[net.games.frp] Familiars in FRP

mccolm@ucla-cs.UUCP (05/09/85)

*** REPLACE THIS PALADIN WITH YOUR AVERAGE BEAR ***

Ever wonder why that evil baddie wizard has a familiar?  Aside from
the gross and noxous imps and quasits that can do real stuff for them;
I'm referring to the toads and ferrets.  What good are they?  Why do
magicians get familiars when they know the odds on getting one of the
interesting ones are so long?

In AD&D, having a familiar grants certain limited powers, chief among
them being the addition of some sensory inputs and some meta-hit-points.
Considering this also adds the vulnerability of the familiar, which might
GET RUBBED OUT, this is not really a great boon.

Proposal:  having a familiar is a really spiffy thing for a magician.
Not only is it the in thing this season, but the magicial derives some
relatively major benefits from the existence of the familiar.  The old
temporary level increase idea is sort of appealing, but in view of the
fact most magicians have a dearth of spells, this isn't all that wonderful.
I should think that the benefit to the magician for the existence of the
familiar must be something really earth-shaking, like being able to
memorize more spells of a level, or something really major like that.

What concept do people nowadays associate with the magician's familiar?
Mostly, associations with Nether powers, for advice, instruction, power,
and so forth.  So it seems rational that those magicians who go in for
metaphysical influences would have angelic/demonic familiars.  (Question:
is there such a thing as a magician of paladin-like motivations/powers?)

But for the magician, are all familiars divinely/diabolically inspired?
Are there "neutral" familiars?  (non-aligned, etc)  Is a familiar
necessarily a creature of divine origin, or can it be merely a convenient
kindred spirit?  And if so, what does the magician expect to gain?
Increased spells, spell-power, spell-like abilities that the familiar
performs, sources of arcane knowledge (who would know better how the
cosmos worked than a magical spirit?), or just a real good permanent
"Wizard Eye" spell and some hit points?

No referee I have ever gamed with (including me) has ever produced a
set of rules for familiars that I found satisfying.  I would appreciate
your comments, as I am at a loss to improve on the ideas of mana
batteries and cross-planar spies.
-fini-
-finissimo-
*the lack of opinions expressed is solely mine...*
Eric McColm
UCLA (oo'-kluh) Funny Farm for the Criminally Harmless
...!{ucbvax,ihnp4,sdcrdcf,cepu,trwspp}!ucla-cs!mccolm

ccrrick@ucdavis.UUCP (Rick Heli) (05/13/85)

> What concept do people nowadays associate with the magician's familiar?

In the Elric books, one magician uses a cat to store his soul for
safe keeping...
-- 
					--rick heli
					(... ucbvax!ucdavis!groucho!ccrrick)

billp@ISM780.UUCP (05/13/85)

Familiars can be interesting NPCs as well as lend interesting
role-playing opportunities for a mage.  For example,  one mage
I once knew had the usual black-cat familiar which, of course,
was a feisty animal which needed attention, affection, and occassional
scolding for misbehavior.  The mage spent lots of time perfecting
two spells to use in conjunction with his familiar: Seeing through the
Eyes of Another, and Shapeshifting.  When battled loomed near, the
mage would go find a quite corner and shapeshift the cat into a
suitable bird (Eagle for daytime, Owl for night) and then rejoin
the party giving very nice recon.  Needless to say, he was well
received and respected by other adventures after he got this
set of talents together. At first his familiar was hesitant about
this arrangement, but the mage saw to it that the cat was Well
taken care of. 

Unfortunately, last I saw that mage, he and a party were reenacting
the Battle of Little Big Horn along with a rather large contingent
of Zombies...

Bill Putnam
UUCP: decvax!ima!ism780!billp

disc@hou2h.UUCP (Scott Berry the Unbeliever) (05/14/85)

"                              "  (the previously scheduled line has 
                                   dimension-doored the hell out of here)

The way familiars were played in my last (more demented than 
lamented) campaign was extremely dissatisfying to me, and also, 
I think, to my fellow mage (alas, poor Radagast, I knew 
him well).  Our DM played our familiars as NPCs, and we had 
virtually NO control over them.  He had them disobeying orders, 
even to the point of going against alignment in the case of my 
Neutral-Good Pseudo-Dragon acting Chaotic (Yeah, I HAD to drag 
THAT issue into it, didn't I?).  Hell, he wouldn't even let us NAME
the damn things the way we wanted.

