Familiars. Worth it?
iAmGoatBoy
Member Posts: 72
What the title says. Rolling a mage, want to know if there's any benefit to dragging a familiar around with me or whether they're just a burden + waste of a spell slot. First instinct on looking at the spell description is to think they're more trouble than they're worth. Thoughts?
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I would never take it as a level up scroll/a sorcerer spell, though, and I doubt I'd even scribe it as a wizard. If you leave it in your pack, you're never going to need more then one casting of it.
"Who's a good familiar? You are, you are!"
For the most part they are indeed a straight swap of 1 inventory slot for some HP though.
Personally, I take the spell at character creation. I do not recommend others do this but I do it because I am more of a role player (and a horrible player too boot). My Wizard "Has" to have every single spell that he can cast in his spell book. And it helps when transitioning between BG1 and 2 (only very slightly because I think you can get the scroll in Irenicus' dungeon). But it is absolutely flavor at that point.
I have also played around with some of them. They have some nice low level abilities that can benefit. But just don't have them out during combat (or be prepared to reload). It's cool to have a cat sneak as a spy, or have your familiar pick pockets or open the odd trap. You just have to be very careful. I've also heard that some familiars can solo wolves at level 1, so....
In case it isn't clear, Familiars are not throw away summonables. If they die, you permanently lose 1 point of CON. And I also don't recommend memorizing the spell for Sorcerers, because you end up with a useless slot. But if you have the scroll?? why not?
I'd personally love it if they leveled up with the player. Then they'd be absolutely essential to a budding mage. But then they would probably be OP.
Cats rock in BG:EE, they gets some sort of useless in BG2:EE.
That said, some familiars are better than others. The Pseudo Dragon (Lawful Good) is not half-bad in the very early game thanks to regeneration and good AC. The Imp (Lawful Evil) is pretty useful thanks to shape-shifting into more powerful forms. The Ferret (Lawful Neutral) seems useless beyond its hp bonus (also makes no sense RP-wise to give a Lawful character an animal associated with theft).
The Dust Mephit (Neutral Evil) is also great. Glass Dust and Glitterdust!
However, I wish they all leveled with the character, but not in an overpowered way. maybe they can each have two very useful spells. Maybe some low level debuffs (minor stuff) with no saves? or some minor buff?
You know how clerics get some holy symbol at super high levels? The wizard's familiar when he hits that level could get like one or two awesome spells. Like a True Sight or an Improved Haste once/day. Very, very useful but not game-breaking.
I also wish I could let him hang out in my Planar Sphere if I have the mage stronghold, or just chill out with Cespenar in my Pocket Plane.
-Imoen could get a sneaky, playful puppy. She also told Minsc she wants a hamster in a ToB banter, but that would be one too many. I think Cespenar and Imoen would get along, but he can't be her familiar!
-Haer Dalis will get a raven or some kind of bird. Maybe a parrot who likes to imitate the lines of other party members
-Neera could get some random poop-throwing monkey. It would be an awesome spell to have a wild surge on actually. Something generally random/chaotic
-Aerie would get like a unicorn pony or a koala or something equally adorable and cuddly that teen girls adore.
-In Rashemen apparently there are a lot of spirit animals, so Dynaheir could get something like that. I really think an owl of some sort would be very fitting
-Nalia seems like a cat girl, since the cat familairs can pickpocket (then give to the needy).
-Xzar would get a ghoul, lol. He just has Korax follow him around
-Xan would totally get Grumpy Cat from the internet meme
-Eldoth can get some cunning yet somewhat scummy animal, like a weasel or a fox
-Garrick seems like one of those people who like to dress up their pets. Maybe a bunny would fit him.
-Baeloth would have to get something really cool from the Underdark, or just have some random slave follow him about (like a goblin)
-Jan would have to have some kind of fun, smallish animal. Maybe a mini griffin! he loves those
-Quayle has a circus so the possibilities are endless for him. Maybe a ferret
-Since Edwin is Minsc's archnemesis, he'd have to get somebody who is the opposite of Bool Like some ugly gerbil. And unlike Minsc and Boo, his familiar would be totally unwanted and he would just *hate* the damn thing. "*squeak*" "Filthy rodent! Again you disturb me! (one day... one day...)"
-The one that would be really interesting, though maybe terrifying, would be whatever Sarevok would get if he dual classes. That would have to be some sort of imp or other scary demonic creature.
or maybe it's lame to begin with and Edwin tries to improve it but only makes it worse. I guess that fits better.
For mages, wild mage, or whatever specialty you decide to go with it doesn't really cost you anything if you pick the spell on character creation. You should have, or eventually have enough intelligence that it doesn't take up a slot used for something else.
