Conjurer Familiars

[GrimAugur]

I love the concept of this skill, but it's not terribly useful in it's current form. 

 

For those who haven't used it, the Conjure Familiar skill summons one of eight creatures, each with a different passive, for ~90 seconds. (Ex. The tiny beetle gives a +1 bonus to AR, the baby wurm a +3 bonus to fire DR, etc. The tiny imp gives a +1 bonus to intellect and has an infinitely reusable skill that removes enemy empower, but it died before it ever hit the enemy, so I've no clue how effective it actually is.)

 

My main concern is the randomness involved. +3 Fire DR sounds nice, but you only have a 12.5% chance of getting it (assuming an equal chance of receiving each familiar.) The spell requires a resource point to cast, which could be spent on a more reliable spell. The summons also compete with Chanter summons (and I assume Druid and other Wizard summons), rendering the poor familiars almost worthless. The little guys need some love.

 

Ideally, I'd like the ability to choose a specific familiar in character creation, similar to choosing a Ranger's pet. The passives would probably need to be reworked, as a consistent +1 intellect bonus and a unique skill would likely overshadow the other options. Also, I don't know if the system would allow multiple groups of summons tied to one character, but it be a nice change to have Mr. Whiskerbottom and an army of undead at the same time.  

 

Even then, Mr. Whiskerbottom still might not compete with an extra Chill Fog or Slicken. If I might dream a little bigger, adding some extra utility to some would help justify the resources spent. Divinity: OS 2 also has Summon Familiar skill, which can swap places with it's caster à la Dimensional Shift. Another option would be to add a unique, once per encounter spell for each familiar. (Giving the baby wurm Fan of Flames, for example.)  Not a small addition, but at the moment familiars are completely outclassed by the pet slot, which gives a party wide buff and is available to all player characters. 

 

TL;DR - Conjure Familiar is a flavorful skill, but an ineffective one thanks to RNG and resource cost. Love the kitty. Buff the kitty.