Bind Familiar
Level: 1
Category: Binding
Time: 1 hour
Duration: See below
Component Cost: See below
Market Price: 50 gp
Key Skill: Arcana, Nature or Religion
This ritual binds a familiar to your service. This familiar is permanent until destroyed. You can only bind one familiar at a time. Binding a familiar costs an amount equal to the sale price of a magical item equivalent to the familiar’s level. To increase a familiar’s level, an amount must be spent equal to the difference between the familiar’s old level and its new level. A familiar’s level cannot exceed its master’s level.
A familiar can be any creature that its master wishes, but all familiars have the same basic statistics:
Abilities: Str 6, Con 10, Dex 14, Int 10, Wis 10, Cha 10.
Size: Tiny. As Tiny creatures, familiars have a reach of 0 squares.
Speed: 4 squares.
Hit Points: 1. A missed attack never deals damage to a familiar.
AC: 12 + level + ability modifier.
Other Defenses: 10 + (4/5 level, round up) + ability modifier.
Basic Attack
At-Will
Standard Action Melee
Target: One creature
Attack: Dexterity + (4/5 level, round up) vs. AC
Hit: 1d4 + Dexterity modifier damage. Increase damage to 2d4 + Dexterity modifier damage at 21st level.
In addition, each familiar has two of the following qualities, chosen by its master:
Flight: The familiar has a fly speed of 8 squares.
Swim: The familiar has a swim speed of 4 squares.
Skill Training: The familiar is trained in any two skills. This ability can be taken twice.
Others: The familiar has any other ability which the DMs approves.
Comments welcome,
TS
What does the familiar do for the ritual caster?
What does the familiar do for the ritual caster?
Do? When did a familiar ever do anything? They're a fashion accessory, sort of like handbags that positively overflow with tiny dogs.
What does the familiar do for the ritual caster?
Well if we're talking about familiars in the original sense of the word, I don't think I can answer that question in a PG-13 forum like this one...
But if you're asking 'what bonuses do familiars grant their masters like they did in 3e?' I could add this to the list of elective abilities:
Skill Bonus: The familiar grants its master Skill Focus in any two skills, so long as they are within 1 square of each other. If the master already has Skill Focus in a selected skill, this ability grants no further benefit. This ability can be taken twice.
TS
I think there are a lot of issues with the familiar. First, the familiar seems very easy to kill; it has low defenses and they are only going to get worse, since it doesn't appear that its ability modifiers get better as its level increases. Second, how does the familiar work with the economy of actions? Does the familiar act separately or does it use the actions of its masters? Third, how does the familiar communicate with its master? Empathy, speech, telepathy, or does it not communicate at all. Fourth, the Skill bonus benefit would be a no-brainer, but a +3 feat bonus (?) to two skills seems a little too powerful for a 1st level ritual.
I think there are a lot of issues with the familiar. First, the familiar seems very easy to kill; it has low defenses and they are only going to get worse, since it doesn't appear that its ability modifiers get better as its level increases. Second, how does the familiar work with the economy of actions? Does the familiar act separately or does it use the actions of its masters? Third, how does the familiar communicate with its master? Empathy, speech, telepathy, or does it not communicate at all. Fourth, the Skill bonus benefit would be a no-brainer, but a +3 feat bonus (?) to two skills seems a little too powerful for a 1st level ritual.
I could have made familiars work like mounts in the action economy, but I find it hard to justify that level of dependence with an intelligent companion even within the abstraction that is 4e. (I just can't imagine an intelligent companion needing the master's direction every round to attack.) To compensate for their independence, I gave them 1 HP so that they remain 90% fashion accessories and 10% out-of-combat helpers. Their attack and defenses may seem low, but they do in fact advance at the same pace as a moderately optimized PC. They'll always be a few flat bonuses lower than a PC's, but familiars aren't meant to be in combat.
Familiars communicate via speech...probably empathy too. I'll clarify that.
The Skill Focuses are cool, but I think flight is the no-brainer. It's arguable though.
TS
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Let me drop a few thoughts into this conversation. In my on-going CotCT 4e game I incorporated familiars as a Level 1 ritual. I wanted to allow wizards to bind Imp's to themselves as part of their graduation ceremony.
I didn't want to fall into the trap of making the familiar a separate creature which needs to be tracked and so put together more abstract rules for familiars. I created an additional magic item 'slot' called companion and essentially treated the familiar as a 'magic item' each with a level and unique abilities.
I feel this is a fairly elegant way to manage familiars. It can be expanded to have higher level familiars as the character levels and even could be used to represent pets for Druids and such.
SW
I've heard this idea mentioned on another board. It's not immediately appealing to me, but out of curiosity what abilities/bonuses did your familiars give their masters?
TS