Post/Author/DateTime	Post
ObscureInfo 12-06-07, 11:58 PM	I love familiars. Not everybody does, but I do. Every one of my wizards and sorcerers had one. I also love hearing stories about familiars and the creative and funny ways they are used. So bring them on! Tell me about your familiar. What did you name them and why? Like the time I suspected the party rogue of stealing from the party, my wizard cast invisibility on his black cat familiar, Ink, and had it follow the rogue while he was scouting ahead. When the familiar got angry, my wizard dimension doored to where he was and caught the blighter in the act. He never did that again. For the next four sessions, the rogue kept stopping every time he couldn't see Ink and made a spot and listen check because he thought he was invisible again. (and he was in the wizard's pack the whole time. :D) How about you?
Avatar of Kokusho 12-07-07, 12:41 AM	His name is Hairball, and he's a cat. He spent a good two and a half years hair-LESS, due to getting blasted by a lich and barely surviving. Hairball's pretty bright, for a feline- he wears a collar of intellect +4. He once directly assisted in the rescue of his mistress from an evil sorcerer from Hell. Hairball now has Familiar Spell (disintegrate); don't tick off the kitty! In his now old age, all he wants is to sit in a warm patch of sun, preferably on a book someone's reading. Unfortunately his mistress still adventures every now and then, so he complains constantly...
DMDrugar 12-07-07, 01:32 AM	The mage in my group has a monkey named Jack (same kind of monkey too) which was once used as a weapon. The group was fighting a bugbear warlord who was ripping people apart with his greataxe when the mage grabbed his monkey and said "I fling the monkey at his head!". Natural 20, it doesn't do any damage but it confuses and blinds him for one round, causing the bugbear to cut down his orcish lieutenant. The next turn, the monkey attacks the bugbear's face, another 20 and he blinds the bugbear permanently by stabbing its eyes out. Mogron the Warlord went down pretty quickly after that. He's mostly used as a battlefield destributor of potions though (never underestimate the power of opposable thumbs on your familiar).
Exposed_Wires 12-07-07, 02:28 AM	His name is Hairball, and he's a cat. He spent a good two and a half years hair-LESS, due to getting blasted by a lich and barely surviving. Hairball's pretty bright, for a feline- he wears a collar of intellect +4. He once directly assisted in the rescue of his mistress from an evil sorcerer from Hell. Hairball now has Familiar Spell (disintegrate); don't tick off the kitty! In his now old age, all he wants is to sit in a warm patch of sun, preferably on a book someone's reading. Unfortunately his mistress still adventures every now and then, so he complains constantly... Thats adorable!
Empirate 12-07-07, 09:57 AM	Love the stories! A guild wizard of mine (non-D&D) had a Pseudodragon-like creature named Ruby (for the color of his scales) follow him around. Wasn't a true familiar, more like somebody living in your house who's not entirely housebroken, not entirely cute, and impossible to get rid of. I loved him, though. Me and him had a good time trying to talk a bunch of Pocketdragons (even smaller than Pseudodragons, but powerful illusionists) into stopping their protection racket of several farming villages. They cooperatively cast spells to create a very frightening illusion of a huge dragon to cow the villagers. Ruby and me eventually saw through it and got them to stop, him acting as the diplomat, me providing magical payment. Good times! One of the players in my current campaign wanted a Gecko familiar, so I came up with something: Geckos provide a +3 bonus to Climb and have Tremorsense (60'). They have the stats of a rat except for the (Ex) ability to Spider Climb at will, and they don't have attacks. The player of the Sorcerer PC loves her Gecko and calls it Tsounaimos (Flame in Greek, the Sorcerer is from Chessenta and Red-Dragon-themed). Unfortunately, Geckos don't like cold. The last roughly 10 sessions have revolved around hunting trips in winter, in the mountains... Tsounaimos wasn't happy at all, and all his great benefits went to waste. What a shame! Yet better times will come for Tsounaimos and Iolaos. Someday.
