Here's my up-to-date list of example familiars for all the people asking to see it: imgur.com/y0BXbzM

@Movius3

4 жыл бұрын

As you're describing the final choosing process, I imagined the three choices gazing at the player from beyond the rift. They had bee gathered there by the ritual to make the transit. Each offers themselves as a choice, giving a bit of weight to the non-first choices perhaps, offering a possible benefit (or hiding a negative through skillful speech).

@jowhy7243

4 жыл бұрын

everyone: oh no, none of us can get through that tiny hole to reach the key, what are we going to do? wizard: it’s all cool. i got my chipmunk

@amelio7737

3 жыл бұрын

using italian as magic language, nice XD

@jacksharks6433

2 жыл бұрын

Is there any version of this (up to date or not) with text data - so one can copy it directly. I would rather have half the list nicely formatted than the entire list as an image that I can not update or pick the nth element without manual counting. A spreadsheet would be ideal so one could mix and match, sort and filter, pick and choose at will.

Dad! Dad! Can I have a dog? Only if you split off a piece of your soul, son.

@Wizardously

4 жыл бұрын

That's certainly how it's felt every time I've had a dog... especially when they died.

@Madhattersinjeans

4 жыл бұрын

@@Wizardously Dogs teach a valuable lesson about life and death.

@Alresu

4 жыл бұрын

Sounds reasonable.

@Music_Engineering

3 жыл бұрын

There is a tutorial in Harry Potter on how to do that 😀

My new character is a monk/wizard multi-class who makes his familiars out of origami paper, the first time the other characters met him, he had a small paper butterfly circling him. I explained it as him channeling his ki into his creations

@deKahedron

4 жыл бұрын

That... Is awesome.

@karpmageddon4155

4 жыл бұрын

I'd recommend checking out Kubo and the Two Strings if you haven't already seen it yet. It's right up your alley.

@jowhy7243

4 жыл бұрын

that’s actually so cool

@WheresMyCouch

4 жыл бұрын

@@deKahedron thank you! I don't remember what inspired the idea but this guys my favourite character so far

@WheresMyCouch

4 жыл бұрын

@@karpmageddon4155 I still haven't seen that film, thanks for reminding me about it!

They aren't cardinal positions, they're archbishop positions.

This trial is what I did for my paladin. I took each of the paladin oaths and created a challenge based on them. And you either passed or failed that challenge and that proved whether or not you'd be able to make that oath. And then when all the challenges were done they had a book in front of them full of paladin oaths with some of the pages torn out. Now I knew the exact oath the player wanted and so I designed that one in a way I knew they would pass but it meant they also experienced failures and they felt that and it worried them because they didn't know what was going on.

@zecat3727

4 жыл бұрын

You're a good DM.

@AllThingsFascinate

4 жыл бұрын

Man, I'm impressed. That sounds like such a great time

@MEG4nerd

4 жыл бұрын

@@AllThingsFascinate oh it was a blast!!! He didn't know where he was if he was awake or asleep if he would ever actually die. Probably the best session I've lead honestly.

@jonahbardwell551

4 жыл бұрын

Reminds me of the Stormlight Archive

@MEG4nerd

4 жыл бұрын

@@jonahbardwell551 I'm not familiar. What is that?

When you started speak italian "Dare forma fisica alla mia anima" (give physical form to my soul) I kinda freaked out 'cause I was listening you speaking english and suddenly I heard my native language and my brain went "wait wha-". Anyway, I will use this flavour concept for sure! Thanks, magical lady.

@Ryquard1

4 жыл бұрын

I thought it was Latin, maybe because I'm a spanish speaker

@Mastattak

4 жыл бұрын

Idem, mi ha colto alla sprovvista 😂

@toribiogubert7729

4 жыл бұрын

Same here, but I'm Portuguese speaker.

@Alresu

4 жыл бұрын

Everytime this happens in movies and tv series i need a while to recalibrate...

