Familiars

[rickayelm]

A while back iread that there would be rules for familiars but I can't seam to find them. Has someone else found them, and if they have where are they?

[iago]

A while back iread that there would be rules for familiars but I can't seam to find them. Has someone else found them, and if they have where are they?

There aren't, sorry.

I mean, they're NPCs like any other NPC contact, which is our dominant suggestion for how to handle Bob, etc.

[Buscadera]

Since a familiar is supposed to be a magical aid, couldn't you simply say that your focus item is your familiar and have an aspect representing that? I think it would work, mechanically. It might not give you a Bob-esque spirit, but it would create a familiar in some sense of the word.

[neko128]

Or, for that matter, you could make it an Item of Power.  After all, Items of Power are - by definition - investing a portion of your powers into an external object.  It's just that, in this case, the "object" is a creature or construct of some sort.

[iago]

Depends vastly on what a familiar is. We've only really seen Mister and Little Brother in the novels and near as I can tell, they're just pets.

[KOFFEYKID]

Or, for that matter, you could make it an Item of Power.  After all, Items of Power are - by definition - investing a portion of your powers into an external object.  It's just that, in this case, the "object" is a creature or construct of some sort.

This is a very good idea for modeling it. I'll have to remember it incase I ever want to use a familiar.

[iago]

That IS a good model, it's true. I could see stashing a few points of Refinement in the critter.

[Rel Fexive]

There's a thread on RPG.net where we had a bit of a discussion about familiars by way of SotC-style Companions.  We sort of settled on the idea that, as Fred says, if the familiar is just a creature associated with you (with or without powers of its own) then it's just an NPC, but if it's the sort of familiar that grants powers to its associate that the associate themselves can use then you could buy those specific powers using Item Of Power.

Perfect for budding Cheysuli, Flinx's or Dragaearan witches.

[neko128]

To continue my previous thought...  Something like this?

Boggart - my pet cat (Item of Power, -1)
-------
One-Time Discount (+2) - it's a cat.  It's just as noticeable as a cat is.
Claws (0*) - it's a cat.  It's got claws.  They may not be big, scary claws, but they're claws.
Echoes of the Beast (0*) - ...it's a cat.  "echoes" indeed.
Diminutive Size (0*) - Boggart is not a big cat.  He weighs all of like 5 pounds.
Marked by Power (0*) - Boggart is a cat...  But to anyone who's sensitive enough, he's blatantly not *just* a cat.
Supernatural Sense (-1) - it's not only a cat, it's a cat infused with my magical powers.  He's supernaturally aware.  In this case, probably vision.
Refinement (-2) - when Boggart is with me, I gain +1 control and power to each of air and spirit magic.  He's a creature of air and shadow to start with, and now he's infused with my power as well.  He "smoothes the flows", so to speak.


In the above, I took Claws, Echoes of the Beast, Diminutive Size, and Marked By Power as free under the "It Is What It Is" clause of Items of Power.  It's a cat, with all the advantages and disadvantages that implies - he's cute, adorable, small, agile, and cunning, but also weak and vulnerable.  And Items of Power specifically must be "obvious as something unusual" - which seems like exactly the definition of Marked by Power, in my reading.  He's a cat, but anyone with even the tiniest bit of sensitivity knows he's not a normal cat.

As a GM, I'd accept the "free" four points of powers, because while they're advantageous they're also counter-balancing the strong disadvantages Boggart has for a PC over, say, Amorrachius.  The sword, for example, is neither soft and squishy nor prone to disagree with your relative priorities on the problems in your life.

EDIT: Oh, and as he's a cat - and probably smarter than the average domesticated (*cough*) animal - he should have an aspect or two reflecting it.  I'd vote for "Superior Stare" and "*yawn* Don't Interrupt My Beauty Sleep With Your Pitiful Human Problems".  :-P

[Deadmanwalking]

Supernatural Sense (-1) - it's not only a cat, it's a cat infused with my magical powers.  He's supernaturally aware.  In this case, probably vision.