SearcherOmega 12-07-07, 11:20 AM	The wizard in my last campaign had a black cat familiar named Logic. Logic was known for always being hungry and mooching treats off the various party members, to the wizard's annoyance. At one point, she saved her wizard when he was under the effects of a charm spell and separated from the party - by knocking over a lantern and setting the boat on fire, and with it, the psionic leeches on board. Another time, she managed to scare off a bandit who had knocked the wizard unconscious by rolling a natural 20 on Intimidate ( -- and the bandit in question rolled a natural 1 on his opposed level check ). The bandit was so freaked out that he eventually became a recurring character who was psychotically convinced that the wizard's cat was the Spawn of the Abyss. He was, however, humorously incompetent.
Talisman 12-07-07, 06:13 PM	Playing my namesake half-dragon wizard (Talisman), I had a screech owl named Omen. It was a creepy, gothic, anti-undead campaign, which is why the name. Omen was surprisingly useful; his favorite tactic was distributing bull's strength spells to front-line fighters. I eventually magicked him up to have bull's strength as a SLA 3/day, thus freeing up my precious actions. I ended up with druidic spellcasting as well (long story), and discovered that familars can transmit healing touch spells as well! Once, the party decided to split up. Talisman went with one group, Omen with the other, and Omen's group ran into the nasties. Said nasties were shadows, and Omen ended up tangling with a shadow-crow (he won). My favorite Omen story...Talisman got kidnapped by a doppleganger mage, leaving a frantic Omen behind. Reasonably smart (and literate!) but unable to speak, I (as Omen) tried to convince the rest of the party to follow me to "Master." This led to some interesting bird-charades, culminating in me scratching out the word "TALISMAN" in the dirt with a claw. Omen was also a terrific watchbird. When his master wasn't around, he had perfected a "zombie stride" to demonstrate to the others than undead were near (imagine a tiny screech owl stomping around all stiff-legged). If he recognized vampires, he would imitate fangs by holding two claws up to his beak.
Grizzled Gryphon 12-07-07, 07:19 PM	While I don't have any funny or cool familiar stories of my own to relate, I did read a thread on here (in one forum or another) about a guy running a game for his girlfriend/wife that had a penguin as a familiar! Or was it an animal companion? At any rate, he described the stuff that happened, and it was an entertaining read, to say the least.
ObscureInfo 12-07-07, 07:57 PM	Keep 'em coming. I am loving this. :)
Sinfire Titan 12-07-07, 07:59 PM	My favorite familiar: An imp named Shaddon. He wasn't a technical familiar, but he got the snot beat out of him by a wizard's hummingbird. Best fight, ever.
ObscureInfo 12-07-07, 09:07 PM	My favorite familiar: An imp named Shaddon. He wasn't a technical familiar, but he got the snot beat out of him by a wizard's hummingbird. Best fight, ever. I would love for you to elaborate on this story. Hummingbird? Does a hummingbird even deal damage? That's like getting killed by a squirrel. Please tell us the whole story. :)
Exposed_Wires 12-07-07, 09:31 PM	One of my players is going to play a changeling wizard variant in the campaign i'm starting next weekend. If' you're not familiar with the Eberron nonsense, he's going to get a familiar that can morph. I'm anticipating some real crazy antics. Actually, with that in mind, I should set up some situations that really tries his familiar.
darkdrifter169 12-08-07, 03:50 AM	One of my players is going to play a changeling wizard variant in the campaign i'm starting next weekend. If' you're not familiar with the Eberron nonsense, he's going to get a familiar that can morph. I'm anticipating some real crazy antics. Actually, with that in mind, I should set up some situations that really tries his familiar. HAHA...I'm the player he speaks of. And i don't get my morphing familiar till level 5. But after that its just a full round action for my familiar to change shape into any other familiar and give me the new bonus. I've already got some cool ideas for it hehe
ObscureInfo 12-08-07, 04:27 AM	HAHA...I'm the player he speaks of. And i don't get my morphing familiar till level 5. But after that its just a full round action for my familiar to change shape into any other familiar and give me the new bonus. I've already got some cool ideas for it hehe Very "Golden Compass" of you. Now I hesitate to say anything, since it is not my game and I have no stake in it, but the very idea of giving you multiple bonuses for one single familiar is extreme at best. 5th level to get EVERY SINGLE familiar? The morphing idea is cool enough, because it allows you to have both the stealthy familiars and the flying ones. Just because your familiar can morph into a weasal doesn't mean your bonus should change. For a morphing familiar, I would say that you should get a bonus to disguise and leave it at that. (+2 disguise) But like I said, it is not my game and therefore I shall be quiet now. A familiar like that should generate quite a few stories. I look forward to seeing some of them later.
