Improved Familiar

General feat

Races of Faerûn (Rac), p. 165Updated Forgotten Realms (3.0)

Improved Familiar is a D&D 3.5 feat (General) from Rac, p. 165. See the discussion of the Improved Familiar feat in Chapter 1 of the FORGOTTEN REALMS Campaign Setting. Table A-5 shows additional improved familiars from this book that are available with this feat.

Prerequisite

Ability to acquire a new familiar, compatible alignment, sufficiently high level (see below),

Benefit

When choosing a familiar, the creatures listed below are also available to the spellcaster. The spellcaster may choose a familiar with an alignment up to one step away on each of the alignment axes (lawful through chaotic, good through evil).

Improved familiars otherwise use the rules for regular familiars, with two exceptions: If the creature's type is something other than animal, its type does not change; and improved familiars do not gain the ability to speak with other creatures of their kind (although many of them already have the ability to communicate).

FamiliarAlignmentArcane Spellcaster Level
Shocker lizardNeutral5th
StirgeNeutral5th
Formian workerLawful neutral7th
ImpLawful evil7th
PseudodragonNeutral good7th
QuasitChaotic evil7th

Almost any creature of the same general size and power as those on the list makes a suitable familiar. Improved familiars can also be assigned by the master's creature type or subtype:

FamiliarType/SubtypeArcane Spellcaster Level
Celestial hawk1Good3rd
Fiendish Tiny viper snake2Evil3rd
Air elemental, SmallAir5th
Earth elemental, SmallEarth5th
Fire elemental, SmallFire5th
Shocker lizardElectricity5th
Water elemental, SmallWater5th
Homunculus3Undead7th
Ice mephitCold7th

1 Or other celestial animal from the standard familiar list.

2 Or other fiendish animal from the standard familiar list.

3 The master must first create the homunculus, substituting ichor or another part of the master's body for blood if necessary.

See also the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting (Table 1-6) and Races of Faerûn (Table A-5) for additional improved familiars available with this feat.

Description

See the discussion of the Improved Familiar feat in Chapter 1 of the FORGOTTEN REALMS Campaign Setting. Table A-5 shows additional improved familiars from this book that are available with this feat.