Revised Familiar

[Quickleaf]

Here is my attempt at doing the wizard's familiar justice. Most of this work involved adapting the ArsMagica 4.0 familiar into d20 terms. Let me know what you think and how you'd change it. Cheers!

FYI Ideally I'd like to do the same thing with spellbooks and staves (both of which will be given treatment like the familiar for a wizard class based off of Szatany's Ultimate Wizard). In this version a 2nd level wizard choses a sign of power: either a familiar or staff. I feel the staff gets the short end of the stick, and should be revised as I did the familiar. Then I realized that a wizard should instead have a true grimoire, a really, really fearsome spellbook that is booby-trapped, can magically hold information, holds content the wizard didn't even realize was there, can trap people inside, etc. The spellbook would become the third sign of power for a wizard choosing neither a familiar nor a staff.

Edit: I found Holger "Putzel" Mueller's work on the wizard's staff familiar from 2003 -- Very cool! Just do a search for wizard's staff familiar. Guess that means that my job will be the spellbook! Or should I say True Grimoire!

 

[ARandomGod]

Here is my attempt at doing the wizard's familiar justice. Most of this work involved adapting the ArsMagica 4.0 familiar into d20 terms. Let me know what you think and how you'd change it. Cheers!

FYI Ideally I'd like to do the same thing with spellbooks and staves (both of which will be given treatment like the familiar for a wizard class based off of Szatany's Ultimate Wizard). In this version a 2nd level wizard choses a sign of power: either a familiar or staff. I feel the staff gets the short end of the stick, and should be revised as I did the familiar. Then I realized that a wizard should instead have a true grimoire, a really, really fearsome spellbook that is booby-trapped, can magically hold information, holds content the wizard didn't even realize was there, can trap people inside, etc. The spellbook would become the third sign of power for a wizard choosing neither a familiar nor a staff.

Edit: I found Holger "Putzel" Mueller's work on the wizard's staff familiar from 2003 -- Very cool! Just do a search for wizard's staff familiar. Guess that means that my job will be the spellbook! Or should I say True Grimoire!

I rather like it. Comments on how I might change it must wait until I'm feeling a bit more coherent...

 

[ARandomGod]

I rather like it. Comments on how I might change it must wait until I'm feeling a bit more coherent...

No other comments, eh? Too house rulesy I suppose.

First I noticed that they have fewer HP's than the average familiar has. But then, these are bonuses and not total HP's, and there is the eventual wound transfer ability... So all's good.

Of course, the mage school attunement does nothing in traditional D&D, so it's useless unless you've got a nifty houserule for that too.

Well, as I said above, overall it seems like a very good alternate familiar system. This familiar is definitely better than the traditional one, and by better I mean more powerful better... But I don't think it breaks anything.

The only part I can really see people complaining about much would be the bonus to ability scores. That one might be a little over the top, and in some games a lot over the top. On the other hand, in a different light it's also one of the weakest abilities they have... it's all dependant.

I think that could be fixed by moving the "Deliver touch spells" down one rank, and removing those two abilities that affect Abiliy scores.

On the gripping hand, Like I said, I personally don't think it's too much... so leave as is for your campaigns!