mltnschroeder

[quote who="GFireflyE" reply="7" id="3477146"] If you're sovereign is a mage, the familiar can summon everything the sovereign can. This makes for powerful, cost effective army.[/quote] Also, if your sovereign has the Beastmaster or Cautious traits, the familiar will have those as well. So you can potentially tame 2 beasts in the same round (see my previous post for increasing familiar's mastery skill), or give 2 armies the possibility to escape battle. <p

The familiar doesn't count as a hero, so it doesn't leech experience away from your army leader. You need to use the familiar in an army with a hero/henchman who has the Command skill and a sword, so they can command the Familiar to move to the rear and cast before the enemy does (or increase initiative of your other units so they can move forward first). Don't use the familiar in battles against ranged enemies. Against many wildland armies or Yithril, it works fine. Because of it