As an Item of Power, I think you only need to pay for those abilities the cat bestows upon you, not those it possesses itself. Those are part of the "Cat NPC" a slightly different thing than the "Cat Item of Power".

Refinement (-2) - when Boggart is with me, I gain +1 control to each of air and spirit magic.  He's a creature of air and shadow to start with, and now he's infused with my power as well.

Um, Refinement grants two specialties per level, not 1.

[neko128]

As an Item of Power, I think you only need to pay for those abilities the cat bestows upon you, not those it possesses itself. Those are part of the "Cat NPC" a slightly different thing than the "Cat Item of Power".

Yes - the rest is part of its "it is what it is".  But cats, while having good vision, don't necessarily have supernaturally sharp vision.  Boggart does (at least in my example).

Um, Refinement grants two specialties per level, not 1.

Yeah, I was just fixing that.  :-P

[Deadmanwalking]

Yes - the rest is part of its "it is what it is".  But cats, while having good vision, don't necessarily have supernaturally sharp vision.  Boggart does (at least in my example).

Right, but that isn't what I meant: An Item of Power bestows abilities on you. An Item of Power that is also an NPC may have powers of it's own, but whether they're natural to it's creature type or not, even if it's a spellcasting raven you've borrowed from Odin, you only need to pay points for the abilities it grants you. The rest is just it's stuff.

Or to put it simply, as an Item of Power, you only need to pay the Refresh if the cat grants YOU Supernatural Senses, not if it just has them itself.

[neko128]

Or to put it simply, as an Item of Power, you only need to pay the Refresh if the cat grants YOU Supernatural Senses, not if it just has them itself.

Hmmm.  I see your point, but I think it's a matter of interpretation; and while I value your point, I'm going to stick with my own at least in games I run.    "Imparted" is a very fine line.

Think of it this way - what exactly is being imparted, the power itself or the effect of the power?  You're right, Captain Kitty the wizard has not actually received the power Supernatural Sense, because he isn't the one that can see invisible spirits (arguments as to whether or not cats naturally see invisible things notwithstanding).  However, his link to Boggart gives him the *effect* of the power at all times an Item of Power (enchanted glasses, say) would, which brings it down to a point of semantics.  If he's there, I am aware of the invisible things he's aware of; if he's not, I'm not aware of them.

Or to go back to my other favorite example (Amorrachius is such a pretty sword!); if I'm wielding a sword, and that sword's enchanted (mechanically as an item of power), and the power the sword grants is "bypass defenses on the thing I'm hitting"...  Is the power actually part of me, or is it part of the item?  The effect is being granted to me, but the description in the book specifically says "In essense, a Sword of the Cross may take the place of whatever it is that a creature has a weakness to".  It doesn't say "the person who owns it ignores the defenses" - the sword is integral to the act and power.

[Deadmanwalking]

It depends on the distinction you want to make between the NPC and the Item. Despite them being one being in logic and in-game reality, I see the two as mechanically distinct and separate. Would you charge someone if they had a pet cat that happened to be spiritually attuned and could see ghosts? Or were friends with one of Odin's Ravens, who's a spellcaster? I wouldn't. Having unusual NPC friends who can occasionally be useful seems to me to just be one of those things that happens in a Dresden Files game. So, I'd allow 'Item of Power' NPCs to do the same, only charging for the powers they actually impart.

Now, if he's a more D&D style familiar and you can see through his eyes and spot ghosts, that's a real benefit and one I'd charge for.

[neko128]

Would you charge someone if they had a pet cat that happened to be spiritually attuned and could see ghosts?

If the result was my cat attacking invisible goblins and jumping up the walls, no.  Hell, my cats do that all the time, and the only benefit I get from it is vast amusement when I'm bored and vast annoyance when I'm asleep.  If the result were that, through our mystic link, I was aware of the invisible monsters at the same time and to the same extent he was, then yes.

Now, if he's a more D&D style familiar and you can see through his eyes and spot ghosts, that's a real benefit and one I'd charge for.

My point exactly.