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Message: <blockquote data-quote="unan oranis" data-source="post: 4193197" data-attributes="member: 65462">It looks like they're trying to appeal to harry potter fans with the artwork of wizards pointing so many wands all around, you think they would have done something for familiars and animal companions! Has there been a good system homebrewed by someone here?Granted that no solid wizard/warlock familiar system can really be hammered out until we have the 4e books, but they are such an important part of my campaign world I'd like to have something on day 1.After reading the designers notes about why they haven't included familiars, I've come up with some concepts that might fit in with 4e's design.1. The familiar is so spiritually bound to its master that they are in fact one being.  The familiars hit points, armor class, status etc are allways the same as the wizard whom it belongs to.  If the familiar takes damage, the wizard takes damage and vice versa.2. Instead of rolling to attack, the familiar automaticly does its masters ability modifier (charisma?) as physical damage.  The familiar may not attack unless it occupies its own square (no snarling weasels from within the wizards robes trying to bite adjacent foes like a chest-burster alien).3. The familiar has only one standard action, and allways goes on the same iniative as its master.  The master can "give" his own actions to the familiar (let the familiar use his move action for example).4. Gaining a familiar costs a feat.  A choice of 6-10 classic tropes, each with a special ability.  Could be as simple as a skill boost, or something a little more complicated and unique like :  OWLS WISDOM:  "choose an x-level encounter spell for your owl to "hold".  If you have not used an x-leveled encounter spell yet today, you may trade one of them for the one your owl is "holding"... something like that anyway.The main concern apparantly is that the character with the familiar gets a whole extra turn when their initiative comes up.The "automatic hit + attribute bonus as damage" vs "one more square that can be targeted to hit the arcane caster" may or may not be balanced, though I couldn't guess which one is harsher given the number of area of effect and cleave like abilities flying around. Point me to a good kludge if you see one.--unan</blockquote>

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