Sinfire Titan 12-08-07, 10:49 PM	I would love for you to elaborate on this story. Hummingbird? Does a hummingbird even deal damage? That's like getting killed by a squirrel. Please tell us the whole story. :) Dragon Compendium has a feat that lets the arcane caster share spells with their Familiar from up to a mile away. The master happened to have a scroll of Tenser's Transformation on hand, and it was in the middle of combat with the imp's master. The two familiars duked it out, with the hummingbird at an obvious advantage. The caster chose not to have the spell affect him, so he could whup the other one. Similarly, the imp was contingency Ressed, and trounced by a Body of War spell ffrom the same caster just last session. That was just cruel, but very funny to watch when the caster did it.
Sinfire Titan 12-08-07, 11:03 PM	Very "Golden Compass" of you. Now I hesitate to say anything, since it is not my game and I have no stake in it, but the very idea of giving you multiple bonuses for one single familiar is extreme at best. 5th level to get EVERY SINGLE familiar? The morphing idea is cool enough, because it allows you to have both the stealthy familiars and the flying ones. Just because your familiar can morph into a weasal doesn't mean your bonus should change. For a morphing familiar, I would say that you should get a bonus to disguise and leave it at that. (+2 disguise) But like I said, it is not my game and therefore I shall be quiet now. A familiar like that should generate quite a few stories. I look forward to seeing some of them later. Of the base familiars.
Guardian1 12-09-07, 01:19 AM	In the campaign that I was most recently in, the party druid had a bogun. Yeah, I know that druids can't have familiars, but this bogun basicallt filled that spot, and provided a ton of comic relief for us. For instance, boguns get crap for Spot and Listen, but because the entire party would routinely need a full nights rest, the bogun would get stuck on watch. Another time, the party was trying to take down a tower that clerics and mages were using as a platform to bombard us with spells. The druid had his bogun fly up there to check out the numbers of the enemy, and due to the bogun's low intelligence, the following conversation took place. Druid: "How many enemies?" Bogun: "Three, Master." Druid: "You're sure?" Bogun: "Yes." Druid: "Alright, I'll handl this." (Druid wildshapes into and eagle and takes off towards the tower, turning into a wolf once he lands on the top) Characters hear a "YIPE!" and see a wolf fly off the tower and hit the ground in a semi-charred heap, just barely alive. After getting healed and regaining consciousness, the druid just looks at his bogun and says "Three enemies?" Bogun: "Yeah, Master." Druid: (facepalm, then to rest of party) "Stupid potato." Had the group :rofl:.
JasonOrlandoHawk 12-09-07, 01:49 AM	Do I have familiar stories? Where to start? Bitey Stampy Fluffy, 3rd In summary, I was running a gestalt campaign, and one of my players (character: Druid/Sorcerer) asked if he could merge the rules for the Animal Companion and Familiar into one (sort of a gestalt famil-panion). We agreed, and for a while, it wasn't too bad. Then, he qualified for a T-Rex animal companion. Shortly thereafter (this went to epic levels), he started taking levels in Fleshwarper (Lords of Madness), and the final result was... ...sanity damaging. Increase a T-Rex to Colossal Size. Add Umber Hulk mandibles to his jaws. Remove his eyes and replace them w/ Beholder Eye Stalks, both of which now contain magical rubies that shoot fireballs. Have him sprout multiple tentacles and spines. Give him Undead-grafted skin, and gelatinous internal organs. Remove his arms and replace them. One arm is a massive, muscular arm that drags the ground and performs powerful slam attacks. The other is a skeletal arm that crackles with Necromantic