So do we know if Wizards still have familiars?

[The Little Raven]

I'm hoping that familiars are available to more than just the wizard, since plenty of other magic users in fiction are able to gain them.

 

[Incenjucar]

Here's hoping they bring in a Swarm-type familiar.

 

[MaelStorm]

I'm hoping that familiars are available to more than just the wizard, since plenty of other magic users in fiction are able to gain them.

If 4E could let you swap options to customize the type of character you want. Like swapping talent trees from another class you choose which talent tree you giveaway for. There would be no need to multiclass anymore, this could be the top game of the year.

Or maybe just one change option per class not more than that rule, would be awesome. Like for skill training is a very straightforward option.

Also the familiar as a decision with better options is another great concept.

If you could eventually in the ED levels have a griffin or dragon as a familiar, this would surely kick ass!

 

[WyzardWhately]

If 4E could let you swap options to customize the type of character you want. Like swapping talent trees from another class you choose which talent tree you giveaway for. There would be no need to multiclass anymore, this could be the top game of the year.

Or maybe just one change option per class not more than that rule, would be awesome. Like for skill training is a very straightforward option.

Also the familiar as a decision with better options is another great concept.

If you could eventually in the ED levels have a griffin or dragon as a familiar, this would surely kick ass!

Yeah. I totally picture my glittery, star-spangled, pointy-hatted wizard doing something impressive with cosmic energy and a crystal ball, while his pet dragon looks sagely on. Why, yes, my fantasy ideas are largely informed by the kind of artwork you find in headshops.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I'm hoping that familiars, if they exist, are more durable than in previous editions.

Of all the critter sidekicks in the game, they've always been the ones who were the most vulnerable to "DM excision." I can't count how many of my spellcasters eventually wound up being sans sidekick.

Perhaps something more along the lines of the "Pokemount" of the 3.X Paladin...appearing & dissapearing- not because of some feat but because it is an inherent ability of the familiar. After all, you rarely read about a wizard's familiar getting ganked in the source material- given their prominence in lore they must have some kind of superior death avoidance capability.

 

[I'm A Banana]

Familiars need a big fat dose of "what the hell are you supposed to do with 'em?" sauce in 4e.

In 3e, they were an optional liability that gave you a spot bonus and maybe a scout that is less effective than the rogue.

Mythically, they should be nefarious go-betweens and inscrutable lackeys for the spellcaster and their power source. The black cat isn't a pet, it's telling you how to wield dark forces because cats are a bit closer to dark forces than people are. That toad isn't your friend, it's your mentor in the ways of alteration.

Using them as an "implement" makes sense. With a familiar, you can do certain types of magic that people without familiars just can't do. Treating them more like equipment than like a creature means that they're less likely to be targeted, like a sword you are holding or a potion hanging from your belt.

Upgrading them to "effective in combat" makes a certain amount of sense, but looses that whole eerie otherworldly quality of a "normal-seeming" bat who really helps his witchy master consort with creatures of the night.

I would have expected them to be nixed in 4e, but it's cool seeing some wizards with familiars, maybe they've "fixed" 'em.

 

[Sitara]

I think warlocks should have familiars aswell. Theri should be unique to theri pacts,so a demon-warlock has an imp, a star pacter has a mini-squid type thingy that goes all cthulhu on you, etc. These familiars could also act as gobetweens between the warlock and those he serves (daemons, cthulhu, etc) and also to keep an eye on the warlock and report on him.

And maybe once a day each of these can assume the form of their true master (Tanarii!!!)

 

[Fallen Seraph]

Hmm... A Warlock familiar could work, but I imagine it would need a big dose of freewill/possible DM control. I can't imagine a Warlock familiar willingly doing anything asked of it by the Warlock. Unless it is somehow bound, but that would probably hinder the powers of the familiar.

 

[Pbartender]

Mythically, they should be nefarious go-betweens and inscrutable lackeys for the spellcaster and their power source. The black cat isn't a pet, it's telling you how to wield dark forces because cats are a bit closer to dark forces than people are. That toad isn't your friend, it's your mentor in the ways of alteration.

Using them as an "implement" makes sense. With a familiar, you can do certain types of magic that people without familiars just can't do. Treating them more like equipment than like a creature means that they're less likely to be targeted, like a sword you are holding or a potion hanging from your belt.

Upgrading them to "effective in combat" makes a certain amount of sense, but looses that whole eerie otherworldly quality of a "normal-seeming" bat who really helps his witchy master consort with creatures of the night.

Another big advantage to equating familiars to implements is the fact that the benefit the wizard receives doesn't necessarily have to be related to the type of familiar selected. It'd be nice to have familiars take whatever shape best suits the style of his master, irrelevant of what benefits the familiar grants.

 

[I'm A Banana]

Another big advantage to equating familiars to implements is the fact that the benefit the wizard receives doesn't necessarily have to be related to the type of familiar selected. It'd be nice to have familiars take whatever shape best suits the style of his master, irrelevant of what benefits the familiar grants.

Shapeshifting familiars would be cool; it would also be cool to have them be static, but largely customizable by the PC.

Still, there's a little sweetness in my mind in choosing a type of familiar and gaining something specific. Very "familiar is a reflection of your soul" kind of stuff. But I was a fan of The Golden Compass, so....