Familiars as Baby-Sitters

[Corsair]

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.

Inexperienced, but I question how maturity is judged. I've always imagined dragons as being born as almost complete beings. Fully intelligent right out of the shell with an innate alignment. Being that both the silver and gold are naturally lawfully inclined, I figured it could work.

 

[roguerouge]

Hey, aren't familiars supposed to guard the camp or home base?

For some reason, I think that a cat or a raven would work best with this kind of assignment. The raven's obvious for the language ability, but the cat might be the most maternal of them, at least to me, and probably more interactive with the child. I can hardly imagine a snake or a toad doing well at this task.

 

[roguerouge]

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.

I don't know. If we're talking physically making the child mind it via nonlethal "combat" or "Grappling" or "Disarm" rules, a familiar of a sixth level sorceress is going to have +3 natural armor, the master's attack bonus, and [1/2*(16.5+Con)] HP. And in terms of communication, it will have INT 8 and the master's or its animal type's skills (whichever's better). With bluff as a sorceress' class skill...

 

[Alzrius]

I think this is a really cool idea!

That said, this would work best with a child that has, at the very least, physical capability to take care of itself (e.g. if can go to the bathroom by itself, prepare and eat food left for it, etc). In this case, the familiar works best as the "voice of authority" in that the child knows someone is watching it, and will tell his or her parents if it misbehaves.

 

[HeavenShallBurn]

I think this is a really cool idea!

That said, this would work best with a child that has, at the very least, physical capability to take care of itself (e.g. if can go to the bathroom by itself, prepare and eat food left for it, etc). In this case, the familiar works best as the "voice of authority" in that the child knows someone is watching it, and will tell his or her parents if it misbehaves.

Depends if you stat a child as a 1-hd Small NPC then the familiar of even a 6th or 7th level wizard could grapple them into submission. Which seems really odd to me, but entertaining. I can see a cat familiar pinning the misbehaving child to the floor and giving it a swap or two as encouragement to straighten up.

Also I just can't let this go but a fairy dragon would be the worst babysitter EVER.
Sorceress: *Where ARE you two? You're not in the house?*
Familiar: *We're playing a game with your potions and an angry badger! Yay isn't this fun!*
Or
Comes home and finds two fairy dragons sleeping on the child's bed.
Sorceress: Where's Githain? Where's my baby?
Second Fairy Dragon: Mommy!
Familiar: He said he wanted to be fly like me, now he can isn't that GREAT!

 

[Corsair]

These are all superior options to a kender.

 

[HeavenShallBurn]

These are all superior options to a kender.

I would put a fairy dragon about on par with a kender, except fairy dragons get a daily wish SLA. Imagine a kender who can wish scary isn't it?

EDIT: Or at least I remember they did in 2e (at least some of them I think it was handled like speaking all languages with a percentile probability) and carried it over into 3e.

 

[Corsair]

Not on the Faerie Dragon in the Draconomicon, unless there is another version I'm unaware of.

 

[HeavenShallBurn]

Not on the Faerie Dragon in the Draconomicon, unless there is another version I'm unaware of.

I definitely remember them getting wish in 2e so I've stuck with it. I'll take your word for whether they've got it in 3e, since I never bothered to check.

 

[greenstar]

Maybe if it was a formian worker familiar from the DMG.