From: alvalent@husc10.harvard.edu (Alvin Valentine)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
Subject: Re: Familiars
Date: 28 Dec 92 02:24:05 GMT
Organization: Harvard University Science Center

What follows is a copy of the article you were interested in.   

 
Later,
 
Lee Valentine
alvalent@husc.harvard.edu
------------------------------
PS I cut the header so I don't remember who wrote this grand article.  Kudos
to the author, though.
------------------------------

 
FAMILIARS
        
	According to legend, familiars were presented as something along 
the lines of a spirit of demon which assisted the mage (usually witches, 
who were viewed as being in league with demons/devils).  The familiar 
would boost the mage's power and also serve as a spy.       
	In D&D 1st ed., familiars can be used as spys for the mage because 
of their telepathic link, but they do not increase the mage's magical 
powers, just his hit points, which has nothing to do with magical power 
(unless you use one of those spell point systems where spell points are 
related to hit points).  The only exception are quasits and imps, which 
are rare, and you only get them if you are evil (more or less), so then 
it actually pays to be evil.      
	My idea of a familiar is that of a discarnate spirit.  By casting 
the find familiar spell, a spirit may appear if it fails its save to 
resist the spell.  The familiar is then bound to the mage, assuming his 
general personality and alignment.   	
	Alternately, the spirit that is summoned will be of the mage's 
alignment, or possibly a different alignment, and would then gain a 
bonus to save if of a different alignment, with a +2 if neutral vs 
good/evil/law/chaos, +4 if good vs evil/law vs chaos, so if a LG mage 
summons a CE familiar, it would gain a total of +8 to save.  This would 
depend on how a DM would wants to run the familiar, and how much 
independant nature he wants the familiar to have.  Random alignments can 
be generated from the table in the DMG on intelligent swords.      
	The familiar would be of varying power, and would grant the mage 
an increase in spell-casting ability similar to what a high wisdom would 
do for a cleric.  Consult the following table, rolling 1d20 and adding 
+1 per 3 full levels of the magic-user casting the spell to find out how 
powerful the familiar is:       
 
Roll   	HD  	AC  	Bonus Spells		Number of shapes      
1-10   	1   	6   	+1 1st			1 shape     
11-16   2   	5   	+2 1st			1-2 shapes     
17-19   3   	4   	+2 1st, +1 2nd		2-3 shapes      
20+     4  	3   	+2 1st, +1 2nd, +1 3rd	4 shapes       
	
	Bonus spells are only granted if the magic-user is of high enough 
level to cast spells of the given level.  Thus a first-level mage with a 
3 HD familiar would gain two extra first-level spells, but would not be 
able to gain the bonus second-level spell until he has reached the 
third-level of experience and can cast second-level spells.      
	The familiar would appear in its natural spirit form when first 
summoned, but the casting of the spell would bind it into some physical 
form, most often a common animal, such as dog, cat, bird, etc., although 
evil familiars might take on some wierd likeness, such as a twisted 
monkey-like thing if the DM so wished.  The more powerful familiars are 
able to shift between two or more fixed shapes, with the possibility 
that one of those shapes is its natural spirit form.  In natural form, 
the familiar would have no physical body, and would thus be able to pass 
through solid objects and would not be harmed by normal weapons, only 
being affected by magic and enchanted weapons.  In spirit form, it has 
no attacks, but when in an animal form, it would have all of the combat 
abilities of that animal, but would retain its own natural AC and HP.      
	If the familiar is slain, then this will result in a great 
wounding of the mage's magical ability, since a good deal of his power 
will be bound up into the familiar.  When a magic-user's familiar is 
slain, he will lose a number of levels of experience equal to the hit 
dice of the familiar.  If this reduces the mage to zero-level, then he 
cannot cast first-level spells, and will be limited to cantrips as per 
the Unearthed Arcana.  If the mage is knocked to a negative level, he 
will die.  Lost levels should not be regained by Restoration spells, as 
this is not a normal level draining, but a permanent loss of magical 
power.  The magic-user can still gain new levels and will suffer no 
other losses than the loss of level and commiserate abilites (HPs, 
spells, THAC0, saving throw, etc.).  The mage will not lose extra hit 
points from the death of the familiar since this version of the familiar 
does not grant any bonus HP.      
	There are no other special abilities granted by the familiar other 
than the telepathic link with the mage that allows limited communication 
and the ability to see and hear what the familiar is experiencing, thus 
allowing the familiar to serve as a spy for the mage.      
	If the mage dies, then the familiar is set free, released from the 
bond with the mage.  If the magic-user is of a higher level than the 
familiar, then the familiar may gain a level/HD, so that if the mage is 
brought back to life he would have lost a level of experience.  Or not, 
with the reason for the increase in the familiar's power being a 
function of its experiences with the mage.  In any case, this would 
explain the rarity of powerful familiars, since they would have had to 
serve several magic-users in their life-time.  Alternatively, the 
familiar may be the spirit -- or fragment of the spirit -- of a mage 
that roams the world after death, possibly due to a curse.  This would 
allow for some interesting role-playing and adventuring, especially if 
the spirit retains some of its knowledge of where some of its magical 
treasures/spellbooks are hidden.      
	As an idea for increasing the power of the familiar, the familiar 
can be allowed to cast spells if it is not bound to any mage.  A 2 HD 
familiar would then be able to cast two first level spells per day, 
though the DM may limit this to only if the familiar has access to a 
spellbook and can memorize the spells from the spellbook.     
	The DM may also allow the familiar to cast spells, or allow the 
mage to cast spells though the familiar since a portion of his magical 
power is invested in and granted by the familiar.  This should be 
limited so that the familiar can only cast whatever bonus spells it 
grants.  So even an 18th-level Archmage with a 1 HD familiar can only 
cast one first level spell through his familiar per day.     
	The DM may require a magic-user to specify which spells are 
memorized through the familiar.  Thus a 1st-level magic-user with a 1HD 
familiar may himself memorize Sleep, and then memorize Light for the 
bonus spell granted by the familiar.  Thus, in a pinch, the familiar 
would be able to cast the Light spell, but not the Sleep spell.     
	Another limit for this might be to not allow the familiar to cast 
any spell in the same round that the mage is casting a spell.  This 
would serve to prevent a high-level magic-user with a 4HD familiar from 
popping off two lightning bolts or two fireballs in one round of battle.      
Whether spells cast through/by the familiar are treated as being of the 
level of the familiar or the magic-user is up to the DM.  If the 
familiar cast the spell, I would say it should be done at the level of 
the familiar. Obviously, this would have to be the case were the 
familiar not bound to any magic-user.     
	These are all ideas for making a more rational familiar that is 
actually useful to a mage, and to also increase the spell-casting 
ability of low-level mages without making high-level mage's overly 
powerful.  A DM could use this version of a familiar in place of the 
given special familiars.  
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