Companions in general. Re: "Losing your familiar"

[Algernon's Ghost]

The wizard or sorcerer must be first level (or her is not yet considered a classed character). Getting a familiar takes 24 hours and uses 100gp worth of magical materials.Timing would be up to the player.

Earlier editions required the casting of the spell, Find Familiar, which was far more random and detailed (and there was not guarantee of finding a familiar) than is used in 3.5 - this latest edition is much more vague.

At the master's 5th level the familiar gains the special ability, Speak with Master. This allows the two to communicate verbally as if they were using a common language, but other creatures cannot understand the communication without magical help.

Correction: It's actually a year and a day that the caster must wait between familiars.

[goatte]

AG, what does the 'year and a day' translate into for RL time? A month? Two months?

The 'Tome and Blood' book mentions that the wizard or sorcerer must first find the animal that will become the familiar, and it mentions that the animal must have a positive reaction to the wizard, too. It also mentions some different familiars (owls, hedgehogs, thrushes, kestrels, celestial hawks, etc.). I liked the idea of a songbird for a familiar, personally. Not all mages would need a weapon for a familiar, I think.

goatte (faelar)

[Algernon's Ghost]

NWN was only concerned with combat worthy familiars, so we are, unfortunately, stuck with them.

When a familiar or animal companion dies in The Vast, we automatically drop the appropriate Death Token on the PC. This token is automatically removed the next time the PC levels; it can also be removed by a DM. We are just considering the interim time it takes to level as sufficient. We also allow familiars and companions to be raised like a PC, provided you are willing to pay the normal fee, and see a cleric; this must be handled by a DM.

[Boomer1874]

Being new to this world and reading to forums on familars i have one question...

In the single player game, i had a wizard with a pixie familar and would (more often than i would have liked) rushed into combat and was in danger of getting killed. In cases like that I would unsummon it and later re-summon it. I would like to know if this is correct. I read that someone here would unsummon it as if saying "quick, flee from danger" which is pretty much how i was thinking of it.. If I am wrong in my thinking please let me know. Thanx...

Boomer1874

[Algernon's Ghost]

Yes, you can do that. Role-play it when possible.

[Ronnes]

Today was a sad day for little Ixie Utanders, since she lost her best friend Twisk the pixie to a goblin grunt (which was really odd- since the damage was only 7 hp, but heck, I have been expecting to play the event for a while anyway because Ixie was naively careless with her familiar).<br>
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So now I have Twisk's death-token on me. It says you have to wait for leveling-up to be able to summon it again. Okay, that's fair enough, but I could not find it in the rules (perhaps I missed it?), and this info should also have been in this thread I think.

The event also struck me with a 400 xp loss. Quite a blow for a level 2. Again, fair enough, but I was not aware of it. Again, maybe I missed the appropriate info on the website, and I believe this info should be in this thread.

And finally: the token suggested that, since the familiar truly died, the next familiar to summon should be another familiar, another pixie. Now I thought a pixie was a magical creature summoned from another plane, and I was hoping (from the start) to RP the return of her own, loyal Twisk.

Now if this is not an option, is there another way to RP the return of Twisk the pixie? Perhaps a raise even, as with animal companions? I realize this should really be a question for the Roleplayers Corner, but I feel it would not hurt to be in this thread as well.

Ronnes (Ixie- crying her eyes out)

[Ronnes]

((addendum))

I just found the xp-penalty (200 xp-loss per level) ingame, checking the HCR. Sorry about that.

Ronnes

[Algernon's Ghost]

Now I thought a pixie was a magical creature summoned from another plane

Pixies live in the woods.

If a PC is willing to pay the gold, a "raise dead" can be had for the unfortunate pet. Any DM can help with this.

[Ronnes]

Okay, thank you. I will use the DM -channel any time Ixie is online. After she has collected the nescessary gold that is.

By the way: I hope one battered wing will be enough for a raise... the rest of Twisk was.... marmelade...

