Familiars and animal companions
The familiar a Wizard calls and the companion a Druid calls are not the base-game creatures. All 20 of them are rebuilt when they appear and scale with their master's caster level and ability modifier.
Who gets one
| Class | What they call | From class level |
|---|---|---|
| Wizard | a familiar (Summon Familiar) | 1 |
| Sorcerer | a familiar (Summon Familiar) | 1 |
| Druid | an animal companion (Animal Companion) | 1 |
| Ranger | an animal companion (Animal Companion) | 6 |
- Calling one is once per day, which is once per rest.
- A familiar and a companion use different slots. A Druid/Wizard multiclass can have both out at once.
- Either one can be out at the same time as a summon and a henchman.
- If your familiar dies, you take 1d6 damage. The damage never takes you below 1 hit point. You cannot call it again until the next day.
- If your animal companion dies, you take no damage. You cannot call it again until the next day.
- You choose the creature at character creation. It cannot be changed afterwards. A different creature needs a new character, which is what the re-roll gives.
- Possessing your familiar is disabled on this server. The quickbar button is still there; using it shows "Possession of familiar is disabled in this world".
How the scaling works
When the creature appears it is rebuilt from two numbers:
- Your caster level.
- One ability modifier. For a familiar, the higher of your Intelligence and Charisma modifiers. For a companion, the higher of your Wisdom and Strength modifiers. If you are polymorphed, your Strength from before the shape change is used, not the form's.
If that modifier is +0 or lower, nothing below happens. You get the plain base-game creature.
Both numbers raise the following, at a rate set per creature and per statistic:
- all six ability scores;
- attack bonus, Armor Class and all three saving throws;
- eight skills: Concentration, Discipline, Listen, Spot, Hide, Move Silently, Tumble, Intimidate;
- regeneration (hit points per round);
- damage immunity to bludgeoning, piercing and slashing;
- a damage bonus on its natural weapons, of a damage type fixed per creature;
- an enhancement bonus on those weapons;
- up to 8 feats, gained at caster level thresholds.
Then three more changes apply:
- Maximum hit points: its own maximum + 10 x its Constitution score. At Constitution 30 that is +300 hit points.
- Its challenge rating is raised to your caster level if it was lower. Anything that reads CR treats it at that rating.
- Attacks are capped at 5 per round.
Armor Class gets the largest increase: about +1 per 2 caster levels, +1 per 2 points of your modifier, added to the creature's own base AC. At caster level 40 a familiar gets about +20 base AC from caster level alone.
Which one to pick
Each creature has its own damage type and its own feats. The choice is permanent.
Familiars
| Familiar | Damage type | Feats and features |
|---|---|---|
| Cragcat | Electrical | Sneak attack up to Epic Improved Sneak Attack 6, Epic Dodge, Improved Evasion |
| Eyeball | Magical | Epic Warding, Epic Mage Armor, Epic Improved Combat Casting |
| Fairy Dragon | Magical | Hellball, Ruin, Epic Mage Armor |
| Fire Mephit | Fire | Improved Evasion, Improved Critical, Skill Focus in Search and Listen |
| Hell Hound | Fire | Knockdown, Power Attack, Improved Evasion; the highest damage bonus of the familiars (table below) |
| Ice Mephit | Cold | As the Fire Mephit |
| Imp | Fire | As the Fire Mephit |
| Pixie | Magical | Skill Focus in Open Lock, Disable Trap and Search; sneak attack up to Epic Improved Sneak Attack 7 |
| Pseudodragon | Magical | Ruin, Blind-Fight, Improved Critical |
| Raven | Negative | Skill Focus in Move Silently and Spot, Blind-Fight, Called Shot |
| Bat | Negative | Hide in Plain Sight, Epic Self Concealment up to 50% |
Animal companions
| Companion | Damage type | Feats and features |
|---|---|---|
| Badger | Sonic | Barbarian Rage up to Epic Thundering Rage, Great Cleave, Knockdown |
| Bear | Divine | Epic Overwhelming Critical, Improved Knockdown, Improved Power Attack |
| Boar | Sonic | Epic Devastating Critical, Epic Overwhelming Critical, Great Cleave |
| Dire Rat | Negative | Sneak attack up to Epic Improved Sneak Attack 5, Skill Focus in Hide, Move Silently and Discipline |
| Hawk | Electrical | Mobility from caster level 7, replaced by Spring Attack above caster level 15; Blind-Fight, Improved Critical |
| Panther | Electrical | Sneak attack up to Epic Improved Sneak Attack 5, Epic Dodge, Improved Evasion |
| Spider | Acid | Poison on its bite: 1d2 Constitution damage on hit; Improved Knockdown |
| Wolf | Sonic | Improved Knockdown; faster weapon enhancement (see below) |
| Dire Wolf | Sonic | Improved Knockdown, Epic Overwhelming Critical, Great Cleave; faster weapon enhancement |
Companions get a larger damage bonus than familiars. At the top tier a familiar's weapons carry +2d6 and a Bear's carry +2d12.
The damage bonus in full
The tier is set by your caster level + your ability modifier.
| Caster level + modifier | Most familiars | Hell Hound | Badger, Bear, Boar, Dire Wolf | Other companions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| over 55 | 2d6 | 2d10 | 2d12 | 2d10 |
| over 45 | 1d12 | 2d8 | 2d10 | 2d8 |
| over 35 | 1d10 | 2d6 | 2d8 | 2d6 |
| over 25 | 1d8 | 2d4 | 2d6 | 2d4 |
| over 15 | 1d6 | 1d10 | 2d4 | 2d4 |
| over 10 | 1d4 | 1d8 | 1d8 | 1d8 |
| over 5 | +2 | 1d6 | 1d6 | 1d6 |
| below that | +1 | 1d4 | 1d4 | 1d4 |
The top row needs caster level + modifier above 55. At caster level 40 that is a modifier of +16, which is an ability score of 42.
The enhancement bonus on the same weapons is +1 per 7 caster levels for a familiar and +1 per 7.5 caster levels for a companion. The Spider, Wolf and Dire Wolf get +1 per 5.5 caster levels.
If you are undead
If your character is one of the undead races - Vampire, Lich, Mummy or Skeleton - your familiar or companion turns undead with you: its appearance and racial type change, and it gets the table below.
The Fire Mephit, Ice Mephit, Imp and Pseudodragon are the exceptions: they stay as they are, with none of the changes below.
| Immune to | ability decrease, critical hits, mind-affecting spells, death effects, fear |
| Damage immunity | 10% cold, 10% electrical |
| Healed by | negative energy damage |
| Vulnerable to | positive energy (100%, so it takes double damage), 10% divine, 10% fire |
| Ability penalty | -4 Strength, -4 Constitution |
| Turn resistance | +2, +1 per 4 of your hit dice |
In play
- Give it orders with Associates Control, the quickbar ability that commands every associate with you at once. The party-bar commands still work and clear any Associates Control order.
- Magic Fang and Greater Magic Fang target your animal companion. Their attack and damage bonus adds on top of everything above.
- Familiars and companions show on your map as blue diamonds, with your other associates.
- Familiars and companions do not disarm traps, whatever their skill rank.
- An arena match removes them. Starting a fighting-pit round at an event removes every associate of each fighter, familiars and companions included.