Familiar Treatise

By Ashard den Karenth, Wizard of the Tower

What are they? Familiars are companions that are linked to their masters for the express purpose of complimenting each other. Despite what you may have heard, they are not slaves but rather a symbiotic partner that enhances both of the partners in the relationship. Familiars come in various forms ranging from small mammals to intelligent planer creatures. Familiars and their masters are generally bound to each other until death due them part. A familiar can support their master in many ways but they have their own identity and may not always conform to the requests of their masters.

Bonding to a Familiar: The first step in bonding to a familiar is to acquire the Find Familiar spell. The reagents used during the ritual will vary depending on the type of creature you wish to bond to.

The base reagents are as follows:

Asarabacca - cost: 10 gold Asarabacca is a creeping vine with many small leaves each on their own small stalk. It also has small purple flowers. These flowers render the subject of the spell docile and incapable of violence.

Bittermourn - cost: 1000 gold A rare, colorless lichen that grows on rocks beneath year-round ice. When crushed and strained, it creates a clear gel at freezing temperatures that melts into liquid when warmer. This reagent slows the aging process and grants an extended lifespan to the subject of the spell.

Caffar - cost: 20 gold The small caffar nut is ground into a powder and combined with a pint of goat's milk. This reagent heightens the awareness of the caster's psychic energies sending out a psychic impulse to attract nearby creatures.

Guardseye - cost: 100 gold A short perennial that has smooth, dark blue leaves and a woody stem. It has white, cuplike flowers, with purple flecks on the inside. The burning leaves will grant the caster the ability to detect all life forms within 50 miles. This includes hidden, invisible, phased, ethereal and similarly affected creatures.

Mountain Garlick - cost: 5 gold A thin leek that grows on the eastern slope of most low ranging mountains. This herb needs to be dried before adding it to the summoning brazier. It will ward off any evil spirits attracted to the caster during the bonding process.

There are a myriad of other reagents that can be sacrificed to try and attract a specific type of creature although this does not always guarantee success. The most effective lures are items that your intended familiar will naturally be attracted to.

The following is a list that has been effective in the past but does not confer or guarantee future success:

Bat - Mosquito, Gnat or other small insects. Panther - Raw meat, catnip, rabbit or other small rodent. Hell Hound - Raw meat, brimstone, sulphur and large bones. Imp - Brimstone, sulphur, sweetberry and string. Mephit - Essence representing plane of existence (fire, water, earth, steam) Pixie - Bright colored flowers, toadstools, honey, jewels or other shiny objects. Raven - Carrion, small rodents, birch leaves and willow saplings Faerie Dragon - Fly ash, bright colored jewels, quicksilver and gold dust. Pseudo-Dragon - Gold dust, jewels, raw meat and kobold scales. Eyeball - Brimstone, carrot peels, carrion and loadstones.

Processing Add each of the base reagents to the brazier, except the Caffar, and then set them a fire. I find that the use of the burning hands spell is quite effective here and there seems to be some enhancement to the summoning process due to residual magic energies.

After the base ingredients have been reduced to ashes, slowly add any additional luring reagents to the brazier.

When all the reagents are reduced to ash, add the Caffar extract to the brazier. The Caffar extract will produce a small psychic pulse that will travel out in all directions to try and alert any potential familiars to the summoning.

You must remain at the location of the Brazier for the entire duration of the spell. If a potential familiar arrives, you will need to assess them for compatibility. If both of you accept each other, the bond will complete itself within the hour and you will be bonded for life.

If no candidate arrives within 24 hours of the casting of the spell, the attempt failed and you will need to re-cast it if you wish to bond to a familiar.

Life with your new familiar Now that the bond is complete, you can both enjoy the benefits of your bonding. Remember that your familiar is not a slave but rather an extension of you.

Your familiar will have gained intimate knowledge of you during the imprinting and bonding process. They will know what you know at the time of the bonding although not all familiars will be able to use this information.

A familiar can perform many useful services for their master including, protection, spying, scouting and message ferry. The familiar may or may not possess the ability to speak or speak in a tongue that is known by the caster although the two can communicate through a special telepathy that is created when the bonding is complete. The closer you and your familiar are to each other the better this telepathy works. The type of information exchanged between the familiar and caster may be cryptic if the familiar does not normally speak or posses a high mental faculty. In these cases, more emotional states are passed but after some time, the two are able to communicate quite effectively.

Your familiar may revert back to his instinctive behavior if you leave them unattended for long periods of time. Although they will still be bonded, they may become more independent if left to their own devices.

A master and their familiar may argue or fight with each other - not usually in a physical sense since neither wishes to bodily harm the other, more often than not - but they may carry a grudge, have hurt feelings, hard feelings, resent certain liberties, be difficult, and so on. Or they may be the best of friends as well.

Death of a familiar The death of a familiar is a very traumatic event. The caster can even suffer physical damage during the process.

The Bittermourn will increase the lifespan of your familiar to greatly exceed its normal lifespan. It will want to learn from you and do your bidding although it will not perform foolish requests that will lead to its demise unless it is defending you. If your familiar perishes or you decide to kill your familiar, it takes a year for the psychic link to fade. During this time, if you decide to summon another familiar, the new candidate will know of the demise of the previous familiar and may choose not to bond with you. The link can be dissipated sooner by fasting for a week and casting a series of 10 dispel magic spells upon the caster.

Summary A familiar is a wonderful companion and can greatly add to the enjoyment of your life. Since the bond with a familiar is for life, choose your familiar with care. A large panther or hell hound might be a mighty hunter or great protector but it might also be frightening to people around you or keep you from entering a city. Fear generated in townfolk and guards has caused the death of many a familiar, be wary.

You familiar is its own being and not a personal slave. Protect your familiar and you will both enjoy a bond that few others will ever experience.

The psychic bond lasts for a year after the demise of the familiar unless the cleansing ritual is performed.

Although not a guarantee of success, try to use luring reagents to attract candidates who compliment your strengths and weaknesses.

Enjoy your familiar and may you both experience the fullness of life that this bond creates.