The Familiars' Handbook

[snakeman830]

Serpent Kingdoms has a couple of familiar options.  Possibly the best is the Sewerm.  It's a Small creature with 17 Str (and 17 Dex) and a +16 racial bonus to grapple checks.  It's venom is better suited for stealth (anesthetic), but the benefit it gives is +2 bonus on saves vs. spells that cause pain.

How many spells do that again?  Like, all that cause damage?

[kremti]

Heh, sounds like it might be fun to dip like 2 levels in Totemist + Share Soulmeld for some grappling or Manticore Belt + Dragonfire Inspiration...

-K

[The_Mad_Linguist]

I know that somewhere there's a book with a Spider familiar in it, but I just don't know where.  Help?

Monsters of faerun, hairy spider (it's also playable at +0 LA, so you can have a spider with a spider)

[X-Codes]

Serpent Kingdoms has a couple of familiar options.  Possibly the best is the Sewerm.  It's a Small creature with 17 Str (and 17 Dex) and a +16 racial bonus to grapple checks.  It's venom is better suited for steal (anesthetic), but the benefit it gives is +2 bonus on saves vs. spells that cause pain.

How many spells do that again?  Like, all that cause damage?

Damage isn't necessarily painful because HP is an abstract value.  They're talking about spells like Wracking Touch and Symbol of Pain.

[snakeman830]

Serpent Kingdoms has a couple of familiar options.  Possibly the best is the Sewerm.  It's a Small creature with 17 Str (and 17 Dex) and a +16 racial bonus to grapple checks.  It's venom is better suited for steal (anesthetic), but the benefit it gives is +2 bonus on saves vs. spells that cause pain.

How many spells do that again?  Like, all that cause damage?

Damage isn't necessarily painful because HP is an abstract value.  They're talking about spells like Wracking Touch and Symbol of Pain.

While that is what they're refrencing, how will most damaging spells not cause pain?  Being burned, electrocuted, or dissolved is certianly very painful.  Being Disintegrated is too.  Same with being bludgeoned with hailstones or rocks or knocked around by a giant hand made of force.  Then there's the Recall Pain psionic power, which is damage via pure pain...

Very, very few spells that deal damage could even vaguely be considered to not cause pain.

[X-Codes]

Yes, they can, because HP is a completely abstract value.  Your arm does not have 10 hit points, it does not break when it hits 0 hit points, and it's not severed at -10.  What's more, if you have a maximum of 500 hit points but only 1 hit point currently, you are fully capable of doing anything your character could at 500 hit points.  If you were wracked with the pain and damage normally attributed to having your body 99.8% destroyed, there'd be no way in hell you could run in full armor and swing a 10 lb hammer around to smash a giant monster in the face.

So no, damage does not necessitate pain.

[Jackinthegreen]

I thought there was something in the Factotum handbook about familiars. Actually, wasn't the Factotum hb by DM, too?

Eeyup.  A Factotum is an Arcane casting class, so it can use Obtain Familiar.  DM did add that into the handbook, but hasn't modified this thread with it apparently.

[Hallack]

A friend of mine grabbed a Pearl of Speech for his familiar and I figured it would be a good addition to the Handbook. 

[Ivory Knight]

Now that is a cheap trick
The "Items for Familiars" section is a bit on the short side anyways.

I had a tiny enchanted Chainshirt made for my Musteval Guardinal and a friend of mine sunk a substantial amount of gold into Mithral Barding for the Riding Dog Animal Companion/Familiar of his Sorc/Druid/Arcane Heirophant.
Are there any enhancements, that work better for a familiar, than for it's master?
Polymorphing from OA comes to mind, was that ever reprinted somewhere?

[Felix Underwood]

I know that somewhere there's a book with a Spider familiar in it, but I just don't know where.  Help?

Complete Scoundrel, page 78 (Improved Familiar).

It's great for the dedicated tailor that wants to specialize in silk.  Since silk is protein, you'd want to keep little Charlotte well fed (rats, chickens, custom ring/collar of sustenance)...

[X-Codes]

I know that somewhere there's a book with a Spider familiar in it, but I just don't know where.  Help?

Complete Scoundrel, page 78 (Improved Familiar).

It's great for the dedicated tailor that wants to specialize in silk.  Since silk is protein, you'd want to keep little Charlotte well fed (rats, chickens, custom ring/collar of sustenance)...

So is a Medium Viper...

Medium Viper or Small Spider... that's a tough one.  I guess it's only for a few more levels, when I pick up an Imp, but still...

[snakeman830]

Well, if you have a familiar with poison, you ARE poisoning weapons with it, right?

[ninjarabbit]

Well, if you have a familiar with poison, you ARE poisoning weapons with it, right?

Or using the poison spell feat

[kremti]

Well, if you have a familiar with poison, you ARE poisoning weapons with it, right?

And make sure if you ARE Poisoning weapons, you temporarily buff the Con of the familiar while doing so.  Most poison DCs are Con based, so you'll add +2 to DC just by blowing the Bear's Endurance the day before you go adventuring into that dungeon.

Use many other con-buff spells on the familiar, and you can get some crazy DC on the poison...

And your party cleric will hit you with Delay Poison so rolling 1 on the attack role won't do anything to you for a few hours.

-K

[The_Mad_Linguist]

Medium Viper or Small Spider... that's a tough one.  I guess it's only for a few more levels, when I pick up an Imp, but still...

Hairy spiders are immune to all poisons, so you can use your familiar to apply poison or deliver contact poisons.

[Felix Underwood]

Also note that Drow of the Underdark supplied rules for creating injury/weapon poisons if you have a steady supply of free raw materials (1/6th the cost IIRC?).