[Background Mod] Familiar

cyl

cyl

Creepy smile
So we've been talking about it on the pbp board, and we came up with this alternate "chargen" for the familiars.

Familiar from 1 to 3 dots:
- 1 dot familiar, small but loyal (no larger than a dog): create as a mortal (6/4/3 for attributes, 25 dots of abilities, 5 dots of virtues and there you go)


- 2 dot familiar (up to a claw strider): idem as 1 dot with + 6 to the physical traits


- 3 dot familiar (anything you can think of that is huge / fearsome / dangerous): idem as 2 dot with another + 6 to the physical (for a total of +12).


All of these three categories share the following traits:


- relative intelligence of a 6 years old


- can obey some orders


- can communicate through postures noises or expressions


- 5 motes available to the character when he touches them


- shared sense up to 100 yards


- heals quickly 1B per minute 1L per hour and cannot truly die unless some nasty soul breaking charm is used.


Note when designing the beast: don't forget taking into account the natural strengths of the animal (claws/fangs/venom/tusks etc etc).


UPGRADES on the Familiars:


When a familiar is upgraded by +1 dot, it gains the following:


- +3/2/1 to his attributes (distributed at the choice of the player) + 1 integrity + 5 dots worth of specialties


- the ability to speak fluently (becomes an ata beast).


When a familiar is upgraded by +2 dots, it gains the following:


- +3/2/2 (distributed at the choice of the player) + 1 integrity and + 1 W


- a score of Essence 1 the ability to channel essence with a pool calculated with the following formula: Essence x10 + willpower x 5


- the ability to use spirit charms


- 7 charms to pick up (with ST's approval... nothing too spiritual is the guideline).


When a familiar is upgraded by +3 dots, it gains the following:


- +1 essence


- + 4 charms


- Essence + 4 points of mutations (up to 10 with negative mutations points).


When a familiar is upgraded by +4 dots, it gains the following:


- +1 essence


- +3 charms


- 5 more points of mutations (up to 15).
Click to expand...
So if you have followed the logics:


- a 5 dots cat would have essence 3, 14 spiritual charms, and some nice features


- a 5 dots horse would have essence 2, 11 spiritual charms and a few cool features


- a 5 dots warhawk would have essence 1 7 spiritual charms and be a fricking killing machine.


I'm thinking about modifying the celestials training charms so the animals could be taught more abilities (Lore / Presence / Socialize etc etc).


Thank you for your appreciated comments on this one :)
 
When I first see this I think "frikkin overpowered", then I remember to compare it with other backgrounds, and it seems right.


I wants a magic kitteh.
 
Considering the power level of minions you can get from other sources...not overpowered. OF course, it makes Sidereals and their twink out my familiars (Heaven's forbid you only have 1, like everyone else) into a godly sex toy charms less special...but...really, I don't think that's a bad thing.
 
I's got just one question. How would you integrate something like the Lunar Charm that allows you to teach your familiar Lunar Charms (while still giving you no way to force them into XP debt to learn them or any XP for them to learn them with...feh...) into this system? It normally gives them the essence pool they eventually get automatically with your update (though their calculation is worse), and the ability to learn Lunar Charms, but at the cost of committing 10 motes to the creature. Would it just allow them to pick Lunar Charms instead of Spirit Charms when they get them? Or what?


Okay, so there was more than one question there...but it's all the same thing, basically... *coughs*


This also still, while making a badass familiar...will eventually have the critter useless once you're getting in the major epic levels....but it does seem to go far in making it more balanced and much less window dressing useless. Which isn't a bad thing. Looks pretty good from what I can tell.
 
Thank you for your positive reactions, we kinda worked hard on that one with the guys from the board... trying to make things more balanced and more interesting.


The spirit charms make them obviously more useful, but moreover they can one day reach the Legendary familiar state one day (and I haven't built a system for that one...yet).


About the lunar charm, easy fix: when used on a familiar, StGoL grants it the use of one charm the Lunar possesses if the familiar matches the prereqs (rest of the system works as normal).


I'm not a big fan of giving the fams xp, mainly because celestials can train them (too bad for terrestrials !) and give them free dots of attributes and abilities.


Plus we only have lunars and solar charms up to essence 3, who knows what they have done in the first age with all their raw power and craziness... I remember Proto Puma Prime, Lodestar and the Harvester of Poison from 1ed, those were funky beasts !
 
In the group I play in, we tend to give full XP to Familars that are actually involved game.


If your Familiar isn't in that game (for whatever reason), it gets no XP.


