So, how do you use your familiar? I just grab the hit points and leave him in my inventory.

Incidentally, I found a way to get rid of the familiar without killing it, so you can keep the extra hit points without the hassle of it following you or wasting an inventory spot. First, fill your inventory completely with your familiar occupying the first slot. Then activate an event that forces items into your inventory. Those new items will take the first couple inventory spots, forcing the familiar to be dropped as an item. Then you walk away without picking it back up. :)

Poll Information
This poll contains 1 question(s). 44 user(s) have voted.
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Poll Results: What do you do with your familiar? (44 votes.)

What do you do with your familiar? (Choose 5)
* To fight in melee - 2% (1)
* To scout - 14% (6)
* Their special abilities - 27% (12)
* Extra hit points - 73% (32)
* Other / Just results - 20% (9)

Same as you. Sits in my pack doing bugger all.

Yep, my mage travels around with a perpetually sleeping animal in his/her backpack too.

I only occasionally use them to scout or pick pockets. Mostly they just sit in the pack.

When I first started using one I did a little scouting but now I just put them in my pack.

A familiar can be used as extra storage, if you get one that can pickpocket. Drop any items you want to keep hold of, then have your familiar pickpocket you until you have no valid items, then pick up all the stuff you previously dropped. Hey presto, a bag of holding before you get to Spellhold.

That is a very interesting way to use familiars OTG. How many items can they hold though?

Yeah, that's new to me... sounds like a good idea

Oh I never experiment with familiars. Mine, usually a Pseudo-dragon, sits in my backpack most of the time.

Can Pseudo-dragons pick pockets too? Which familiar is the best pick-pocketer?

Hey, I occasionaly take it out, talk, pet and feed it. I am a good mageling, after all! :angel:

My bounty hunter had his pseudeo dragon sit in his backpack, and enyojed the extra HP. I also had the little fella cast Detect illusions from time to time, very useful. And like Silverstar, I pet him from time to time, and give him something to eat. I just like to watch the little fella squirming around :)

I tried out a familiar once. Found out they were fairly worthless except for adding some hitpoints. I don't call for them anymore.

He casts invisibilty 10' radius when the party needs to sneak by someone.

What do you do with your familiar?It's a gerbil, so....

What familiars can pick pockets?To help with such questions, I personally compiled this chart by copying it from the Dan Simpson wlakthrough.

Alignment________Familiar_______AC___HP_____Abilit ies
--------------- ------------- -- -- ----------------------------------
Lawful Good______Pseudo Dragon__-2___24____50% magic resistance, renders victims unconscious, casts Blur

Neutral Good_____Pseudo Dragon__-2___24____(same as above)

Chaotic Good_____Fairy Dragon____4___24____32% magic res., casts Invisibility 10' Radius & Mirror Image 1/day

Lawful Neutral___Ferret__________0___24____50% magic res., 75% Pickpocket, Stealth, 20% Detect Traps 40%

True Neutral_____Rabbit_________-4___16____50% Detect Traps, 30% Stealth, 75% resistance to fire, cold, elec

Chaotic Neutral__Cat_____________0___24____20% Pickpocket, 99% Stealth, 50% magic res.

Lawful Evil______Imp_____________2___18_____Polymorphs, 25% magic res.

Neutral Evil_____Dust Mephit_____6___24____Casts Glitterdust 2/day, 10% magic res.

Chaotic Evil_____Quasit__________2___24____Casts Horror, 25% magic resist.


So, it's the Ferrets and the Cats who can play Bag of Holding. Some of the others have neat tricks, too: the Farie Dragon can turn your party invisible, the rabit is one "Resist Fre/Cold" away from being able to trigeer flamestrike traps and the like in order to heal itself, and a spare Horror that doesn't tie up you primary casters (from the Quasit) is hard to see as a bad thing.

Mostly, however, familiars are laibilities best kept in your pack. So it goes.

Futilly,
The Medusan Exile

[ December 02, 2006, 20:19: Message edited by: Taluntain ]

I have them sit in my pack for extra HP.

Looking at my current game (CG Fighter>Thief), I'll occasionally use the Invisibility 10' Radius ability.

