The Dresden Files > DFRPG
Familiars
KOFFEYKID:
--- Quote from: neko128 on April 29, 2010, 04:52:41 PM ---Or, for that matter, you could make it an Item of Power. After all, Items of Power are - by definition - investing a portion of your powers into an external object. It's just that, in this case, the "object" is a creature or construct of some sort.
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This is a very good idea for modeling it. I'll have to remember it incase I ever want to use a familiar.
iago:
That IS a good model, it's true. I could see stashing a few points of Refinement in the critter.
Rel Fexive:
There's a thread on RPG.net where we had a bit of a discussion about familiars by way of SotC-style Companions. We sort of settled on the idea that, as Fred says, if the familiar is just a creature associated with you (with or without powers of its own) then it's just an NPC, but if it's the sort of familiar that grants powers to its associate that the associate themselves can use then you could buy those specific powers using Item Of Power.
Perfect for budding Cheysuli, Flinx's or Dragaearan witches.
neko128:
To continue my previous thought... Something like this?
Boggart - my pet cat (Item of Power, -1)
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One-Time Discount (+2) - it's a cat. It's just as noticeable as a cat is.
Claws (0*) - it's a cat. It's got claws. They may not be big, scary claws, but they're claws.
Echoes of the Beast (0*) - ...it's a cat. "echoes" indeed.
Diminutive Size (0*) - Boggart is not a big cat. He weighs all of like 5 pounds.
Marked by Power (0*) - Boggart is a cat... But to anyone who's sensitive enough, he's blatantly not *just* a cat.
Supernatural Sense (-1) - it's not only a cat, it's a cat infused with my magical powers. He's supernaturally aware. In this case, probably vision.
Refinement (-2) - when Boggart is with me, I gain +1 control and power to each of air and spirit magic. He's a creature of air and shadow to start with, and now he's infused with my power as well. He "smoothes the flows", so to speak.
In the above, I took Claws, Echoes of the Beast, Diminutive Size, and Marked By Power as free under the "It Is What It Is" clause of Items of Power. It's a cat, with all the advantages and disadvantages that implies - he's cute, adorable, small, agile, and cunning, but also weak and vulnerable. And Items of Power specifically must be "obvious as something unusual" - which seems like exactly the definition of Marked by Power, in my reading. He's a cat, but anyone with even the tiniest bit of sensitivity knows he's not a normal cat.
As a GM, I'd accept the "free" four points of powers, because while they're advantageous they're also counter-balancing the strong disadvantages Boggart has for a PC over, say, Amorrachius. The sword, for example, is neither soft and squishy nor prone to disagree with your relative priorities on the problems in your life.
EDIT: Oh, and as he's a cat - and probably smarter than the average domesticated (*cough*) animal - he should have an aspect or two reflecting it. I'd vote for "Superior Stare" and "*yawn* Don't Interrupt My Beauty Sleep With Your Pitiful Human Problems". :-P
Deadmanwalking:
--- Quote from: neko128 on April 29, 2010, 06:28:28 PM ---Supernatural Sense (-1) - it's not only a cat, it's a cat infused with my magical powers. He's supernaturally aware. In this case, probably vision.
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As an Item of Power, I think you only need to pay for those abilities the cat bestows upon you, not those it possesses itself. Those are part of the "Cat NPC" a slightly different thing than the "Cat Item of Power".
--- Quote from: neko128 on April 29, 2010, 06:28:28 PM ---Refinement (-2) - when Boggart is with me, I gain +1 control to each of air and spirit magic. He's a creature of air and shadow to start with, and now he's infused with my power as well.
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Um, Refinement grants two specialties per level, not 1.
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