Allies get (your XP x their Ally level)


Command gets (your XP divided by 0*)


Contacts get (your XP divided by [6 - their Contact level]*)


Cult gets (your XP divided by 0*)


Familiars get (your XP)


Followers get (your XP divided by 0*)


Henchmen get (your XP split among them*)


Mentors get (whatever the hell the ST says they get)


Patrons get (whatever the hell the ST says they get)


Spies get (your XP divided by 0*)


Warriors get (your XP split among them*)


*Extenuating circumstances may apply. See contract for details. No substitutions, exchanges or refunds.
 
Dracogryff said:
...will eventually have the critter useless once you're getting in the major epic levels...
Click to expand...
Says the Greater God of Jedi Squirrels. >.<
I like this. As it is one of my players is taking 1 dot so far in familiar and I wanted to give him more than a cat/dog sized animal [yawn].


Thanks for this info cyl.
 
I haven't tested this in game, so I might amend this xp thing.


Ker'ion what's your experience with familiars and xp ? How deep does it affects them ?


I guess that when you give them access to spirit charms, aside from attributes and abilities and secondary traits; they don't really have much to spend on.
 
It tends to keep them from becoming a useless fixture in the game.


Having them be able to grow and improve is helpful and adds flavor to the game, especially since they can add their own distractions, as living beings don't tend to be mindlessly enthralled to the Exalt they run around with.


A starting level 2 Familiar is pretty useless to a 200 XP Solar Exalt, where a level 2 Familiar with 200 XP can still keep up with it's master. Though the problem of aging does come into play after a while.


No amount of XP is going to keep your housecat from kicking off before you can hit Essence of 6. Thus the player has to step in and do something.
 
A starting level 2 Familiar is pretty useless to a 200 XP Solar Exalt, where a level 2 Familiar with 200 XP can still keep up with it's master. Though the problem of aging does come into play after a while.
No amount of XP is going to keep your housecat from kicking off before you can hit Essence of 6. Thus the player has to step in and do something.
Click to expand...
Familiars are tied to the life force of the Exalt, and age at the same rate. That's the entire point of Familiar 1, originally.
 
In the group I play in, we tend to give full XP to Familars that are actually involved game.
If your Familiar isn't in that game (for whatever reason), it gets no XP.


Allies get (your XP x their Ally level)


Command gets (your XP divided by 0*)


Contacts get (your XP divided by [6 - their Contact level]*)


Cult gets (your XP divided by 0*)


Familiars get (your XP)


Followers get (your XP divided by 0*)


Henchmen get (your XP split among them*)


Mentors get (whatever the hell the ST says they get)


Patrons get (whatever the hell the ST says they get)


Spies get (your XP divided by 0*)


Warriors get (your XP split among them*)


*Extenuating circumstances may apply. See contract for details. No substitutions, exchanges or refunds.
Click to expand...
What's with all the dividing by zero???
 
Yes, Allies get more XP than the PC by that method, but, as a level Ally is supposed to be about five times more powerful than the PC, 5 times the XP keeps them that way.


And the 'No substitutions, exchanges or refunds.' portion of the disclaimer has actually been put into effect in my games.
 
Dracogryff said:
...will eventually have the critter useless once you're getting in the major epic levels...
Click to expand...
Says the Greater God of Jedi Squirrels. >.<
I like this. As it is one of my players is taking 1 dot so far in familiar and I wanted to give him more than a cat/dog sized animal [yawn].


Thanks for this info cyl.
Click to expand...
Ah...but Jedi Squirrels aren't mere familiars...they are members of an elite secret order of Lunars with Beamklaives.... :D


*ahems* I have never officially had a jedi squirrel familiar, though I have toyed with the concept of a Squirrel Totem Lunar with Moonsilver Beamklaive. Haven't found a game to play them in though.


But...I've just had characters with familiars that should have been leet and ubar that...well, weren't, because the characters had XP on them.


That and the fact that no matter how cool a familiar may look, one Exalt can slice them in half unless you find some way to deck them out in arifact armor or something. Simhata in Moonsilver Barding and CotSM....mmmm.... ^.^ (Edit note: I've never actually managed this...but it sounded lovely...)


But I do like the idea behind this alteration. Just wonder how it'd hold up in epic levels. I am interested in hearing more about the Legendary Familiar business, tho...


And...

cyl said:
About the lunar charm, easy fix: when used on a familiar, StGoL grants it the use of one charm the Lunar possesses if the familiar matches the prereqs (rest of the system works as normal).
Click to expand...
I donno, but that sounds like a waste of XP to learn, personally. Unless you teach them CotSM. I like the potential of more variety. And it's still a bit of a waste to commit 10 motes to allow them to use a single Charm.


