Fri 26 Jan 2024, 17:49
OK Fey, you are 100% correct. My version was way OP. Especially after reviewing companion, yea, too much. I like yours, so I re-pasted it below, and a small addendum from mine (and even that was edited down). Check it out.
Also, why is the damage on the toad and the snake a D6 instead of a D3, and should we have an choice of snake, between a constrictor and a viper (poison)?
Create Familiar
✦ Rank: 1
✦ Prerequisite: Any School of Magic
✦ Requirement: Word, gesture, Ingredient (A small, non-sentient animal, such as a Cat, Crow, Rat, Snake, Toad or Owl).
✦ Casting Time: Stretch
✦ Range: Touch
✦ Duration: Permanent
You summon and bind a spirit from another plane within the body of a small animal, creating a loyal servant. This spell requires the caster to give up some of their power in order to seal the pact between themselves and the Spirit, reducing their maximum WP by 1. The spell must be cast at Power Level 3. The Familiar is an intelligent being, with a personality similar to its master. It can understand any language its master is capable of, but cannot speak. Instead, it can telepathically communicate with its master when they are within 10m of one and another and lock eyes.
You can give the Familiar orders, but it can only perform actions that the animal whose body it inhabits would be capable of. In combat, the Familiar shares initiative with its master, taking its turn directly after. Unless given an order (Free Action) the Familiar will act independently, focusing on staying away from battle and, if necessary, take the Dodge Action.
Additionally, the wizard can spend 2 WP to do either of the following as a free action:
> Experience whatever the familiar perceives with its senses at a distance of up to 1 mile. This effect last for 1 stretch.
> Gain a boon when rolling a skill check with a skill the animal also possesses (not attacks). The duration is instant.
If the Familiar dies, the caster must pass a WIL check or suffer a random condition. You may cast the spell again to bring it back to life. Casting the spell this way doesn’t reduce the character's WP. This must be done within a Shift, otherwise the binding ends and the spirit will return to the plane it hailed from, at which you must cast the spell again with a new animal to get another familiar. If the player dies, the spell ends immediately and the Spirit returns to its home plane, and the animal it inhabited returns to normal. You may only have 1 familiar at a time.
Examples of animals that serve as typical examples of Familiars.
Cat/Rat
HP: 4
Movement: 12
Attack: Bite 8, Damage D3
Skills: Awareness 12, Evade 14, Sneaking 15
Crow/Owl
HP: 4
Movement: 14 (Capable of flight)
Attack: Peck, 8, Damage D3
Skills: Awareness 12, Evade 14, Spot Hidden 12 (Owl), Sneaking 12 (Crow)
Toad
Hp: 4
Movement: 10 (Can leap this distance without needing to roll and can move this speed in both water and on land)
Attack: Bite 8, Damage D3
Skills:[/b] Acrobatics 14, Awareness 12, Evade 14.
Snake.
HP: 4
Movement: 10
Attack: Bite 10, Damage D3
Skills: Awareness 12, Evade 14, Sneaking 12
