What benefit does a Familiar grant a Mage type? What good are they?

[Pizza Man]

No one keeps a familiar in DnD, its more of a penalty that a boon.

 

Apart from roll playing, I see NO reason at all to keep a familiar. I'm not aware of any system that grants the player any good reason to take on a familiar.

 

I've not played Fantasy Hero, but the core rulebook doesn't say anything about this.

 

Have you seen a useful familiar anywhere?

[AmadanNaBriona]

Re: What benefit does a Familiar grant a Mage type? What good are they?

 

Tons. Swarms of the bloody things, in a variety of games.

Different systems place different weight on Familiars. Rolemaster and Runequest familiars are both generally VERY useful (and they were omnipresent in the latter system)

 

FH Familiars will be exactly as useful as they are designed and as the campaign construction allows them to be.

A familiar is a Follower (which are pretty cost effective to begin with) at it's most basic level. Could be done as a Summon, but that gets kinda wonky with most associations of the term "Familiar"

Without adding additional "flavor" right now it's essentially the same as an animal companion or a hireling.

Additional Options, flavor to taste...

Mind Link with familiar

Clairsentience to use it's senses.

Quite a lot of interesting options can be had by adding Useable By One Other to parts of the Familiar. END is the obvious option.

Feedback can be handled several ways, Dependence, Susceptibility, Side Effects, Limited Power

In most games giving your familiar Magic Skill allows it to make a complimentary skill roll to give you a bonus to your roll.

Additionally, Familiars can be in themselves a Limitation on some spells, or possibly might be able to proxy as additional Casters for spells with a multi-caster Ritual requirement.

And they can have a suite of potentially nifty powers too. Aids and Heals are both obvious options.

[Nolgroth]

Re: What benefit does a Familiar grant a Mage type? What good are they?

 

The bestiary has a familiar template. It is somewhat customizable, but the biggest thing it does is provide bonuses to spellcasting.

[Sociotard]

Re: What benefit does a Familiar grant a Mage type? What good are they?

 

I've seen all kinds of interesting familiars. One that I liked for DnD was to treat a familiar as a casting device, like a wand or staff.

 

Other possibilities? In 'Of Mice and Magic', wizards cast spells, but they need familiars to act as batteries that accumulate and store magic energy. In this case a familiar would be an endurance reserve that could talk back.

 

There is the option of using an Owl as a personal post office, but I'm not sure Hedwig was a familiar

[Karmakaze]

Re: What benefit does a Familiar grant a Mage type? What good are they?

 

In Mage, familiars were tremendously handy, because they helped absorb some of the negative side effects of performing magic.

 

Since Fantasy HERO is a general system, whether or not a familiar is worth is is going to depend on your setting, and on how you build your magic system (or how you build your specific powers).

 

Consider "Bob" in the Dresden Files (urban fantasy, granted, rather than sword & sorcery, but the underlying point applies) - I'd call Bob a familiar. His primary function is as a research aid, and he's tremendously useful at that function. In HERO terms he's a follower who provides a host of knowledge skills and can provide a complimentary Magic Skill roll to Harry's.

 

In Harry Potter, I'd file Hedwig and Crookshanks both as familiars, but only barely. A better example would be Naagini, Voldemort's snake. Naagini is (7th book spoiler)

the vessel for part of Voldemort's immortality spell. In HERO terms, she's a Focus for however that would be built (some variation of Regeneration, only when at negative BODY, I guess.)

Voldemort is also capable of seeing through her eyes as well as sending her to scout on her own. In HERO terms, that makes her the SFX for Clairsentience and a follower, respectively.

 

The daemons in His Dark Materials could also be considered familiars. They seem to be necessary for any magic performed in the series. In HERO terms, they also provide a Complication, as damage to or separation from a daemon causes damage to their human - perhaps a Dependence.

[Markdoc]

Re: What benefit does a Familiar grant a Mage type? What good are they?

 

Right. Runequest has already been mentioned, but familiars were enormously useful there: essentially they acted as "magic batteries" - letting you use their energies to cast extra spells, and they also charged you up, making you more powerful in magical combat ... plus they could hold spells in their own mind, letting you know more magic. As a result, most mages of any power had a familiar or two.

 

The beauty of Hero system is that you can decide what familiars can do.

