The Golden Compass

[guardianfallenangel]

I just watched "The Golden Compass" and it got me thinking. how would you handle everyone having their souls outside thier bodies in the form of an animal? kinda like a familiar but a deeper connection and everyone has one, not just spell casters. for those who have read the books or watched the movie could you help me out. i think it's an interesting concept to work with.

 

[Pyrex]

I'd let everyone have an animal companion as per a level 1 Druid and give it the benefit of an Awaken spell; then note that whenever they are more than 100 yards apart both are Fatigued until they close distance. Exceed 1 mile and they're both Exhausted.

Childrens daemons can assume the form of any Animal with 3 or less HD and CR <= 1.

Done.

 

[Werebat]

I just watched "The Golden Compass" and it got me thinking. how would you handle everyone having their souls outside thier bodies in the form of an animal? kinda like a familiar but a deeper connection and everyone has one, not just spell casters. for those who have read the books or watched the movie could you help me out. i think it's an interesting concept to work with.

Ooh, I'll bet there's a lot of wizards NOT letting their rat familiars scout ahead after seeing THAT movie...

- Ron ^*^

 

[Sigurd]

Good call,

For adults, I'd build a table of classes with corresponding Daemons.

Then I'd make a table

50% you get your class daemon
25% you get a daemon based on your dominant stats.
05% you get a really cool one (whatever that was determined)
20% you get a servants daemon or maybe a lesser version of the class daemon.

A lot like a druid companion or wizards familiar.


The interesting question is would your Daemon remove the need for a companion or familiar in a standard game.


Sigurd

 

[HeavenShallBurn]

Remember the connection between daemon and human, if one hurts both hurt, if one dies both die. Maybe have both operate on a single HP pool, and give it a kicker to compensate?

Also in many ways the daemons of Golden Compass are closer to mythological familiars than the D&D version. I've essentially been running them like that for years, except being a game where familiars are vulnerable I altered flavor to make them corporeal spirits that survive "death" and take some time to reform their physical self afterward.

 

[Shayuri]

One big thing to watch out for is the "no touchy" taboo.

It's established in the book that although there's a powerful social imperative for daemons not to interact physically with anyone but its master, there's no actual physical barrier to them doing so. And apparently having one's daemon manhandled, -especially- by another person, causes pretty significant effects in the human.

In game terms, most daemons would be significant liabilities...a lot of vulnerability, with practically nothing useful to balance it out.

That said, it's still a neat idea. Just one I'm not sure would fit into the usual D&D game.

 

[guardianfallenangel]

I realize that a deamon like those in the movie/book would be a serious liablility with no real benifit. Some of the other people in my group, and myself though thought it would be interesting to play. As far as what deamon you end up with, it's all based on the kind of person you are. Your deamon represents aspects of your personality, which could itself be a liability, but could make for some interesting roleplaying.

Really this all stems from one of the players wanting a small shape changeing companion without being a spell caster. so, if there is another way to manage it, that could be helpful.

 

[Sigurd]

Perhaps the players family has something like a house elf (ala Harry Potter). If they player wants the companion so badly give him a quest or something to earn the requisite title\whatever that the little spirit is bound to.


Great, great, great, aunt Penitentia was a powerful witch and bound a spirit to the family line. Only problem is that the the spirit was encased in granite and dropped in the sea when your great grandfather besmirched the family name and ...... If you clear your name\and or retrieve the blighter you might be able to coax the little fellow back into service.

Lots of possibilities.

-Sigurd

 

[Claudius Gaius]

Well, depending on the level of vulnerability you want your companion could effectively be simply a minor remote presence - a bit like an unseen servant combined with a minor scrying effect, it could be an animal companion, or it could be an aspect of yourself. Or you could let the players mix and match. We'd just build it using Eclipse of course.

 

[Werebat]

One big thing to watch out for is the "no touchy" taboo.

It's established in the book that although there's a powerful social imperative for daemons not to interact physically with anyone but its master, there's no actual physical barrier to them doing so. And apparently having one's daemon manhandled, -especially- by another person, causes pretty significant effects in the human.

In game terms, most daemons would be significant liabilities...a lot of vulnerability, with practically nothing useful to balance it out.

That said, it's still a neat idea. Just one I'm not sure would fit into the usual D&D game.

Permanent "Shield Other" effect on both daemon and master?

- Ron ^*^