find familiar - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

find familiar

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
diamabel
Jul 27, 2005 7:18:07 hi bloods,

i've been dming a planescape-campaign (2nd edition) for some time now and a wizard in our party is planning to get a familiar. i dont like the original spell from the players handbook much because it lacks the special planescape feel ;)

unfortunately im not sure what creatures are suitable familiars and can be attracted by the spell. can anybody help me?
#2
zombiegleemax
Aug 25, 2005 7:29:47 Much depends on the plane on which the mage decides to cast Find Familiar, though his own alignment might also be relevant.

Only a foolish or power-hungry magic-user would cast the spell on one of the Lower Planes. While imps and quasits usually only serve LE or CE masters, they'd no doubt jump at the chance to corrupt one who was good or neutral, twisting the caster's mind so that the master eventually follows the servant. A Bezikira might deign to follow a powerful LE caster, though its loyalty could never be entirely counted on. Other creatures might answer the summons, depending on how malicious you're feeling. The ostrich-like Abrian is evil but less malevolent than a Simpathetic, though if a PC is foolish enough to seek a familiar in the Abyss then they've got it coming to them! A Mephit would perhaps be a kinder, though equally amusing choice - especially if its creator decides to find out just what has happened to his wayward messenger boy.

On the Upper Planes, it's actually a bit harder to come up with unique suggesions. A Sunfly perhaps? On the Beastlands, you have the full run of animals from across a range of Primes.

On the Inner Planes, mephits are probably top of the list, though earth and water grue might also be good choices - the other two kinds are probably too intelligent to endenture themselves into servitude. The Appendix to MCIII suggests a host of 'dumb beasts' of the Inner Planes which would make good choices - from the Saasin on the Plane of Air (a flying reptile) to the Scrape of Fire (a bald teleporting rodent) to the Khirth of Dust (brown bats). Animentals might also be summoned by the spell, but whether they can survive outside their home plane is a matter for conjecture.

Other suggestions might be Gear Spirits (good choice for a Wild Mage - see how he likes it for a change) or Astral Streakers. You could also use the standard familiar list as a basis for new ideas, tweaked to give it a planescape feel. After all, that's what some canonical sources do: MCII details the porcupine-like Quill, which is a dead ringer for... a porcupine. Yo could, for example, turn a ferret green, give it six legs and call it a Jazergot. Or steal something from the Dark Sun setting and make it native to the Outlands - Dark Sun material always seems suitably bizarre to players unfamiliar with the setting.

Finally, the Complete Necromancer's Handbook suggests more powerful casters might be able to make a deal with a more powerful planar entity to serve as a familiar, though the relationship is more that of a pact or an alliance than that of wizard and familiar. This would need careful handling, but might be an idea worth considering. Perhaps your player strikes such a deal with an Incarnate or a Light Aasimon, or perhaps with the spirit of an Arcanoloth slain on a Prime who manages to hijack the Find Familiar spell to assume a lesser form until his real body reforms...
#3
ripvanwormer
Aug 25, 2005 16:10:41 This thing would make a good familiar.

Tasters would too. Maybe even one of these.

Don't forget lim-lims.

Imps, quasits, coure eladrins and so forth make good advanced familiars. A cranium rat would make a good familiar, assuming its connection to Ilsensine could be severed.
#4
zombiegleemax
Sep 14, 2005 12:22:51
On the Upper Planes, it's actually a bit harder to come up with unique suggesions. A Sunfly perhaps? On the Beastlands, you have the full run of animals from across a range of Primes.

Actually, the spell shouldn't work at all in the Beastlands. Upon entering the Beastlands, all animals run off into the wilderness. If an animal is a one gained as part of a class feature (familiar, animal companion, mount) or feat (cohort) the animal rejoins the character just before the character leaves the plane. The inherrent wildness of the plane prevents anything even remotely resembling domestication.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 diamabel Jul 27, 2005 7:18:07	hi bloods, i've been dming a planescape-campaign (2nd edition) for some time now and a wizard in our party is planning to get a familiar. i dont like the original spell from the players handbook much because it lacks the special planescape feel ;) unfortunately im not sure what creatures are suitable familiars and can be attracted by the spell. can anybody help me?
#2 zombiegleemax Aug 25, 2005 7:29:47	Much depends on the plane on which the mage decides to cast Find Familiar, though his own alignment might also be relevant. Only a foolish or power-hungry magic-user would cast the spell on one of the Lower Planes. While imps and quasits usually only serve LE or CE masters, they'd no doubt jump at the chance to corrupt one who was good or neutral, twisting the caster's mind so that the master eventually follows the servant. A Bezikira might deign to follow a powerful LE caster, though its loyalty could never be entirely counted on. Other creatures might answer the summons, depending on how malicious you're feeling. The ostrich-like Abrian is evil but less malevolent than a Simpathetic, though if a PC is foolish enough to seek a familiar in the Abyss then they've got it coming to them! A Mephit would perhaps be a kinder, though equally amusing choice - especially if its creator decides to find out just what has happened to his wayward messenger boy. On the Upper Planes, it's actually a bit harder to come up with unique suggesions. A Sunfly perhaps? On the Beastlands, you have the full run of animals from across a range of Primes. On the Inner Planes, mephits are probably top of the list, though earth and water grue might also be good choices - the other two kinds are probably too intelligent to endenture themselves into servitude. The Appendix to MCIII suggests a host of 'dumb beasts' of the Inner Planes which would make good choices - from the Saasin on the Plane of Air (a flying reptile) to the Scrape of Fire (a bald teleporting rodent) to the Khirth of Dust (brown bats). Animentals might also be summoned by the spell, but whether they can survive outside their home plane is a matter for conjecture. Other suggestions might be Gear Spirits (good choice for a Wild Mage - see how he likes it for a change) or Astral Streakers. You could also use the standard familiar list as a basis for new ideas, tweaked to give it a planescape feel. After all, that's what some canonical sources do: MCII details the porcupine-like Quill, which is a dead ringer for... a porcupine. Yo could, for example, turn a ferret green, give it six legs and call it a Jazergot. Or steal something from the Dark Sun setting and make it native to the Outlands - Dark Sun material always seems suitably bizarre to players unfamiliar with the setting. Finally, the Complete Necromancer's Handbook suggests more powerful casters might be able to make a deal with a more powerful planar entity to serve as a familiar, though the relationship is more that of a pact or an alliance than that of wizard and familiar. This would need careful handling, but might be an idea worth considering. Perhaps your player strikes such a deal with an Incarnate or a Light Aasimon, or perhaps with the spirit of an Arcanoloth slain on a Prime who manages to hijack the Find Familiar spell to assume a lesser form until his real body reforms...
#3 ripvanwormer Aug 25, 2005 16:10:41	This thing would make a good familiar. Tasters would too. Maybe even one of these. Don't forget lim-lims. Imps, quasits, coure eladrins and so forth make good advanced familiars. A cranium rat would make a good familiar, assuming its connection to Ilsensine could be severed.
#4 zombiegleemax Sep 14, 2005 12:22:51	On the Upper Planes, it's actually a bit harder to come up with unique suggesions. A Sunfly perhaps? On the Beastlands, you have the full run of animals from across a range of Primes. Actually, the spell shouldn't work at all in the Beastlands. Upon entering the Beastlands, all animals run off into the wilderness. If an animal is a one gained as part of a class feature (familiar, animal companion, mount) or feat (cohort) the animal rejoins the character just before the character leaves the plane. The inherrent wildness of the plane prevents anything even remotely resembling domestication.