energy and can perform drain attacks. Replace his tail with a giant fish tail (for an impressive swim speed). Next, remove his legs and replace them with "Giant Stone Rollers," a.k.a. "Tank Treads." Finally, install "Stone Spitters" on his shoulders, a graft that is described as "a box that fires high-velocity stone spikes" at an enemy. This is Bitey Stampy Fluffy, 3rd. As for hilarious scenes... I can't begin to mention them all. However, I will share a frequent source of humor caused by this creature, frequently called "Rexy." His master acquired the magical belt that has 64 individual pockets for storing spell components. The item description notes that one pocket is designed to hold the caster's familiar, and it specifically notes that the familiar fits regardless of size. This caster liked to have western-style showdowns with his enemies. However, instead of drawing a weapon or casting a spell, he suddenly pulled "Rexy" out of his belt, terrifying his foes into submission. Colonel, the Chicken Just in case you thought the T-Rex would be the most memorable familiar from such a campaign... One of my friends had a chicken familiar (stated as a raven), and took the Celestial Familiar feat (Book of Exalted Deeds). The chicken's racial HD bonus feat was Touch of Golden Ice. Seriously, how many creatures can possibly fail the abysmally low save versus that ability? And even the ones who do fail can't possibly take too much damage, right? Neogi Warriors. An Adult Black Dragon. A titan. An Avatar to a God. And a horde of creatures with a CR below 3... The chicken was blessed by the dice. The player was one known to have a long-standing streak of bad luck, and has a reputation for botching at critical moments... but not with this chicken. No, Colonel consistently managed to land killing blows against impossible odds, and in the case of the Avatar to Nerull, actually killed the Avatar single-handedly. I'm not entirely sure how this is possible, but that chicken was terrifying. My gaming group was so impressed by this pattern that one member of the group went out, bought a fake rooster, named it Colonel, and would rub his dice against it for luck. On a side note, Colonel was also a very powerful motivational speaker, once rallying troops before an orc invasion. I have many more stories, but it's late, so I'll post more later.
ObscureInfo 12-09-07, 03:01 AM	His master acquired the magical belt that has 64 individual pockets for storing spell components. The item description notes that one pocket is designed to hold the caster's familiar, and it specifically notes that the familiar fits regardless of size. And this is why the rules don't allow for fami-panions. (Familiars and Companions being the same creature) It would be the same as pulling a Dire Bear or Dire Lion out of same said pocket. This is why familiars are small or smaller size animals. Funny story, but I think I like the Chicken one better. :) I don't know what a bogun is, so I couldn't follow Guardian1's story. I assume there were more than three people in the tower? A hummingbird on Tenser's Transformation, hmmm.... Wow!
Moosh Nailo 12-09-07, 03:27 AM	Wicked stuff. Anyone else ever considered running a level with the players playing as their familiar/psicrystal/animal companion, the masters unconscious and kidnapped or some such? Setting up a "dungeon" or what have you so the minions have to work together to get through everything, and eventually rescue their masters. Always dreamed of doing such a thing.
Avatar of Kokusho 12-09-07, 09:53 AM	What I keep trying to talk my DM into is letting me play an awakened ferret with a half-orc for a familiar. What's so bad about that?!
Kalai_Eljahn 12-09-07, 01:37 PM	Other than that you switched types (humanoid/magical beast) and the LA on a ferret has to bite? Only that it doesn't make sense to put a half-orc in a ferret's pocket.
