RObiN-HoOD
Explorer
Hi,
A player of mine gave me the following info that want to use in a future FR campaign. I would like your opinion.
Thnaks
Symbiotic Familiars
Some few spellcasters manage to succeed in acquiring a rare kind of familiar: a symbiote. Symbiote familiars may be many kinds of
creatures, but it is likely that they have been engineered by other races to serve as such, rather than existing naturally, though of course this
is by no means a certainty.
Familiars of this type come with various benefits and hindrances compared to standard familiars. The unusual bind between master and
familiar is stronger than normal, offering both host and familiar increased resilience and protection, but on the other hand the familiar cannot
survive without the host, and likewise the host is more severely crippled should his symbiote die. The process of the bonding and imbedding
is likewise more difficult.
Normally, acquiring a familiar requires the character to perform a ceremony that takes 24 hours, and use components that cost 100 gp.
However, a spellcaster that wishes to gain a symbiote familiar must first have the symbiote placed inside him. The symbiote is usually found
coiled around the character’s spinal cord, with its appendages attached to it at several points. Such a process has no standard cost or time required,
but in general it reduces the character to 1 hp afterwards, requiring him to recover normally before he can proceed with the bonding.
After the symbiote is placed, the bonding ritual takes a full 24 hours of uninterrupted meditation and channeling of arcane energies, and uses
up components that cost 500 gp. If the process is interrupted for any reason, the character must start again from the beginning; all components
used are wasted. Once the process is sucessfully completed, the character and the symbiote are bound together.
Familiar Basics: A symbiotic familiar functions somewhat differently from a normal familiar, but it essentially confers the same benefits
to its master. Since it can never be detached from its master (not normally at least), a symbiote familiar has no physical ability scores
(Str, Dex, Con) or AC, cannot make attack rolls and need not make Reflex saves. As far as mental abilities are concerned, a familiar’s Int is
determined by its master’s level (as per the normal rules). Symbiote familiars are extremely aware of anything that traverses the master’s
nervous system (including sensory information and the master’s mental activity, though they are not privy to his thoughts), but their personality
is otherwise suppressed by the master’s. Wis and Cha for a symbiote familiar should be rolled roll 2d6+6 for the familiar’s Wis, and
2d6 for its Cha, but Cha must be less than the master’s own Cha score.
Hit Dice: For the purpose of effects related to number of HD, use the master’s character level, as normal.
Hit Points: One-half the master’s normal total (not including temporary hp), as normal, but see below.
Attacks: N/A. A symbiote familiar may not make any attacks.
Saving Throws: A symbiote familiar need only make Fortitude or Will saves. For either one, use either the familiar’s base save bonus
(Fort +2, Will +0), or the master’s base save bonus, whichever is better. As usual, the familiar uses its own Wis score to determine the final
Will save (it has no Con score, so its ability modifier is +0). Even though it is a symbiote, it still does not share any other bonuses the master
may have on saves (because of items or feats, for example), but it may gain some bonuses from spells (see below).
Skills: A symbiote familiar may not make skill checks with a physical key ability, or that require any sort of physical action (like Craft),
but it can otherwise process the same information its master receives, making purely mental skill checks (like Knowledge or Spot) independently
from its master. If either check succeeds, assume the check is passed, since the familiar can communicate the results of its efforts to its
master.
Feats: Every creature has at least one feat; symbiote familiars have exactly one, and they never gain more. The feat may be chosen by
either the player or the DM, from among the following: Alertness, Diligent, Great Fortitude, Iron Will, Skill Focus (any one the symbiote
can use), Toughness.
Familiar Ability Descriptions: A symbiote familiar gains the same benefits as a normal familiar, depending on its master’s class level,
as listed in the Player's Handbook. However, some of those abilities function differently, while others are simply not applicable, and thus
never acquired. A symbiote familiar does not grant any special bonus to its master.
Natural Armor Adj.: As noted in the Player's Handbook, this bonus represents the preternatural toughness of a spellcaster’s familiar.
