Solo sorcerer: what’s the optimized familiar?

Klorox

And what alignment do I need to be to get it?

Or am I best off just keeping the little bugger stored away for some bonus HP and forgetting about it?

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Pantalion

Cat. Pick pocketing party members has no consequences for failure, so having a 75 pick pockets skill is largely irrelevant (and may lead to equipment being stolen, if I remember my skill thresholds).

A pick pocket skill of 15/30 can still empty your backpack but can also stealth easily and consistently (65 in BG1, 99 in BG2) providing effectively a free, permanent, Wizard's Eye.

Borek

I believe it's the Faerie Dragon (CG i think) that has a Invisibility 10" radius inate, as long as you don't attack with it then you basically have 24 hr duration invis when staying next to it, pretty nuts for most of the game haha.

DevardKrown

Borek said:

I believe it's the Faerie Dragon (CG i think) that has a Invisibility 10" radius inate, as long as you don't attack with it then you basically have 24 hr duration invis when staying next to it, pretty nuts for most of the game haha.

the moment you talk to your fairy dragon to put him away you will break invisibility making that bonus mute.
but if you wanna leave him somewhere on the map that will work , you have to pick him up later however to maptravel.
the real question is if you want to bother for what essential is just a lvl 2 spell , playing solo and all.

don't know for your modded game though.

Klorox said:

And what alignment do I need to be to get it?

Or am I best off just keeping the little bugger stored away for some bonus HP and forgetting about it?

unless you want to do some pickpocket yourself cheese to carry around extra stuff.
or have a polymorph self Imp (mustard jelly) with 100% magic , fire electricity and cold immunity (still risky and they come with 6 less hp until ToB , thats a loss of 3 for yourself)

then you are better off just stuffing one in your bag and enjoying the 12 hp they give.



and for the love of the gods , cast the spell of a scroll x)

Pantalion

Borek said:

I believe it's the Faerie Dragon (CG i think) that has a Invisibility 10" radius inate, as long as you don't attack with it then you basically have 24 hr duration invis when staying next to it, pretty nuts for most of the game haha.

Situatinally useful for a party, but solo? Invisibility us a level 2 spell that does this.

DevardKrown said:

unless you want to do some pickpocket yourself cheese to carry around extra stuff.
or have a polymorph self Imp (mustard jelly) with 100% magic , fire electricity and cold immunity (still risky and they come with 6 less hp until ToB , thats a loss of 3 for yourself)

then you are better off just stuffing one in your bag and enjoying the 12 hp they give.

and for the love of the gods , cast the spell of a scroll x)

That's a big strike against the Imp for me as well. The Find Familiar spell in BG:EE is post Nashkel mines, and by then it's pretty easy to be at "Polymorph Self" level yourself.

malachi151

Taking up a space is not worth it, especially when when soloing...

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Klorox

malachi151 said:

Taking up a space is not worth it, especially when when soloing...

I disagree. The extra hitpoints make up for the small amount of loot you could bring back to town to sell.

When soloing, you don’t need nearly as much money.

As a sorcerer, you need even less.

malachi151

Klorox said:

malachi151 said:

Taking up a space is not worth it, especially when when soloing...

I disagree. The extra hitpoints make up for the small amount of loot you could bring back to town to sell.

When soloing, you don’t need nearly as much money.

As a sorcerer, you need even less.

Sort of, but the biggest problem is potions in BG2 until you get the BoH.

Grond0

malachi151 said:

Klorox said:

malachi151 said:

Taking up a space is not worth it, especially when when soloing...

I disagree. The extra hitpoints make up for the small amount of loot you could bring back to town to sell.

When soloing, you don’t need nearly as much money.

As a sorcerer, you need even less.

Sort of, but the biggest problem is potions in BG2 until you get the BoH.

Just buy the potion case at Watcher's Keep.

If you're playing LoB then familiars have worthwhile HPs, so you could consider a pseudo-dragon which has a chance of putting enemies to sleep. In the basic game though familiars are too vulnerable to be in combat much.

The imp has fewer HPs than the others, so I wouldn't go for that.

If solo you can play some nice games using a familiar as an invisible scout and to block enemies trying to reach you. Choosing something with 100% fire resistance can help if you have trouble targeting fireballs without seeing enemies.

Pantalion

chimaera said:

And a ferret can also empty the packs of others. In the original it could even succeed in stealing a ring from a certain floating skull. Back then these two rings used to stack.

If you're going to save scum enough to successfully "empty someone's pack" with a 75 pick pockets then you can save scum slightly more to do so with 30 in pick pockets, it's really just a matter of degrees at that point.

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DevardKrown

malachi151 said:

Taking up a space is not worth it, especially when when soloing...

6 HP is like being one level higher , later on its redundant to have a big hp pool but you have to work your way up to Mirror Images and Stoneskins and until then i rather stay there with 1 hp than with -5.

Pantalion

chimaera said:

Pantalion said:

chimaera said:

And why do you assume I'd "savescum" with Kangaxx? I tend to have my thieves pickpocket only npcs I can afford to go hostile. And in this case there is no penalty for failing, because he goes hostile either way. You just don't get the second ring (which I think was fixed in the EE anyway). So yes, it's a matter of chances, which is higher if you use the ferret.

"Others" is plural, inferring multiple targets, not just Kangaxx, and "emptying a pack" infers multiple successful pick pocket attempts.

Neither cat nor ferret can safely pick a pocket that isn't locked into being friendly, so if you're routinely emptying pockets with any real success then it generally needs to involve save scumming.

Also note that I don't mean savescumming as a pejorative term, that's just the word for it.

But yeah, I'm pretty sure you're right that they "fixed" the Gaxx ring thing. There's still a few always blue NPCs leaving areas, but they generally don't have great stuff or can be pause/rob/paused until you succeed.