Wizard Familiar Balancing

[The Outer Limits]

The eyeball familiar (which I have) appears to have approximately 1/4 the HP of other familiars. Although it appears to have been intended to be able to cast Protection from Alignment, that ability does not work.

Due to its shrunken model size, it looks strange and floats about knee-height from the floor.

I enjoy roleplaying with it but maybe some changes could be made.

[Divine Intervention]

Meldread did a huge in depth post on this a while back, I can't remember if anything got changed but it sounds incredibly sub par compared to certain other powerful ones.

[Craig210]

Familiars recently got an OP boost with a new spell, how about that gets sorted first :D

[Nihm]

Cast the new spell and they become level ten fighters, so don't worry about it

[Johannes]

That's a gross exaggeration. The new spell which you are talking about is Augment Familiar, which grants a significant but otherwise reasonable boost: +4 to each ability score, 5/+1 DR and +2 to all saves. This, I'll add, is compared to the already mediocre physical statistics (especially STR) which familiars generally have.

[Craig210]

I think you may want to do some testing of whats possible with this spell Johannes. From what ive seen 16ab high twenty ac(without bark) is possible for one of the familairs, from a level 5 or 6 wizard.

Allthough 1 attack a round, this is still making familairs extremely powerfull in conjunction with summons and other spells.

[Johannes]

Only +2 of which can come from Augment Familiar.

[Paha]

Yes, it is possible to achieve those things, but it requires buffing, and you will likely never see one with 2 attack rounds.

I've been part of testing and seeing it couple times, and I can say that it definitely can be dangerous and bothersome, but frankly, with the damage that they can achieve and att speed, you have plenty of time to either run, find the mage, or get few friendly allies to blast it off with magic or anything.

They are not killer machines, even if they get augmented for battle in some extend. Rest is just simple buffing, and clever use of size and abilities of said familiar. Only something to be credited for clever usage.

[Howlando]

That rat does have too high HP, and some of the others are crappy and bugged. But takes way too long for me to take the time to edit them all now :/

[Egon the Monkey]

It's only 1 /round a level too. Isn't it dispellable, or would you have to hit the mage?

[The Old Hack]

I want my parrot familiar changed so it is dead when it arrives and I can pick it up and yell at it and whack it into things. Then when I complain to the DMs that it is dead they will just tell me that it isn't dead, it's only pining for the fiords.

On a more serious note, I was rather stunned when I saw that bloody rat familiar battle Gavril and more than hold its own. Admittedly Gavril is short an arm, but still, a familiar giving that much trouble to a level 8 or 9 character?

[Canzah]

I can at least attest to the powerful nature of the rat. I don't know where the line is supposed to be drawn, but that one has most certainly crossed it in my opinion.

Buffing, clever usage and whatnot aside it is still not supposed to be such an effective spy, tank and even damage dealer (to an extent).

[Random_White_Guy]

The Ooze is great.

Perfect for Low Level Magi who need to do the lower level combat quests.

It's got useful skills for exploring, useful skills for healing, some light magic, and is tough against lesser creatures.

One of the more balanced familiars if you guys are looking for a template to try and get the others sorted.

[The Boom King]

I like that eyeball familiar. Once you're level five it has like sixteen charges of acid, freeze, and negative ray.

[Egon the Monkey]

I've said for ages that more information for players on familiars can only be a good thing, so they can pick one that suits their concept best by ability, not just looks. The Ooze for example is great for exploring the ruins using Open Lock and removing the Sewer Blight, but you'd never guess that from the vague description. Nor is it clear that the chicken is to all intents and purposes a small, feathery sentry-gun with no real abilities or attack power but some nasty spells.

There's no indication of the skills of the Gull (although arguably it doesn't have any worthwhile ones) or of the Parrot. Only the Bat, Rat and Raven really indicate what they can do, and I thought at first glance that the Raven picked locks rather than spotted and disabled traps. The Bat and Raven are also well balanced for their intended roles of being a brilliant scout and personal Rogue, respectively. The Raven could use Finesse though.