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Questions on Find Familiar

DhariusDharius Member Posts: 665
Hi. I have a couple of questions on (Neutral) Familiars:

* How many items can they pickpocket (and thus carry) maximum? and,
* Are they able to equip and use any of these? and,
* If they can, does their capacity for items they can carry/pickpocket increase when they equip something?

Many thanks!
Post edited by Dharius on

Comments

  • jmerryjmerry Member Posts: 3,881
    edited October 2023
    All right, some testing...

    - 20 slots. All creatures have the same inventory structure, and pickpocketing items places them in the three belt quickslots and the sixteen inventory slots, plus the "magically created weapon" slot. A successful pickpocket attempt after that results in an "Inventory Full" message instead. Gold does not cost a slot; anything the familiar pickpockets is added to the party's gold pool. Which is bugged when it's a familiar pickpocketing a party member - that generates gold from nowhere. Stackable items can be pickpocketed as stacks, such as three healing potions or twenty arrows in a single slot.
    - The first three items picked go into the quickslots. They aren't automatically equipped, but if you save and load they will be; items like wands and potions can be used from that slot. Items that belong in other slots like weapons and armor won't be usable. The twentieth item goes into the "magically created weapon" slot. If that's a weapon ... its icon will show up in place of the normal "paw" icon, but it won't actually be used, even if you save and load. My test ferret did slashing damage even when they had a quarterstaff there.
    - No change in capacity for being "equipped". It's in the same slot either way.
    Post edited by jmerry on
  • DhariusDharius Member Posts: 665
    Good to know. I also noticed the gold from party members bug…at least I’ll never run out of cash ;) Many thanks!
  • lroumenlroumen Member Posts: 2,538
    edited October 2023
    i was hoping to test this for my new run, but perhaps you already did.
    if one of the first three is an item with a charge, can it be used? like the armor that gives cone of cold, would that be castable?

    and the 20th item/weapon slot, if that contains other effects like immunities or regeneration, would they work if the weapon is not used? or if that had an affect to cast would it show in the equipped item backpack casting button?
  • jmerryjmerry Member Posts: 3,881
    No specific testing on either of those. I just used potions and random junk with a Candlekeep start. I suspect that the answer to your questions is no to both; the only items that can be used from the quickslots are the item types that can actually be used there, and the "magic weapon" slot is only equipped if the character has a "create weapon" effect on them. (Though if the familiar cast something like Melf's Minute Meteors from a scroll ... would that erase that 20th item?

    I might run another round of tests. But not right now, as I'm in an airport with limited time until my flight.
  • lroumenlroumen Member Posts: 2,538
    edited October 2023
    The first 3 items are in the quickslots. If they are consumable in any way then you can use them. Even items like harps, swords, and armors will work if they have a castable ability (I tested Peridan and I was able to cast detect invisibility with it for instance). If you sleep, X times per day charges will replenish.

    The 20th item does nothing but change the way the attack paw looks, but the item is indeed not physically equipped and no bonuses are applied whatsoever.

    Note that if you give back the items, you cannot steal them again for some reason. That does make it difficult to keep the Familiar out and use a certain items every time.
  • jmerryjmerry Member Posts: 3,881
    lroumen wrote: »
    Note that if you give back the items, you cannot steal them again for some reason.
    The reason is that the GiveItem script action and its variants apply a "can't be stolen" flag to the item traded. It's mainly there to stop you from stealing back things you trade to NPCs, but it also applies to situations like the familiar handing stuff back to you when either you ask or the familiar goes back into the pack.
    If you want the items to be stealable repeatedly, you have to steal them from the familiar. Which, in practice, means having both someone with a high PP score and someone with a low PP score in the party.

    Also, thanks for the additional testing.
  • lroumenlroumen Member Posts: 2,538
    I will keep that in mind. Now to plan a little bit which items I will get the cat to use in future.
  • DhariusDharius Member Posts: 665
    edited March 17
    In the quickslots, what kinds of items can they keep there? Is it anything (e.g. wands, scrolls etc.) or are they restricted by e.g. class?
    Post edited by Dharius on
  • Balrog99Balrog99 Member Posts: 7,371
    edited March 16
    I was thinking about doing a solo neutral cleric/mage sometime, but haven't gotten around to it. I thought the rabbit could be my thief if he stole a stack of Master thief potions. I think it would work, but you'd need to either steal a large stack and leave the familiar out, or steal a few at a time as needed. Either way it sounds like a chore so I'm pretty sure restartitis would be an impediment...
  • DhariusDharius Member Posts: 665
    edited March 20
    It’s not a bad idea I think. I never solo personally, but at the moment I find I’m using the thief skills alongside an F/M a lot in the early chapters of BGEE alongside Montaron and/or Imoen, but after Chapter Two at Nashkel this wasn’t so important once my party NPCs each had a level or two.

    Again in Irenicus’ dungeon in BG2 I’ve found the familiar of any type outside the backpack as a useful extra party member when you’re limited in party size. In the city outside the dungeon he eventually ends up in the backpack once the party size is maximised.

    A Cleric/Mage could provide a lot of buffing spells in BG2 or late BGEE to make a familiar more effective in and less likely to die in combat too.

    Having said that, for familiar thievery, potions of perception, power and master thievery are rather expensive (and in the case of potions of power, rather scarce). Alchemy (thieves/bards only) at very high levels makes them accessible though I guess, but that’s a long way away, and that kind of defeats the object as your main character or NPC would be doing most of the thieving at that point ;)
    Post edited by Dharius on
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