Thankee. The 'Arcane Bloodline' helps make up for the lack of spell swapping by granting us more spells known that we want anyway, leaving more room for more niche spells.
Apologize if I ask, but if I go for Ability Score Bonus inside Tome of Battle I should be fine without having to install the one from scales of balance, or do I remember wrong?
Maybe that train of thought could futher be simplyfied by making familiars into a limited spell sequencer storage device for one spell of the spellcaster's personal choosing? The amount of stored spell may or may not then increase with higher levels. Kind of like the Witch in Pathfinder, who basically uses her familar as a living spellbook.
I find the idea of a familiar very weird in the context of BG. No matter how much thought one puts into them, they are simply odd.
1) The loss of constitution if you lose a familiar is disgusting.
2) The bonus hp is 99% of the reason everyone uses them
3) They are mostly useful in BG1, but they rapidly lose their usefullness.
I think that one way one could improve them is simply by making them level up together with you to never be "useless".
But there is always a matter of consistency when you write about these familiars having these powers: why is no one using them like that? And also... the few familiars you meet should share these abilities.
I do believe outsider familiars should be more potent than mundane animals. They are bonafide fiends after all. But maybe that's just me. Overall, I'd also give each familiar a disadvantage as well. Especially if those familiars are mostly outside the bag. Surely enough that should make for more interactions between master and familiar.
Pseudodragon:
- Hoarder: Occasionally steals gold from its master for its own miniature hoard.
Fairy Dragon:
- Prankster: Occasionally pranks its master by hiding enemy drops.
Rabbit:
- Burrow: Can quickly create underground burrows to escape certain doom. (Basically a tiny Dimension Portal without the magical flair)
- Weak Hearted: higher chance for Morale Failure
Cat:
- Nocturnal: Sleeps throughout most of the day. (Ever had a cat? They sleep for 16 hours straight!)
Ferret:
- Destroyer: Chances to destroy a random item when stuck inside the bag for too long.
Imp:
- Fiend: Party reputation drops inside human settlements when witnessed by others.
Dust Mephit:
- Dust Cloud: small AoE Dust Aura, causing creatures with lungs to cough uncontrollable for as long as the cloud persists.
- Dusty Air: Slightly decreases the field of vision for the party.
(The whole grease theme is truthfully a better fit for mud mephits. The quasielement of dust mephits is far less "wet".)
Quasit:
- Fiend: Party reputation drops inside human settlements when witnessed by others.
I don't know why but the thought of having a giant spider familiar that actually improves in size with levels made me think about roleplaying a shadow druid. Would be cool if I could upgrade it when I get control of the grove.
I don't see much of an issue there myself. Imps were always baatezu in AD&D second edition PnP, quasits in turn tanar'ri. Distinctive enough for me. As far as Planescape books goes mephits were descriped as imp-like in apperance. Not as straight-up, reskinned imps themselves. Again, works for me.
Personally I'd remove the pseudodragon, fairy dragon, imp, dust mephit and quasit from the starter familiars altogether. To level the field a bit. The outsiders and dragon-like magical beasts could then be reintroduced as a higher "tier". Maybe for level 12 arcane casters or as HLA's later on. That way mages could actually choose which kind of elemental, para-elemental or quasi-elemental mephit they want without cluttering up the mundane animal familiars.
In place for the old supernatural familiars I could imagine the following:
LG: Dog
NG: Chicken
CG: Squirrel
LE: Rat
NE: Spider
CE: Snake
What about having different familiars giving different passive bonuses beyond/instead of hp boosts? Like small boosts to a saving throw, or some very mild regen.
There is conflicting information in 2E, and I think in Planescape imps and quasits were not in fact truly among the ranks of baatezu and tanar'ri. I could be wrong, but that's my recollection. And frankly, if they are, then I think they would be wholly inappropriate as familiars. Actual fiends? Demons from the afterlife, hopping around helping some human mage in his quest to loot this or that dungeon? Doesn't make sense to me.
That's pretty much their described job in Planescape: lend a "helping" hand to morsels, slowly corrupt them and drag their souls into their respective planes to create new manes/dregs. Both sides are always eager to replendish the cannon fodder for the Blood War. The war coffers won't fill on their own even in the afterlife.
And the mephit could maybe (maybe!) have an innate ability that lets you choose its native element (fire/ice/earth/air/mud/dust/lightning).
That will be a tall order. Given the sheer amount of mephits out there in the Great Wheel: Elemental: Air, Fire, Earth, Water Para-Elemental: Smoke, Ooze, Ice, Magma "Positive" Quasi-Elemental: Lightning, Minerals, Radiance, Steam "Negative" Quasi-Elemental: Vacuum, Dust, Ash, Salt
Also, that mud mephit we talked about? Looks like that was a creation of the 5th edition. My bad. No biggy tho, we just have to rename it to ooze mephit instead. Given that the Para-Elemental Plane of Ooze is a mix between earth and water.
Some more random thoughts about those shiny new animal familiars:
Dog:
- Smell: Can detect invisible enemies
- Bellowing: sound attack with possibility to afflict deafness for 1 round
- can be strengthened by FnP Magic Fang/Animal Growth spells
- Medium: No AC bonus vs. missiles
- owner passive bonus: none
Rat:
- Plague Carrier: Chances to afflict the diseased status on hit for 1 round
- Swarm: summons weak (level 1?) rats to fight alongside with
- can be strengthened by FnP Magic Fang/Animal Growth spells
- tiny: 6-point AC bonus vs. missiles
- owner passive bonus: hardiness against becoming diseased?