Of course, this particular DM was into power trips, essentially
demanding full control over EVERYTHING.  And you think that was
bad, you should see him as a player (gimme, gimme...).  The only
reason the game lasted as long as it did was that the SANE members
of the party had no one else to play with... :-(

By the way, anyone in the Central Jersey area need a couple of extra
players, at any level?  Anyone want to start up a game?  Let me know..

But I digress(ed).  I too, would enjoy others' experiences with
familiars and the way the whole idea has been incorporated into
their campaigns.


			Scott J. Berry
			aka Mordru the Unemployed
			...!homxb!disc  (Usually)
			...!hou2h!disc  (For now)
-- 


		SJBerry
		homxb!disc

hollombe@ttidcc.UUCP (The Polymath) (05/17/85)

In article <28700003@ISM780.UUCP> billp@ISM780.UUCP writes:
>
>Familiars can be interesting NPCs ...

Let me tell you about the Brownie familiar a LG cleric I played with had...

His name was Leroy and our DM claims he was one of the best  characters  he
ever  rolled  up.  Along  with  the usual Brownie attributes, he was highly
intelligent, expert at leatherwork, and very talented  at  investing.  This
meant  that  our  party  got  a lot of good advice for free and our leather
stuff was always in good repair.  On the side, he'd  take  whatever  pocket
money  Percy  (the cleric) gave him and invest it in trade goods.  Over
time he became a pretty rich  Brownie.  When,  due  to  a  complex  set  of
circumstances,  the bond between him and Percy was broken, he went into the
investment banking business and became a _very_ rich Brownie.  He also  let
his  former associates (us) in on the wealth by giving us all shares in his
corporation.  Eventually he became the investment broker to  those  in  our
party  who  had  enough cash to worry about, thus providing a safe place to
stash the loot from our continuing adventures and trading enterprise.

It's hard to think of any disadvantages to having Leroy  around.  Even  his
LG  alignment never got seriously in the way of things.  He did have an eye
for the ladies of various species though, of course, he  prefered  brownies
if any were around.  Had a particular weakness for tall women.

"We called him bad, bad Leroy Brownie ..."
-- 
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-
The Polymath (aka: Jerry Hollombe)
Citicorp TTI
3100 Ocean Park Blvd.
Santa Monica, CA  90405
(213) 450-9111, ext. 2483
{philabs,randvax,trwrb,vortex}!ttidca!ttidcc!hollombe

ncg@ukc.UUCP (N.C.Gale) (05/19/85)

The familiar is possessed by the demon that provides the bulk of the
witch's power. Other demons may be held in wands, amulets etc, but they
will lose the mobility.

west@cs.reading.UUCP (Jeremy West @ Reading Unversity) (05/22/85)

In article <5284@ucla-cs.ARPA> mccolm@ucla-cs.UUCP writes:
>
>Ever wonder why that evil baddie wizard has a familiar?  Aside from
>the gross and noxous imps and quasits that can do real stuff for them;
>I'm referring to the toads and ferrets.  What good are they?  Why do
>magicians get familiars when they know the odds on getting one of the
>interesting ones are so long?

        Throw out the spell as given and bring in more
interesting monsters (eg the Hell Cat (FF?) or is it the Shadow
Cat?) with powers similar to those of the imp etc.
Further, key the familiar to the MUs level, first level guys
get the feret (eyes and nose) or owl (eyes and ears) and a
chance to honourably "trade it in" for a better model at (say)
fifth level.

        The higher level guys can start researching their own
homonculii spells to build themselves a familiar with more
powers than your average imp(!) or of different alignment etc.

>.. having a familiar is a really spiffy thing for a magician.

        Absolutely, hence the major disadvantage (HP loss)!

>I should think that the benefit to the magician for the existence of the
>familiar must be something really earth-shaking, like being able to
>memorize more spells of a level, or something really major like that.

        Hmmm, maybe. I prefer to let my MUs make pacts with the
supernatural world (ie summon a few off-plane beings) to get
the really big goodies. Of course, you could argue that
summoning a familiar does just that. But familiars don't argue
with you, or fight back...
        The bigger the risk, the higher the reward.

>(Question:
>is there such a thing as a magician of paladin-like motivations/powers?)

        Motivation: yes; powers: see the discussion currently
raging for the answer to that! But there's no reason why a LG
guy shouldn't make a pact with his god to have the use of a
servant (for the correct price, of course).

>But for the magician, are all familiars divinely/diabolically inspired?
>Are there "neutral" familiars?  (non-aligned, etc)  Is a familiar
>necessarily a creature of divine origin, or can it be merely a convenient
>kindred spirit?