Symbiote familiars have no natural armor, so the bonus listed here is instead granted to them as a bonus on any Fortitude saves they are
called to make.
Int: The familiar’s Intelligence score, as normal.
Alertness (Ex): As stated in the Player's Handbook, the master gains the Alertness feat when the familiar is within arm’s reach. Since a
symbiote familiar is always within arm’s reach, this benefit is constant.
Improved Evasion (Ex): Though the familiar never needs to make a Reflex save, it still shares any damage its master takes. If the damage
comes from an effect that allowed a Reflex save for half damage, the portion of damage sustained by the familiar (i.e. one-half the damage
inflicted by the attack) is either halved or completely negated, depending on whether the master failed or made his Reflex save respectively.
Share Spells: This ability no longer works at the master’s option; any spell (but not spell-like ability) that the master casts on himself
automatically affects the familiar, with no control on either individual’s part. Otherwise, this ability works as listed in the Player's Hand-
book.
Empathic Link (Su): This ability works as normal.
Deliver Touch Spells (Su): Obviously, this ability is not applicable to a symbiote familiar. Instead, this benefit changes to a spell-like
spectral hand ability, usable once per day per 5 master class levels, at a caster level equal to the master’s class level. Otherwise, use the familiar’s
statistics (and hp) to determine the spectral hand's statistics. Using this ability requires a standard action on the familiar’s part, but
this does not otherwise affect the master’s actions for that round, allowing him to take his full allotment of actions normally. The master can
utilize the spectral hand as if he had cast it.
Speak with Master (Ex): Since speech is not applicable to a symbiote familiar, this ability becomes Telepathic Communication, allowing
the master and the familiar to communicate normally, beyond the emotional feeling allowed by the more limited Empathic Link.
Speak with Animals of Its Kind (Ex): N/A. This ability becomes Sense Symbiote, allowing the familiar (only) to sense the presence of
another symbiote familiar on a successful Will save (DC 10 + 1/2 target’s HD + target’s Wis modifier). This ability works constantly, with
no conscious effort on the familiar’s part, and has a range of 60 ft. It only allows the familiar to sense the presence of another of its kind; the
familiar cannot determine the direction of location of another symbiote, or communicate with it, and even if it does detect something, the
master is not automatically aware of that fact.
Spell Resistance (Su): As normal. If the master is subject to a damaging spell, and the attacker fails to evercome the familiar’s spell resistance,
the portion of damage that would be sustained by the familiar is negated, as are any other effects of the spell (harmful or otherwise).
Needless to say, the master automatically bypasses his familiar’s spell resistance, with no choice to do otherwise.
Scry on Familiar (Sp): Once per day, the master can use detect scrying on himself only as a spell-like ability, with a caster level equal to
his master class level.
1
Damage and Symbiote Familiars
Generally, a symbiote familiar is entirely within its master’s body, so it is impossible to attack it without attacking the master. However,
an enemy spellcaster who has knowledge of the symbiote’s existence, may attempt to target it with a spell, provided the spell can affect creatures
of the familiar’s type (magical beast), has a range greater than touch, and does not require an attack roll. Even so, the familiar benefits
from total concealment (though usually it’s not applicable). Typical examples include the power word spells, dominate monster (though in
this case the master is unaffected, and anytime he interacts with the familiar, he may make a Sense Motive check against a DC of 15 to realise
the influence), and finger of death. Note that in this case, any damage inflicted is applied entirely to the familiar, since it was the target,
not the master.
Aside from the above, any attack that inflicts damage, has its damage split equally between the master and the symbiote. Familiars die at
-10 hp (like characters), and once the familiar drops unconscious, the master loses all benefits acquired because of the link (such as the
Alertness feat). Likewise, any healing effect (except natural healing, where each one heals independently of the other) is split equally between
the two, even if one is completely uninjured. However, a mass cure spell affects both symbiote and character fully. As noted above,
under Improved Evasion, attacks that allow a Reflex save for half damage do split any damage inflicted between master and symbiote
equally, though in this case the symbiote suffers either half or no damage, depending on its master’s Reflex save.
