Familiars as Baby-Sitters

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roguerouge

First Post

• Apr 7, 2008

• #1

Inspired by the recent threads on PC pregnancy and intelligent animals, I actually found myself asking my player the following question: at what point would a familiar be an acceptable short-term baby-sitter and for what age child? What would be the pit-falls that the sorceress-mommy would want to watch out for?

 

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Bardsandsages

First Post

• Apr 7, 2008

• #2

roguerouge said:

Inspired by the recent threads on PC pregnancy and intelligent animals, I actually found myself asking my player the following question: at what point would a familiar be an acceptable short-term baby-sitter and for what age child? What would be the pit-falls that the sorceress-mommy would want to watch out for?

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Unless the familiar is humanoid in form, it would make a poor babysitter. Can't change a diaper. Can't feed the kid. Can't do much of anything. Unless your idea of a babysitter is to just sit and look at the baby, a familiar wouldn't be much good.

Now if she has the leadership feat, then she could dump babysitting duties on her cohort or one of the loyal followers.

 

HeavenShallBurn

First Post

• Apr 7, 2008

• #3

roguerouge said:

Inspired by the recent threads on PC pregnancy and intelligent animals, I actually found myself asking my player the following question: at what point would a familiar be an acceptable short-term baby-sitter and for what age child? What would be the pit-falls that the sorceress-mommy would want to watch out for?

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Just hope it's not an Imp or Quasit familiar

That said especially once you hit the mid-high levels some of those familiars can be smarter than the kids being watched, or most barbarians and fighters. I'd say that the familiar could watch a child but probably wouldn't want to, it wants to be close to the sorcerer not taking care of her brat. On the other hand a familiar might see the child as theirs too, because of the link. But once the kid was out of the diapers and milk stage I don't see why not, though she might come back to find it trying to feed mice to her child.

 

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Peni Griffin

First Post

• Apr 7, 2008

• #4

Depends on the capabilities of the familiar. Something that can trigger a wand of Unseen Servant can deal with the work part of babysitting an infant, and an intelligent animal can amuse the baby for hours. Once the kid goes mobile, however, you need somebody who can actually ride herd and deal with medical booboos; this is not most familiars, but may be some. If the kid is the offspring of the familiar's arcane caster, they'll have an emotional bond of their own based on the familiar's constant presence, and the empathic bond of familiar with parent will be better than any emergency number; so a familiar would make a good choice to watch the baby even when it's not the primary sitter.

 

krissbeth

First Post

• Apr 7, 2008

• #5

Thread subtitle:
"Or: How to get your familiar to resent you."

I'd imagine that a familiar as babysitter would be best for when the child hits 9-12 years old. Or, even better, someone to keep an eye on teenager when mom and dad go out of town for the night.

I do quite like the idea of abusing the Leadership feat for cheap, reliable nanny services, however.

 

MonkeyDragon

Explorer

• Apr 7, 2008

• #6

I'd say they'd be good mental sitters, but not physical ones. They may be smart enough to mind the baby and instruct the child, but if the kid is intent on mischief, you need a sitter that is physically capable of making the kid mind.

 

sckeener

First Post

• Apr 7, 2008

• #7

Unless it has hands (monkey, imp, quasit), I don't think it is going to be much help except for very brief times...like mommy needs to go outside for a moment, make sure the toddler doesn't escape.

Personally I think a Homunculus would be a better choice..... Int 10 and Wis 12

 

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Corsair

First Post

• Apr 7, 2008

• #8

Dragon Familiar

CL: 12 - Silver
CL: 14 - Gold

Both have Alternate Form as a wyrmling.

 

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QuaziquestGM

First Post

• Apr 7, 2008

• #9

I'm imagining the hornbill character in The Lion King.

I would imagine, given childcare traditional standards in "safe areas" (and the pedophile hysteria /serial killer hysteria makes many modern regions no longer "safe") that any speaking familiar fast enough to keep up with the child should suffice for any child 6 or older.

The most important factors are:

1) able to keep up with child
2) able to communicate with child
3) child old enough to understand delayed consequences.

In simple terms, the child has to understand that he will be punished for disobeying the Raven when Dad gets home.

In "the good old days" children were commonly left unsupervised for long periods of time, playing in the woods, the park, or the street until Mom called for dinner. These days in the States this would be considered neglect, instead of healthy exercise.

 

HeavenShallBurn

First Post

• Apr 7, 2008

• #10

Corsair said:

Dragon Familiar

CL: 12 - Silver
CL: 14 - Gold

Both have Alternate Form as a wyrmling.

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You do realize that a wyrmling is likely to join the mischief rather than stop it. They may be intelligent and wise but they're also still immature. But at least we're not talking about fairy dragons, now THAT could be dangerous.