General Rules - Familiar Feats

Familiar Feats

This is a list of familiar feats that do not appear in the Player's Handbook, but that I use in my campaigns. As feats get added to my ongoing campaigns, I will add more to this listing.

This list uses several abbreviations to show what sourcebook the entries were drawn from. For guidance as to what sourcebooks these abbreviations reference, see my key to Sourcebook Abbreviations.

All of the material contained on this page and other pages of this blog is presented in accordance with the terms of the Open Game License.

Feat Name	Source	Prerequisites	Benefit
Bonded Familiar	-	Must have a familiar as a class feature	Your bond with your familiar grants it special abilities
Combat Familiar	-	Arcane caster level 1st+, must have a familiar as a class feature	Your familiar is skilled in delivering attack spells
Construct Familiar	-	Must have a familiar as a class feature	Your familiar is a construct rather than a living being
Energy Familiar	SoE	Must have a familiar as a class feature, arcane caster level 12th+, ability to cast three arcane spells from the energy construct discipline	Your familiar is made of force energy
Enhanced Companion	D&D Wiki	Handle Animal 1+ ranks	Your animal companion, dark ally, familiar, fiendish servant, or special mount gains enhanced AC
Enhanced Familiar	PoM	Must have a familiar as a class feature	Your familiar is more powerful than usual for your level
Enspell Familiar	-	Must have a familiar as a class feature	You can cast spells on your familiar over a distance
Extra Familiar	-	Must have a familiar as a class feature	You have an additional familiar
Improved Familiar	-	Ability to acquire a new familiar, compatible alignment, sufficiently high level	You can acquire a new familiar from the improved familiar list
Lurking Familiar	-	Combat Familiar, arcane caster level 6th+, must have a familiar as a class feature	Your familiar hides within the folds of your robe or takes cover behind you
Obtain Familiar	-	Arcane caster level 3rd+, Knowledge: Arcane 4+ ranks	You gain a familiar
Shadow Familiar	SoI	Arcane caster level 1sy+, must have a familiar as a class feature	Your familiar gains the ability to shadow walk three times per day
Spell-Linked Familiar	-	Arcane caster level 9th+, must have a familiar as a class feature	You can grant your familiar the ability to cast some of your spells
Superior Familiar	PoM	Must have a familiar as a class feature	Your familiar gains a feat
Undead Familiar	-	Must have a familiar as a class feature	Your familiar is an undead creature

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General Rules: Feats - Enhanced Familiar

Enhanced Familiar [Familiar, General] (adapted from Path of Magic)
The bond between you and your familiar is so powerful that it enhances the familiar's abilities.
  Prerequisites: Must have a familiar as a class feature.
  Benefits: For the purpose of determining your familiar's abilities, you are treated as if you are two levels higher in the class that gives you the summon familiar ability than your actual level in that class. This ability only applies once, no matter how many classes you have that grant you the summon familiar ability.
  Benefits: You can take this feat multiple times and its benefits stack.

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General Rules: Feats - Energy Familiar

Energy Familiar [Familiar, General] (adapted from School of Evocation)
Your familiar is now composed of force energy and is immune to most forms of harm.
  Prerequisites: Must have a familiar as a class feature, arcane caster level 12^tht+, ability to cast three arcane spells from the energy construct discipline.
  Benefits: Your familiar is now immune to most forms of harm. Your familiar is vulnerable to the same things that can destroy a wall of force spell, and is considered to be a 9^th level spell cast by you at your current level for purposes of suppression or dispelling. If your familiar is dispelled, it dies.

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General Rules: Feats - Enhanced Companion

Enhanced Companion [General] (from the D&D Wiki)
Your animal companions are energized by your presence.
   Prerequisite: Handle Animal 1+ ranks.
   Benefit: You form a special bond with your companion. When it is within 60 feet of you, it gains a +2 Dodge bonus to its Armor Class.
   Special: The effects of this feat apply to animal companions, dark allies, familiars, fiendish servants, and special mounts.

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General Rules: Feats - Undead Familiar

Undead Familiar [Familiar, General]
Your familiar is an undead creature.
  Prerequisites: Must have a familiar as a class feature.
  Benefit: Rather than a living creature, your familiar is an undead version of a normal animal. Pick a standard familiar and apply the bone or corpse creature template to your new familiar. See the Monster Manual for undead special qualities. You cannot convert an existing non-undead familiar to an undead familiar by taking this feat, although if your familiar is slain and you have this feat, you can reanimate your dead familiar with a create undead spell. Undead familiars tend to be associated with characters of evil alignment, particularly necromancers.