If the symbiote dies, the character loses 200 XP per master level, with no save allowed for half. Even if the symbiote is raised or res-
surected, the lost XP do not return. If the symbiote is reduced to between -1 and -9 hp but not stable (dying), the character is sickened until
the symbiote stabilizes (symbiotes apply their Fortitude save bonus for being familiars to their base 10% chance to stabilize). If the master is
dying, but the symbiote is at least stable, then the master gets to make two stabilization attempts each round, each having the normal 10%
chance to succeed. The death of a master results in the death of the symbiote, though this is not immediate; the symbiote dies 24 hours after
its master’s death, unless the master is revived in the meantime. While in this state, the symbiote is unable to take any actions.
Symbiote Ecology
Once a symbiote is placed within a host, it is said to be ’awakened’. An awakened symbiote will typically live in its host until the day of
his death, which most of the time means its death as well. However, on certain rare occasions, symbiotes have been known to be moved
from one host to another. This requires first the severing of the bond, which involves nothing more than the master dismissing his familiar
symbiote and losing the appropriate amount of XP, as listed above. Then, a combination of magical and surgical skills (a Heal and a Spellcraft
check, both at DC 15 + master’s class level) allows for the safe removal of the symbiote. Failure results in the symbiote’s death. A removed
symbiote cannot survive on its own for longer than a few hours, and must be placed in another host as soon as possible. The new host
need not be the symbiote’s next master, but as the process of removal and placement is extremely complicated and dangerous, the symbiote
is usually tranferred from its previous master to its will-be one.
The average life span of a symbiote is not known, but sages speculate that symbiotes may have unusually long life spans, perhaps comparable
to those of elves or dwarfs, with the familiar bond possibly increasing that even further. Legends are told of symbiotes so old that
they possessed vast knowledge of the ancient times, and were also extremely powerful, displaying abilities way beyond those of normal
symbiotes, such as regenerative capabilities or energy resistance, but such legends have yet to be substantiated.
2
A player of mine gave me the following info that want to use in a future FR campaign. I would like your opinion.
Thnaks
Symbiotic Familiars
Some few spellcasters manage to succeed in acquiring a rare kind of familiar: a symbiote. Symbiote familiars may be many kinds of
creatures, but it is likely that they have been engineered by other races to serve as such, rather than existing naturally, though of course this
is by no means a certainty.
Familiars of this type come with various benefits and hindrances compared to standard familiars. The unusual bind between master and
familiar is stronger than normal, offering both host and familiar increased resilience and protection, but on the other hand the familiar cannot
survive without the host, and likewise the host is more severely crippled should his symbiote die. The process of the bonding and imbedding
is likewise more difficult.
Normally, acquiring a familiar requires the character to perform a ceremony that takes 24 hours, and use components that cost 100 gp.
However, a spellcaster that wishes to gain a symbiote familiar must first have the symbiote placed inside him. The symbiote is usually found
coiled around the character’s spinal cord, with its appendages attached to it at several points. Such a process has no standard cost or time required,
but in general it reduces the character to 1 hp afterwards, requiring him to recover normally before he can proceed with the bonding.
After the symbiote is placed, the bonding ritual takes a full 24 hours of uninterrupted meditation and channeling of arcane energies, and uses
up components that cost 500 gp. If the process is interrupted for any reason, the character must start again from the beginning; all components
used are wasted. Once the process is sucessfully completed, the character and the symbiote are bound together.
Familiar Basics: A symbiotic familiar functions somewhat differently from a normal familiar, but it essentially confers the same benefits
to its master. Since it can never be detached from its master (not normally at least), a symbiote familiar has no physical ability scores
(Str, Dex, Con) or AC, cannot make attack rolls and need not make Reflex saves. As far as mental abilities are concerned, a familiar’s Int is
determined by its master’s level (as per the normal rules). Symbiote familiars are extremely aware of anything that traverses the master’s
nervous system (including sensory information and the master’s mental activity, though they are not privy to his thoughts), but their personality
is otherwise suppressed by the master’s. Wis and Cha for a symbiote familiar should be rolled roll 2d6+6 for the familiar’s Wis, and
2d6 for its Cha, but Cha must be less than the master’s own Cha score.
