I'm thinking about taking the "Obtain Familiar" and "Improved Familiar" feats for my Duskblade, but i have a small dilemma...
On one hand, a mephit (i was thinking Earth) would be a nice addition to the combat style and a great complement to the overall coolness of the character...
On the other, a hippogriff is also a fair combatant and dubs as an intelligent (flying!) mount... and is pretty cool as well.
Also, the DMs in my gaming party tend to flinch when i come to the table with something out of the "ordinary". I could more easily "sell" the idea of bringing a magical beast as familiar in, than an Extraplanar Outsider...
Furthermore, by the time i get to the point i can choose "Improved Familiar" as feat, i'm betting i can afford to buy a hippogriff as mount... but again, the DMs tend to make it difficult to bring in "special mount vendors" into the game, so i'd be lucky if i can find one in the setting (yeah, it sucks!)