This started off life as a outtake from the already monstrous “Alternative Ritual Path Magic” and eventually grew into a article all its own. Not counting the time it took me to write the few chunks I excised from Alternative Ritual Path Magic this one took a surprising amount of time to incubate and write – around 80 hours total. Having a familiar is like asking someone what their favorite movie is – you’re going to get a lot of different answers and arguments about what parts are best even when the answers match. Because of this I thought about what should be represented for quite a while and ended up chucking a few things I had wanted to include. Being able to include the squirrel template was one of the highlights of this article for me. (I love squirrels – they are awesome). I’d also added at last minute some notes on how to use the powers I’d made for other purposes and the box on “weird familiars.” The latter having come straight from one of my campaigns where one player character was the familiar of another player character. The request was too cool to pass up and I figured out the rules pretty easily. Also, who wouldn’t want a ninja as their familiar? I mean that’s just too damn cool. One thing I wanted to put in there was a example of a sentient sword as a familiar, but I just ran out of space. I might do that as some support later on down the road for the article on my blog. A couple of outtakes:
Granular Costs for Allies and Dependents
GMs wishing for a finer “grain” for the point total of allies or dependents may allow the following, highly optional progression:
|
Points Built on… |
Point Cost as Ally |
Point Cost as Dependent:
|
|
0% or less of your points
|
−
|
-15 points
|
|
5% of your points
|
0.2 points
|
-14 points
|
|
10% of your points
|
0.4 points
|
-13 points
|
|
15% of your points
|
0.6 points
|
-12 points
|
|
20% of your points
|
0.8 points
|
-11 points
|
|
25% of your points
|
1 point
|
-10 points
|
|
30% of your points
|
1.2 points
|
-9 points
|
|
35% of your points
|
1.4 points
|
-8 points
|
|
40% of your points
|
1.6 points
|
-7 points
|
|
45% of your points
|
1.8 points
|
-6 points
|
|
50% of your points
|
2 points
|
-5 points
|
|
55% of your points
|
2.2 points
|
-4.5 points
|
|
60% of your points
|
2.4 points
|
-4 points
|
|
65% of your points
|
2.6 points
|
-3 points
|
|
70% of your points
|
2.8 points
|
-2.5 points
|
|
75% of your points
|
3 points
|
-2 points
|
|
80% of your points
|
3.4 points
|
-1.8 points
|
|
85% of your points
|
3.8 points
|
-1.6 points
|
|
90% of your points
|
4.2 points
|
-1.4 points
|
|
95% of your points
|
4.6 points
|
-1.2 points
|
|
100% of your points
|
5 points
|
-1 points
|
|
105% of your points
|
5.5 points
|
-0.8 points
|
|
110% of your points
|
6 points
|
-0.6 points
|
|
115% of your points
|
6.5 points
|
-0.4 points
|
|
120% of your points
|
7 points
|
-0.2 points
|
|
125% of your points
|
7.5 points
|
‒
|
|
130% of your points
|
8 points
|
‒
|
|
135% of your points
|
8.5 points
|
‒
|
|
140% of your points
|
9 points
|
‒
|
|
145% of your points
|
9.5 points
|
‒
|
|
150% of your points
|
10 points
|
‒
|
|
155% of your points
|
11 points
|
‒
|
|
160% of your points
|
12 points
|
‒
|
|
165% of your points
|
13 points
|
‒
|
|
170% of your points
|
14 points
|
‒
|
|
175% of your points
|
15 points
|
‒
|
|
180% of your points
|
16 points
|
‒
|
|
185% of your points
|
17 points
|
‒
|
|
190% of your points
|
18 points
|
‒
|
|
195% of your points
|
19 points
|
‒
|
|
200% of your points
|
20 points
|
‒
|
Ah nice, this finer grade break down might come in handy for a campaign that I'm working on since having the option to recruit allies might be a major thing based on what the players end up doing.
I really wanted it in the article, but it's not something a GM couldn't figure out on his own – useful to have tabulated though.
(I will try posting this one last time as I keep having trouble with Google.)
How would a familiar recharge the Mana Pool. It's hard to imagine a black cat with the skills and abilities to Gather Energy RPM style.
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So there are a couple of ways: You can purchase Draw Energy or Mana Collector. The first is a steady, no-rolls required trickle of energy. The second requires your familiar to make an IQ roll. Remember, refilling a reserve is just a Lesser Create Magic effect and Mana Collector would totally allow you to refill your reserve using those rules.