@andresmora289

4 жыл бұрын

huilt e5r

I love your suggestions In my game my son started as a thief and multi-classed into a wizard. When he cast find familiar l gave him a porg (Star Wars Last Jedi) He hated it at first but then it started to grow on him. But because he started as a thief his porg likes to random grab gold coins in his mouth and run away with them. However being a thief he tried to make a quick coin and tried to sell his porg to someone and was gonna magically call him back at night. Well he tried to sell it to a child with an old grandmother for 3 gold. Until he her the old women tell the small boy "Looks like we are gonna have dinner tonight look how plump it is." My son freaked out and was like no deal. My son was 11 at the time lol.

@MonarchsFactory

4 жыл бұрын

That is the cutest thing

I don't think I've ever watched someone be more endearing when they talk.

Just wanted to say that I am so glad that Matthew Colville's didgeridoo brought me here because your out-of-the-box ideas are fantastic and entertaining and help keep GM'ing fresh and interesting.

this seems... familiar >_>

@justinberling4946

4 жыл бұрын

But not too... familiar

@shangc2781

4 жыл бұрын

But not too not familiar

@jimidanaan2213

4 жыл бұрын

@@justinberling4946 But not too not familiar!

@MonarchsFactory

4 жыл бұрын

You're all dweebs and I love you

I'd love it if you made a ritual series, I always struggle with coming up with ideas for rituals - bringing people back from the dead, summoning familiars, opening portals to other realms etc. It's the classic conundrum that you actually mentioned in this video - you want the players to work for it so it feels earned, but it needs to be fun so it doesn't become tedious.

This brings in elements from past versions of D&D. Back in AD&D, if a Familiar died, the wizard suffered twice it's hit points in damage. I believe it was 3.0 that granted the caster benefits based on the familiar's form (not sure on that one). The downside is that this contradicts a lot of what Find Familiar does (re-summon the creature in different forms, for instance) so it may be very important to have a discussion with the player ahead of time. Something I do for my players is to assign the familiar very specific habits or quirks that show through regardless of the form the familiar takes. This is especially important in the case of the "special" familiars (Imp, Quasit, etc). I also allow any familiar to talk, even if it's in beast form. After all, it is an otherworldly being. A little added RP is always good. Custom familiars that aren't in the 5E books are also in the mix. I might create fey winged chameleons , animated toys, robotic pocket watches or pieces of clothing or even weapons as familiars. Imbuing an item with sentience instead of summoning a creature is always a great surprise (especially when it's a Wild Mage who has somehow unlocked the ability to cast Find Familiar), and leads to great moments. Thanks for all you do Dael. You're a treasure.

What your are describing is essentially 1st edition familiars. In 1st edition, you summon a normal animal and infuse a portion of youself, body soul and mind, into it to create the bond and augment your familiars abilities. When it dies, the wizards hit point max total is permanently lowered by the familiar's hit points x 2. In 1E, you cannot pocket dimension the familiar. You cannot change its shape. The animal summoned is completely random. You cannot cast touch spells through 1e familiars. They were mostly used for scouting and hit point augmentation, since you can add the 1e familiar's hp if within 12ft. If it dies, you may not summon another familiar for at least one year. Find Familiar was pretty hardcore. They were mostly used for scouting and hit point augmentation. There is a cartoon in the 1e DMs guide that is very true about 1e familiars. It showed a thug holding a dagger to a cat's throat. The thug says to the wizard before him, " One false move and the familiar gets it." The wizard is drawn with a terrified look on his face. In Dark Materials form, our group has had a tradition that the familiar is the opposite sex from the summoner.

I really like many of these suggestions, however, I do believe that pocket-dimensioning your familiar should still be allowed. My reason for this being that familiars have so little health, that almost any AOE can simply eradicate them, quickly turning the familiar into more of a debuff than a bonus if they are going to lose HP and their given buff for each that dies. This problem likely wouldn't arise until later in levels for the campaign, but eventually, more and more enemies will have the ability to cause AOE damage. I will say, though, that I like the idea of them turning into something like a tattoo or maybe a figurine that the caster carries around instead of them simply disappearing.