Mayhaps make it so that it allows them to pick Lunar Charms and use them if you commit the motes instead of Spirit Charms? *shrugs*
 
Hmmm...


I never thought of the epic familiar business, mainly because I never reached that level in any of my games, but better safe than sorry right ?


I was under the impression that the easiest way was to build celestial charms to make them rise to this level, but I am not sure about the mechanics.


The system I proposed has the advantage of improving the versatility and usefulness of the familiars without creating a huge difference between their levels.


1dot fam is for support and fun, and become useful (spies, hunters) when you boost them but still are utilitarians more than combat supportive, even as a 5 dot fam.


2dots fam is for support fun and transport (using the ride charms with them give them a clear edge over 1dot fams), they can have some combat efficiency, but nothing that will seriously threaten an exalt, even as a 5 dot fam.


3dots fam is for support, fun, transport and battle. It gets all the benefits of being a large and powerful beast, a ridable one, and gets to be essence users so its efficiency increases further.


I think that unfortunately, I cannot maintain this system going on (+1 essence + charms) because clearly, past essence 3, 1 dot fams boosted to legendary will kick 3dots fams boosted to legendary butts with their charms.


I would suggest that a essence 4/5 celestial charm, common to lunars and solars but with different prereqs (siddy could promote their little god) to a legendary status.


Now I'm open to suggestions about how to keep things balanced from there because I haven't thought it through that far. :|
 
That's actually not half bad :)


How do you justify the inner advantages / disadvantages (like having wings / not) in this system.


I was trying to develop something that allows the player to build a custom familiar to underline the HF anime feel (cat with wings etc etc).


The rules for Necrotech designs are a good inspiration in that regard, but they are a bit off in this case.


I'll work something out soon and post it here for opinions.
 
cyl said:
That's actually not half bad :)
How do you justify the inner advantages / disadvantages (like having wings / not) in this system.


I was trying to develop something that allows the player to build a custom familiar to underline the HF anime feel (cat with wings etc etc).


The rules for Necrotech designs are a good inspiration in that regard, but they are a bit off in this case.


I'll work something out soon and post it here for opinions.
Click to expand...
To be quite honest, I don't feel that wings versus not is an advantage. When I get around to statting out regular familiars (as in birds and cats and dogs and stuff), you'll see that the birds are going to have fewer health levels and Stamina which will be reflective of their lighter bones. So, it's all going to balance out in the end anyway.


Now if you want to build a custom familiar, like a cat with wings, you'd spend bonus points on the wings mutation and your cat with wings would gain all the benefits of the wings mutation on top of their build.


Does that explain things a little better?
 
Do the Bonus Points in your system Bodhisatva come in addition to the familiar's normal abilities?


Which table do you use to spending those BP?
 
Yes, they come in addition to normal abilities, because these are Familiars, not just normal creatures. Also, the table being used is referenced in the write-up, but it's the table in the Second Edition Core.
 
Bodhisattva said:
To be quite honest, I don't feel that wings versus not is an advantage. When I get around to statting out regular familiars (as in birds and cats and dogs and stuff), you'll see that the birds are going to have fewer health levels and Stamina which will be reflective of their lighter bones. So, it's all going to balance out in the end anyway.


Now if you want to build a custom familiar, like a cat with wings, you'd spend bonus points on the wings mutation and your cat with wings would gain all the benefits of the wings mutation on top of their build.


Does that explain things a little better?
Click to expand...
Au contraire mon cher !


Birds will have more advantages as spies and short term trackers (bird of preys) than small familiars like cats, their HL and attribute losses will be balanced by the stealth bonus.


Nature in itself has not been fair to some species, and some have better features than others.
 
cyl said:
Birds will have more advantages as spies and short term trackers (bird of preys) than small familiars like cats, their HL and attribute losses will be balanced by the stealth bonus.
Nature in itself has not been fair to some species, and some have better features than others.
Click to expand...
I agree, my NPC uses his familiar (a flying squirrel) for spying and the like. I think that definitely balances out the loss of higher stats for easier stealth; when you have your familiar stalking a subject they would probably wonder why the same dog or cat keeps showing up wherever they go, while a smaller (flying) familiar will be over looked and harder to spot if (like mine) they keep to the trees when they're not flying about.
Birds would be that much better at being inconspicuous the more mundane they seem, so only someone pretty familiar with the wildlife of the region would question a bird that seems pretty rare to the area.
 
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