what are familiars good for anyway?

simples

i tend to take them out of my pack every now and again and talk to them, but they never really have anything interesting to say and (obv) they're useless in combat.. so what good are they?

Arktosa

That speudo dragon when you are lawful stupid good was quite epic. There are some websites that could give out his stats but as far as I remember, he was the best ever familiar. Its all depends on the alignment of CHARNAME. They do normal weapon damage but are immune to sleep, petrification and level drain though.

nano

My pseudo dragon took down Tarnesh by himself while the rest of the party was asleep/feared :O

That regeneration at level 1 is incredible and it has something 2 AC and 2 APR. Definitely the strongest member of my party.

Later on you could turn him invisible and use him as a scout. Just keep him away from traps.

Lord_Tansheron

In BG1, they have some minor uses. Before they were nerfed, you could use the shapeshifting one (Imp?) to great effect. Now, they add some minor utility, but are usually not good enough.

In BG2 they are a few extra HP and a lost bag slot. Nothing else, unless you count some exploits with pickpocket on yourself (to keep Drow equipment, to smuggle out the Rift Device...).

onan

In BGEE, they are quite useful as scouts.

In BG2,
Absolutely nothing
Uh-huh.

Sceptenar

Ferret familiar makes a good pickpocket, he found me a nice cloak on a fellow called Algernon...

[Deleted User]

Ferrets are also good enough at pickpocketing to steal the potions of defense from the fellows Silke wants you to attack. I've put familiars to use as combatants in the very early stages of the game.

In BG2, doesn't the Fairy Dragon get a casting of Invisibility 10' radius?

meagloth

On the iPad it seems as though I cannot take him out of my pack. I tap on it an it says "item cannot be removed" or something akin to that. Am I doing something wrong?

EDIT: never mind, found the button. Du'h

Thrasymachus

Familiars are immune to petrification. This makes them *very* helpful when fighting basilisks. Just move them in front of your party, and let them take all the petrification 'blasts' from the basilisks you're fighting, while your party members pelt the basilisks with missile weapons. (Be sure to have your familiar run away if the basilisks start physically attacking.)

As already mentioned, the ferret's pickpocket ability is pretty decent.

Sceptenar

meagloth said:

On the iPad it seems as though I cannot take him out of my pack. I tap on it an it says "item cannot be removed" or something akin to that. Am I doing something wrong?

I've never tried it on an iPad, but on the PC you click the familiar as you would a potion (where it would say "drink potion" or something to that effect) and you get to option to "release familiar".

Mortianna

@Thrasymachus

Most familiars are immune to petrification, but not ALL, unfortunately. Imps, Rabbits, and Quasits can still be turned to stone.

Felspawn

My cat is a good scout

Quartz

They are good for taking up space in your inventory and giving you extra Hit Points.

...Okay so yeah, a few of them have some useful abilities. Usually in the form of Pick Pocketing or spells as mentioned.

I have a question for anyone who's been through all of BGII ... Not a ToB spoiler though:

If you have a Familiar and go through the Hell Trials and end up changing alignment, what happens regarding your Familiar? I would assume they stay the same, unless they die and then you re-cast the spell, at which point you get a different Familiar to suit your new alignment. Am I right, or wrong?

Mortianna

@Quartz It's been a long time, but I remember being changed to NE from LE in the Hell Trials (which I don't really understand; what did I do that was specifically NE?) My Imp disappeared when I took it out of my inventory at the beginning of ToB, but I didn't lose the HP. I then summoned another familiar and got a Dust Mephit, which gave me 24 HP on top of the 9 from the Imp In BG2. Fine by me. Since it can cast Stoneskin and Prismatic Spray, I found it to be the most powerful familiar in ToB.

[Deleted User]

@Quartz Based on my investigation of modding Familiar.2da and changing about alignment with EEKeeper in BGEE, I can speculate that if your alignment changes on the law/chaos spectrum that you will run into problems with your familiar disappearing. If your alignment stays the same on the law/chaos spectrum, you'll probably keep using the same familiar without problems.

This thread covers the current difficulties with modding familiar.2da. You see the same results if you summon a familiar and then change your alignment with EEKeeper.

Schneidend

Does scouting somehow become completely useless in BG2? I keep seeing people say they're good for scouting in BG1, but then this becomes suddenly unimportant in the sequel.

