Favourite familiar in BGEE?
elminster
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.
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.
- Favourite familiar in BGEE?119 votes
- Pseudo Dragon14.29%
- Fairy Dragon11.76%
- Ferret  5.88%
- Rabbit  2.52%
- Cat19.33%
- Imp10.08%
- Dust Mephit  2.52%
- Quasit  8.40%
- Show results25.21%
1
Comments
Although Imp has a very useful ability, too. If you go evil, which I never do, that's the best IMHO.
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.
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.
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?
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.
can someone check for beast masters too?
i was tried some addons recently, that might be modified in my computer only,
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.