Fammiliars

[tallimar]

in DnD, an animal companion is treated similar to a familiar except you dont get the empathic/telepathic link that a familiar gets.  animal companions are basically familiars for ranger and druid classes.  there are also a few prestige classes that, if taken, turns the familiar into an undead creature(but still a familiar).  in neverwinter nights, not only can the familiars be controlled by their masters, but they get skills such as lockpicking and stealth skills.  if the DM wants to add the little bit of detail, the wizard/sorcerer has to go out and actually befriend a small animal and go through a process of making that animal the character\'s familiar.

i cant wait to see what the devs are going to do for the familiar aspect...

[DepthBlade]

Its not a bad idea but if it ever was implemented I would have to stay away from that! Thats what I have my Ires for (personal guards)

[The Gumster]

this familiar idea reminds me of your Creature in Black & White

[ngefan]

If you mes up, you get an annoying faery that says \"Hey, Look, Listen!\" every second. And you can never kill it. annoying part: it\'s in your music, not the chat box!

[ngefan]

Which RPG is DM?

[The Gumster]

Ngefan,
1)what are you talking about?
2)edit your post, do not double post

[tallimar]

ngefan: DM is a shortcut of saying dungeon master for dungeons and dragons, a pen and paper roleplaying game.  if you really want to know how DnD is played, go to your local card shop or book store and hang out in the fantasy section.

[karakth]

There\'s already a plan to implement familiars in-game. This can be seen in the mainsite under

Skill-->Knowledge Skills-->Empathy

For those inclined to see, http://www.planeshift.it/player_skills.html

[DepthBlade]

The description on the site under empathy is cool, especially how you need to perform a magical rite using your blood to make the familiar yours. Thats cool

[Midnight Falcon]

i think there should be four types on animal \"helpers\"
1.The animal familiars: magically summoned creatures that only a magically inclined person may have
2. the fighting animal companions: bought at an expensive price, XP up and die permanently, just like an animal merc.
3. bonded animal companions: u have to gain their trust to get their help, they range from fighting for u to learning abilities like those mentioned before like lock picking, diff vision, able to reach inaccessable places....
4. animal pets: theyre there to be just that, ur pet and they do nothing except sit there and look cool and u can have a personal bond with them, and if u become close enough to them they may eventually become bonded animal companions.....

[Skirge]

I think that the familiar should be able to carry extra stuff for u.
Like in morrowind if u buy a certain type of rat it can carry things for u.
Also there should be different types of familiars.e.g
Fighting class,
Magic using class,
thieve class.
(like in baldurs gate!)
Honestly i can\'t wait for this game to get started properly.crystal blue here i come!!

[tygerwilde]

I always liked the idea of randomly summoned familiars. something about the idea just appeals to me

any in game creature can be randomly summoned to be your familiar, there is then a battle of wills, if you manage to have a stronger will than the creature, you have a lackey to follow you, if not, depending on the creatures personality, it might A. attack you, B. follow you anyway, C. return to where it came from. I like in D&D, the way the creatures give you different capabilities. no one creature was necessarily better than another as a familiar as they all had different capabilities to grant. the abilities granted to a spellcaster should be dependant on the control they have over the creature as well. a lesser spellcaster should have low control over even a low level creature, giving her less bonus from having it.

course this is all just my ideal of a familiar system

[CryptoFox]

i like the discpition io the site page of familars. they should become as much a part of ur char as ur self.
falcon has some good ideas
i agree compleatly with #2 but i wouldnt want familars to have to be summond to magic users.well i half take that back i dont think you should have to be an advanced magic user b u shld hav some knowadge of magic 4 the bonding ritual. #4 is fine except the pet to bonded part #3 if u find a creature in the \"wild\" perhaps they can become bonded.

[Zeraph]

Well I think that anyone should be able to have a familiar no-mater how much magic abilities you have, I sort of see a familiar as your spirit possessing a small animal. In a way I see a familiar as part of you, maybe the spirit of the animal bonds with your soul. Maybe your familiar can have the ability to ?change vessels? in the way of if you find a compatible creature your familiar has the ability to posses that creature instead of the previous animal, this will get your familiar different abilities however, there can be disadvantages to doing this like if you choose a weak animal then your stats of your familiar will weaken. Also you may need to start from scratch on training your familiar as far as skill-wise so if your familiar has really good skills, you don?t want to ?change vessels? or you will loose all the training, & also the previous animal your familiar possessed may attack you with really good skills.

There would definitely be a limited # of vessels to choose from, as the description says that it is usually a small animal like a pet or something. Lets see; cat, small dog, frog, squirrel, bat, raven etc.
(it really depends on what sort of small animals are going to be in Yliakum, these are the type of animals I expect familiars will take shape to, probably going to be more unique small animals then the ones we have on earth but you get the general picture?)

[Nanuke]

i think of course we all need mythical creature like giant snakes, griffons, dragons(in differnt colors that breath differnt stuff starting as a little dragon thingy then you can ride it until it lvls and wing grow then you take to the skys with a dragonlance and kill stuff{i just love dragonlance books})

but then  you need your bunnys  and some horses tiger bears camels etc.... because just snakes is boring but big snakes is fun