jackel wrote:Hey Smoot,
I am kind of late to the game here and I haven't had much XP with familiars, but I had a though that a familiar could 'spy' something and 'report' back to the magic user. Maybe something like a commune with animals, but only with his/ her familiar. They maybe already able to do that, not sure. I didn't see it in the post above, but I may have missed it.
That is a good point, and something that I have overlooked. I think when I write this up properly, I will put in something like:
"The spell caster and the familiar share a special bond, having an empathic sort of knowledge of the well being and emotional state of each other. If the spell caster concentrates on the task, he can "see" through the eyes of his familiar animal. The spell caster cannot do anything else during this concentration, and both must be upon the same plane of existence (or dimension, realm, or similar state of being). The familiar itself does not have this "sight" ability in reverse with respect to its master, but otherwise has the emotional bond."
OK, got some thoughts together on this and got to writing... so this is going to become a Supplement to itself.
I wrote the spell, and have the above details that I need to write into the supplement nicely. I am going to include details on Familiars in the form of items (Wizard's Staff/Wand, Cleric's Rod/Holy Symbol, etc.). Similar mechanically, but I need to do some thinking about such.. for instance, they can't die normally. Some trade-offs of abilities/requirement need to be thought out.
Others have pioneered such work, so I may look into how others have done this sort of stuff. Hopefully our BFRPG version works without big gaping holes in my logic.
Anyhow, here is a preview of what I have written so far today.
tweaked, expanded, and updated the file in previous post. There is more to develop (namely Item Familiars, discussion on Special Familiars like Pseudo Dragons, Brownies, Homunculus, others, and detailing out what happens with death, separation, etc. occur).
since a supplement is materializing, I went ahead and moved this to the workshop.
here just a few idea that came from reading the file:
the question on "item familiar" is: do they become intelligent? like in intelligent weapon? or they are just bonded with some astral/outer-world creature?
the idea of spell storing is interesting (I prefer spell-channeling, but also spell storing is very nice)
I would differentiate bonus for item familiar, if the animal familiar enhances senses and surprise, maybe the item familiar give bonus on ST or some automatic detect magic (sits well with the idea of bonding a spirit to the item familiar)
I have some ideas akin to what you are saying, but I have not gotten them sorted out much yet (not even in my head). Item Familiars may require some extra thought as it is not customary in most games/editions. I would like whatever I put together to be well thought out and workable before it gets distributed too far.
I also like the Channeling Items way of doing things. It could fit well here too (instead of holding additional spells). The thing is, when I write these Supplements, I generally try to write each one as compatible as I can with just the core rules. Supplements that require the use of other supplements is something I try to avoid whenever I can.
That said, I can probably put something like that in an appendix section. Perhaps something as simple as "alternatively, instead of the familiar 'storing' spells, the familiar channels one or more spells (1 for each 3 levels of the caster) chosen by the caster from his/her repertoire of spells... this precludes the familiar the ability to utilize the spells though. But I think to offset that little reduction in power, I would allow any spell known to be applied as the channeled spell. Each spell chosen to be channeled is a permanent choice and cannot be changed later.
Another such Appendix planned is perhaps some lists of familiars (with normal animal stats) to get people thinking. Perhaps even separating such lists by major region/environments.
I have added my take on the idea of "Item Familiars" and did a little bit of re-organization of the headers/sections. Still need to iron out ideas for what happens when familiar is killed, voluntary break of the bond, extreme separation, planar travel, and whatnot along those lines.
If anyone knows of some comprehensive tables or lists of familiars I can reference, that would be great. But I can always use constructive commentary/critque and other review of my ideas to help me fix any holes in my logic or errors of my thinking process. Your thoughts are welcome.
Familiar dies: The caster suffers some mental problem, or a lost on Int points (which he recovers at a slow peace)
Releasing Familiar: I don't really like that option, the familiar is more than an animal or temporal companion, rather than that make a level requirement per familiar HD.
I don't like the idea of releaseing the familiar. Why would you chose to release it? In my mind I see familiars being like a pet, you would be distraught at the loss of a companion. I am not sure, what you could have as the hinderances.
I feel much the same way about animal type familiars, just throwing that stuff out there for debate and because the potential exists for players to want to trade-up so to say. My general thought were more in line with the "item-familiars", for instance the mu that gains several levels and wants to upgrade from his simple staff +2, to a specially constructed personal staff of the arch-mage having some extra powers (as well as the powers for being a so bonded item).
I will need wording to cover why a character cannot simply trade in his familiar regardless if it is decided to work that way.
