Naughty Familiar

Discussion in 'The Temple of Elemental Evil' started by MrPhil, May 30, 2021.

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  1. MrPhil

    MrPhil Member

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    I've had this happen in a couple of different games.
    My wizard has a rat familiar who will happily hop into and out of the pack as requested.
    All of a sudden, for no reason that I can see, the little rodent has decided that he doesn't like it in the pack and would rather stay outside.
    I can initiate dialog with him, request that he hop into the bag, I get the 'good familiar' message, but he's still sitting there on the floor, twitching his little nose.

    I tired dismissing him, which was accepted by the game, but he was still in my party.
    I waited a whole year and was able to call a second familiar, who would hop into and out of the pack while the original one behaved like a party member.

    Jaroo wasn't any help, he seemed to treat the first familiar as a party member.

    In my last game I had to kill the first familiar, hide the body and pretend it never happened.

    Is this a known issue, and aside from murder any way I can fix it?

    Thanks
     
  2. Shiningted

    Shiningted I want my goat back Administrator

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    Can you have a look at THIS thread (Skyesilver's recent posts down the bottom) and see if it is the same issue? Because in that case yes, its a known issue. Also, are you using Temple+?
     
  3. MrPhil

    MrPhil Member

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    I am using Temple+. The issue seems similar.
    I have experienced the familiar coming out of the pack as a summon and as a PC on separate occasions.
    The difference is that the familiar is not gaining experience like he other thread.

    If this is just a duplicate, I'm happy for it to be deleted.

    Thanks for yor reply, ShiningTed.
     
  4. Shiningted

    Shiningted I want my goat back Administrator

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    Well thanks for looking at that other thread.

    Next question - has this been an issue for a while? Does anyone who regularly gets their familiars out (oo-er) get this problem? 'No' is a very valid answer if you use familiars out of the pack.
     
  5. FDR4PREZ

    FDR4PREZ Established Member

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    I've never used a familiar - are they really useful and worth it?
     
  6. Sitra Achara

    Sitra Achara Senior Member

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    Can you post the savegame where this happens?
     
  7. MrPhil

    MrPhil Member

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    Oh, sorry, I don't have the same game anymore. It was an Ironman (normal - no reload) attempt and I've overwritten it.
    I'm having another crack at it, same character, and given that its happened in both my previous attempts, I'm hopeful that it will happend again.
    If it does, I'll post a save
     
  8. MrPhil

    MrPhil Member

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    Incredibly useful as I'm running a solo wizard. The familiar comes with his own inventory.
    I've trained my rat to collect all the loot because the wizard's pack is full of potions, telescopes, figurines and spare scrolls.
    I've no idea how he does it, but I think its fantastic that he can drag plate mail over to the magic chest.
     
  9. Shiningted

    Shiningted I want my goat back Administrator

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    Are you serious about using training and the drag command? Those are KotB features.

    Otherwise, if you could post a saved game that would be great (I am running on the 'Its a Temple+ problem' theory, but will certainly check if people have also seen it in Co8-only games).
    I think of it as a gimmick, but its an extra party member when you may need one - eg soloing as said.
     
  10. MrPhil

    MrPhil Member

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    No, not at all. Sorry for any confusion. I'm using the terms loosely and colloquially. I didn't realise that you could do that in KOTB.

    My loot procedure is manual and involves popping my rat cohort out of the pack. My main PC selects a chest to loot, then I switch to the familiar using the portrait at the bottom, then do a 'take all'. Reverse the process to fill the extra-dimensional chest.

    Its only in my head that the rat is running around collecting stuff while my wizard has a well earned sit down after a frenzied battle.
     
  11. hammyh

    hammyh Established Member

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    Mostly this for utility for solo.

    For a larger party, a familiar does mean more early HP and a skill/save boost for the wizard/sorc.

    I typically choose something like a raven for the +appraise to help buy/sell and never take it out of the backpack.

    Other familiars can give bonuses to reflex and fortitude saves, or bluff - even when in your pack. Further, listen skill helps with surprise rounds and hide/ms could be useful - as just a very small investment in hide/ms is pretty broken in ToEE.

    So, a familiar is basically some free stats that you can customize somewhat.
     
  12. Shiningted

    Shiningted I want my goat back Administrator

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    Thanks for clearing that up MrPhil.

    @hammyh - have you had any of the problems as described above?

    I should have clarified myself - I always take a familiar (generally a toad) but think of the Co8 addition of summoning them from the backpack as a gimmick I don't tend to use. But glad we have it there. :)
     
  13. hammyh

    hammyh Established Member

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    I've never had the problem. However in all my most recent games, I had immediately put the familiar in the pack and never pulled it out again.
     
  14. MrPhil

    MrPhil Member

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    I've mostly played the same as Hammyh, the familiar goes in the backpack and is simply a stat boost.
    Its only in my last couple of games that I've needed the extra inventory space.
     
  15. Shiningted

    Shiningted I want my goat back Administrator

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    Ok, thanks guys. Next time I'm playing I'll try to force a problem and see what happens.
     
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