From: morpheus@sage.cc.purdue.edu (Morpheus Nosferatu)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
Subject: A new version of Familiars
Date: 26 Aug 92 18:04:46 GMT
Organization: Netherworld Dreascape


     I have never really cared for the way that familiars are treated in
D&D.  Historically, 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.
     (Mind you, this is all in my personal interpretation.)
     In D&D, 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.
     Granted, they may have changed things in 2nd ed.  I don't know, and
don't much care, since I play 1st ed and have no intentions of blowing
a hundred bucks or more to line the pockets of T$R.

     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.  (Or 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 wield 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 cast 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 (face it, what good is a brownie except in highly
role-playing orinted games? it is only slightly more useful than a toad).
Personally, I would completely throw out familiars as presented in the
Player's Handbook and replace them with this version.  (But then, I came
up with this idea, so I should have a highly biased opinion, right?)

     So what do you think?  Is this a more reasonable familiar?  Is it
too powerful?  (I doubt it, compared to an imp or quasit which grants
an entire level of experience to the mage and thus a high level mage would
gain much more power from a quasit than one of these familiars.)

				Morpheus

/----------------------------------------+------------------------------\
| Jeff Standish, Dreamwalker, and        |  morpheus@sage.cc.purdue.edu  |
| Morpheus Nosaferatu, The Dream Vampyre | standish@mentor.cc.purdue.edu |
| Too many minds trapped in one body.    |     Reality is for those      |
| And it would be a human one, at that.  |   who can't handle fantasy.   |
\----------------------------------------+-------------------------------/
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd