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Find Familiar Question

DelDel Member Posts: 44
in Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition
How PERMANENT is the constitution damage? Will a restoration spell work? Anything else? Thanks.
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  • HeindrichHeindrich Member, Moderator Posts: 2,959
    It is permanent permanent. As in you will never get it back unless you cheat.
  • DelDel Member Posts: 44
    Permanently permanent?! That stinks.
  • HeindrichHeindrich Member, Moderator Posts: 2,959
    Yes :p

    Familiars are supposed to be used with great care, and not as a summoned fodder. My ferret pretty much never leaves the backpack.
  • DelDel Member Posts: 44
    Nah, there's still risk in losing a point of con, even if not permanently. A poor decision by Bio in my opinion even if it's 'by the book.' I'm still waiting for a patch that implements damage vs. size!
  • enqenqenqenq Member Posts: 499
    The familiar isn't a very exciting combat asset anyway. I think even if the penalty wasn't permanent I would just keep him in my backpack so I wouldn't have to resummon him because he'd die every fight or find him a hiding spot on every map to keep him safe.
  • MitchforkMitchfork Member Posts: 390
    In BG:EE the HP bonus is worth taking it as a character generation spell- 6 extra HP is huge, especially for a pure-class Mage.
  • ThrasymachusThrasymachus Member Posts: 953
    I found my pseudo-dragon helpful in combat early on in BG2EE. It regenerated hit points quickly, and frequently put enemies to sleep.

    However, I got cocky, and it died. So now I'm down CON by 1 point. Fortunately, I have a bit to spare, but now the pseudo-dragon stays in my backpack.
  • KidCarnivalKidCarnival Member Posts: 3,747
    Mitchfork said:

    In BG:EE the HP bonus is worth taking it as a character generation spell- 6 extra HP is huge, especially for a pure-class Mage.

    Na, absolutely not worth taking at character creation. There is a certain drop of a scroll early in BG1 and in BG2, you can buy it in stores. No need to even scribe the spell, unless you plan to have the familiar die. If you keep it in the backpack or only use it for non-combat, you'll never use the spell again after summoning it once.

  • MitchforkMitchfork Member Posts: 390
    edited December 2013
    KidCarnival said:

    Na, absolutely not worth taking at character creation. There is a certain drop of a scroll early in BG1 and in BG2, you can buy it in stores. No need to even scribe the spell, unless you plan to have the familiar die. If you keep it in the backpack or only use it for non-combat, you'll never use the spell again after summoning it once.

    Eh, the scroll is only found in Chapter 3, so it's not that early really. I think a permanent +100% HP bonus (with 16 CON) that you don't have to recast at the start of the game is better than any other level 1 spell but Sleep.

    EDIT: Forgot CON bonus.
  • nanonano Member Posts: 1,632
    I agree, if you're not a sorcerer I think it's worth a pick. There aren't many level 1 spells you desperately need, and Find Familiar is comparatively difficult to get because you need to make it through the beginning of the game, which is also when the HP and familiar would be most useful. I imagine the imp can take down Tarnesh by himself, a nice bonus because usually I avoid the FAI for fear of him. By the time you can beat Mulahey and Nimbul you're already pretty strong and whatever, familiar, get in my backpack and try not to move too much.
  • kaffekoppenkaffekoppen Member Posts: 377
    It's worth it if you have space. I am *always* struggling with space so I chose not to have another rarely used item taking up space.
  • AnotherLifeAnotherLife Member Posts: 115
    Is it possible to unsummon the familiar yourself without suffering the penalty ?
  • ThrasymachusThrasymachus Member Posts: 953
    AnotherLife said:

    Is it possible to unsummon the familiar yourself without suffering the penalty ?

    Not that I'm aware of.

    However, if you import your mage/bard from BG to BG2, you lose your familiar with no penalty.

  • MitchforkMitchfork Member Posts: 390
    AnotherLife said:

    Is it possible to unsummon the familiar yourself without suffering the penalty ?

    I don't think so. It's a truly permanent spell- you're either carrying the familiar or the CON penalty for the rest of the game.
    kaffekoppen said:

    It's worth it if you have space. I am *always* struggling with space so I chose not to have another rarely used item taking up space.

    Fair enough. I don't think that one item slot is going to make a difference beyond a few hundred gold for selling items, though.
  • ThrasymachusThrasymachus Member Posts: 953
    Now that Find Familiar is available in both BGEE and BG2EE, you can boost your mage's or bard's hit points by a total of 18 points at the beginning of BG2EE.

    You gain six points in BGEE from your first familiar.

    Then import your character to BG2EE. You lose the familiar, but suffer no penalty (no loss of hit points or CON).