[Deleted User]

Schneidend said:

Does scouting somehow become completely useless in BG2? I keep seeing people say they're good for scouting in BG1, but then this becomes suddenly unimportant in the sequel.

Scouting in BG2 is complicated by the presence of spellcasters who will cast True Sight as soon as something hidden comes into their field of vision; you can't put a Cloak of Non-Detection on a familiar to counter this.

CrevsDaak

Cats in v1.0.2012 of BG:EE have 4 APR for 2d4 or 2d6 (not sure), at a THAC0 from 8 to 16.
What made them become the most OP Familiar+1.

Schneidend

Kaigen said:

Scouting in BG2 is complicated by the presence of spellcasters who will cast True Sight as soon as something hidden comes into their field of vision; you can't put a Cloak of Non-Detection on a familiar to counter this.

I always found that to be really dumb. How do they even KNOW something invisible is around?

nano

Kaigen said:

Schneidend said:

Does scouting somehow become completely useless in BG2? I keep seeing people say they're good for scouting in BG1, but then this becomes suddenly unimportant in the sequel.

Scouting in BG2 is complicated by the presence of spellcasters who will cast True Sight as soon as something hidden comes into their field of vision; you can't put a Cloak of Non-Detection on a familiar to counter this.

Plus you have lots of other options for scouting at that point. It's also pretty dangerous to leave a familiar out when the spells start flying.

enqenq

They're good for letting Melicamp have some quality time in your backpack.

element

the imp gets polymorph self which is pretty awesome the slime can just absorb any mages spells for you while the spiders can poison thing which is also quit handy

simples

file under ai bug

sunset00

I liked a lot my 'pseudo dragon' at early levels. I'd say.. up to (F) lvl5/6 maybe. Was with a neutral good char btw..not just for a 'lawful good' ones, that one.. mainly very quick -quicker than even a rasaad!..that could have replaced it in that early role btw..if not here..when in team *) - (very handy for wilderness scouting indeed.. seems to have a gift to attract and lead back the bad guys exactly when wanted to, aka exactly where you want to throw a 'web' spell for exemple.. and then.. they are all dead..dogs, winter wolves, vampiric wolves, whatever.. *) i used A LOT that scouting tactic early when i decided to DUAL Imoen at lv5... and wished to lvl up back her the 'quickest possible' to regain her thief skills... the wilderness around Nashkel&co/west coast sure must remember the damn 'terrifying' gang bard blade/imoen lv1 mag/neera (not much more) and..the little winged scout (not able to fly over the sea shores or cliffs btw..was funny enough too that^) leading back everytime the poor beasts to their dooms and traps (*webs* *)) ) ..and yes, low magics, bows&slings were used a lot..and the little 'dragon' wings too.. *)) ^^ Now, an early terror was everything with poison^..especially those pesky unexpected hobgoblin archers, for ex, or those damned spiders with theirs traps too^^..12HP, even with regen and blur..was more&more dangerous around ^ At the end, honestly, more&more dangerous to let the little puppy around.. i think he did all the end of subterrean Durlag tower in the bag..just impossible to micro manage some fights in close quarters for him and things doing more than 12hp in one hit all around lol.. ^

Now, i'm happy enough with that rule for the bg2ee imports (deleting the familiar, starting back clean..new one if wished again..^) ; not sure i will take one again for BG2ee, at those levels^.. or really will have to be boosted more than a little^.. anyway, was very fun in early BG1ee levels, the early hp boost was very useful too then, extra claws too..don't regreat it at all (and the extra claws don't share your xp when you need it most..contrarily to an early rasaad) )... *)

nb; i noticed some familiars had some interesting properties; immunity to fire/frost/lightning/etc too?.. i wonder if those ones would not be very nice against dungeons traps when you don't have a good thief around and/or don't want to loose too much time or you are in a shortage of 'potions of perceptions'/wands of monster summonings) lol.. another possible 'early' usage..with those ones..maybe..*)

Anduin

Familiars all have a niche they can fill.

I fought long and hard for them to be a bit more than a backpack item. In the end I think it was a case of balance. Wizards are darn powerful anyway.

If your interested you can continue the debate here...

http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/17678/a-familiar-re-balancing-a-proposed-solution-to-a-familiar-problem

And here...

http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/16951/a-familiar-problem

And here...

http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/14866/a-note-on-familiars

Oh and this I just randomly found if you want to learn about my background story...

http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/18257/the-dead-three-and-me