Undead familiars can be turned or rebuked. Use the familiar's effective Hit Dice for the purposes of turning or rebuking. A familiar fleeing or cowering as the result of a successful turn cannot obey commands from the master (any more than it could while fear-struck or paralyzed). Raising a destroyed undead familiar brings it back as a living creature.

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General Rules: Feats - Spell-Linked Familiar

Spell-Linked Familiar [Familiar, General]
You and your familiar can share spell energy, allowing your familiar to cast a limited number of spells each day.
  Prerequisites: Arcane caster level 9^th+, must have a familiar as a class feature.
  Benefit: Your familiar can cast spells that you grant to it. A familiar gains spells based on your arcane caster level, and any spells granted to your familiar are subtracted from your daily allotment. The maximum number of spells of a certain level that you can grant to your familiar is given on the table below. The familiar uses ½ your caster level as its caster level. It cannot cast spells that have a shilling or experience point cost, or that require a focus. A familiar does not need somatic, material, or verbal components to cast a spell that was granted to it by this feat.

Caster		Spell Level
Level	0	1	2
9th-11th	1	-	-
12th-14th	2	1	-
15th-17th	3	2	1
18th-20th	4	3	2

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General Rules: Feats - Obtain Familiar

Obtain Familiar [Familiar, General]
You gain a familiar.
  Prerequisites: Arcane caster level 3^rd+, Knowledge: Arcane 4+ ranks.
  Benefit: You can obtain a familiar in the same manner as a sorcerer or generalist wizard. As with a sorcerer or generalist wizard, obtaining a familiar takes 24 hours and uses up magic material worth 100 shillings. For the purpose of determining familiar abilities that depend upon your arcane caster level, your levels in all classes that allow you to cast arcane spells stack.

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General Rules: Feats - Lurking Familiar

Lurking Familiar [Familiar, General]
Your familiar hides within the folds of your robe or takes cover behind you as your opponents close in. When it moves to attack, its sudden appearance might catch your opponent by surprise.
  Prerequisites: Combat Familiar, arcane caster level 6^th+, must have a familiar as a class feature.
  Benefit: If your familiar occupies your square, it gains cover against all attacks. As a consequence, it can make a Hide check to avoid your foe's notice. If your familiar then leaves your space to attack an opponent, it gains the normal benefits of attacking from a hidden position.

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General Rules: Feats - Improved Familiar

Improved Familiar [Familiar, General]
You can acquire a new familiar from the improved familiar list, but only when you could normally acquire a new familiar.
  Prerequisites: Ability to acquire a new familiar, compatible alignment, sufficiently high arcane spellcaster level and base attack bonus (see below).
  Benefit: When choosing a familiar, the spell-caster may choose from the creatures listed on the Improved Familiar table. The spell-caster may choose a familiar with an alignment up to one step away on each of the alignment axes (lawful through chaotic, good through evil). The master's alignment is not the only possible categorization, some familiars are only available to a character of the appropriate type or subtype. Improved familiars otherwise use the normal rules for familiars with two exceptions: If the creature's type is often something other than animal. 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).

This list uses several abbreviations to show what sourcebook the entries were drawn from. For guidance as to what sourcebooks these abbreviations reference, see my key to Sourcebook Abbreviations.