Edit: And as a bonus:
Chicken: (because who wouldn't want to have a chicken familiar?!)
- Crowing: wakes up any sleeping creatures in reach, be it friend or foe
- Flying: immune to Grease/Entangle/Web
- can be strengthened by FnP Magic Fang/Animal Growth spells
- small: 4-point AC bonus vs. missiles
- owner passive bonus: hardiness against sleep
Looks like multiclass sorcerors failed to install due to errors.
Some kind of mod conflict? What was the actual error?
Also, TnB should be installed before FnP - with the new expanded multiclass sorcerers, this is really important. Maybe try uninstalling FnP and doing TnB first, and see if there is still an error.
Nope, component still fails. There shouldn't be any conflicts unless a new update broke something. I haven't added any new mods or changed my install order.
I got it to install with some fiddling. It would only work if I did Tome minus the multi sorcs, then faiths, then might and guile, then the multi sorcs, then the Faiths multiclasses.
Comments
Apologize if I ask, but if I go for Ability Score Bonus inside Tome of Battle I should be fine without having to install the one from scales of balance, or do I remember wrong?
1) The loss of constitution if you lose a familiar is disgusting.
2) The bonus hp is 99% of the reason everyone uses them
3) They are mostly useful in BG1, but they rapidly lose their usefullness.
I think that one way one could improve them is simply by making them level up together with you to never be "useless".
But there is always a matter of consistency when you write about these familiars having these powers: why is no one using them like that? And also... the few familiars you meet should share these abilities.
Ferret: foul odor, spell-like ability which afflicts sickening to individuals within a small range for 1 round. (Yes, they do stink that much.)
Pseudodragon:
- Hoarder: Occasionally steals gold from its master for its own miniature hoard.
Fairy Dragon:
- Prankster: Occasionally pranks its master by hiding enemy drops.
Rabbit:
- Burrow: Can quickly create underground burrows to escape certain doom. (Basically a tiny Dimension Portal without the magical flair)
- Weak Hearted: higher chance for Morale Failure
Cat:
- Nocturnal: Sleeps throughout most of the day. (Ever had a cat? They sleep for 16 hours straight!)
Ferret:
- Destroyer: Chances to destroy a random item when stuck inside the bag for too long.
Imp:
- Fiend: Party reputation drops inside human settlements when witnessed by others.
Dust Mephit:
- Dust Cloud: small AoE Dust Aura, causing creatures with lungs to cough uncontrollable for as long as the cloud persists.
- Dusty Air: Slightly decreases the field of vision for the party.
(The whole grease theme is truthfully a better fit for mud mephits. The quasielement of dust mephits is far less "wet".)
Quasit:
- Fiend: Party reputation drops inside human settlements when witnessed by others.
Personally I'd remove the pseudodragon, fairy dragon, imp, dust mephit and quasit from the starter familiars altogether. To level the field a bit. The outsiders and dragon-like magical beasts could then be reintroduced as a higher "tier". Maybe for level 12 arcane casters or as HLA's later on. That way mages could actually choose which kind of elemental, para-elemental or quasi-elemental mephit they want without cluttering up the mundane animal familiars.
In place for the old supernatural familiars I could imagine the following:
LG: Dog
NG: Chicken
CG: Squirrel
LE: Rat
NE: Spider
CE: Snake
That will be a tall order. Given the sheer amount of mephits out there in the Great Wheel:
Elemental: Air, Fire, Earth, Water
Para-Elemental: Smoke, Ooze, Ice, Magma
"Positive" Quasi-Elemental: Lightning, Minerals, Radiance, Steam
"Negative" Quasi-Elemental: Vacuum, Dust, Ash, Salt
Also, that mud mephit we talked about? Looks like that was a creation of the 5th edition. My bad. No biggy tho, we just have to rename it to ooze mephit instead. Given that the Para-Elemental Plane of Ooze is a mix between earth and water.
Dog:
- Smell: Can detect invisible enemies
- Bellowing: sound attack with possibility to afflict deafness for 1 round
- can be strengthened by FnP Magic Fang/Animal Growth spells
- Medium: No AC bonus vs. missiles
- owner passive bonus: none
Rat:
- Plague Carrier: Chances to afflict the diseased status on hit for 1 round
- Swarm: summons weak (level 1?) rats to fight alongside with
- can be strengthened by FnP Magic Fang/Animal Growth spells
- tiny: 6-point AC bonus vs. missiles
- owner passive bonus: hardiness against becoming diseased?
Edit: And as a bonus:
Chicken: (because who wouldn't want to have a chicken familiar?!)
- Crowing: wakes up any sleeping creatures in reach, be it friend or foe
- Flying: immune to Grease/Entangle/Web
- can be strengthened by FnP Magic Fang/Animal Growth spells
- small: 4-point AC bonus vs. missiles
- owner passive bonus: hardiness against sleep
Nope, component still fails. There shouldn't be any conflicts unless a new update broke something. I haven't added any new mods or changed my install order.
Unix.Unix_error(20, "stat", "might_and_guile/lib/d5_base.spl")
Why would it be trying to read something from MIght and Guile? Isn't that supposed to be the last kit mod before FnP multiclass?