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Best Familiar for pure mage solo playthrough?

RagnarrRagnarr Member Posts: 24
in Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition
Hello,

Any advice for my selection of the Best Familiar for pure mage solo playthrough?

Regards

Comments

  • alceryesalceryes Member Posts: 382
    edited July 2016
    Great familiar discussion with pros and cons here - https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/14828/which-familiar-is-the-best/p1

    My take.
    Though some of their abilities can be useful they are too fragile to take out of my pack most of the time. I just summon them for the extra HP.


    EDIT - Hmmm, now that you got me looking at the familiars, the Quasit looks to be a bit of a bad-ass! Might prove to be an interesting play to actually have him out of the pack for a change. Damn it, now I gotta start an evil Sorcerer! (and I wonder why I have restartitis with this game) :)
    Post edited by alceryes on
  • abacusabacus Member Posts: 1,307
    Probably the Imp... Polymorph Self is a seriously powerful spell.
  • Grond0Grond0 Member Posts: 7,502
    You get fewer HPs with the imp, which is a drawback if you're mainly using the spell for the bonus HPs. In original BG the fairy dragon was great for the invisibility 10', but that's been removed in BGEE. I always play no-reload and having a familiar active in a combat situation is just too much of a risk, but if you're happy to reload you could take a look at the pseudo-dragon - it's sleep on hit ability can be quite useful.
  • DregothofTyrDregothofTyr Member Posts: 229
    Do you know why the Invis 10' radius was removed for EE?
  • Grond0Grond0 Member Posts: 7,502
    I think it was an issue of game balance. The familiars were originally designed for SoA and Beamdog decided to nerf them for BGEE in order that they would then get an upgrade in SoA. As a result all of them had HPs reduced by 50% and some abilities were withdrawn.
  • ThrasymachusThrasymachus Member Posts: 959
    The familiars in BG2EE are stronger than those in BGEE (higher hit points and better abilities). So I think fairy dragons in BGEE2 still have the invisibility 10' ability.
  • ThrasymachusThrasymachus Member Posts: 959
    To answer the OP, cats are useful for scouting and ferrets for picking pockets. Rabbits are okay for finding traps. So if you're not going to have a thief, these familiars can help out a bit.

    I would advise against using a familiar in combat, given the risks involved if it dies. But if you do want to use one in combat, I'd recommend a familiar that regenerates hit points (such as the pseudo dragon).
  • RagnarrRagnarr Member Posts: 24
    Thanks guys very helpful
  • NimranNimran Member Posts: 4,875
    Yeah, take a ferret! And I'm saying this with absolutely no bias whatsoever!

    :smirk:
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