Familiars are currently nothing of the rp tool that they from what I have understood are supposed to be. Lvl 8 Wizard's rat has 88hp and +15/+10 attack? (LTS, Specifics?)
A snake with more hp than a fighter of the same level?
Please compare these to Bioware familiars. No way are they OP. And it's moot, since I've don't really see them used as tanks.
I dunno why some familiars have way more HP than others. The Chicken for example has I think 2HP a level for example.
That's because Bioware made them even more Overpowered than these. >_>
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe it has been said that familiars are not supposed to be tanks for the wizard, but rather just a tool of rp? That rat is almost stronger than the bear animal companion, which was nerfed on efu. >_>
If the rat is really that strong it should be changed
Go ahead, ExileStrife. We're only talking about ~200 files needing modification. >.>
Yes, the familiars are pretty wildly good.
Don't we have some kind of master familiar balancer who can whip this stuff up in a jiffy? Was it ScottyB? Howland?
Familiars need tuning down, i agree, says the pro-mage LPFF.
It was ScottyB.
ScottyB!!!!!!!!!
One of the primary issues is that the rat familiar, if it rests, will gain about 4 Con. At level 8, with Empowered Endurance, I was able to get my rat Percival up to 120 HP. This is the same as standing NPC guard of a certain organization. Terrifying.
I guess a good way to get brownie points is to not abuse things when they're known to be overpowered while somebody eventually fixes them.
Rarely do I see people using their rats in combat. Often I have seen Ravens fighting and almost every single time they bird was killed.
And even with a really high AB, rats still do 1 damage per hit.
I didn't do anything but convert the files I was given so they could be used as familiars. AKMatt and Howland did the actual building, and their wacky HP is a result of the NWN engine doing something funky with familiars when they're summoned.
I can't do anything about the amount of HP they have, or other stats, and I wouldn't want to do it even if I could - that's a lot of files needing changing, and I'd probably have to tinker with it to figure out what's even causing this in the first palce.
1.- I have yet to see this abused. If it is being abused, must be occureing in my down time.
2- I believe it depends on the summons, the hellhound summons is so pitiful, I have yet to summon it to even scout ahead, as in combat it lasts less then my current PC who has 14 hp. If there were a dozen wizards running loose on the server with Rats for henchmen, takeing out guards and what not..I would see the point. I don't think that just because something may, sometime in the future, be abused, that the DM's should recode countless files on the off chance it happens. There seem to be far more pressing matters they can devote there time too.
I don't think I've ever seen a Wizard use their familiar in combat. Being that my PC leads a guild of Wizard's I have certainly seen familiars used often. I often make use of my own, but I've never used it in combat.
I've seen familiars used for-
1. Scouting / Exploring.
2. Spying.
3. For various RP related tasks.
That's pretty much it. Although my level 7 familiar did once take out four wolves solo while scouting. The only reason that happened was because invisibility dropped, they attacked, and I thought it'd be amusing to see if it could do it. It nearly died, but it managed to kill them. Although mine isn't a rat.
I know Jawl has a rat familiar, and although it has a crap ton of HP, I think it only does 1 damage per hit. As a result, here is what you do: get three herb bags and let a level 2 wizard solo it to death in melee. :P