Artificer pet: 1st big step towards Familiars!

[MalarKan]

yes. I am so looking forward to this... Keep working like that game developers, and eventually you will -please- give us Familiar available for caster classes. yes! something other than just a summon creature... a loyal companion we can raise, cuddle and praise... and grief for his dead too :P...

wouldnt u like to have your cute lil pet mister ranger/wizard/sorcerer?... or at least make the "young razor cat" grow a lil bit

sign!

[TreknaQudane]

What point is there to giving a real familiar to a Sorc or Wizard? It's a non combatant NPC you can't heal and are penalized when it dies.

[MalarKan]

well... why not?

whats the point on making a clas that cant heal himself?.... why did the chicken cross the street?

non Attackking NPC? that may be subyect to change in the implantation of the feature of course... however... why not taking a Weasel familiar being a wiz/rog with insightful reflexes when running over traps to reach the box? more reflex saves wouldnt hurt. Or a bonus to spot for not so experienced trapper/clerics, that r not always so sure where the trap boxes are

anyways... it would be an interesting add to a game that sometimes lacks entertainment. Some people do read the dialogues and question the quests itself tho. im prety sure that kind of players would find amusing to have a loyal pet thats not just a summoned creature

[Chefd261]

I would love to see the find familiar spell introduced but honestly I think to be viable (in a noncombat roll) it would require different coding than the artificer pet although the psudo dragon doing 1-2 with a claw attack would be funny to watch.

now I do have to say that you could use familars for spell like abilities easy enough but I think they need to focus on other things like new wilderness area's and beefing up current public areas first (quest wise).

but thats just my opinion and you know what they say about those

[DawnofEntropy]

What do familars even do honestly? I thought they were basicly cute lil' pets so our old bearded men don't feel lonely wearing their dresses and hoping not to burn them when they use fire spells.

Seriously what did Familars ever do?

[silvertrit]

What do familars even do honestly? I thought they were basicly cute lil' pets so our old bearded men don't feel lonely wearing their dresses and hoping not to burn them when they use fire spells.

Seriously what did Familars ever do?