Familiar sits in my pack. It's an hp buffing item, nothing more. Once or twice during the game I may release my famililar briefly, just to remind myself that it's supposed to be more than a hp buffing item. But back in the pack it always goes, quickly. It's otherwise just one more thing to worry about, and the risk of having it get killed overshadows any other benefits it might otherwise offer.

In the pack! As Marceror said, it is too much of a risk to your character to have them wandering around.

It's a waste to keep your familiar in your pack if you don't have to.

I find the following familiars useful:

Fairy Dragon = Casts invisibility 10'.

Imp = Can polymorph in mustard jelly to absorb magical attacks of liches, and gnoll/spider in instances where its attacks are needed).

Dust Mephit = Can cast Glitterdust and Glass Dust. Quite useful.

Quasit = Can cast Horror once per day.

Suprisingly, evil familiars are more useful in combat situations. Pseudo-dragon totally SUCKS! :( Is there a safe method of changing the familiar without changing your alignment?

@Mountain Hare: They do have occasionally useful abilities that they can be taken out to use now and again. However, they are too much of a liability to have wandering loose- they can't stand melee for long and the disadvantages of losing a familiar, for me at least, mean that they spend most of their time looking over CHARNAME'S shoulder.

Bag 'em, what use is a familiar when you cast a fireball?
"Please see if my CON is in the lost & found".

So, it's the Ferrets and the Cats who can play Bag of Holding. Some of the others have neat tricks, too: the Farie Dragon can turn your party invisible, the rabit is one "Resist Fre/Cold" away from being able to trigeer flamestrike traps and the like in order to heal itself, and a spare Horror that doesn't tie up you primary casters (from the Quasit) is hard to see as a bad thing.You didn't mantion the mephit which I don't really understand. Glitterdust is better than horror. Under horror enemies run away or become enraged and attack you. Blinded enemies justs tand there while you kill them. Given that the mephit gets 2 casts per day and the quasit only gets 1, I can't see how the mephit isn't better.

Of course familiars casting anything at enemies, or even being out of the pack near enemies is very dangerous. Which is why I like the Fairy Dragon - it can cast inivisibility without going anywhere near anythign that might cause it any harm.

I mentioned Horror over Gliterdust because Horror is an area effect. If you're quick, you can cast it where you know enemies to be, then put the Quasit back in your pack before they see you.

Presumably there's a script somewhere that the familiars use, same as there is for planetars and other summons, so it's probably possible to script your familiar to jump into your pack, or at least run away, when an enemy comes close enough... Time for some digging...

A familiar is a must-have. Actually, I choose (or change via SK, if need be) my alignment to get the one I want - and that would be an imp most of the time. (after the Hell trials my PC is evil and hopelessly corrupted anyway, so...)

The imp ususally sits in my pack, messing with treasures and artifacts. But it is set free to scamper about now and then. During some of the less risky random encounters it also enjoys action as a sword spider. Wont have it turn moody.

Silverstar:

Suprisingly, evil familiars are more useful in combat situations. Pseudo-dragon totally SUCKS! [Frown] Is there a safe method of changing the familiar without changing your alignment?
I don't know? You could try ShadowKeeping it in.

Decados:

@Mountain Hare: They do have occasionally useful abilities that they can be taken out to use now and again. However, they are too much of a liability to have wandering loose- they can't stand melee
Which if why you don't let them enter melee. This is rather easy, given that they are pretty speedy creatures (especially the Imp). Morph the Imp into a Gnoll. He moves like lightning.

ister:

You didn't mantion the mephit which I don't really understand. Glitterdust is better than horror. Under horror enemies run away or become enraged and attack you. Blinded enemies justs tand there while you kill them. Given that the mephit gets 2 casts per day and the quasit only gets 1, I can't see how the mephit isn't better.
Well, the Dust Mephit only gets one cast of Glitterdust per day. He gets two casts of 'Glass Dust' per day.


I mentioned Horror over Gliterdust because Horror is an area effect.
So is Glitterdust...

Treilheim:

Bag 'em, what use is a familiar when you cast a fireball?
The imp is immune to fire, both magical and normal. Use sunfire as much as you want! I'm not sure about the dust mephit or quasit.