Improved Familiar	Source	Alignment	Arcane Spellcaster Level	Special
Air elemental, small1	MM	Air	5th	-
Anarchic2	MotP	Chaotic only	3rd	-
Axiomatic3	MotP	Lawful only	3rd
Baboon	MM	-	5th	Master gains a +3 bonus on Intimidate checks
Bat swarm	D329	-	5th	-
Bear, black	MM	-	5th	Master gains a +2 bonus on Fortitude saves
Beguiler	ShSo	Neutral	7th	-
Beholderkin, eyeball	MosF	Neutral Evil	5th	-
Blade Guardian	CW	-	11th	-
Blink dog	MM	Lawful Good	7th, +5 BAB	-
Bloodmote cloud	D329	Neutral Evil	13th	-
Bone rat swarm	D329	Evil	9th	-
Brood keeper larva swarm	D329	Neutral	19th	-
Boar	MM	-	5th	Master gains a +3 bonus on Survival checks
Bookworm	S&S	-	3rd	Master gains Spell Mastery
Cat, tressym	FRCS	Chaotic Good	5th	-
Celestial4	MM	Good only	3rd	-
Celestial piper	S&S	Lawful Good	5th	Master gains a +2 bonus on Perform checks and one other Charisma-based skill of the master's choosing
Centipede swarm	D329	Neutral	9th	-
Choleric imp	D338	Neutral Evil only	7th	-
Clockbug	S&S	-	5th	Master gains a +2 bonus on Reflex saves and the duration of all spells the master casts is calculated as if the master were one level higher
Clockwork mender	MM4	Lawful only	5th	-
Copper asp	D341	-	3rd	-
Corpse rat swarm	D329	Evil	5th	-
Crocodile	MM	-	5th	Master gains a +3 bonus on Swim checks
Crystal cat	D341	-	5th	-
Deathfang	RoF	Neutral Evil	9th	-
Deremole	S&S	-	3rd	Master gains Improved Initiative
Dire bat	MM	-	5th	Master gains a +3 bonus on Listen checks
Dire rat	MM	-	3rd	Master gains a +2 bonus on Fortitude saves. Huge spellcasters may select dire rat familiars without the need for the Improved Familiar feat
Dire weasel	MM	-	5th	Master gains a +2 bonus to Reflex saves
Dog, dwarf hound	CC	-	5th	Master gains a +3 bonus on Listen checks
Dog, Elizonian battle	CC	-	3rd	Master gains a +3 bonus on Listen checks
Dread bloom swarm	D329	Neutral	13th	-
Dust devil	S&S	Air	5th	-
Eagle	MM	-	3rd	Master gains a +3 bonus on Spot checks. Huge spellcasters may select eagle familiars without the need for the Improved Familiar feat
Earth elemental, small5	MM	Earth	5th	-
Eel, reef5	CoFP	-	2nd	Master gains a +3 bonus on Swim checks.
Ephemeral swarm	D329	Evil	11th	-
Erudite owl	D341	-	7th	-
Fiendish6	MM	Evil only	3rd
Fire archon	S&S	Fire	5th	-
Fire bat	MM2	Neutral Evil	15th	-
Fire elemental, small7	MM	Fire	5th	-
Formian worker	MM	Lawful Neutral	7th	-
Gauntlet guardian	CW	-	9th	-
Gem scarab	MM5	Neutral	5th	-
Ghostball	S&S	Undead	5th	Master gains a +2 bonus on Will saves
Giant lizard	MM	-	5th	Master gains a +3 bonus on Climb checks or +3 hit points. Huge spellcasters may select giant lizard familiars without the need for the Improved Familiar feat
Glass dragonfly	D341	-	5th	-
Grassmane	S&S	Earth	5th	-
Grimoire	MM	-	5th	Master gains Heighten Spell
Hawk, sea	CoFP	-	3rd	Master gains a +3 bonus on Spot checks in open air
Hell hound	MM	Lawful Evil	5th, +5 BAB	Master gains a +2 bonus on Search checks
Hellwasp swarm	D329	Lawful Evil	16th	-
Hippogriff	CW	Neutral	7th, +7 BAB	-
Homunculus8	MM	Undead	7th	-
Howler	CW	Chaotic Evil	7th, +7 BAB	-
Ice weasel	CC	Cold	3rd	Master gains a +2 bonus on Reflex saves
Ice sparrow	S&S	Cold	5th	-
Imp	MM	Lawful Evil	7th	-
Infernal crow	S&S	Evil	5th	Master gains the ability to speak and understand Infernal
Jaculi	SK	Chaotic Evil	5th	-
King cobra	D341	-	3rd	-
Krenshar	CW	Neutral	3rd	-
Lantern archon	MM	Lawful Good	7th	-
Leopard	MM	-	5th	Master gains a +3 bonus on Move Silently checks. Huge spellcasters may select leopard familiars without the need for the Improved Familiar feat
Lightning bug	S&S	Electricity	5th	Master gains electricity resistance 5
Lizard, spitting crawler	SK	Neutral	3rd	-
Locust swarm	D329	Neutral	7th	-
Lynx	RoF	Neutral	3rd	-
Melancholic imp	D338	Neutral Evil only	7th	-
Mephit, air	CS	Air	7th	-
Mephit, dust	CS	Air	7th	-
Mephit, earth	CS	Earth	7th	-
Mephit, fire	CS	Fire	7th	-
Mephit, glass	SS	Neutral	7th	-
Mephit, ice	T&B	Cold or Air	7th	-
Mephit, magma	CS	Fire	7th	-
Mephit, ooze	CS	Water	7th	-
Mephit, salt	CS	Earth	7th	-
Mephit, steam	CS	Fire	7th	-