        Well, off the top of my head (a dangerous place to
start talking from)...
        Why not allow all suitable monsters (esp animals for
the lower levels and 'spirits' (dryads, pixies) for the medium
levels) to be familiars. The intelligent ones could be treated
as henchmen (cos they've been asked by the powers that be to
help you out for a while) and, properly played, will be an
advantage in their own right. Thus familiars from the Prime
Material might not provide the 'special' powers expected from
a Being of the Planes, but will be just as useful and probably
a darn sight more enthusiastic in their service.

        Perhaps Lee Gold's C&S in Japan has rules for all sorts of
Spirits, since the mythos/background there has spirits living
in/on/around EVERYTHING.

        -- Jerry West   ..ukc!reading!cs.reading!west

eliovson@aecom.UUCP (Moshe Eliovson) (05/23/85)

>         Perhaps Lee Gold's C&S in Japan has rules for all sorts of
> Spirits, since the mythos/background there has spirits living
> in/on/around EVERYTHING.
> 
>         -- Jerry West   ..ukc!reading!cs.reading!west

*** Brahneer aryaaAa Kutong  - UltraChaos in Melnibonean ***

	As I cannot find a pathto you, I am publicly requesting
	more information on C&S.  Either more posted detail or
	just where I could pick it up.

	Moshe Eliovson
	philabs!aecom!eliovson

ncg@ukc.UUCP (N.C.Gale) (05/28/85)

One Fighter/Mu/Cleric in the campaign I am GMing got himself a
'special' familiar.
Oh no! I'm not having a pseudodragon in an Arthurian-like adventure.
           ~~~          ~~~~~~~~~~~~
So I made one up, on the spur of the moment.
I stole the idea from the 'cat-tail' in 'World Out of Time', by Larry Niven.
It has a domestic cat's head, a small feathered serpent's body, but with
bat wings.
Hit points are tiny.
Special defences: high dexterity.
Special attacks: transfixing gaze (a la floating eye in hack)

-Nige Gale

trumpler@ucla-cs.UUCP (06/01/85)

	In a campaign I was playing in a year or so ago, our party ran
into an interesting twist...one of the PCs became a familiar (yes, that
is *became*, not *got*). Alas, wasn't mine...the `owner' was a small
(about 1 foot long) dragon.  Good fun until the PC eventually died.

	Ever happen to anybody else?

						   Mark Trumpler -+-

    UUCP: ...!{ihnp4,ucbvax}!ucla-cs!trumpler
    ARPA: trumpler@UCLA-LOCUS.ARPA soon trumpler@LOCUS.UCLA.EDU

eliovson@aecom.UUCP (Moshe Eliovson) (06/04/85)

> 
> 	Ever happen to anybody else?
> 
> 						   Mark Trumpler -+-


	Yes.  One pc wanted to play a monster.  The dm's guide said
something about a dragon that could shape change.  The dm's decision
in regard to game balance at our level of play was to let the player
play a pseudo-dragon.

				Moshe Eliovson

jagardner@watmath.UUCP (Jim Gardner) (06/05/85)

[...]

In a Champions campaign here in Waterloo, I play an Imp named Grimoire
who is actually a familiar.  Odd circumstances, of course: Grimoire was
summoned as the familiar for a baby who the parents hope will turn out
to be a great sorceror.  The parents are very minor class sorcerors
themselves, which is how they managed to summon a crummy familiar like
Grimoire.  The parents are of Good alignment (if you want to think of
things that way -- in our campaign, we say they are followers of the White
Hand) but the plane they contacted for the familiar was Evil.  Due to
the Laws of some covenant or other, the devils of that plane were honour-bound
to come up with a familiar whose disposition matched the disposition of the
summoners, so they had to send someone who wasn't grossly Evil.  They
chose Grimoire who was too incompetent to be methodically evil.

Grimoire is a lovely lazy character, hopelessly addicted to eating
tobacco.  It gives him the same sort of buzz that catnip gives cats.
It's fun to watch him try to be heroic -- by the laws of being a familiar,
he has to follow the wishes of the White Hand even when he'd rather go
annoy squirrels or make drunks think they have the DTs.  It is also nice
to have him put up with the irrational wishes of his infant master -- our
GM is a sadist who continually comes up with new ways to offend Grimoire's
dignity.  All in all, a delightful character (and three cheers for the
Champions system that lets me play an imp this way instead of forcing
me into the conventional D&D interpretation).

				Jim Gardner, University of Waterloo