@pskovca

4 жыл бұрын

The familiar and the wizard could share their life pool. Kind of interesting if someone captured your familiar they could damage you by torturing your familiar until you broke the link.

@tonysladky8925

4 жыл бұрын

I always just go 4th Edition style. If the Familiar is on your person, it can't be attacked or damaged. It's a little gamey, but I think it's fine.

@ciarfah

4 жыл бұрын

Anthony Sladky could flavour it that the link is strongest right beside you, so the familiar becomes part of you again. When you send it to retrieve things or attack, the link is weaker. It's like sticking your neck out

@lechauvesouris2969

4 жыл бұрын

Yeah. No snaping them, and permadeath can be really harsh, making the player overprotective, or on the contrary not really care about this disposable thing they already replaced 3 times at level 5. If I really wanted to make them feel the loss, I'd keep the familiar resummonable, but after a delay - a few days to recover. With maybe a temporary malus for the character while the familiar is away. But I really love the tatoo thing btw, it's just a reskin of the pocket dimension mostly, but way cooler.

@TheRABIDdude

4 жыл бұрын

@@pskovca Dude that's dark XD you're one cruel son of a gun.

With the permission of my DM, my Orc Necromancer's familiar was the spirit of his Necromancer grandfather and took the form of a weasel! The spell was a gift sent to my Necromancer through a message contained on a coin by his grandfather.

Ooo, I like the tattoo idea, also I wish there were more options for familiars for celestial warlocks

Dael Kingsmill - "We want to make them cry, right?" Permanent hp loss on the class with the least hp will do that for you haha xD Lovely video, thanks! Some really creative ideas; I do like the turning it into a tattoo instead of banishing, very flavourful.

I raised chickens. I would suggest: Rooster: may chose advantage on all intimidation checks so long as any unrelated Int checks have disadvantage. Effect ends after short rest.

The last bit of the title was cut off when I clicked on this. My brain read the title as "Homebrew Wizard's Families"........I mean, this is good too, but........

@dicorockhimself

4 жыл бұрын

I'd suggest design that idea based on the world you are in and how dark it is

Here’s an interesting addition: each time they have to re-summon, they have to do this all again, although you basically tell them it happens again and summarize what happened. After awhile, it becomes less painful and easier to do, but it happens every single time. And then tell them “This is what all magic has been like for you. Truly Painful memorization to which you become numb over time.”

I love the way your dm style sounds, very tied in with folklore and it just feels very mystical, just the right kind of fantasy i love. I'd adore to play or run a game with the same flavor you do

Oh also also I DM-ed my first ever D&D session a week ago today! We rolled up characters and started killing baddies. I couldn't have done it without you and Matt Colville to fill me up with D&D ideas/inspiration. So a big cheers from me. Hip hip, hooray! Hip hip, hooray! Hip hip, hooray! And one for good luck, hip hip, hooray! 🙂

instead of bonuses to random stuff, consider having the familiar teach the wizard new spells based on the kind of familiar! familiars can grant an extra spell known that’s always prepared for 1st through 5th spell levels. this can build up familiars as the spirits who teach mages their magic flavor. it’s especially nice to give them spells not frequently taken. a falcon can give them feather fall, an owl can give darkvision, an octopus can give water breathing, etc.

@quendi5557

3 жыл бұрын

I question your choice of feather fall not being taken often. but yeah, I agree that sounds cool.

Here's an idea I'd like to tack on : The familiar's hit-points add to the bottom of the wizard's. This means that when the wizard gets their familiar, they get a little HP boost, which helps the feeling that they're going through growth by manifesting a part of themselves into reality. The knifey part comes in with combat encounters: when the wizards starts to dip into the last of their HP, the pain/dmg is shared with their familiar. So the closer the master is to death, the more the familiar is visibly distressed/in pain. And finally when the wizard is unconscious, the familiar loses consciousness too, and only awakes along with their master. Also re: warlocks, I like the idea that just as the creature that's supposed to be summoned by the ritual manifests, it is abruptly consumed by the familiar that is provided by the patron. Really gives a bitter-sweetness that feels appropriate to the class' flavour.