Mephit, sulfur	SS	Fire	7th	-
Mephit, water	CS	Water	7th	-
Mercurial spider	D341	-	7th	-
Miarrun	SK	Neutral	5th	-
Miser jackal	CC	-	3rd	Master gains a +2 bonus on Sleight of Hand checks
Mist viper	S&S	Undead	5th	Master gains Darkvision with a range of 30 feet
Modron, Messenger Monodrone	D354	Lawful only	5th	-
Modron, Monodrone	D354	Lawful only	5th	-
Monitor lizard	DMG	-	5th	Master gains +3 hit points. Huge spellcasters may select monitor lizard familiars without the need for the Improved Familiar feat
Monstrous centipede, small	CS	Neutral	2nd	-
Monstrous scorpion, small	CS	Neutral	3rd	-
Monstrous spider, small	CS	Neutral	4th	-
Mosquito	S&S	-	3rd	Master gains a +2 bonus on Fortitude saves and a +4 bonus on Fortitude saves against disease
Muckdweller	SK	Lawful Evil	5th	-
Muckler	S&S	Water	5th	-
Needletooth swarm	D329	Neutral	13th	-
Night hunter bat	MosF	Neutral Evil	5th	-
Osquip	RoF	Neutral Evil	5th	-
Owl, great horned (2HD)	D341	-	3rd	-
Owl, medium	MM	-	3rd	Master gains a +3 bonus to Move Silently checks. Huge spellcasters may select Medium owl familiars without the need for the Improved Familiar feat
Paraelemental, ice, small	D347	Air or Cold or Water	5th	-
Paraelemental, magma, small	D347	Earth or Fire	5th	-
Paraelemental, ooze, small	D347	Earth or Water	5th	-
Paraelemental, smoke, small	D347	Air or Fire	5th	-
Phlegmatic imp	D338	Neutral Evil only	7th	-
Plague rat	S&S	Undead	5th	Master gains a +4 bonus on Fortitude saves against disease
Plaguecat	CC	-	5th	Master gains a +2 bonus on Fortitude saves
Pseudodragon	MM	Neutral Good	7th	-
Puppet	S&S	-	5th	Master gains +2 Charisma
Quasit	MM	Chaotic Evil	7th	-
Rat swarm	D329	Neutral	5th	-
Razor hawk	D341	-	3rd	-
Sailsnake	MM4	Neutral	5th	-
Salt Toad	S&S	Earth	5th	Master gains a +2 bonus on Will saves
Salvage rat	D341	-	5th	-
Sanguine imp	D338	Neutral Evil only	7th	-
Scarab	S&S	-	3rd	Master gains a +2 bonus on Reflex saves
Shadow raven	Evil	Any Evil	5th	-
Shimmering swarm	D329	Chaotic Neutral	16th	-
Shocker lizard	MM	Electricity	5th	-
Skeleton, small	MM	Undead	5th	Master gains a +4 bonus on Search checks
Snake, flying	RoF	Neutral	3rd	-
Snake, glacier	SK	Neutral	3rd	-
Snake, medium viper	MM	-	5th	Medium viper, master gains a +3 bonus on Bluff checks or a poison bite attack. Huge spellcasters may select Medium viper familiars without the need for the Improved Familiar feat
Snake, small viper	MM	-	3rd	Small viper, master gains a +2 bonus on Bluff checks
Snake, tree python	SK	Chaotic Evil	3rd	-
Snake, whipsnake	SK	Neutral	3rd	-
Spark guardian	CW	-	7th	-
Spider swarm	D329	Neutral	3rd	-
Starsnake	ShSo	Chaotic Neutral	12th	-
Steambat	S&S	Water	5th	Master gains a +2 bonus on Reflex saves
Stirge	MM	Neutral	5th	-
Swamp strider swarm	D329	-	11th	-
Tirbana eyewing	MM5	Lawful Evil or Lawful Neutral only	5th	-
Vargouille (without kiss)	CS	Neutral Evil	6th	-
Watchspider	CoSp	Chaotic Neutral	3rd	-
Water elemental, small9	MM	Water	5th	-
Winter Wolf	CW	Neutral Evil	7th, +7 BAB	-
Wolf	MM	-	5th	Master gains a +3 bonus on Survival checks
Wolverine	MM	-	5th	Master gains a +2 bonus on Reflex saves. Huge spellcasters may select wolverine familiars without the need for the Improved Familiar feat
Worg	CW	Neutral Evil	3rd, +3 BAB	-
Zombie, small	MM	Undead	5th	Master gains a +4 bonus on Spot checks
1 Or any animal from the standard familiar list with the auran template.
1 Any animal from the standard familiar list with the anarchic template.
3 Any animal from the standard familiar list with the axiomatic template.
4 Any animal from the standard familiar list with the celestial template.
5 Or any animal from the standard familiar list with the terran template.
6 Any animal from the standard familiar list with the fiendish template.
7 Or any animal from the standard familiar list with the ignan template.
8 The master must first create the homunculus, substituting ichor or another part of the master's body for blood if necessary.
9 Or any animal from the standard familiar list with the aquan template.