Familiars
A familiar is a normal animal that gains new powers and becomes a magical beast when summoned to service by a sorcerer or wizard. It retains the appearance, Hit Dice, base attack bonus, base save bonuses, skills, and feats of the normal animal it once was, but it is treated as a magical beast instead of an animal for the purpose of any effect that depends on its type. Only a normal, unmodified animal may become a familiar. An animal companion cannot also function as a familiar.
A familiar also grants special abilities to its master (a sorcerer or wizard), as given on the table below. These special abilities apply only when the master and familiar are within 1 mile of each other.
Levels of different classes that are entitled to familiars stack for the purpose of determining any familiar abilities that depend on the master’s level.
Familiar Special
Bat Master gains a +3 bonus on Listen checks
Cat Master gains a +3 bonus on Move Silently checks
Hawk Master gains a +3 bonus on Spot checks in bright light
Lizard Master gains a +3 bonus on Climb checks
Owl Master gains a +3 bonus on Spot checks in shadows
Rat Master gains a +2 bonus on Fortitude saves
Raven1 Master gains a +3 bonus on Appraise checks
Snake2 Master gains a +3 bonus on Bluff checks
Toad Master gains +3 hit points
Weasel Master gains a +2 bonus on Reflex saves
A raven familiar can speak one language of its master's choice as a supernatural ability.
Tiny viper.
Familiar Basics: Use the basic statistics for a creature of the familiar’s kind, but make the following changes:
Hit Dice: For the purpose of effects related to number of Hit Dice, use the master’s character level or the familiar’s normal HD total, whichever is higher.
Hit Points: The familiar has one-half the master’s total hit points (not including temporary hit points), rounded down, regardless of its actual Hit Dice.
Attacks: Use the master’s base attack bonus, as calculated from all his classes. Use the familiar’s Dexterity or Strength modifier, whichever is greater, to get the familiar’s melee attack bonus with natural weapons.
Damage equals that of a normal creature of the familiar’s kind.
Saving Throws: For each saving throw, use either the familiar’s base save bonus (Fortitude +2, Reflex +2, Will +0) or the master’s (as calculated from all his classes), whichever is better. The familiar uses its own ability modifiers to saves, and it doesn’t share any of the other bonuses that the master might have on saves.
Skills: For each skill in which either the master or the familiar has ranks, use either the normal skill ranks for an animal of that type or the master’s skill ranks, whichever are better. In either case, the familiar uses its own ability modifiers. Regardless of a familiar’s total skill modifiers, some skills may remain beyond the familiar’s ability to use.
Familiar Ability Descriptions: All familiars have special abilities (or impart abilities to their masters) depending on the master’s combined level in classes that grant familiars, as shown on the table below. The abilities given on the table are cumulative.
Master
Class Level Natural
Armor Adj. Int Special
1st-2nd +1 6 Alertness, Improved Evasion, Share Spells, Empathic Link
3rd-4th +2 7 Deliver Touch Spells
5th-6th +3 8 Speak with Master
7th-8th +4 9 Speak with Animals of Its Kind
9th-10th +5 10
11th-12th +6 11 Spell Resistance
13th-14th +7 12 Scry on Familiar
15th-16th +8 13
17th-18th +9 14
19th-20th +10 15
Natural Armor Adj.: The number noted here is an improvement to the familiar’s existing natural armor bonus.
Int: The familiar’s Intelligence score.
Alertness (Ex): While a familiar is within arm’s reach, the master gains the Alertness feat.
Improved Evasion (Ex): When subjected to an attack that normally allows a Reflex saving throw for half damage, a familiar takes no damage if it makes a successful saving throw and half damage even if the saving throw fails.
Share Spells: At the master’s option, he may have any spell (but not any spell-like ability) he casts on himself also affect his familiar. The familiar must be within 5 feet at the time of casting to receive the benefit.
If the spell or effect has a duration other than instantaneous, it stops affecting the familiar if it moves farther than 5 feet away and will not affect the familiar again even if it returns to the master before the duration expires. Additionally, the master may cast a spell with a target of “You” on his familiar (as a touch range spell) instead of on himself.
A master and his familiar can share spells even if the spells normally do not affect creatures of the familiar’s type (magical beast).
Empathic Link (Su): The master has an empathic link with his familiar out to a distance of up to 1 mile. The master cannot see through the familiar’s eyes, but they can communicate empathically. Because of the limited nature of the link, only general emotional content can be communicated.
Because of this empathic link, the master has the same connection to an item or place that his familiar does.
Deliver Touch Spells (Su): If the master is 3rd level or higher, a familiar can deliver touch spells for him. If the master and the familiar are in contact at the time the master casts a touch spell, he can designate his familiar as the “toucher.” The familiar can then deliver the touch spell just as the master could. As usual, if the master casts another spell before the touch is delivered, the touch spell dissipates.
Speak with Master (Ex): If the master is 5th level or higher, a familiar and the master can communicate verbally as if they were using a common language. Other creatures do not understand the communication without magical help.
Speak with Animals of Its Kind (Ex): If the master is 7th level or higher, a familiar can communicate with animals of approximately the same kind as itself (including dire varieties): bats with bats, rats with rodents, cats with felines, hawks and owls and ravens with birds, lizards and snakes with reptiles, toads with amphibians, weasels with similar creatures (weasels, minks, polecats, ermines, skunks, wolverines, and badgers). Such communication is limited by the intelligence of the conversing creatures.
Spell Resistance (Ex): If the master is 11th level or higher, a familiar gains spell resistance equal to the master’s level + 5. To affect the familiar with a spell, another spellcaster must get a result on a caster level check (1d20 + caster level) that equals or exceeds the familiar’s spell resistance.
Scry on Familiar (Sp): If the master is 13th level or higher, he may scry on his familiar (as if casting the scrying spell) once per day.
Familiars at Epic Level: Special abilities granted to a familiar continue to grow as the level of its master increases beyond 20th, as shown on Table: Epic Familiar Special Abilities. Even though the table shows advancement only to 42nd level, that is not the limit. The patterns in the table continue infinitely. Familiar special abilities gained at less than 20th level also continue to improve.
Table: Epic Familiar Special Abilities
Master
Class Level Natural
Armor Adj. Int Special
21st–22nd +11 16 Familiar Spell
23rd–24th +12 17
25th–26th +13 18
27th–28th +14 19
29th–30th +15 20
31st–32nd +16 21 Familiar Spell
33rd–34th +17 22
35th–36th +18 23
37th–38th +19 24
39th–40th +20 25
41st–42nd +21 26 Familiar Spell