Hit Dice: For the purpose of effects related to number of HD, use the master’s character level, as normal.
Hit Points: One-half the master’s normal total (not including temporary hp), as normal, but see below.
Attacks: N/A. A symbiote familiar may not make any attacks.
Saving Throws: A symbiote familiar need only make Fortitude or Will saves. For either one, use either the familiar’s base save bonus
(Fort +2, Will +0), or the master’s base save bonus, whichever is better. As usual, the familiar uses its own Wis score to determine the final
Will save (it has no Con score, so its ability modifier is +0). Even though it is a symbiote, it still does not share any other bonuses the master
may have on saves (because of items or feats, for example), but it may gain some bonuses from spells (see below).
Skills: A symbiote familiar may not make skill checks with a physical key ability, or that require any sort of physical action (like Craft),
but it can otherwise process the same information its master receives, making purely mental skill checks (like Knowledge or Spot) independently
from its master. If either check succeeds, assume the check is passed, since the familiar can communicate the results of its efforts to its
master.
Feats: Every creature has at least one feat; symbiote familiars have exactly one, and they never gain more. The feat may be chosen by
either the player or the DM, from among the following: Alertness, Diligent, Great Fortitude, Iron Will, Skill Focus (any one the symbiote
can use), Toughness.
Familiar Ability Descriptions: A symbiote familiar gains the same benefits as a normal familiar, depending on its master’s class level,
as listed in the Player's Handbook. However, some of those abilities function differently, while others are simply not applicable, and thus
never acquired. A symbiote familiar does not grant any special bonus to its master.
Natural Armor Adj.: As noted in the Player's Handbook, this bonus represents the preternatural toughness of a spellcaster’s familiar.
Symbiote familiars have no natural armor, so the bonus listed here is instead granted to them as a bonus on any Fortitude saves they are
called to make.
Int: The familiar’s Intelligence score, as normal.
Alertness (Ex): As stated in the Player's Handbook, the master gains the Alertness feat when the familiar is within arm’s reach. Since a
symbiote familiar is always within arm’s reach, this benefit is constant.
Improved Evasion (Ex): Though the familiar never needs to make a Reflex save, it still shares any damage its master takes. If the damage
comes from an effect that allowed a Reflex save for half damage, the portion of damage sustained by the familiar (i.e. one-half the damage
inflicted by the attack) is either halved or completely negated, depending on whether the master failed or made his Reflex save respectively.
Share Spells: This ability no longer works at the master’s option; any spell (but not spell-like ability) that the master casts on himself
automatically affects the familiar, with no control on either individual’s part. Otherwise, this ability works as listed in the Player's Hand-
book.
Empathic Link (Su): This ability works as normal.
Deliver Touch Spells (Su): Obviously, this ability is not applicable to a symbiote familiar. Instead, this benefit changes to a spell-like
spectral hand ability, usable once per day per 5 master class levels, at a caster level equal to the master’s class level. Otherwise, use the familiar’s
statistics (and hp) to determine the spectral hand's statistics. Using this ability requires a standard action on the familiar’s part, but
this does not otherwise affect the master’s actions for that round, allowing him to take his full allotment of actions normally. The master can
utilize the spectral hand as if he had cast it.
Speak with Master (Ex): Since speech is not applicable to a symbiote familiar, this ability becomes Telepathic Communication, allowing
the master and the familiar to communicate normally, beyond the emotional feeling allowed by the more limited Empathic Link.
Speak with Animals of Its Kind (Ex): N/A. This ability becomes Sense Symbiote, allowing the familiar (only) to sense the presence of
another symbiote familiar on a successful Will save (DC 10 + 1/2 target’s HD + target’s Wis modifier). This ability works constantly, with
no conscious effort on the familiar’s part, and has a range of 60 ft. It only allows the familiar to sense the presence of another of its kind; the
familiar cannot determine the direction of location of another symbiote, or communicate with it, and even if it does detect something, the
master is not automatically aware of that fact.
