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!mccolmccrrick@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!dischollombe@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 Galetrumpler@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.EDUeliovson@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