Traditionally they had several functions in european superstition: they acted as spies, and as a source of knowledge. They were thought to be linked to the witch or wizard who had them so that injuries to the familiar would result in injuries to the spellcaster. And they were also thought to act as an agent of the lower powers: so your familar could teach you magic, but it also carried away your soul when you died

 

In my current game, some mages have familiars. They are bought as followers and offer these powers.

1. A conditional bonus to spells. The familiar can use complementary skills to boost a magic roll.

2. Mindlink: the familiar has this, knowing where its master is, and being able to communicate with him/her. Some powers are useable through this link.

3. Backlash protection: magic can warp the caster, when you miscast. The mage can choose to funnel all or some of the side effect onto his familiar, letting him recover faster from any negative effects.

4. Physical protection. Familiars are physically linked to their master or mistress. That means you take half the damage that they do, and they take half the damage you do. However, casters can choose to transfer damage to their familiar, making a mage with familiars surprisingly resilient when he has to be.

 

Those three alone are enough to make them worthwhile since followers are cheap, especially with the side effect (you take half the damage your familiar does).

 

cheers, Mark

[yukonhorror]

Re: What benefit does a Familiar grant a Mage type? What good are they?

 

In D&D first edition, familiars have a telepathic link with you and give you bonus hp equal to their hp. So if you were lucky enough to roll a 15, you got tons of bonus hp because the familiar was the luxurious pseudodragon. I think in 3rd edition, you got bonuses to skills. In 4th edition, you get bonuses to skills, resistance to certain damage types, ability to speak a certain language in passive mode (where they can't get hurt). In active mode, they gave you even more things. One familiar is a disembodied hand, and he can pick locks for you and such remotely.

 

In HERO, this could be done in a lot of ways. To me, the best way is to give the granted powers the limitation physical manifestation (familiar). Have things like remote viewing or skill powers or whatever you want the familiar to do/be.

[Kraven Kor]

Re: What benefit does a Familiar grant a Mage type? What good are they?

 

"What good are they?"

 

Whatever good you, as the designer (GM, or player with approval from GM), make them be.

[RexMundi]

Re: What benefit does a Familiar grant a Mage type? What good are they?

 

In the Fantasy Hero campaign I'm scripting up, Familiars, are the Endurance Reserve for the Spell System I'm working out. On top of all the other Familiar fun stuff.

 

~Rex

[Pizza Man]

Re: What benefit does a Familiar grant a Mage type? What good are they?

 

OK, great comments by all, I'm very impressed.

Thank you. Enough to get me working.

[mattingly]

Re: What benefit does a Familiar grant a Mage type? What good are they?

 

Well, when food gets scarce...

[Nevenall]

Re: What benefit does a Familiar grant a Mage type? What good are they?

 

I looked up familiars on Wikipedia. According to the interwebs familiars were thought to be either a demon or fairy spirit guide or guardian who sometimes takes an animal form so they can pass unnoticed. These spirits would help the human with their magic.

In this sense, Bob, Harry Dresden's skull bound intellect spirit is a good example of a familiar.

[Nevenall]

Re: What benefit does a Familiar grant a Mage type? What good are they?

 

I looked up familiars on Wikipedia. According to the interwebs familiars were thought to be either a demon or fairy spirit guide or guardian who sometimes takes an animal form so they can pass unnoticed. These spirits would help the human with their magic.

In this sense, Bob, Harry Dresden's skull bound intellect spirit is a good example of a familiar.

 

Gamewise, I would say that a familiar could be the special effect of a research library for spells and for knowledge skills.

[Lucius]

Re: What benefit does a Familiar grant a Mage type? What good are they?

 

The daemons in His Dark Materials could also be considered familiars. They seem to be necessary for any magic performed in the series. In HERO terms, they also provide a Complication, as damage to or separation from a daemon causes damage to their human - perhaps a Dependence.

 

?

 

Maybe it's been too long since I read it, but I don't recall ANY "magic" as such in His Dark Materiels....

 

Lucius Alexander

 

The palindromedary wants to spend 1 pt on Familiarity: Familiars

[Manic Typist]

Re: What benefit does a Familiar grant a Mage type? What good are they?

 

?

 

Maybe it's been too long since I read it, but I don't recall ANY "magic" as such in His Dark Materiels....

 

Lucius Alexander

 

The palindromedary wants to spend 1 pt on Familiarity: Familiars

 

What about the flying witches?

[Escafarc]

Re: What benefit does a Familiar grant a Mage type? What good are they?

 

What about the flying witches?

 

Clarke's Law?