Familiar caster level 8

[Torvon]

Hey there, playing a new character (factotum 8), looking for an improved familiar.

What am I looking for:
* Best alignment would be neutral (character will be something between neutral and good)
* Small or tiny.
* Ability to talk (also to others). I can imagine roleplaying it, will be plenty of fun. Talks with a very deep voice. Extremely polite. "I do beg your pardon, Lord Zwibelbald, but I would have a kind suggest to contribute to the discussion, if you let me. It appears to me that ..."
* No combat familiar. More like a smart, well educated thing. I don't mind if it can cast spells.
* Not too overpowered (Book of Exalted Deeds will probably be banned).
* But it should be worth the feat improved familiar.
* It should be able to manipulate objects with his hands or something like that, I'd like it to aid me with all my crafting stuff.
EDIT: * fly would be nice.

I checked so far:
* Draconomicon
* Tome and Blood
* Complete Scoundrel & Warrior
* Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting, as well as the Faerun Players Guide
* Planar Handbook

And couldn't find anything that was either overpowered or too boring to go for.

What I like best so far is the imp (but that's evil ...) and the Pseudodragon (that cannot talk, though). Mephit isn't really worth the feat though, I think.

Thanks for the input
Torvon

[nightshade]

there is a familiar handbook...somewhere....

heres the link http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=7508.0

nighti 

[Lo77o]

What you want is the Coure Eladrin, or Musteval Guardinal. Both can be found in Book of Exalted Deeds.

[Prime32]

Raven covers this without Improved Familiar. It can cast spells if you give it wands.

[gorfnad]

Beguiler from Shining South is not too shabby. Plus it makes a great scouting familiar.

[Torvon]

Thanks so far.

there is a familiar handbook

Read that before posting

Coure Eladrin, or Musteval Guardinal

I do like both, but as stated above, BoED will probably be banned (for a good reason if you compare these with "normal" improved familiars). Musteval doesn't speak common, which is very important for my concept. Eladrin is described as being very pranky, laughing all the time, very loud - that doesn't fit the idea I have in mind.

Raven covers this without Improved Familiar.

Totally. I had the Raven in mind, but now I have a feat more and thought about improved familiar.

Beguiler from Shining South is not too shabby

Aha! I love that suggestion, I over-read it the first time in the handbook. Educated, well-read, can use its tail to manipulate objects (DEX17 and it can carry a weapon, and in the picture it is writing in a book, so that shouldn't be a problem).
However, looking at it from a mechanical perspective, I spend two feats on something that
- cannot fight
- doesn't have magic
- doesn't have anything special other than tree seeing (which is awesome, but we already have something in the group with that ability)
So basically, it's two feats for a fluff thing. Our rogue has better scouting skills than the beguiler.

Hm, maybe I can convince my DM to buff the beguiler a bit? What do you think, is it worth 2 feats?

ta-ta
T.

[Lycanthromancer]

How about Cespenar?

[Torvon]

How about Cespenar?

[X-Codes]

The Exalted familiars are a bit stronger than Improved familiars of similar pre-requisites because of the added thing that you have to be a stick-in-the-ass goody-two-shoes to use them.

I say go with Imp.  Lawful Evil can be played as he think's you've got potential to fall, and so is looking to be a bit of a corrupting force on you.  In exchange, you get a damned awesome familiar that provides you with a scaling source of Strength- and Dexterity-damaging poisons (low damage, but the DCs can be easily boosted), and it can *look* like a normal familiar if it can also turn into a Raven.  It will also be a very effective sneak, turning itself invisible at will and having feats that can be Psy Ref'd into Darkstalker and something to boost it's poison (probably Ability Focus, but maybe something to increase the damage is good, too).  Detect Magic at-will also makes it an awesome trap spotter, so you don't really need to invest heavily in Search.  Then there's Commune...

[Torvon]

The Exalted familiars are a bit stronger than Improved familiars of similar pre-requisites because of the added thing that you have to be a stick-in-the-ass goody-two-shoes to use them.

I say go with Imp.  Lawful Evil can be played as he think's you've got potential to fall, and so is looking to be a bit of a corrupting force on you.  In exchange, you get a damned awesome familiar that provides you with a scaling source of Strength- and Dexterity-damaging poisons (low damage, but the DCs can be easily boosted), and it can *look* like a normal familiar if it can also turn into a Raven.  It will also be a very effective sneak, turning itself invisible at will and having feats that can be Psy Ref'd into Darkstalker and something to boost it's poison (probably Ability Focus, but maybe something to increase the damage is good, too).  Detect Magic at-will also makes it an awesome trap spotter, so you don't really need to invest heavily in Search.  Then there's Commune...

Yar I love the imp, too bad he doesn't speak common. It's rather important for my concept.
Also, what do you mean with "scaling"? As far as I understand, the familiar doesn't "advance" in any way (skills, feats, etc.) except for the table (sorcerer, PHB I) which adds natural armor, intelligence, and special stuff like "speak with master" and "spell resistance"?

Thanks
Torvon

[ninjarabbit]

Sounds like you might want a mephit. They can speak common, have SLAs, can fly, and have breath weapons.

I'm a fan of the salt mephit. It has glitterdust as a SLA, power attack, and a debuffing breath weapon.

[CrimsonDeath]

The Fortitude save DC against a poison attack is equal to 10 + 1/2 poisoning creature's racial HD + poisoning creature's Con modifier

Am I mistaken in believing that this would scale a familiar's poison DC?  (If I'm right, then the same should work for breath weapons-- MM 306.)

[X-Codes]

The Fortitude save DC against a poison attack is equal to 10 + 1/2 poisoning creature's racial HD + poisoning creature's Con modifier

Am I mistaken in believing that this would scale a familiar's poison DC?  (If I'm right, then the same should work for breath weapons-- MM 306.)

No, it does work for both.  The save DC against an Imp familiar's poison, assuming he had a 20 HD master, would be 22 (including a +2 racial bonus).  If it can transform into a Spider, then the save DC against the spider poison would be 21 (not including a +2 racial bonus).  By itself, nothing spectacular, but then you go to the Poison Handbook and...

Despite the damage being low, the DCs can easily be boosted into the 30's.