Familiar summoning spells for Mausritter
Creatures! I conjure thee to do my bidding!
Find Familiar is so fucking lame! You just get a magic pet and then it becomes a source of advantage or a magical drone (in 5th edition at least). Half the time my party just forgets about it.
SO, Inspired by this article by Chris Bastionland, and because I rolled up the spell “Illuminating Crow” as treasure in my Mausritter dungeon (might get an article later), I decided to sit down and make some cool familiars.
In Chris’ version, familiars seem to aid you in a thing, persuing their own agenda. That’s cool, but I think wizards craft familiars and bind them into service. Doesn’t mean they don’t have their own agendas, but they’re aren’t hell bent on tricking you either. Well… some probably are.
Familiars
Familiars have three main things that separate them from one another.
1. Agenda - what does the familiar want? When it talks, what does it talk about? What does it drive it’s summoner to do?
2. Power - Aside from the regular familiar powers (seeing through their eyes, talking with them telepathically) familiars are also often crafted with specific powers.
3. Upkeep - The summoner gets some free days when they summon their familiar, then they have to give them something for them to stick around. In rare (rare!) cases, a familiar may like it’s summoner to stick around of it’s own accord, but seeing as wizards usually drag these creatures from their comfortable homes and bind them into service, this isn’t usually the case.
To summon a familiar, you must first find the spell that summons the familiar. Alternatively, you could spend tons of gold and time identifying the runes that summon the creature of your choosing. Usually easier to find someone that’s done it before.
Familiar Powers
All familiars share some powers in common:
See through their eyes - the summoner (conjurer?) who summoned the familiar can choose to see through their familiars eyes. They often close their eyes when this happens, so they dont have another beings vision layered over their own.
Communication - A summoner can always issue orders to their familiar telepathically, across great distances too. The familiar can always communicate with it’s summoner. The communication is audible (requires sound) but bypasses language barriers. Familiars don’t have to follow orders, but usually will. Being forcibly dismissed by a wizard can be incredibly painful.
Sample Familiars
Illuminating Crow
Crafted by an old ravenmaster wizard. Still loyal to him, wherever he ended up after all these years.
Agenda: Cheeky. Wants to light up things it’s not supposed to see.
Power: Can glow like a torch when commanded to.
Upkeep: Basking in sunlight or moonlight. Torchlight will do, but the brightness of the crow will diminish until it sees the sun again.
Imp
Evil little creatures from the underworld
Agenda: Cruel. Wants to torture other creatures - feel power over them. Generally cause harm.
Power: Can light small fires with it’s touch, fly with it’s infernal wings, and turn invisible at will.
Upkeep: Will get mad if it doesn’t see something get torn apart. This could be a mouse it rips open itself, or a man getting shredded by blades. Generally, the more extravagent and bloody the death, the longer the imp will be contented for, but it’s never more than a handful of days.
Fairy Dragon
Aloof dragons the size of house cats from the same realm as the elves.
Agenda: Trickster. Likes to deceive. Cause the most damage with a single lie as it can.
Power: Breathes a puff of spores which confuses those that breath it in.
Upkeep: You must tell the dragon a bedtime story before you go to sleep. If it doesn’t find it interesting enough, it will be gone when you wake up.
Ground Squid
Ground Squids live underground, floating around caverns and harmlessly suckling psychic energy.
Agenda: Vibe. Wants to relax and not do anything dangerous or that requires any more effort than floating in place.
Power: Can hear the thoughts or see the dreams of a creature that one of it’s little tentacles is touching.
Upkeep: The creature just needs you to let it take some of your psychic energy. This would be harmless, except for it’s tendency to say aloud all the thoughts you would rather stay hidden.
Skyfish Worm like fish that wiggle through the sky Agenda: Float. The worm absent mindedly floats upwards, only coming down when commanded. Power: Fast. Incredibly fast. So fast it can phase through objects if it builds up speed. Upkeep: Fresh air and altitude. The worm wants to exist in that frigid space between the earth and space.