Familiar Merge [3.5 spell]

[Prime32]

Thoughts on level?


Familiar Merge
Transmutation
Level: Sor/Wiz 2
Components: V, S
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Touch
Target: You, your familiar
Duration: 1 min./level (D)
Saving Throw: Will negates (harmless)
Spell Resistance: No

Touching your familiar, you merge it into your form and take on some of its traits. Treat this as using the Change Shape ability to take the form of your familiar, except that you gain all your familiar's special attacks and qualities without losing any traits of your normal form (if this would result in you possessing the same natural weapon twice, use the better of the two). While fused you are treated as being adjacent to your familiar for the effects of abilities which grant bonuses in such situations (including your Alertness bonus feat). You do not, however, gain any of the powers normally granted to a familiar, such as Improved Evasion. In addition you gain 1 special temporary hit point per caster level - damage to these temporary hit points is subtracted from your familiar's hp.
Your size does not change as a result of this transformation (which may result in new natural weapons dealing more or less damage), and you are still recognisable as you.

While merged your familiar cannot take actions or be targeted, though it may communicate with you mentally. You decide what of your familiar's equipment is absorbed into your form and what becomes available for use; these fused items are restored once the spell ends. Any spells in place on you or your familiar continue to be in effect on the fused being, though if you are an invalid target their effects are suppressed. Any spells cast on you while merged affect only you after you separate, though you may still benefit from Share Spells while merged.
(eg. A wizard casts eagle's splendour on his raven familiar, merges with it, casts bull's strength on himself with Share Spells and has an ally cast fox's cunning on him. While fused he is under the effects of bull's strength, fox's cunning and eagle's splendour. When the fusion ends he is under the effects of bull's strength and fox's cunning, while his familiar is under the effects of bull's strength and eagle's splendour)

When the spell effect ends, you separate. Your familiar appears in an area adjacent to you that you determine (or within your space, if possible). If separation occurs in a cramped space it is expelled through the Astral Plane, finally coming to rest materially in the nearest empty space and taking 1d6 points of damage for each 10 feet of solid material passed through.

If you or your familiar dies while using this spell then the effect ends immediately.

[PhaedrusXY]

So if I had an imp, I'd get all of this:

Special Attacks:    Poison, spell-like abilities
Special Qualities:    Alternate form, damage reduction 5/good or silver, darkvision 60 ft., fast healing 2, immunity to poison, resistance to fire 5

The SLAs include Invisibility at will, Suggestion 1x day, and Detect Magic at will. Alternate Form is pretty handy, too.

This is one of the more optimized uses, but I'd say this is a bit too good for 3rd level, at least in this case. With a mundane familiar, the best thing you'd get would be a big racial bonus to some skills, or blindsense (if you have a bat). The first isn't worth a 3rd level spell, while the latter is probably about right for a 3rd.

So really... the power of this is just going to vary too much depending on what your familiar IS. I guess it's not going to break the game, even in the worst cases imaginable, though.

[Prime32]

Well you have to spend a feat to get an Improved Familiar, so you're basically spending a feat to power up a spell. I wanted to make it lv3 minimum because fusing with a winged familiar will give you flight. I didn't think it was as necessary to go higher because Improved Familiars have a minimum caster level which restricts when you can get their powers for your own. (i.e. by the time you can get an imp you're capable of casting 4th-level spells)

The SLAs aren't significantly more powerful if your familiar could already cast them for you, particularly given that their duration is limited by the duration of the fusion. (since it shares your skill ranks, the imp is probably better at using invisibility for pure sneaking anyway) And having someone with blindsense point out enemies to you is functionally identical to having blindsense yourself.

I could make the spell slot dynamic, but that seems overly complicated.

[PhaedrusXY]

Well you have to spend a feat to get an Improved Familiar, so you're basically spending a feat to power up a spell. I wanted to make it lv3 minimum because fusing with a winged familiar will give you flight. I didn't think it was as necessary to go higher because Improved Familiars have a minimum caster level which restricts when you can get their powers for your own. (i.e. by the time you can get an imp you're capable of casting 4th-level spells)

You can get flight with a level 2 spell (Alter Self) with a longer duration. So 2nd level would probably be OK, as far as that goes. If you leave it at 3rd, I think you should perhaps even increase the duration to 1 hr/lvl. This spell also kind of acts as a way to just keep your familiar out of harm's way, while still getting many of the benefits of having one. So I think it should have a longer duration, if that's the purpose. Isn't Familiar Pocket like 1st or 2nd level? And 1 hr/lvl?

[veekie]

Well you have to spend a feat to get an Improved Familiar, so you're basically spending a feat to power up a spell. I wanted to make it lv3 minimum because fusing with a winged familiar will give you flight. I didn't think it was as necessary to go higher because Improved Familiars have a minimum caster level which restricts when you can get their powers for your own. (i.e. by the time you can get an imp you're capable of casting 4th-level spells)

You can get flight with a level 2 spell (Alter Self) with a longer duration. So 2nd level would probably be OK, as far as that goes. If you leave it at 3rd, I think you should perhaps even increase the duration to 1 hr/lvl. This spell also kind of acts as a way to just keep your familiar out of harm's way, while still getting many of the benefits of having one. So I think it should have a longer duration, if that's the purpose. Isn't Familiar Pocket like 1st or 2nd level? And 1 hr/lvl?

I'm with this idea, but would prefer for the abilities you can gain from the spell to be specifically spelled out.

Also what happens if you Share an Alter Self to your familiar before Merging?

[Prime32]

I'm with this idea, but would prefer for the abilities you can gain from the spell to be specifically spelled out.

That applies to all 3.5 polymorph spells. A Tome or PF version of this spell would do so, for instance.

Also what happens if you Share an Alter Self to your familiar before Merging?

You get the abilities of your familiar's normal form, then the Alter Self applies to your merged state. If this would cause you to take an invalid form (it usually will, unless you have a Humanoid familiar somehow), the spell has no effect until the fusion ends.