Ronnes

[Ronnes]

I did some homework (I am learning, bear with me please :) ) and found the following entries on familiars (thanks to Olamn for the reference source)

From PHB:

Familiars are magically linked to their masters. In some sense, the familiar and the master are practically one being. That's why, for example, the master can cast a personal range spell on a familiar even though he can normally cast such a spell only on himself. A familiar is a normal animal that gains new powers and becomes a magical beast when summoned to service by a sorcerer or wizard. It retains the appearance, Hit Dice, base attack bonus, base save bonuses, skills, and feats of the normal animal it once was, but it is treated as a magical beast instead of an animal for the purpose of any effect that depends on its type. Only a normal, unmodified animal may become a familiar. Thus, a druid/sorcerer can't use her animal companion as a familiar.

A familiar is a magical beast that resembles a small animal and is unusually tough and intelligent. The creature serves as a companion and servant.

Ingame (or reading the forums) perhaps made me conclude a "magical beast" like a pixie familiar was indeed being summoned instead of called like a druid's companion. I figured this summoning would involve another plane.

A slain or dismissed familiar cannot be replaced for a year and day. A slain familiar can be raised from the dead just as a character can be, and it does not lose a level or a Constitution point when this happy event occurs.

Does the "year and a day" entry represent a level-up in NWN? If not, how should this year and a day be RP'd?

Ronnes

[Ronnes]

Awww dear.. my question about "the year and a day" was too hasty... (see some posts above) My apologies. There is so much to be read...

Ronnes

[Joya]

The notes about Familiars and summoning spells and suchlike have been pretty thorough... but i would like to point out the forgotten realms cosmology. The plane of Elysium (Happy Hunting grounds to those clueless primes out there, silly berks) houses the realm of Faerie, the origin land of Sprites, Pixies, Faerie Dragons, Psuedo Dragons, and all other fey creatures. It also holds a lot of normal, though exceptional animals of all varieties (Hence, the wizards familiar and the close bonding of it which would be required for a permanent summoning ritual). So summoning spells and such could (And really should since dismissal, a minor planar banishing spell, affects them) draw the creature from another plane. The short duration of the normal summoning spells would also be explained with the "Caster drew the power for the spell quickly, so it dispurses a lot quicker than it would with a ritual". Also, though not for rangers... but druids at least could (Theoretically) call their animal companions from such a realm since they have access to summoning magics. Just some thoughts on the topics from a long time PnPer spellcaster player.

[Joya]

In regards to the RPing of a druid nursing his animal companion back to health from being near death, we had a DM flat out forbid such today. I would just like to note that no matter what we Rp'd, the companion death token was already in place and so the druid would not have been able to summon his companion back till next level anyway, but it would have given him a further chance to RP and not really taken the edge from the anger at the party member that had slain the companion by accident. Just a little note of minor dissatisfaction with how it was handled. I will give good cudo's to the DM to insist that incident be RP'd out though, good call IMHO. As for the player who's character slew the companion.... don't worry too much about it, though there will be RP ramifications for it *grins*... over all, well done on how it was handled.

[JeKylL351]

I do recall a time when my druid Tomo was allowed by AG to raise his animal companion as you would another player character (at Kessa's). I still had to come up with the normal amount of coin, and RP'ed carrying the body down the south road (with no weapons drawn, allowing my companions to protect against the various threats). So that isn't necessarily out of the question.

I don't know the details about what happened to the animal in question, but if another PC attacked your PC or animal companion without DM approval, it would be considered griefing. Usually in that case the DMs will correct the matter themselves.

[archimedes 13]

Joya-

It should be noted that, "RPing of a druid nursing his animal companion back to health from being near death" isn't really an option. As Jekyll mentioned above, and AG notes in a few posts above that, companions have to be raised, just like PCs, which means it costs 550gp.

The only place in the thread there is a mention of nursing an animal to health is in the first post underneath a section that has been labeled -

What follows below this line is now irrelevant, since a while ago we had put in a system which gives a PC a death token that blocks resummoning of the deceased companion or familiar. The token is automatically removed when levelling. It can also be removed by a DM if a PC has his little friend "raised" by a cleric (if allowed by said DM - must pay the raise fee).