View Full Version : With or without familiar?


Jathszu Khatharua
Thu, 23rd Dec '04, 9:43pm
This time I'm playing game as sorcerer(chaotic evil).Now I can cast Find familiar. Is it better to play with or without familiar and why?

Death Rabbit
Thu, 23rd Dec '04, 10:13pm
It depends on the familiar, and how you use them. Some people have their familiars merely for the HP bonus, but others use them for their special abilities. As a CE character, your familiar will be a Quasit, and from what I hear the dialogue options are pretty amusing if you choose to be verbally abusive to it. But I never play evil characters, so I don't know.

Some familiars have more useful abilites than others. Rabbits and Cats have theiving abilities and make great scouts; pseudo dragons can cast mass invisibility, etc. but none are any use in combat at all. You won't (as far as I know) get any specific extra quests based on your familiars. It's just one of those "neat" features of the game that won't effect the outcome in any meaningful way whatsoever. Their usefulness all boils down to your personal strategy.

So basically, if you want one, take it. If not, don't. But whatever you do, DON'T choose Find Familiar as one of your initial spells, ESPECIALLY if you're a sorcerer. Cast it from a scroll; there's no reason to scribe. It's even more of a waste than scribing Infravision.

Jathszu Khatharua
Thu, 23rd Dec '04, 11:34pm
Don't worry, I didn't memorized it I just have a scroll. You didn't tell me anything new, I knew that all but I was hoping that there is something more. I think I will use it just to have a "pet".
Thank you.

Eric Xanthus
Thu, 23rd Dec '04, 11:35pm
The only time a familiar significantly changes game play is when you solo a sorcerer/magic user. Team members can easily make up for the powers of familiars.

Mark me down as someone who plays sorcerers often but always keeps his familiar in the pack (unless I solo).

Jathszu Khatharua
Fri, 24th Dec '04, 12:54am
I've had familiar for one hour and now I have urge to change my name into Minsc!

Harbourboy
Fri, 24th Dec '04, 1:15am
If you don't like your familiar, just stick it in your backpack and forget about it. It's worth it for the HP bonus alone, as loss of HP is the leading cause of death for arcane spellcasters.

Caradhras
Fri, 24th Dec '04, 1:42am
Only be careful not to place it in your first slot (that is on the left) because it is where new items go when your inventory is full and you might drop your familiar... which doesn't really matter if you pick it up again.
Otherwise I would advise you to keep a few slots free in your inventory (4 for instance) that way it won't happen.
The bag of holding helps a lot.