Spell Resistance (Su): As normal. If the master is subject to a damaging spell, and the attacker fails to evercome the familiar’s spell resistance,
the portion of damage that would be sustained by the familiar is negated, as are any other effects of the spell (harmful or otherwise).
Needless to say, the master automatically bypasses his familiar’s spell resistance, with no choice to do otherwise.
Scry on Familiar (Sp): Once per day, the master can use detect scrying on himself only as a spell-like ability, with a caster level equal to
his master class level.
1
Damage and Symbiote Familiars
Generally, a symbiote familiar is entirely within its master’s body, so it is impossible to attack it without attacking the master. However,
an enemy spellcaster who has knowledge of the symbiote’s existence, may attempt to target it with a spell, provided the spell can affect creatures
of the familiar’s type (magical beast), has a range greater than touch, and does not require an attack roll. Even so, the familiar benefits
from total concealment (though usually it’s not applicable). Typical examples include the power word spells, dominate monster (though in
this case the master is unaffected, and anytime he interacts with the familiar, he may make a Sense Motive check against a DC of 15 to realise
the influence), and finger of death. Note that in this case, any damage inflicted is applied entirely to the familiar, since it was the target,
not the master.
Aside from the above, any attack that inflicts damage, has its damage split equally between the master and the symbiote. Familiars die at
-10 hp (like characters), and once the familiar drops unconscious, the master loses all benefits acquired because of the link (such as the
Alertness feat). Likewise, any healing effect (except natural healing, where each one heals independently of the other) is split equally between
the two, even if one is completely uninjured. However, a mass cure spell affects both symbiote and character fully. As noted above,
under Improved Evasion, attacks that allow a Reflex save for half damage do split any damage inflicted between master and symbiote
equally, though in this case the symbiote suffers either half or no damage, depending on its master’s Reflex save.
If the symbiote dies, the character loses 200 XP per master level, with no save allowed for half. Even if the symbiote is raised or res-
surected, the lost XP do not return. If the symbiote is reduced to between -1 and -9 hp but not stable (dying), the character is sickened until
the symbiote stabilizes (symbiotes apply their Fortitude save bonus for being familiars to their base 10% chance to stabilize). If the master is
dying, but the symbiote is at least stable, then the master gets to make two stabilization attempts each round, each having the normal 10%
chance to succeed. The death of a master results in the death of the symbiote, though this is not immediate; the symbiote dies 24 hours after
its master’s death, unless the master is revived in the meantime. While in this state, the symbiote is unable to take any actions.
Symbiote Ecology
Once a symbiote is placed within a host, it is said to be ’awakened’. An awakened symbiote will typically live in its host until the day of
his death, which most of the time means its death as well. However, on certain rare occasions, symbiotes have been known to be moved
from one host to another. This requires first the severing of the bond, which involves nothing more than the master dismissing his familiar
symbiote and losing the appropriate amount of XP, as listed above. Then, a combination of magical and surgical skills (a Heal and a Spellcraft
check, both at DC 15 + master’s class level) allows for the safe removal of the symbiote. Failure results in the symbiote’s death. A removed
symbiote cannot survive on its own for longer than a few hours, and must be placed in another host as soon as possible. The new host
need not be the symbiote’s next master, but as the process of removal and placement is extremely complicated and dangerous, the symbiote
is usually tranferred from its previous master to its will-be one.
The average life span of a symbiote is not known, but sages speculate that symbiotes may have unusually long life spans, perhaps comparable
to those of elves or dwarfs, with the familiar bond possibly increasing that even further. Legends are told of symbiotes so old that
they possessed vast knowledge of the ancient times, and were also extremely powerful, displaying abilities way beyond those of normal
symbiotes, such as regenerative capabilities or energy resistance, but such legends have yet to be substantiated.
2
