRAL EVIL: Dust Mephit
– Hit Points: 12
– Armor Class: 8
– Magic Resistance: 10%
– Combat: 2 attacks per round at 15 THAC0 for 1d2 damage
– Special Abilities: Has 100% resistance to fire and 35% resistance to slashing, piercing, and missile damage. Can cast Glass Dust twice per day. Regenerates 1 HP/round. Immune to level drain, sleep, and petrification.



CHAOTIC EVIL: Quasit
– Hit Points: 12
– Armor Class: 4
– Magic Resistance: 15%
– Combat: 2 attacks per round at 15 THAC0 for 1d6 damage
– Special Abilities: Has 100% resistance to fire, cold, and electricity. Can cast Horror once per day. Regenerates 1 HP/round.

  1. Favourite familiar in BGEE?119 votes
    1. Pseudo Dragon
      14.29%
    2. Fairy Dragon
      11.76%
    3. Ferret
        5.88%
    4. Rabbit
        2.52%
    5. Cat
      19.33%
    6. Imp
      10.08%
    7. Dust Mephit
        2.52%
    8. Quasit
        8.40%
    9. Show results
      25.21%
«1

Comments

  • JLeeJLee Member Posts: 650
    I have never had an evil charname, so I usually choose cat for scouting.
  • lunarlunar Member Posts: 3,460
    Pseudo dragon is the most durable for me, has decent ac and magic resistance and can regenerate back to health quickly. Now if only he had his bg2 sleep on hit claws, he would be unstoppable in bg1.

    Although Imp has a very useful ability, too. If you go evil, which I never do, that's the best IMHO.
  • SCARY_WIZARDSCARY_WIZARD Member Posts: 1,438
    edited July 2013
    My fairy dragon keeps saying it's injured, when it's not. ;_____; Mod? I DIDN'T MEAN TO HURT YOU LITTLE ONE
  • TaylorTwerkTaylorTwerk Member Posts: 79
    Can the rabbit disable traps? I never used him as he just seems to be a worse cat.
  • ThrasymachusThrasymachus Member Posts: 903
    edited July 2013
    Fairy Dragon is my favourite, though the Ferret also is quite useful (pick pockets and disable traps).
    Post edited by Thrasymachus on
  • elminsterelminster Member, Developer Posts: 16,317

    Can the rabbit disable traps? I never used him as he just seems to be a worse cat.

    The rabbit does have the open lock/ pick pocket icon on the screen so I assume it can disable very basic traps.
  • KamigoroshiKamigoroshi Member Posts: 5,870
    Nothing beats the dirty jokes of a batshit insane quasit, period! Not to mention the fact that they are way more adorable than any of those flea infested, furball familiars. Giving that dust mephits are always true neutral, they aren' fitting for the NE alignment per se. Imps ain't bad either, but I just can't warm up to the idea of having a miniature lawyer sitting on my shoulders. :/
  • zur312zur312 Member Posts: 1,366
    i like the one with invisibility 3 meters
  • elminsterelminster Member, Developer Posts: 16,317
    edited July 2013
    zur312 said:

    i like the one with invisibility 3 meters

    Fairy Dragon (what you are thinking of) doesn't get that in BGEE. It just gets mirror images.
  • Awong124Awong124 Member Posts: 2,642
    Jalily said:

    I just like cats.

    Same.
  • the_spyderthe_spyder Member Posts: 5,018
    I actually HATE cats. Always have.

    Plus, I had a Familiar way back in the day when I played PnP. His name was Ix and he was a Quasit. I probably shouldn't have fond memories of him because my DM really played him to his alignment. Although he was my familiar, it was not a master/servant relationship (at least not one where my wizard was on top). Still, that is what I remember so that is why I picked Quasit. That and the fact that in Advanced, Quasits gave +1 level, +3-18 HP and regeneration to the character too boot. They were a bit OP.
  • ogrebogreb Member Posts: 98
    edited July 2013
    Ehh..
    I just summoned the PD, stuck it my ruck sack and promptly forgot about it.
    I just wanted the HP bonus.
    They are too squishy and the permanent loss to Con on death just blows.
    The PD looks cool when it's all flapping around you...not so much when it gets squished by an ogre's mace.
    If your soloing though , those few extra spells or abilities can make or break a fight.

    Lol..looking at their stats.
    Using it ( PD ) to take down basilisks would have saved me a couple spell slots.
    But I'm past that...however I'll have to remember his abilities now.
    It's like NPCs abilities you never think of to use. Until it's too late of course.
  • zurathanzurathan Member Posts: 53
    elminster said:

    Can the rabbit disable traps? I never used him as he just seems to be a worse cat.