For a sorcerer, like I said, you can find a scroll or scrolls to cast your familiar since you only have/need to cast it once.
It also works for Bards! Don't forget that!
Like I said before, it is essentially free hit points for just giving up an inventory slot!
If you're fighting basilisks or some similar creature, just push your familiar out in front. The basilisks stupidly will focus their petrification stares on the little fella, whilst your party members can barrage them with missile weapons.
Be sure to have the familiar run away if the basilisks decide to get physical, though...
As it stands, familiars are too fragile and too important to use in combat situations, so it's only pick pocket, scouting and spells that have merit, this leaves the Ferret, Fairy Dragon - Scouting is great with invisibility 10', but you can get that spell yourself, and the Cat. The Imp gets honourable mention for the polymorph spell.
For the Fairy Dragon, a once per day Invisibility 10' Radius works out as an extra level 4 spell; useful, but obsolescent, and since it's once per day, that rather disqualifies it from a realistic scouting role. The same applies to all the spellcaster familiars, the value of one or two spells per day when a mage can end up with all the spells they need, it's a temporary bonus that starts great and loses value.
Likewise, whilst the Imp is pretty well top tier early BG, polymorph doesn't increase its health overmuch, so in the end it's one hit away from being a Constitution penalty.
Since pickpocketing without reloading is dangerous when targeted at anyone it may have a chance of failure against, that's a sizeable blow against the Ferret, which can never auto-succeed or improve its chances beyond 75%; so the main use of the Ferret would be for interparty pick pocketting, which, with patience and an unarmed participant, is effectively automatic.
This leaves the cat, which has a 99% stealth chance. At early levels, it can backstab to support you, arguably giving it the potential to be one of the overall best damaging familiars, whilst its ability to stealth and scout - assuming you practice some caution and avoid trap hotspots - is always useful, as is the 50% MR, which gives it a chance even if you do fluff avoiding the traps.
Personally, I don't risk using familiar - it just sits there with magical treasures in the bag. It's so important for a mage to get an HP boost but it's very fragile.
The game begs for a Improved Familiar spell.
...
I meant a fireball SCROLL.
I know the distinction between Lawful and legal law, and wrote about it on a number of threads.
A bit off-topic:
http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/comment/447715
"Lawful ==> Chaotic is just a measure of attitudes to Order and Individuality, which are concepts that objectively infer no moral goodness or evil. Adherence to, or otherwise, to legal law, is only a superificial 'symptom' of underlying values and attitudes."
However, theft, regardless of legal law, is a questionable action for a character who cares about order and harmony in society. And I maybe wrong, but I am pretty sure that you cannot create a Lawful Thief in BG. You can create a Good thief, like Imoen, but he/she cannot be Lawful.
Even if by some convoluted reasoning, you justified a particular Lawful character into carrying out a theft, that doesn't make it any less odd that a Lawful Neutral character, which is basically the most Lawful you can get (since you are not influenced by Good or Evil intentions in your actions) gets given a familiar associated specifically with theft. It's like giving a Good character an Imp. Sure... the Imp might be benevolent and helpful, but that doesn't make it any less illogical as a default setting. In the case of familiars, it's made all the worse by the fact that you can't change/choose your familiar. The result is that my LN Charname never takes his familiar outta the pack, which is a bit of a shame.
Note that in AD&D 2e there is in fact a direct, if loose, tie in to Lawful behaviour and Thievery, owing to a Lawful Good alignment restriction.
As it is, Lawful gets all the crazy familiars. Lawful Neutral? Best law-breaking familiar. Lawful Evil? Best familiar at changing its shape into other things.
But yeah, Cat's still the best. One thing I previously didn't fully appreciate is that they get petrification immunity, so they can tank basilisks for you, a bonus not actually shared by the Evil familiar set, so a major step up over the Imp.
@Pantalion - No, there is no direct correlation. A Lawful Good might find stealing distasteful, that's reasonable (but not a guaranteed thing). But not because they are "Lawful" per say. And it by no way correlates that a Lawful Neutral or Lawful Evil will have ANY qualms with thievery even if a Lawful Good person does. Certainly it isn't the "Lawful" compulsion that drives or restricts 'Thievery'.
The rules clearly allow for Lawfully aligned thieves, thus throwing out any and all arguments that the rules preclude thievery for lawfuls.
Again Lawful does not equal The law or legal systems of any kind.
My personal favorite of the familiars is the quasit. of course the representation in the game is nothing at all like the quasit in PnP, which is Hugely OP.
Sorry, I think I've been watching too much 'Archer'.