I have a quick and easy question about Find Familiar - actually two questions:

1. When you cast the spell, can you name the familiar? ... or is its name set by the game.

2. What alignment must you be for a cat?

1. No you can not name it, and there kind of is no name for a familiar..just familiar.
2. I think you need to be neutral good, or somethin neutral

Chaotic Neutral for the cat

I tend not to use find familiar until i get to higher levels, the possible loss of a constitution point is offputting

....So just stow the thing in your inventory. :)

What is the point in having it if you just store it in your inventory?

What is the point in having it if you just store it in your inventory? Extra HP (generally 12, but 9 for an imp). You really don't want to send a familiar into combat because of the penalty for losing one, but there's no reason why you can't use some of the abilities (e.g. Invisibility 10' Radius) before a battle or use the stealthier creatures to scout ahead a little.

How come the imp familiar Pooky, from the mage with Pebblecrusher (that dwarf in Waukeens praumonade sp?) has such good spells? Should your imp get the same if your evil?

Because the imp is supposed to make the fight harder. Your familiar will not get such powers.

Imps become more powerful the longer they spend time with their mage. Examples include improved familiars in tob and one I can think of off the top of my head from forgotten realms is deltrophenus or something like that. His imp casts at around level 25 or 27.

Then again he basically casts at level infinity.

It might have something to do with mods I have installed, but when reading spell description it tells what familiar your get with certain alignment. In general those spell descriptions are quite helpful, so I recommend everyone to read them. (Although there seem to be a lot of text to read and roleplayers don't like to read, I know.)

It might have something to do with mods I have installed, but when reading spell description it tells what familiar your get with certain alignment.Nope, not a mod. That's in the BG2 manual.

Strifestike,
That's true in AD&D, but familiars do not improve in any way in SoA.

You know those little tips and hints that appear while your game is transitioning between areas? One of them says that you should make a point of talking to familiar often, in case it has something important to say. Has ANYONE ever had a familiar that EVER had ANYTHING useful to say...?!

Has ANYONE ever had a familiar that EVER had ANYTHING useful to say...?! I've only played an arcane spellcaster once (so far) and ended up with a cat familiar. All it had to say for itself was to ask to be fed and petted.

Cat has wonderful stealth bonus. The reason I posted that whole familiar thing is because people were asking why pooky casts at such a high level compared to your own imp. The reason is that he has been around with his mage for a while im guessing. His mage isnt that powerful though.

Familiars are for flavor only, and some can give nice bonuses. You can tell your cat to steal stuff for you, too, but I dont' remember if it ever does...

If anyone solos with a mage or sorcerer then it might be worth being True neutral or Lawful neutral, if i remember correctly their familiars can detect traps, and coupled along with a few knock spells in your spell book, and you won't have to worry about traps anymore.

If anyone solos with a mage or sorcerer then it might be worth to know that you can force-drop your familiar. This happens when your inventory is full and your familiar is in the first place of you inventory. Then you can just leave him there and still gain those hitpoints provided by your familiar. That is only if you don't use your familiar. When playing solo you never have too much inventory space so one slot is useful.
I don't know how long your familiar gives you those hitpoints. It might be that when you go to Brynnlaw it might be considered losing your familiar, but I'm not sure.