Suprisingly, evil familiars are more useful in combat situations. Pseudo-dragon totally SUCKS! [Frown] Is there a safe method of changing the familiar without changing your alignment? I don't know? You could try ShadowKeeping it in. No. The dialogue to put your familiar back in your pack (which you need to do for area transit) checks your alignment on the L/C axis and creates the appropriate familiar in your backpack. So if you have an LE character and want the CE familiar, you get it once at best, and further problems may even develop...

From experience I can tell you that going off on the G/E axis does not work. I had a CN F/M/T character who failed the Hell Trials (for RP reasons) and turned NE. I figured it would solve itself and give the proper familiar, but I was wrong. Instead, it gave me the TN familiar (rabbit) in the pack when I put the cat back in, and then when I tried to take it out again, the familiar disappeared from my pack without anything appearing in the game.

Now, admittedly this is a good way to free up the inventory slot the familiar takes up without losing the benefits, but it doesn't get you a different familiar. It would take a full-fledged mod to get that.

That's interesting! I never thought about alignment changes and what consequences it may have on familiars.

I once tried to take advantage of the pseudo-dragon's sleep on hit effects. It wasn't that he kept dying - I just made sure the monster locked onto another character the same way you'd use a tank and kensai combo - but he kept missing! Lousy THAC0.... I got to try the cat and imp next time.

I voted for extra HP, special abilities and other. Special ability that I like is pickpocket of course. Very useful for a solo mage.

I like ferrets, cats and rabbits. I wish I could have all these three at once but there is not such a mod I think. :o I sometimes let them out of my backpack and speak and pet them.

The imp is immune to fire, both magical and normal. Use sunfire as much as you want! I'm not sure about the dust mephit or quasit.That was an example spell. There are other elemental and non-elemental area-effect spells (skull trap, cone of cold, death fog...) and you're not the only one casting them ;) .
Better put your little pet rabbit in a box and use your party to fight.

My fammiliar sits im my backpack. Because I play mage/cleric there is no need for him to cast invisibility.

@Mountain Hare:
Which if why you don't let them enter melee. This is rather easy, given that they are pretty speedy creatures (especially the Imp). Morph the Imp into a Gnoll. He moves like lightning.
Naturally I wasn't suggesting that they should be leading the charge. However, melee is not the only way to inflict damage. With low hit points, they make an easy target for archers to take out when they have reached a decent thac0. Additionally, any spells flying around may well be the death of them- even if the familiar wasn't the original target.

After the my little dragon saved my highly wounded and exhaused party from the den of beholders with his invisibility spell, I would say familiars can be useful and worth the slot in the pack; those abilities can make the difference sometimes.

From experience I can tell you that going off on the G/E axis does not work. I had a CN F/M/T character who failed the Hell Trials (for RP reasons) and turned NE. I figured it would solve itself and give the proper familiar, but I was wrong. Instead, it gave me the TN familiar (rabbit) in the pack when I put the cat back in, and then when I tried to take it out again, the familiar disappeared from my pack without anything appearing in the game. Well, your character is still CN. Your alignment change in the Hell Trial is a trigger, as far as I remember, so if you open your savegame in an editor like IESE, he should still show as being CN, even though he´s NE in the game. Maybe some of those triggers screw up the familiar. Don´t take my word for it though.

I keep mine in the backpack. Though sometimes I take it out and feed it or talk to it.

Pseudo-dragon totally SUCKS! [Frown]Or so it would seem, though its description says it can render an enemy unconscious for a whopping 120 seconds. That does really sound potentially useful.

I just checked it out by Ctrl+Q-ing it, it's really messed up actually. Its THAC0 should be 13 according to its description, but it's actually 17 (you can get it to 16 by casting Strength on it :eek: ). Its AC is 0 rather than -2 but it becomes -3 after it casts Blur.
I've been attacking some people in the Copper Coronet with it and the unconciousness never kicks in.
Very pseudo indeed...

It also wears a Ring of Invisibility as a girdle and its gender is "Neither".

I couldn't find a mod to fix it (I'm patched and Baldurdash fixed). But I may not have searched hard enough.

I'm new here by the way, this was my first post. How do you do.

[ April 04, 2007, 17:53: Message edited by: Don't stow thrones in glass houses ]

i actually use my familiar to kill goblins in irenicus's dungeons, and help me fight off amalas, but that's it.