I have a Celestial Bat familiar (Improved Familiar feat) which I use to deliver touch-range spells for me.
This animal has no attack on its own, but we have ruled that having a charged touch spell gives it an attack at my base attack bonus + its Strength modifier (-5; bats have 1 Str), + its size modifier (+4; Diminutive).
We have been seeing that +2 bonus to attack rolls is not quite enough to adequately deliver spells.
I chose the bat for its good maneuvrability (meaning it can hover and thus doesn't get entirely screwed by tight spaces like the bird familiars), but it appears I've been somewhat screwed by its low strength. I somehow never imagined low strength would be an obstacle to touch spell delivery.
So right now I am looking for a way to improve my familiar's efficiency at delivering touch spells. What are accessible ways of improving my bat's touch attack rolls? (I am a level 4 wizard.)
I have thought of :
- Using Bull's Strength on it before battles: not so cost- or time-efficient
- Hiring someone to cast Permanency along with Reduce Animal, to reduce its size to Fine and making its size bonus +8 (Would this work on the Diminutive magical beast that my familiar is? What are potential negative effects of this that I should be wary of?)
- Using Permanency with Reduce Monster if Reduce Animal doesn't work
- Creating a new spell that would read something like "The targeted creature gains +4 to melee touch attacks for 1 min/level", and that would be eligible to Permanency.