who should choose familiar/spells DM or player?

[Nifft]

I do home some of the (rare) unanimity makes it through to your DM.

If not, try spite!
-- N

 

[taliesin15]

http://aquerra.wikispaces.com/Summon+Familiar[/url]

living in a part of the country that is full of them I must say I think the notion of an Armadillo familiar is quite hilarious...be sure to have plenty of bad American-style beer on hand because they love to drink it! Made me think where's the faerie possum, enchanted nutrea rat, and mage gar...

 

[danzig138]

The olny special thing a sorcerer gets is a familiar and I don't think it is right to take choice away from the player.

Meh. The only reason I don't side with the GM in this case is because it doesn't sound like he explained how all this was going to work beforehand. As a GM and player, I don't really have a problem with the GM selecting (note this word) a familiar - not randomly generating one, but selecting one. I also don't think that characters should get familiars right off the bat. When they do get one, it should be after the character has been played a bit, and the GM should select one that fits in with the character's personality.

Which, BTW, is how I also determine Totems in SR. Did he do something similar?

As for random spell selection. Meh. The one time I played a Sorcerer, I randomly determined his spells. Personally, I think a split - one pick, one random works okay. IMG, I used bloodlines. Certain familes were attuned to certain schools, and you randomly rolled to see which bloodline you came from. Worked fine for us.

In fairness, though, these things work for me because I'm the type of guy who prefers to generate a bucnh of stuff and then see what kind of character I can develop instead of developing a character concept and them building to that goal.

 

[HeavenShallBurn]

When you combine the odd southern animals as familiars its even more fun. Try having the players observe a wizards' conclave where the familiars are all playing cards in the antechamber. That turns heads "as you walk through the small bare room you see a armadillo, a rattlesnake, a cat, and a skunk playing cards in the far corner."

Hopefully this can be worked out as he sounds to be a friend and a good GM for other systems. Other than pointing out this thread the only thing I can think of is not to beat around the bush or meandering into the issue from the side. Just bring it up and explain the handicap he's putting on your character in play while forcing him to explain how using a random dice roll to generate class features normally chosen by the player rather than the DM is anything but roll-playing.

 

[Plane Sailing]

As for random spell selection. Meh. The one time I played a Sorcerer, I randomly determined his spells.

I'd be intrigued to know which level you started him at, what level you played him to and how he worked out in practice (even what his spells were, if you remember), because I would imagine that it would be very easy to get a PC with low survivability that way!

Cheers

 

[Elf Witch]

Meh. The only reason I don't side with the GM in this case is because it doesn't sound like he explained how all this was going to work beforehand. As a GM and player, I don't really have a problem with the GM selecting (note this word) a familiar - not randomly generating one, but selecting one. I also don't think that characters should get familiars right off the bat. When they do get one, it should be after the character has been played a bit, and the GM should select one that fits in with the character's personality.

Which, BTW, is how I also determine Totems in SR. Did he do something similar?

As for random spell selection. Meh. The one time I played a Sorcerer, I randomly determined his spells. Personally, I think a split - one pick, one random works okay. IMG, I used bloodlines. Certain familes were attuned to certain schools, and you randomly rolled to see which bloodline you came from. Worked fine for us.

In fairness, though, these things work for me because I'm the type of guy who prefers to generate a bucnh of stuff and then see what kind of character I can develop instead of developing a character concept and them building to that goal.

The way he handles totems in Shadowrun is that is really does not make an apperence until the shaman builds a lodge and does the rituals to attune to his totem. Up until then he can call himself what ever kind of shaman he wants.

The player gets to pick his own totem the same way a hermatic mage can choose a discipline to follow. I am sure that if he felt that the totem was not the right one because the way the player had been playing he would sit down and talk to the player about it.

I would not mind role playing out getting the familiar. I don't just expect it to appear.

The player playing the druid got to pick a wolf and bring it in at creation the same with the psion and his crystal. So I had no reason to to suspect that it would be different for me.

In other circumstances I would not mind seeing what kind of familiar I got randomly if I had not had such a well defined idea of what I wanted to do with this character and her familiar.

I would not even mind if I knew about it a head of time trying to play a sorcerer with random spells it might be fun.

What I can't understand in this case is just making it harder for me to develop the character I want to play. It is not like it is a broken over powered character. And as for the familiar well if I was DMing and a player had their heart set on a certain type familiar that did not break the rules or the setting of the game then I would just let them have it. There is nothing in the rules that don't support the player choosing their own.

Even if the rules said you had to roll I would let the player have it anyway because it is a game and we are supposed to be having fun. And having a cat familiar as opposed to a toad does not really have that big of an impact on the balance of the game.

I think I have a really cool character that I am trying to play I am making a lot of role play choices for it and I just don't get why the DM who is usually all about role play is making me jump through hoops.

The game is tomorrow and he has not answered my email so I have made two character sheets one with the level of sorcerer and one leveling in ranger.

I don't intend to fight or delay the game if his mind is made up then I will accept it and move on.

 

[Stormborn]

The game is tomorrow and he has not answered my email so I have made two character sheets one with the level of sorcerer and one leveling in ranger.

I don't intend to fight or delay the game if his mind is made up then I will accept it and move on.

So Elf, what happened?

 

[Mycanid]

Yes ... I'm curious too. What happened?

 

[Elf Witch]

So Elf, what happened?

As for the spells he let me choose them but I have no control over them. They go off on their own. This is going to continue this way until I find a mage to help me understand what is going on.

I don't mind doing it this way as long as it does not take forver to find a mage to help me.

It was fun to roleplay out all of sudden a light just suddenly start to shine around my bow. ( a light spell) The rest of the party got into it and now we are all convinced that we are being haunted some how. Either that or I am cursed.

In a combat situation I just knew that I would not miss the target (true strike) he did not even have me roll for spell failure because of my leather armor. he said until I have control over the magic we would just ignore that roll.

As for the familiar that is on hold right now I am not in a postion to summon one. We will see what happens with that.

Now if I was playing a straight sorcerer the way he is doing the spells would bother me because I would feel that to much was taken out of my control. With the DM choosing when the spells go off I would feel as if he was playing the character more than I was.

But since I am playing a ranger as well and the spells I have choosen are mainly to improve my archery I don't feel that way because I still fight very well in combat.

 

[Mycanid]

Well that's not so bad, eh? Coulda been a LOT worse! Are you at peace with the whole thing now? I sure hope so ... time to get back to some GAMING.