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I'm creating a Warlock for what will likely be a solo campaign. The DM has allowed a theurge of Binder/Warlock (at 9/10 binder advancement, 10/10 warlock advancement, and a few minor abilities tacked on to 3/4 BAB advancement and d8 hit die), so I'm taking Hellfire Warlock to go with it.
I have an improved familiar, a Coure Eladrin (BoED.) They seem like very useful little things.
When I played a sorcerer in the past, her familiar was much like Varsuuvius's raven...I usually forgot it was there and it only came out when it was going to be a solution to something. Obviously I want to do something different here, I like the idea of a little celestial pixie flying around being my CN warlock's personal Jiminy Cricket.
What can I do with her, though? Obviously she can use wands and such with my own character's UMD check, that's kinda fun. But people love familiars. How do you really make one work for the warlock?
Fluffwise? Go back to the original myths. The familiar is (an aspect of) the being who gave the warlock their power in the first place, and is sticking around to train them or just see how they use it.
In terms of mechanics, you could use that ACF which gives your familiar the dragonblood subtype, then have it take Draconic Aura.
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In combat, not so much. What does one do with a Coure to make it useful in a fight apart from wands and such?
Not in a fight, but permanent Tongues can definitely be useful out of combat, as can at-will detect magic(though you likely already have that) and detect evil. Similarly at-will incorporeality is handy for scouting.
A constant Magic Circle is nice in and out of combat. At-will faerie fire will help you line up targets. At worst, it can at least swing a few magic missiles.
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In addition to magic missile, it also gets sleep 3/day, so you can give that a try too. But as you surmised, your best bet is to keep it near you for the circle and have it wand at things. Its SLAs are more suited to out of combat.
You could have fun equipping the eladrin with magic items and tiny versions of magic armor and weaons... they have all the same magic item slots as a human.
Incorporeal is a million kinds of win. As far as I can tell, she can incorporeal her (at least light load) of equipment, so she can carry around that portable hole and partake in some lighthearted grand larceny.
Sadly I don't think imbue familiar with spell ability works while incorporeal, but there are probably a couple other ways of getting a couple useful SLAs that the familiar can use while incorporeal.
Also, it's an eladrin, which opens up casting a couple nice spells that are for celestials only from BoED.
What else...a player in a campaign I'm in has one of these. It's been a big help, honestly. Or, at least very useful.
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In my dreams, I am currently a druid 10/wizard 10/arcane hierophant 10/warshaper 5. Oh, and add on the werewolf hit dice...sheesh, getting too strong.
They have Faerie Fire and Dancing as a spell-likes, so they can grab Dazzling Fire, Deceptive Illumination (At will Silent Image ), Fascinating Illumination if your DM let's you choose her feats.
You should know this already. Drow of the Underdark is a good resource for Warlocks.
EDIT: You got ripped off with that Binder/Warlock Theurge.
I gave a coure eladrin familiar Hank's Energy Bow and a few other archery-connected items and used it for point defense in combat. It's never going to match your warlock, but can zing mooks and harry spellcasters fairly reliably.
Alternately, giving the eladrin a wand of lesser restoration and putting it in charge of you not dying from constitution loss is entirely appropriate.
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They have Faerie Fire and Dancing as a spell-likes, so they can grab Dazzling Fire, Deceptive Illumination (At will Silent Image ), Fascinating Illumination if your DM let's you choose her feats.
You should know this already. Drow of the Underdark is a good resource for Warlocks.
EDIT: You got ripped off with that Binder/Warlock Theurge.
Wait... since when do familiars get feats? They don't advance hit dice. They get "effective hit dice" for the purpose of effects related to hit dice, but they don't actually get hit dice.
Wait... since when do familiars get feats? They don't advance hit dice. They get "effective hit dice" for the purpose of effects related to hit dice, but they don't actually get hit dice.
Coure Eladrin have 2 actual HD. They have a feat at level 1, and that only represents a typical coure. Monster Manual page 7 says the feats may be customized by the DM.
The wizard in my adventuring party was gonna get a Coure Eladrin familiar with Trickery Devotion and use it as a super scout. He was also gonna go for a tiny quiver of Ehlonna and some arrows of slaying.
Wait... since when do familiars get feats? They don't advance hit dice. They get "effective hit dice" for the purpose of effects related to hit dice, but they don't actually get hit dice.
I am not an expert, but couldn't some of the normal feat reassignment tricks work on a familiar? It sounds like it might be a little early in the campaign for power stones of psychic reformation, but they are pretty nifty. Skill selection isn't really an issue (though it might be nice to shuffle some of those outsider skill points around, too), but the feats could probably be improved.
Not at all familiar with the Embrace/Shun trick, and I've heard that's a rather bigger pill to get one's DM to swallow.
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In my dreams, I am currently a druid 10/wizard 10/arcane hierophant 10/warshaper 5. Oh, and add on the werewolf hit dice...sheesh, getting too strong.
By the way, there are a few different shenanigans usable that will let you use anima mage instead of a homebrew class for 10/10 both ways.
Anima mage isn't all that good for my purposes. (Hellfire Glaivelock).
Homebrew class is based on Eldritch Disciple and gets a d8 hit die and 3/4 bab compared to anima mage getting d4 and 1/2. You can debate the value of BAB all you want, but Glaive requires iterative attacks to be worthwhile.
I know Snowbluff says i'm getting "ripped off" but before the homebrew class was accepted, I was planning on only a single level of Binder for Naberius and not advancing it at all. This PrC loses me nothing from a purer hellfire warlock build (I have a template already giving me DR cold/iron, and item crafting will not be a necessary option at any point in this game even if I had imbue item). In return I'm getting a better hit die, some neat combat abilities, and 9/10 binder advancement (in addition to 10/10 warlock advancement.) I like it.
On the plus side, Deceptive Illumination is an awesome suggestion, Snowbluff. I'd never noticed it before because playing drow has always looked very suboptimal. My DM has played a gnome bard in another campaign i played, and his gleeful creativity with illusions makes me love that suggestion as a replacement for weapon finesse on my familiar -- especially as the DM will essentially be playing the familiar.
With UMD, your familiar can practically be a contigency with scrolls and readied actions. Also useful for buffing you while you blast.
Yeah. That potential has caused me to put more points into UMD than I otherwise would. Deceive Item makes it so you really only need a certain number of ranks -- ranks made lower by this character's insanely high charisma score. However, the Familiar doesn't get Deceive Item, it actually has to roll, and she doesn't have near my warlock's charisma total (though 14 isn't bad)...
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Coure Eladrin familiar
), Fascinating Illumination if your DM let's you choose her feats. 