    At that point, you can acquire new, stronger one, which confers a greater bonus (12 hp instead of 6).
  • MitchforkMitchfork Member Posts: 390
    @Thrasymachus Ack, now I have to check my Fighter/Mage's HP total in BG2 and make sure it's legal- is this a bug that's been reported?
  • HeindrichHeindrich Member, Moderator Posts: 2,959
    I don't know if this is still the case in BG EE to BG 2EE transfers, but when I transferred my BG EE Fighter/Mage to BG 2 Vanilla, he lost his familiar, but retained the hp bonus from it. Which means when I summoned a new familiar at the beginning of BG 2, he gained even more hp.

    I 'fixed' this by manually reducing his constitution using Shadowkeeper, which resulted in a massive hp drop (from nearly 100 to around 70), presumably because the game not only removed his bonus hp from 1 Con, but also the bonus he had from his first familiar.
  • nanonano Member Posts: 1,632
    kaffekoppen said:

    It's worth it if you have space. I am *always* struggling with space so I chose not to have another rarely used item taking up space.

    Heh, I don't know if you've ever played Diablo 2 but people would fill their whole inventory for little boosts like that, leaving only slots for only one or two items. A single slot doesn't make any difference to me, especially with all the bags you can get. It's just like Minsc carrying Boo around!
  • ThrasymachusThrasymachus Member Posts: 953
    @Mitchfork: I'm not sure this qualifies as 'bug', as it seems unfair to impose a penalty on a character (especially a permanent CON penalty!) for something that cannot be avoided.

    Ideally, the PC's familiar simply should be 'upgraded' upon being imported to BG2EE (along with +6 hit points).

    If you think this needs to be 'fixed', then reducing the PC's hit points by 6 -- so that a total of 12 is gained, not 18 - is the way to go (IMO).
  • MitchforkMitchfork Member Posts: 390
    @Thrasymachus I agree that a CON penalty for importing a character is a bit harsh but keeping the HP from a familiar that no longer exists is almost certainly not intended behavior. I'd just remove the familiar and the HP on import.
  • nanonano Member Posts: 1,632
    If I was Jon I would shoot that familiar as part of my "experiments". Heh, maybe I'll give my character a con penalty and pretend that happened.
  • HeindrichHeindrich Member, Moderator Posts: 2,959
    edited December 2013
    @Nonnahswriter

    lol that's exactly what happened for my LP Charname! I felt that he had too much hp at the beginning of BG 2, so I Shadowkeepered his Con back to 15. I just assumed that it was due to Irenicus' torture. Now I know the exact cause! When his pseudo-dragon got fried! When Charname came to, he was so angry he was no longer Good, and when he tried to re-summon his friendly dragon, out popped a ferret!

    He then proceeded to lose another point of Cons in Spellhold... Adventuring is not good for one's health.
  • KidCarnivalKidCarnival Member Posts: 3,747
    Mitchfork said:

    KidCarnival said:

    Na, absolutely not worth taking at character creation. There is a certain drop of a scroll early in BG1 and in BG2, you can buy it in stores. No need to even scribe the spell, unless you plan to have the familiar die. If you keep it in the backpack or only use it for non-combat, you'll never use the spell again after summoning it once.

    Eh, the scroll is only found in Chapter 3, so it's not that early really. I think a permanent +100% HP bonus (with 16 CON) that you don't have to recast at the start of the game is better than any other level 1 spell but Sleep.

    EDIT: Forgot CON bonus.
    That's pretty early to me. And Sleep, Identify, Armor are better choices. Sleep is an obvious one; Identify will go a long way if you have no bard (and seeing the popularity of the bards in BG1...) and Armor will help more than 6 HP on the way to your respective Arch Magi robe.
  • MitchforkMitchfork Member Posts: 390
    KidCarnival said:

    That's pretty early to me. And Sleep, Identify, Armor are better choices. Sleep is an obvious one; Identify will go a long way if you have no bard (and seeing the popularity of the bards in BG1...) and Armor will help more than 6 HP on the way to your respective Arch Magi robe.

    Armor and Identify can be found within Candlekeep, so I never take those.
  • KidCarnivalKidCarnival Member Posts: 3,747
    Mitchfork said:

    KidCarnival said:

    That's pretty early to me. And Sleep, Identify, Armor are better choices. Sleep is an obvious one; Identify will go a long way if you have no bard (and seeing the popularity of the bards in BG1...) and Armor will help more than 6 HP on the way to your respective Arch Magi robe.

    Armor and Identify can be found within Candlekeep, so I never take those.
    Identify only if you don't turn in the quest scroll.
  • Eadwyn_G8keeperEadwyn_G8keeper Member Posts: 541
    Is Find Familiar part of BGI-ToSC or only in the Enhanced releases??
  • CorvinoCorvino Member Posts: 2,269
    Only Enhanced Edition @Eadwyn_G8keeper, unless you choose it on a Sorcerer or console in a scroll in TuTu or BGT.
  • WebShamanWebShaman Member Posts: 490
    Your Familiar would have long ago freed you from Irenicus. This is the true reason why it disappears when going from BG:EE to BG2:EE.
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