Summon Divine Familiar (3.5e Spell)
A Divine Familiar is a creature that is bonded to its summoner. It serves a helper and as a loyal companion. The Divine Familiar does not count as either a sorcerer/wizards Familiar, a Druid's Animal Companion, nor a Paladin's Mount. Any character is able to obtain a Divine Familiar with the aid of any spell caster.
| [[3.5e Conjuration (Summoning) Spells|Conjuration (Summoning)]] [A ritual to ask your Deity to bless you with a Divine Familiar.] | |
| Level: | Brd 1, Clr 1, Drd 1, Pld 1, Rng 1, Sor/Wiz 1 |
|---|---|
| Components: | V, S, M, XP |
| Casting time: | 24 uninterrupted hours |
| Range: | Close 25 ft. |
| Effect: | One summoned creature |
| Duration: | permanent |
| Saving Throw: | none |
| Spell Resistance: | no |
Ritual
The ritual takes 24 hours, during which the character asking for a divine familiar must make an offering to their deity of at least 250gp in gems per character level(or other suitable offering for the specific deity). In addition he must also expend 200 exp per character level. To hire a spell caster to perform the ritual costs an additional 200gp. Note: Performing the ritual does not guarantee a divine familiar; some Deity's may request that the character perform a quest first, or may deny the request entirely (deities can be very fickle).
Divine Familiars Choices
A divine familiar can be any type of creature similar to a wizards Familiar or Druid's Animal Companion. A character of sufficiently high level can select his divine famailiar from the Improved Familiar using the character level instead of the Arcane Spell Caster Level, or Druid's Animal Companion alternate lists, applying the indicated adjustment to the character’s level (in parentheses) for purposes of determining the divine familiar’s characteristics and special abilities. During the ritual, he must have a suitable creature in mind. However it is entirely up to the deity being asked what divine familiar, if any, the character gains.
A character with more than one class that grants a familiar may have only one regular familiar at a time in addition to the divine familiar.
Example of Divine Familiar Choice
A level 18 Barbarian gets his Cleric friend to cast the spell for him. He offers his deity 3600 exp and over 4500 gold worth of gems while asking for a Tyrannosaurus (dinosaur). His Deity accepts his offering and grants his request. The Tyrannosaurus the barbarian gets gains the bonuses from the level 3 (Level 18 character - 15 for level requirement from the alternate Druid's Animal Companion list = 3) line on the table.
Divine Familiars
A divine familiar is a normal animal that gains new powers and becomes a magical beast when summoned to service by a character. It retains the appearance, Hit Dice, base attack bonus, base save bonuses, skills, and feats of the normal animal it once was, but it is treated as a magical beast instead of an animal for the purpose of any effect that depends on its type. An animal companion, a Paladin's Mount, or a Sorcerer/Wizard's familiar cannot also function as a divine familiar. If the creature’s type is something other than animal, its type does not change.
As the character advances in level, his divine familiar also increases in power. A character’s divine familiar is different from a creature of its kind in many ways and has special powers, as described below.
| Character Level | Bonus HD | Natural Armor Adj. | Str/Dex/Int Adj. | Special |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st-2nd | +1 | +1 | +1 | Alertness, Improved Evasion, Share Spells/Techniques, Empathic Link |
| 3rd-4th | +2 | +2 | +1 | Deliver Touch Spells/Techniques |
| 5th-6th | +3 | +3 | +2 | Speak with Master |
| 7th-8th | +4 | +4 | +2 | Speak with Creatures of Its Kind |
| 9th-10th | +5 | +5 | +3 | Multiattack |
| 11th-12th | +6 | +6 | +3 | Spell Resistance |
| 13th-14th | +7 | +7 | +4 | Scry on Divine Familiar |
| 15th-16th | +8 | +8 | +4 | |
| 17th-18th | +9 | +9 | +5 | |
| 19th-20th | +10 | +10 | +5 |
Character Level: The character’s total level of all their classes combined.
Bonus HD: Extra Hit Dice, each of which gains a Consitution modifier, as normal. Remember that extra Hit Dice improve the divine familiar's base attack and base save bonuses. A divine familiar's base attack bonus is the same as that of a Fighter of a level equal to the Divine Familiar’s HD. An Divine familiar has good Fortitude and Reflex saves (treat it as a character whose level equals the divine familiar’s HD). An divine familiar gains additional skill points and feats for bonus HD as normal for advancing a monster’s Hit Dice.
Natural Armor Adj.: The number noted here is an improvement to the animal companion’s existing natural armor bonus.
Str/Dex/Int Adj.: Add this value to the divine familiar's Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence and scores.
Alertness (Ex): While a divine familiar is within arm’s reach, the master gains the Alertness feat.
