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View Full Version : 3.5 Item Familiars.....



sambo.
2009-10-06, 10:25 AM
are they worthwhile?

my Drow 'toon is (currently) fighter1/wiz1, eventually aiming for fighter2/ranger2/wiz2 then taking Arcane Archer levels (the DM has modified the AA class somewhat heavily. i get partial caster level progression (each time i get another +1 to arrows, i get another caster level, spells, etc) and the seeker/phase/hail of arrows i get my AA level worth of "special" arrows/day and i can choose which one to use on the fly) and yes, i'll be buying off my +2LA ASAP!.


sooooooo, i was thinking about a bow as an item familiar. i've already been told i'll be able to have the abilities of a Lesser Rod Of Quicken Spell built into a Bow. i'm thinking along the lines of a +5 bow of speed and distance with the 3/day Quicken metamagic. if/when i can get t3h gold to actually get teh enchantments put on what will start out as a custom made, masterwork composite shortbow.

hints, tips and suggestions welcomed! please try and keep it to basically Core/SRD stuffs. splatbook material is only allowed via DM discretion.

Zincorium
2009-10-06, 11:29 AM
They're almost brokenly good, actually, if your DM isn't in the habit of stealing/breaking your stuff. 10% more XP than everybody else? Significant bonuses to skills? Free quicken (effectively) on your highest level spell plus a bonus?

If you're allowed and a DM thwacking would not result, do it. Awesome flavor and awesome power. Just don't get disjunctioned.

Stegyre
2009-10-06, 11:50 AM
They're almost brokenly good.
IMHO, Item Familiar is one of those things that is a great idea very poorly (brokenly) executed. The idea of each character being able to select a special item and "enchant" it and have it grow in abilities along with their character level is great. But the whole "invest XP/Skills/Spells" is terribly broken. GMs should either give that to everybody or to nobody.

FWIW, my own suggestion is to allow IF but substitute and adapt the Weapon Familiar rules (Eberron - Artificer, I forget which specific book).

Starscream
2009-10-06, 01:18 PM
The only time I've ever allowed Item Familiars was when we had one spellcaster in the party, who was basically responsible for manufacturing all the magical goods for the party (the campaign took place in a country where the purchase and sale of such items was illegal).

In order to keep her from falling behind in xp, I offered either to give her a Craft Reserve like an artificer, or an item familiar. She liked the idea of having a talking staff, so she chose the familiar.

After that we just calculated how much of the xp she got was "extra", and that became what she used for crafting purposes.

Sinfire Titan
2009-10-06, 01:27 PM
The only time I've ever allowed Item Familiars was when we had one spellcaster in the party, who was basically responsible for manufacturing all the magical goods for the party (the campaign took place in a country where the purchase and sale of such items was illegal).

In order to keep her from falling behind in xp, I offered either to give her a Craft Reserve like an artificer, or an item familiar. She liked the idea of having a talking staff, so she chose the familiar.

After that we just calculated how much of the xp she got was "extra", and that became what she used for crafting purposes.

This is how I handle it, however I also restrict the ability to inherit an Item Familiar. RAW, you can simply state the item was your Grandfather's Item Familiar, and that you are inheriting it. Thus you never have to pay for the skill augments.

Douglas
2009-10-06, 01:32 PM
As long as you never lose the item you don't have to actually pay for them either way. All the skill points, XP, spell slots, etc. that you "invest" in the item familiar are still there and available to you. All the "investment" means is that if you ever lose the item you also lose what you invested in it. It's all free benefits until and unless you lose the item, at which point your character gets nerfed in direct proportion to how much you had previously benefited. This puts the DM in the position of either allowing you to be grossly overpowered or nerfing you into oblivion with no in between.

Sinfire Titan
2009-10-06, 01:46 PM
As long as you never lose the item you don't have to actually pay for them either way. All the skill points, XP, spell slots, etc. that you "invest" in the item familiar are still there and available to you. All the "investment" means is that if you ever lose the item you also lose what you invested in it. It's all free benefits until and unless you lose the item, at which point your character gets nerfed in direct proportion to how much you had previously benefited. This puts the DM in the position of either allowing you to be grossly overpowered or nerfing you into oblivion with no in between.

With what? Open Lock? Truespeak? Perform? It doesn't unbalance much until a class like Incanatrix or Artificer gets involved, namely because they don't need that ability to be powerful. Keep the classes that threaten balance from receiving it, and it doesn't upset too much. It may sound unfair, at least until you point out how many options that class all ready has and why the other class needs the ability.