    The rabbit does have the open lock/ pick pocket icon on the screen so I assume it can disable very basic traps.
    no they can't!!!
    the only thing that can disarm a trap is the thiefs itself, its their one of their unreplaceble part.
    every party need atleast 1 pure theaf or a multi/dual clas thief with trap skill maxed. otherwise your party may see them and try to avoid them as possible, actually while thinking you can send a lowbie summoned creature to die on it too, but nothing more.
    these familiars can be just good as spell "detect trap" but you need a thief to disarm it, even the crappiest thief can be used with some potions involved. forexample you have an assasin with no skill on detect trap, dont worry a couple of master thievery, power, perception potions and the trap is no problem anymore.
    (and the other unique feat of thieves is detect illusion, 100 in that skill is achiveable at lvl 3 and works like spell "true sight" wich is lvl 6 arcane and lvl5 divine spell.)

    so i say don't waste your familiar with these crap and use a proper thief!!!
    by the way quasit's rocks, and those dragons definetly helps too if you play beast master (ranger kin), i would pick it anyway just for achieving high HP at early game. what do you think?
  • elminsterelminster Member, Developer Posts: 16,317
    edited July 2013
    zurathan said:

    elminster said:

    Can the rabbit disable traps? I never used him as he just seems to be a worse cat.

    The rabbit does have the open lock/ pick pocket icon on the screen so I assume it can disable very basic traps.
    no they can't!!!
    the only thing that can disarm a trap is the thiefs itself, its their one of their unreplaceble part.
    Sorry but you are wrong. Rabbit's can't replace a thief of course for some of the more difficult traps but they can disarm traps in BGEE (if you cast luck on them).

    image
  • the_spyderthe_spyder Member Posts: 5,018
    zurathan said:

    actually while thinking you can send a lowbie summoned creature to die on it too, but nothing more.

    Not sure how wide spread it is, but this trick doesn't always work. For instance, in Spellhold there is a trap that, if you send a summonable into the trap, the summoner gets lunched right along side it regardless of how far away they are from the trap itself.

    as a side note, there was someone here on the forum that didn't realize that familiars were more than merely fodder. they wanted to know how to recover their CON since it had 'apparently' erroded with 'every familiar that got killed'. Not to laugh at someone's pain, but it was kind of amusing. Familiars aren't disposable. lesson learned the hard way.

  • zurathanzurathan Member Posts: 53
    i see. i suddenly get fear about all that the comment was wrong somehow.
    can someone check for beast masters too?
    i was tried some addons recently, that might be modified in my computer only, :)
  • elminsterelminster Member, Developer Posts: 16,317
    edited July 2013
    zurathan said:

    i see. i suddenly get fear about all that the comment was wrong somehow.
    can someone check for beast masters too?
    i was tried some addons recently, that might be modified in my computer only, :)

    Beast Masters can't be True Neutral. Pseudo Dragon's and Fairy Dragon's don't get pickpocket (so there is no icon for them to open traps with).

    Also a minor correction on my part apparently you don't need luck active for the rabbit to disable that trap I was at. Though the locks I was using the rabbit on in Winthrop's Inn did need require me to use luck on the rabbit to get it to open them successfully.
  • zurathanzurathan Member Posts: 53
    hmm, i was talking about "can beast master's cast familiar?" ofcours they stuck to good alignment and has pseude and fairy dragon options.
    and dragons are (apart from HP boost) far from useless, pseude can fight much better then a lvl 1 mage, and fairy dragon has area invisibility,
    at early game using your familiar in combat should be safer then sending it to disarm.
    pseude dragon's stats are not bad at all.
    24 hp, AC=-2, THAC0=13, ApR=2, 1D3 Piercing+chance of Sleep. 50% Magic Resistance. Can cast Blur 1x/day. Regenerates 1hp/round.
  • elminsterelminster Member, Developer Posts: 16,317
    edited July 2013
    zurathan said:

    hmm, i was talking about "can beast master's cast familiar?" ofcours they stuck to good alignment and has pseude and fairy dragon options.
    and dragons are (apart from HP boost) far from useless, pseude can fight much better then a lvl 1 mage, and fairy dragon has area invisibility,
    at early game using your familiar in combat should be safer then sending it to disarm.
    pseude dragon's stats are not bad at all.
    24 hp, AC=-2, THAC0=13, ApR=2, 1D3 Piercing+chance of Sleep. 50% Magic Resistance. Can cast Blur 1x/day. Regenerates 1hp/round.

    Misinterpretation on my part concerning what you were asking. Familiars (whether they are from a Beast Master or Mage/Sorcerer) can walk over traps and activate them but (from what I can tell from testing) other summoned creatures aren't able to do this.
  • the_spyderthe_spyder Member Posts: 5,018
    elminster said:

    zurathan said:

    elminster said:

    Can the rabbit disable traps? I never used him as he just seems to be a worse cat.