Familiar Spell [Epic]

Prerequisite
Int 25 (if the character’s spellcasting is controlled by Intelligence) or Cha 25 (if the character’s spellcasting is controlled by Charisma).
Benefit
Choose one arcane spell the character knows of 8th level or lower. The character’s familiar can now use this spell once per day as a spell-like ability, at a caster level equal to the character’s caster level. A character cannot bestow a spell to his or her familiar if the spell normally has a material component cost of more than 1 gp or an XP cost.
Special
A character can gain this feat multiple times. Each time the character takes the feat, he or she can give his or her familiar a different spell-like ability or another daily use of the same spell-like ability.

[Entelech]

Basically they were a free Skill Focus feat that costs you cash and XP every time an NPC casts Magic Missile.

Unless DDO does something drastically different from PnP 3.5, don't bother.

[Zorth]

What point is there to giving a real familiar to a Sorc or Wizard? It's a non combatant NPC you can't heal and are penalized when it dies.

putting it in a safe location, such as a guild ship.

[Mister_Peace]

The lantern archon is a better model for a familiar than the iron defender.

[xandariant]

I will just say that Rangers should get animal companions and give them to Ranges fast!
Its the same algorithm anyway, just add other 3D models.

As for familiars, they can attack, bust start and all that was mentioned. I agree just after Ranges (that need animals the most) familiars should come right after.

[BeccaBop]

Yeah, just give arcanes a lantern archon equivalent. If nothing else, then for aesthetics!

[Doxmaster]

I'm torn: on one hand I like the idea of familiars being companions in DDO. Combat, Save bonuses, Ability boosts, or just being a nice visual that is 90% ornamental.

The problem with that is anything significant would have to come at some kind of cost, as people are already complaining about the power of a Caster, Arcanes specifically...but, if the abilities and bonuses stay too close to PnP they will mostly be, as an earlier post said, aesthetic.

[Rakian_Knight]

Familiars bonuses would most likely be good for the most part giving a small bonus to a save, hp, or skill. If they added the improved familiar feat they could possibly even have it where you could get a familiar that stands a fighting chance if that is what your character is in too. I don't see anything negative that could come it really.

However, what about rangers and their animal compantions that they are suppost to get at level 4?

[MalarKan]

wouldnt look bad if it would be implanted just like the archon to the fvs... theres already a random pirate with a rat on his shoulder in the Tide turns (Captain Tew)... would be amusing to see your favorit healer with an owl on his shoulder... or your cooler caster with a raven standing next to his head.

but still... i really mis watching the loyal wolf standing next to my ranger

[Missing_Minds]

yes. I am so looking forward to this... Keep working like that game developers, and eventually you will -please- give us Familiar available for caster classes. yes! something other than just a summon creature... a loyal companion we can raise, cuddle and praise... and grief for his dead too :P...

/NOT SIGNED.

A throwback to PnP that would not be good for this MMO, esp if they were to code it per PnP rules.

However....

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/ma...mFamiliars.htm

Could be useful.

[Bradik_Losdar]

I for one would love to see familiars added to the game - even if they were just eye candy.

However it would make more sense to have them give some benefit to the owner - it may not have to be as extensive as the list in post #6 above (I would LOVE to have this btw) - but something.

But as stated above, there probably shouldn't be any real penalty for having the familar get killed since this is an MMO. Quite frankly they would die just as often (probably even more often) than we do as characters. To parphrase an example from South Park, "They killed Fluffy! You bastards!" starts out serious, but by the time he dies for the thousandth time, the statement is said as mearly lip service because it's happened so many times, lol. Perhaps a minor penalty like a plat sink would fit the bill (like repairing a weapon).

Familars would add a great deal of flavor to DDO. I hope as the OP was wishing - we are getting closer to having them implemented in some form or another.

[silvertrit]

/NOT SIGNED.

A throwback to PnP that would not be good for this MMO, esp if they were to code it per PnP rules.

However....

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/ma...mFamiliars.htm

Could be useful.

Magic Mirror on the wall, am I the prettiest wizard of them all?