How the heck am I ever able to cast a darn familiar if the game
tells me time and time again that only the protagonist can cast it?
And what the heck does it mean by that? Does it mean that, the only
caracter I've created can cast it? I've decided to go with a single
game and just pickup my people along the way. Late into the game,
with Imoen at level 14, she still cannot cast that darn pesky lil
pocket fun called "familiar". The same goes with Aerie, no famialiar
there too even though both have them in their spell books.

Another question, I made a mistake, one that I've made by lazyness
since I know too well games will eventually lose objects that you
drop down on the floor. I've decided not to carry useless objects,
artifacts (I might add that I really don't like the way artifacts
have been "divided" in BGII), so I dropped most of them next to the
Adventurer's store and, yes, as I would come back from time to time,
I'd notice that I was missing more and more artifacts. Now, my question
is, is there a way to recover the lost artifact parts? That is, all
these that I already found but dropped on the floor and the game
deleted them. Although, the strange thing is that, the game kept
a great many things on those two spots I dropped things. Many things
except those artifact pieces.

Lastly... one odd thing that occured, was wondering if anyone knew
something about it. In the almost hidden level in the Underdark,
you know the one to the very left with the Prince something and the
devasting fight against those 5 horrible golden fighters (sacrice an
animal to god [puthisnamehere]). From time to time, I'd get a text
telling me that "[my name] - Your figurine is back" or something to
that effect. What the heck did it mean by that?

Well, I dont know about the rest of the stuff you mentioned, but the familiar problem I can answer. Protagonist=Main character or "hero", meaning the guy in the top slot of your party BY DEFAULT. You can change the order, the main character (your character) in single player, or whoever STARTED in the top spot in multiplayer is the only one who can cast find familiar in that game, although on one of the posts around here you will find a trick for multiplayer games to get familiars for other characters, but I am not sure what it is. I was always satisfied with just my main mage getting one. Hope this helps.

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"Not everything ends the way you think it should"

re the figurine - are you summoning that giant spoider thingy Kithax (sp?). Once he dies the figurine returns (after a short interval).

Summon familiar can only be cast by your main character.

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To recover lost items, try using ShadowKeeper. You can use it to restore anything in the game.

Important tip: When you think you don't need something anymore, or when you just don't want to carry it anymore, don't leave it on the ground. Most things will eventually disappear. Instead, put it in a container: a cabinet, trunk, shelf, box, etc.. These containers will hold all your items, and you'll never lose anything again. I usually pick a central location (Copper Coronet) and pick a certain container (the trunk to your right as you enter) and store everything there. No one will steal them, they are completely safe.

If you are talking about putting (say) Imoen in the top slot, that doesn't
change anything. The game still presumes that my caracter (Etrof) is
the boss and won't allow me to cast the darn spell. I'm sick and tired
of that issue which I find very stupid in the first place, like, who
cares that the "hero" should only be able to cast it? This, coupled
with the constant reboots when I dare using the Quicksave (every few
quicksaves there will be a spontanious reboot) and also the in-game crashes
which I can take much better than the reboots. And yes, the game is
fully updated. But thanks for all the help, I was hoping that putting
her at top slot would have worked.

Yes, I use the Giant Spider Summoning quite often actually, but I've never
seen that message anywhere else before, so I was wondering why now?
Anyway, that would be a good explanation for the strange phrase.

If you read the description of the spider figurine, it says something about "figurine disappears after use, then reappears X hours later". Every time I used the figurine I'd get the reappear message. Maybe you were in battles and didn't notice the message.

As for the find familiar: if the character you created ISN'T a mage, or dualled to a mage, just forget it, you can't get a familiar. UNLESS you do some sort of cheat I can't remember. This is so that you don't have multiple familiars running about, which can cause game balance problems. Also, there would have to be much more dialouge written for each characters familiar. The dialouge is meant for the bhaalspawn, no one else.

The giant spider thing is nothing like a familiar. And BTW, I wouldn't advise a familiar. They die too easily, they don't bring any spectacular skills to the table, and when they die they take away from your CON. It sucks to have to re-do a fight because your familiar died, because it doesn't take much to kill them. The giant spider is a summoning, the familiar is not.

If you want to store items you don't feel like carrying around, and you are by the adventure mart, go inside and put your stuff in one of the boxes or crates in the back of the store. Nobody will take them and you can put as much as you want there. You can't get your stuff back either without using shadowkeeper. I lost some really cool shit learning the hardway.

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Member of CLAN HADB

Keep in mind that I am talking about Imoen here. She's a full mage (dual class mage/robber). Don't tell me that, because she's a dual class, this even though her robber class is dead forever, she can never call it? There's also Aerie, but I'd understand for her since she's also a Cleric.

I know, I wasn't talking about the Figurine being a familiar at all. I was simply asking multiple questions. And, by the way, familiars can be put in your pocket when you don't want them into harm's way.