    The rabbit does have the open lock/ pick pocket icon on the screen so I assume it can disable very basic traps.
    no they can't!!!
    the only thing that can disarm a trap is the thiefs itself, its their one of their unreplaceble part.
    Sorry but you are wrong. Rabbit's can't replace a thief of course for some of the more difficult traps but they can disarm traps in BGEE (if you cast luck on them).

    image
    Only if you don't mind the occasional situation where Wile E Coyotee gets the drop on poor Bugs and Snap. Mutton Stew.....
  • elminsterelminster Member, Developer Posts: 16,317
    edited July 2013

    elminster said:

    zurathan said:

    elminster said:

    Can the rabbit disable traps? I never used him as he just seems to be a worse cat.

    The rabbit does have the open lock/ pick pocket icon on the screen so I assume it can disable very basic traps.
    no they can't!!!
    the only thing that can disarm a trap is the thiefs itself, its their one of their unreplaceble part.
    Sorry but you are wrong. Rabbit's can't replace a thief of course for some of the more difficult traps but they can disarm traps in BGEE (if you cast luck on them).


    Only if you don't mind the occasional situation where Wile E Coyotee gets the drop on poor Bugs and Snap. Mutton Stew.....
    I'm pretty confident Bugs would outwit him. :)
  • MortiannaMortianna Member Posts: 1,356
    lunar said:

    Although Imp has a very useful ability, too. If you go evil, which I never do, that's the best IMHO.

    The Imp has always been my favorite. Despite having lower HP than all of the other familiars, Imps' Polymorph Self spell is really useful if you can remember to keep it out of harm's way. The Flind is the best for melee, due to its low AC and its magical Halberd, which also deals a point of fire damage. The Bear is good for tearing into disabled enemies, but its higher AC makes it too vulnerable for melee, and its 18/00 Strength opens a good number of locked containers early in the game. And the Mustard Jelly's 100% MR has obvious benefits.
  • ZanathKariashiZanathKariashi Member Posts: 2,869
    edited July 2013
    Ferret.....because then the mage can do EVERYTHING (it's got reasonably high PP, and stealth..and find traps (And knowing is half the battle!)).


    Technically they are.....the only penalty you suffer in PnP for a familar dying is losing the bonus hp (might be lethal if you're almost dead).... and having to save or DIE (It's just a system shock roll though, so a 19+ Con character is immune).


    No perma con loss. Unless you die and have to be raised.
  • BelgarathMTHBelgarathMTH Member Posts: 5,653
    Voted for cat because I'm a cat-lover. Also, the BG cat's dialogues alone are worth the price of admission. They're hilarious, and whoever wrote those dialogues was clearly a cat-lover who understood cats. ;)
  • CoM_SolaufeinCoM_Solaufein Member Posts: 2,606
    Another for the crazy kitties.
  • the_spyderthe_spyder Member Posts: 5,018
    elminster said:

    elminster said:

    zurathan said:

    elminster said:

    Can the rabbit disable traps? I never used him as he just seems to be a worse cat.

    The rabbit does have the open lock/ pick pocket icon on the screen so I assume it can disable very basic traps.
    no they can't!!!
    the only thing that can disarm a trap is the thiefs itself, its their one of their unreplaceble part.
    Sorry but you are wrong. Rabbit's can't replace a thief of course for some of the more difficult traps but they can disarm traps in BGEE (if you cast luck on them).


    Only if you don't mind the occasional situation where Wile E Coyotee gets the drop on poor Bugs and Snap. Mutton Stew.....
    I'm pretty confident Bugs would outwit him. :)
    True enough. Were it that we were all as lucky and smart as Buggs. Unfortunately in BG sometimes our rabbits miss their rolls and Snap... It's a painful lesson to learn for a budding wizard.

    I am reminded of a scenario where my DM had us encounter another party of adventurers. I managed to get a lightning bolt off at their mage whereupon he stopped in the middle of combat. He reached into his robe and shrieked "Pedro!" He pulled out a lightly toasted toad (who had missed his saving throw). We had frog legs for dinner that evening.
  • sarevok57sarevok57 Member Posts: 6,002
    I liked the bunny because in bg2 that bunny was tearing up goblins like nobody's business plus its AC was -4, which is great for the first dungeon
  • HeindrichHeindrich Member, Moderator Posts: 2,959
    edited July 2013
    I voted for Dragon cos... well, it's a dragon! Even if it's a mini-dragon, it's better than the mundane creatures like cats, ferrets and such.

    It bugs me that when I changed my Charname's alignment from Lawful Good in BG EE to Lawful Neutral in BG 2, he lost his dragon and now has a ferret. -.- I don't get why LAWFUL neutral is a ferret, which seems to be primarily a scout and pickpocket. A Lawful character would never pickpocket...

    In terms of gameplay, I wish I could use an imp. Tord (Lilly Black) actually uses her Imp quite regularly, and it's not bad once polymorphed into a spider.
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