Improved Evasion (Ex): When subjected to an attack that normally allows a Reflex saving throw for half damage, a divine familiar takes no damage if it makes a successful saving throw and half damage even if the saving throw fails.
: At the master’s option, he may have any spell/technique (but not any spell-like ability) he casts on himself also affect his divine familiar. The divine familiar must be within 5 feet at the time of casting to receive the benefit.
If the spell/technique or effect has a duration other than instantaneous, it stops affecting the divine familiar if it moves farther than 5 feet away and will not affect the divine familiar again even if it returns to the master before the duration expires. Additionally, the master may cast a spell/technique with a target of “You” on his divine familiar (as a touch range spell) instead of on himself.
A master and his divine familiar can share spells/techniques even if the spells/techniques normally do not affect creatures of the divine familiar’s type.
Empathic Link (Su): The master has an empathic link with his divine familiar out to a distance of up to 1 mile. The master cannot see through the divine familiar’s eyes, but they can communicate empathically. Because of the limited nature of the link, only general emotional content can be communicated.
Because of this empathic link, the master has the same connection to an item or place that his divine familiar does.
Deliver Touch Spells/Techniques (Su): If the master is 3rd level or higher, a divine familiar can deliver touch spells/techniques for him. If the master and the divine familiar are in contact at the time the master casts a touch spell/technique, he can designate his divine familiar as the “toucher.” The divine familiar can then deliver the touch spell/technique just as the master could. As usual, if the master casts another spell/technique before the touch is delivered, the touch spell/technique dissipates.
Speak with Master (Ex): If the master is 5th level or higher, a divine familiar and the master can communicate verbally as if they were using a common language. Other creatures do not understand the communication without magical help.
Speak with Creatures of Its Kind (Ex): If the master is 7th level or higher, a divine familiar can communicate with creatures of approximately the same kind as itself (including dire varieties): bats with bats, rats with rodents, cats with felines, hawks and owls and ravens with birds, lizards and snakes with reptiles, toads with amphibians, weasels with similar creatures (weasels, minks, polecats, ermines, skunks, wolverines, and badgers), devils with devils, elementals with elementals. Such communication is limited by the intelligence of the conversing creatures.
Multiattack: An divine familiar gains Multiattack as a bonus feat if it has three or more natural attacks and does not already have that feat. If it does not have the requisite three or more natural attacks, the divine familiar instead gains a second attack with its primary natural weapon, albeit at a –5 penalty.
Spell Resistance (Ex): If the master is 11th level or higher, a divine familiar gains spell resistance equal to the master’s level + 5. To affect the divine familiar with a spell/technique, another spellcaster must get a result on a caster level check (1d20 + caster level) that equals or exceeds the divine familiar’s spell resistance.
Scry on Divine Familiar (Sp): If the master is 13th level or higher, he may scry on his divine familiar (as if casting the scrying spell) once per day.
Death of a Divine Familiar
If the divine familiar dies, the character must attempt a DC 15 Fortitude saving throw. Failure means he loses 200 experience points per character level; success reduces the loss to one-half that amount. However, a character’s experience point total can never go below 0 as the result of a familiar’s demise. A slain divine familiar cannot be replaced for a year and day. A slain divine familiar can be raised from the dead just as a character can be, and it does not lose a level or a Constitution point when this happy event occurs.
Epic Divine Familiar
Divine Familiars at Epic Level: Special abilities granted to a familiar continue to grow as the level of its master increases beyond 20th, as shown on Table: Epic Divine Familiar Special Abilities. Even though the table shows advancement only to 42nd level, that is not the limit. The patterns in the table continue infinitely. Divine familiar special abilities gained at less than 20th level also continue to improve.
| Master Character Level | Bonus HD | Natural Armor Adj. | Str/Dex/Int Adj. | Special |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 21st–22nd | +11 | +11 | +6 | Divine Familiar Feat |
| 23rd–24th | +12 | +12 | +6 | |
| 25th–26th | +13 | +13 | +7 | |
| 27th–28th | +14 | +14 | +7 | |
| 29th–30th | +15 | +15 | +8 | |
| 31st–32nd | +16 | +16 | +8 | Divine Familiar Feat |
| 33rd–34th | +17 | +17 | +9 | |
| 35th–36th | +18 | +18 | +9 | |
| 37th–38th | +19 | +19 | +10 | |
| 39th–40th | +20 | +20 | +10 | |
| 41st–42nd | +21 | +21 | +11 | Divine Familiar Feat |
Divine Familiar Feat: The divine familiar gains a general feat, creature feat, or epic feat of its master chooses.
Material Component: an offering to their deity of at least 500gp in gems per character level(or other suitable offering for the specific deity).
XP Cost: 200exp per character level.
When you use a summoning spell to summon an air, chaotic, earth, evil, fire, good, lawful, or water creature, it is a spell of that type.
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