JasonOrlandoHawk 12-09-07, 03:31 PM	Well, ObscureInfo, I realize Rexy was partially outside the rules, but honestly, in an Epic Level Gestalt game, he was hardly a threat. He was single-handedly dropped by a Ularithid (Ultra-Illithid, Lords of Madness) at one point, requiring a Res spell. The party's Barbarian dished out far more damage. But, yeah, the chicken was much, much funnier. Colonel is jokingly referred to as a Demigod in any game I run now. Colonel even picked up some artillery functions via Familiar Spell and a specially crafted Broom of Flying. Still, he was known for devastating evil characters via Touch of Golden Ice. It was insane. Other familiars from that game: Unnamed Ape One of the Precursors to Rexy, this ape's major contribution to the game was getting into a food fight in the middle of the wizard's school/tower, and plastering a major NPC with mashed vegetables... Precious (?) the Pegasus An animal companion, actually, for a female Druid in the party. The player was new to D&D, so she kept casting Spider Climb on her mount so the Pegasus could get over walls. Gandalf the Giant Eagle Very short lived mount for a highly impressionable Halfling Rogue in the party. "Little Brother," the Gold Dragon A wyrmling gold dragon that the party's Cleric to Bahamut was responsible for protecting. Little Brother spent several sessions trying to learn to be a samurai, was a frequent source of mischief, and even had a short romance with a cute red dragon wyrmling (which came to a very abrupt end, once discovered). Little Brother was eventually revealed to be Bahamut himself, reborn in mortal form, to combat the BBEG of my campaign. In the end, he sacrificed himself to save the world. Ironically, the last person to figure out who Little Brother really was: The Cleric to Bahamut. :nonono: And now for some anecdotes from my more recent campaigns: Hastur, the Chucacabra Based off stats from one of my Dragon magazines, I allowed a Sorcerer to take a Chucacabra as a familiar. When she decided to name it Hastur, I allowed it's fur to turn bright yellow. It was fairly dangerous in combat, eventually mastered the art of the dance, and considered Kobolds to be a delicacy. (Why? Mostly to make the group's Kobold Monk nervous...) Din-Din, the Cat From my current sailing campaign, just a regular cat owned by the ship's captain. While the captain is a Druid, she has a different animal companion. However, she keeps the cat around as a mouser for the ship. The party's lizardfold keeps attempting to catch and eat the cat, to little avail. The lizardfolk is the one who named it. Dandelion the Donkey A Dwarven Ranger's Mount. Has awakened to a personality roughly equivalent to Donkey from Shrek. Not terribly broken... but the Dwarf is dangerously specialized in Mounted Combat, which has proven strangely effective in a sea-faring campaign. Didn't see that one coming.
Dark Stryke 12-09-07, 05:58 PM	The sorcerer in my campaign has an imaginary familiar. It's a cat that no one else can see, and it can't interact with anyone (deliver touch spells, scout, all the other jazzy things a familiar can do). It still provides the skill bonus for having a familiar though. It's lead to some interesting situations, where the sorcerer (a doting master) sometimes breaks off from a meaningful conversation to talk to the air and stroke a bundle of nothing lovingly. Of course, the sorcerer himself is nothing if not eccentric, so people learn to deal with it.
Shadowshimmer 12-10-07, 11:07 AM	We had an evil NPC Monk (betrayed us) in our group who was sneaking up on our Gnome Wizard during the night when the Monk was suppose to be on watch. Well the only thing that saved the Wizard from getting his neck broken was his Familiar Shadow who is a black cat. Shadow jumped on the Monk's head and tried clawing his face off which woke up the whole camp. We chased that Monk down after he ran away and waylaid him. Thanks to Shadow, we discovered a traitor, saved our Wizard and favor cat familiars to this day.
Omnirahk, half-Rahkshi 12-10-07, 11:57 AM	Wicked stuff. Anyone else ever considered running a level with the players playing as their familiar/psicrystal/animal companion, the masters unconscious and kidnapped or some such? Setting up a "dungeon" or what have you so the minions have to work together to get through everything, and eventually rescue their masters. Always dreamed of doing such a thing. Briefly. But my best familiar-based adventure was a quest on behalf of a mad wizard. (Is there any other kind?) He screwed up getting his familiar, and instead fragmented his personality, instilling a concentrated personality trait in several scattered animals. The adventurers now need to retrieve Kender the Ferret, Joey the Raven ("*squaw* How you doing?"), Bravado the Monkey, and more. While making sure the wizard doesn't do anything stupid when he regains only a fragment of his personality, leaving him quite imbalanced. I've really got to flesh that out for a funny one-shot.
Shadowshimmer 12-11-07, 07:42 AM	"Anyone else ever considered running a level with the players playing as their familiar/psicrystal/animal companion, the masters unconscious and kidnapped or some such? Setting up a "dungeon" or what have you so the minions have to work together to get through everything, and eventually rescue their masters. Always dreamed of doing such a thing." This is one of the best ideas in Dungeons & Dragons/Roleplaying games I have ever heard of and I have been playing for years. Setting up a dungeon would probably be a little difficult at first but man what an idea. Kind of like "The Incredible Journey" meets D & D.