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General Rules: Feats - Construct Familiar

Construct Familiar [Familiar, General]
Your familiar is a construct rather than a living being.
  Prerequisites: Must have a familiar as a class feature.
  Benefit: Rather than a living creature, your familiar is a magical construct, a mechanical creature animated by magic. The arcane spell-caster must still specify a specific animal to call as a familiar but the familiar that appears is a clockwork version of that creature. See the Advanced Bestiary, pages 42-44 for the clockwork creature template. You cannot convert an existing familiar to a construct familiar by taking this feat.

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General Rules: Feats - Combat Familiar

Combat Familiar [Familiar, General]
Your familiar is skilled in delivering attack spells against your foes. It flits past their defenses to discharge its spells without leaving itself vulnerable to attack.
  Prerequisites: Arcane caster level 1^st+, must have a familiar as a class feature.
  Benefit: If your familiar holds the charge for a touch spell, it does not provoke an attack of opportunity for entering an opponent's square.

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General Rules: Feats - Bonded Familiar

Bonded Familiar [Familiar, General]
You enjoy a stronger than normal magical bond with your familiar, granting you access to two special abilities.
  Prerequisites: Must have a familiar as a class feature.
  Benefits: As long as your familiar is within 30 feet of you, the two of you can share the damage from a single deadly attack. Once per day, if an attack would drop your familiar to 0 or fewer hit points, you can instead choose to accept that damage. In addition, once per day, your familiar can choose to take damage from a single attack or effect that would reduce you to 0 or fewer hit points. This ability applies only to attacks or effects that deal hit point damage. You or your familiar could not absorb the effect of a spell such as flesh to stone.

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General Rules: Feats - Extra Familiar

Extra Familiar [General]
You have an additional familiar.
   Prerequisite: Must have a familiar as a class feature.
   Benefit: By taking this feat you may have an additional animal familiar. This familiar can be of the same type of animal as your first, or a different type. Existing familiar feats apply to your new familiar (for example, if you have the Construct Familiar feat, the new familiar could be a construct). You gain all of the benefits from both familiars, but identical benefits from multiple familiars do not stack.
   Special: You may take this feat multiple times. Each time this feat is taken, you gain a new familiar.

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General Rules: Feats - Enspell Familiar

Enspell Familiar [General]
You can cast spells on your familiar over a distance.
   Prerequisites: Must have a familiar as a class feature.
   Benefit: You are always considered to be in contact with your familiar for the purpose of casting shared spells. Any spell you could cast on yourself also affects your familiar so long as it is within one mile of you.
   Normal: The familiar must be within five feet of the caster at the time such a spell is cast to gain the benefit of a shared spell.

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General Rules: Feats - Shadow Familiar

Shadow Familiar [Familiar, General] (adapted from School of Illusion)
Your familiar has been infused with energy from the Shadow Realm and can walk through shadows.
  Prerequisites: Must have a familiar as a class feature, ability to cast 1^st-level arcane spells.
  Benefits: Your familiar is capable of using shadow walk up to three times per day, as a sorcerer of your caster level. The familiar may not bring other creatures along when using this ability.

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General Rules: Feats - Superior Familiar

Superior Familiar [Familiar, General] (adapted from Path of Magic)
Your familiar gains a feat.
  Prerequisites: Must have a familiar as a class feature.
  Benefits: Your familiar gains a new feat of its own, provided that it meets the prerequisites, if any, for that feat. This new feat is usable only by the familiar, except insofar as its benefits are transferable to another. Should the familiar permanently die or be dismissed, you can choose a new feat for any replacement familiar.
  Special: You can take this feat multiple times; each time you take this feat, your familiar gains a feat.

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