By John Grigsby, Staff Reviewer d20 Magazine Rack
Initiative Round
The Book of Familiars is a Dungeons & Dragons supplement from Troll Lord Games. This 186-page hardcover by Casey Chistofferson, Justin Bacon, Tommy Rutledge, Josh Hubbell, Lance Hawvermile, Luke Johnson, Stephen Vogel, and Dave Zenz features cover art by Daniel Horne depicting a young barbarian and her saber-toothed tiger familiar finishing off an ogre that got too close. Scott Purdy, Stephen Shepherd, Jason Walton, Bryan Swartz, and co-author Dave Zenz contribute to the black & white interior art. The Book of Familiars retails for $29.95.
By tradition, a familiar is a magical helper called upon by witches. They usually appeared in the form of an animal, but were actually imps sent by the devil to aid his worshippers. They ran errands, brought messages, and performed minor tasks for their masters. This has translated into the D&D game as an animal or extraplanar being which is magically bonded to the wizard or sorcerer, and which aids them in a variety of ways. But why should wizards and sorcerers have all the fun? That’s what the Book of Familiars asks.
After a brief introduction of exactly what the difference between an animal companion and a familiar is, the Book of Familiars opens up with 42 brand new feats. While all of these feats are potentially useful, the ones that are going to attract the most attention are Animal Companion and Summon Familiar. That’s because these are general feats that permit any class to gain an animal companion or a familiar. What’s more, there are no upper limits on the number of times these feats may be chosen. Thus, it is possible for a wizard of 18th level to have as many as seven familiars, or eight if human (one for each feat gained through level 18, plus an additional familiar as a class ability)! If the character should happen to have at least 3 levels of the familiar master prestige class (see below), that number rises to a whopping nine (ten for humans) familiars!
Of course, calling a familiar is not without its difficulties. Each ritual costs 1,000 gold pieces, 200 experience points, and 24 hour of time. Animal companions are less costly and time-consuming, but they tend to have minds of their own and sometimes their plans don’t coincide with your own. In addition, there are plenty of other new feats that may catch your eye, such as Hero’s Weapon, Empower Familiar, or Summon Greater Familiar. The bottom line is that while it is possible to have eight familiars or animal companions, DMs have little to worry about. Most wizards (and other classes) will find too many other options to waste all of their feats on those two.
As you might expect, the familiar tables have been greatly expanded, including two new categories of familiar; greater and supreme (available only to characters of a certain level). Only standard familiars offer benefits to their masters, as the greater and supreme familiars are far more powerful and useful in a fight. Greater and supreme familiar can also be “customized” to a point, in that at certain levels of the master, they do not gain a specific power, but rather a “slot” that the player can choose to fill with a particular ability. This insures that no two greater or supreme familiars will be exactly alike.
Even so, if that were all this book offered, it would be a pretty short text (and this would be a pretty short review). You’ve probably guessed that there’s more here than meets the eye. Well, there’s also some great material on familiars in the game, including how to role-play a familiar, what happens to a familiar that has been dismissed (DM’s take note, this can lead to an interesting adventure), protecting familiars, and what becomes of a familiar on the death of the master. All right, you say, that’s still not enough material to account for 186 pages.
Remember that I mentioned at the beginning of this review that any class could now obtain a familiar? Every class is examined, in great detail, with rules applicable specifically to the class regarding the acquisition and care of familiars. A barbarian’s familiar, for example, isn’t just a magical beast that grants its master a bonus to a few skills. It’s an extension of the barbarian’s totem—his spirit creature. Unlike a wizard’s familiar, that has the ability to share spells, a barbarian’s familiar can enter a rage (much like its master) and is tied to its masters will and spirit. In addition, some classes may choose to take on a different kind of familiar. While a fighter might call on a familiar in the usual manner, he might instead choose an intelligent magical weapon that bonds with him. A monk, rather than taking on an ordinary familiar, might instead call out to her ancestral spirits for guidance. Even sorcerers and wizards are given new options.
Last, but certainly not least, the appendices provide game statistics for the 49 new animal types that are listed as possible familiars herein, as well as statistics for 35 new monsters, some of which may also be called as familiars. There are also seven new spells that make familiars even more useful, and a sampling of new magical items dealing with, what else, familiars!
Now, with all of this material, some might not see how any prestige classes could possibly be related to familiars, but you’d be wrong. The animus gemini has studied a comprehensive combat art, through which master and familiar come to act as one. A faunsilva learns to share her lifeforce with a fey creature, forsaking all other forms of companionship in exchange for incredible powers. A familiar master, by contrast, calls multiple familiars to him and often interacts with the world through them. The night lord has chosen to model herself after that most expert of nocturnal hunters, the bat. Finally, the Umbral Stalker is a member of an unholy order of assassins who form their familiars into killing machines.
Critical Hit
I have to say, if it had just been the idea of allowing any class to have a familiar, I wouldn’t have been nearly as impressed. No, for me, the big thing here is that each class can choose to take a standard familiar or a familiar tailored to the “theme” of the particular class. From totem spirits for barbarians to spiritual weapons for paladins to shadow familiar for rogues, this is just the coolest idea since sliced bread! This is some ground-breaking material that really brings familiars into their own.
Critical Fumble
As good as this book is, I found one minor detail that slapped me in the face (primarily because it involves a class that is near and dear to my heart). The ranger gets the short end of the stick in this deal. Whereas any class can now call a familiar, every other class also has the option of summoning a special type of familiar. The barbarian has the nature fetish, the bard has the muse and the mercurial familiar, the cleric can designate a communion familiar, the druid can summon an elemental familiar, the fighter has the hero’s weapon, the monk has her ancestral spirit, the paladin can bond with a spirit weapon or armor, and the rogue can call a shadow familiar. Even the wizard and the sorcerer, for whom summoning a familiar has always been an option, have a choice; an animistic familiar, an automaton, a mercurial familiar, a fetish familiar, a wyrm familiar, a guardian familiar, or even a homunculus.
Of all the classes, the ranger is given only the option of taking a stock familiar. Furthermore, they are limited to animal familiars only, and must go through a lengthy and difficult process to secure a familiar (unlike most of the other classes, which need only pay the requisite XP and gold piece cost). As the ranger is one of my favorite classes, this left me sorely disappointed. I really feel that this was the opportunity to put the ranger’s special companion (of 1E and 2E) back into the game, but instead, it was overlooked.
Coup de Grace
Needless to say, players of wizard or sorcerer characters will want this book, if for nothing more than the expanded table of familiars (about 50 choices instead of ten). Truly, though, this book really comes into its own if the DM throws open the gate and lets the players make full use of the rules and options herein. In 1E and 2E, familiars were more a liability than anything else. In 3E, they finally became useful, but were still limited in scope. The Book of Familiars corrects that oversight, transforming them into valued companions. Offhand, I’d say that this is a book which is easily going to become as worn as your Player’s Handbook or DUNGEON MASTER’S Guide.
All of the mechanics have been designated as Open Gaming Content, which is great news for those who want to add the new familiar rules to your own game setting. The rules are surprisingly well-balanced, and are easily fit into any campaign setting. There is no index, but the table of contents, though far from comprehensive, should suffice.
Final Grade: A-
