Basic Fantasy RPG Forums

Familiars for the familiar supplement:

nice

Fabio_MP wrote:nice

Agreed. I love these.

I have already incorporated these into the file (in showcase now, link to showcase in first post of this thread). Fun Stuff.

A few quick fixes, art credit added, and glaring header labeled "Libram Magica" changed to Familiars.

And while doing so, decided to just go ahead and call this "release 2"

very nice

Just downloaded and looked through it. I like it a lot, and could easily see myself using it in the future. Good job to all involved.

MedievalMan wrote:Just downloaded and looked through it. I like it a lot, and could easily see myself using it in the future. Good job to all involved.

Thanks. I think it really comes together with the summary, so I may reorganize so that the summary comes first, followed by the more lengthy explanation material.

Has anyone tried out a familiar yet? While I plan to introduce such at my first opportunity, I would love to hear from another with actual experience in play. Unfortunately, life-events that have been presented to me may keep me from actively playing (in-person with family/friends) for a little while, so my own play-testing use may take a while.

Specifically, as one approaches median to higher levels, does the additional low level spells actually create imbalance? (I addressed my opinion earlier about this, but would like to hear others).

Also, any experience with the idea used by non-traditional classes. ie. Druid, Cleric, or even as a Mount (such as for a Paladin type). Do the concepts here work out that way?

I am thinking of revisiting this document. Is there any new insight or has anyone actually utilized one or more of the ideas here?

SmootRK wrote:Has anyone tried out a familiar yet? While I plan to introduce such at my first opportunity, I would love to hear from another with actual experience in play.

Yes. Well, almost. She has casted Find Familiar spell, and she is waiting to uncover the mystery of what kind of animal her magically-bound companion will be. In my game I'm the GM uncle, and the elf mage's player is a 9-year old girl in her first RPG campaign. She was offered the one-time opportunity to cast FF at 1st Level, with an indeterminate wait-time for the Familiar to show up and bond, after the casting. I know what the Familiar is. She doesn't know.

In the next scenarios, I'm having her encounter various animals that could be her Familiar, but turns out they aren't. For example a bird lands on her shoulder. She sees a fox in the woods. A cat gives her a knowing look.

It all leads up to a fantastic scene I've roughly planned, where "a mysterious rat-like creature... or maybe it was a lizard... it was moving so fast" creates havoc in the town and residences. For example all the dogs go nuts chasing something, a cabbage-cart gets spilled, and several other shenanigans. The best one is, something "Reads" a few pages out of the elf's spellbook, before the elf has finished learning those particular spells.

When-ever and how-ever she manages to find the creature, and calm it down, it will be a unique little pseudo-dragon / faerie dragon that I've statted up, which can cast a few spells (the ones it reads out of her spellbook). The bonding starts here, with the troublemaking puppy behavior, and the skill-set match of the Familiar being able to cast selected spells that the mage can't cast herself.

So you see, my Find Familiar in this case, is highly custom and house-ruled. Some of the ideas came from the BF Familiars Supplement. I also looked at AD&D 2nd Edition. Then I created my own. If it was an open campaign with various players coming in, I would make a more standardized rule. Our campaign where this is happening is completely unique, with a group of first-time players, making a creative story together. The 9-year old has already asked if one of her character Languages can be "Dragon", so, I think she will be delighted getting a miniature dragon companion.

Thanks for the Familiars supplement. This is my first post and I joined the forum initially to give a response on this thread. If you revise the Familiars book, I'll read your updates again.