Love your videos! The way you describe things is awesome. So vague... And yet, so evocative...

I do this different for each class. I do something like this system for sorcerers. Wizards summon and bind an extradimensional creature to make a familiar, like in the phb. Warlocks make their own little sub-contract with an animal. They are that animal's warlock patron. You can use the phb spell for all of these cases, this is just how I flavor it.

"Because everyone rolls an Evocation Wizard." *Faux Offended Divination Wizard face.*

@ThatFairyBoy

4 жыл бұрын

I'm playing a Divination Wizard right now and reacted the same way lol Evocation is the *commoner's* magic ;)

@Madhattersinjeans

4 жыл бұрын

Divination wizards are for players who wanted to try DMing but couldn't be bothered with all the work.

@Primordial_Soup

4 жыл бұрын

@@Madhattersinjeans Or for people who generally DM, but occasionally have to be players, lol

@abiggs4828

4 жыл бұрын

sounds like you should've seen it coming...

@Alresu

4 жыл бұрын

@@abiggs4828 Yeah... Those guys just waited for this video to come out to act shocked.

YES. My Wild Magic Sorcerer has the feat that lets her cast wizard rituals and adding that element of randomness every time she summons her familiar is very thematically appropriate.

That opening flourish with the notebook was _impeccable._

I love this so much! Makes the familiar much more precious than just a spell. I love the Old Magic, mystical vibe of this whole process.

I love your in depth and, how you put into even the small things, where most DM's just sorta hand-wave it. Love the additional rules if I ever DM will definitely be using them!!!

Not only are you amazing - you are BRILLIANT!

I really liked this! I’d probably still let my players bamf their familiar away and resummon it, but that’s just me. I might say when their familiar dies, they can resummon it, but they have 1 hit point permanently lost from their maximum. Of course, communication, communication, communication.

Really great updates! I always find your videos helpful. I'm more of a world-building GM and often overlook these types of ways to add flavor through spells and rules. 🤘🏻

Oh, that tattoo thing is genius! Will definitely use that if I ever get the chance!

I love how you make videos that are exactly relevant to my campaigns at the time that you post them and i know that its coincidence but it feels nice.

I really like this channel's story and "vibe" focus. To me it's what sets it apart from other, often-more mechanics focused d&d channels

Your players must have so much fun in your campaigns. You put so much thought into details like this. Really inspiring. Thanks for these ideas!

A dwarf wizard familiar should be a parrot that, instead of saying he wants a cookie, screams profanities at everybody he sees, especially elves. It truly embodies the essence of a dwarf.

I loved this one! I’m about to start a new campaign tomorrow with my family, and I’ll will be incorporating some of this. Thank you very much! I hope you have a wonderful day.

Epic flavor for right after the trial... "You gaze through the tear and see.. yourself sitting at the edge of the spell circle." Have them already sharing the senses of their familiar, which is a part of them!

One of my favorite characters was a demon pact of the chain warlock whose imp familiar WAS the patron. A Pit Fiend ran afoul of the more powerful lords of the hells and was demoted, but put the last vestiges of his pit fiend into a random contract before turning into an imp.

I love the way you came up with transmitting character's persona into the familiar !!!! And imbed decisions into creating it! That is very intimate AND bonding to the entity they create. Now that I think of it.... that is actually precisely why I love my daughter )))

Thank you! Especially for your thoughts on making the familiar a part of you - so many people are happy to have the "spirit" version of a familiar, but there is no stake in the game then - who cares if you can just re-summon it or send it to a pocket dimension? There is no gravitas, no risk - no incentive not to just bring it into battle or use it as a shield, etc. The old system of getting a familiar is better, where it actually MEANS something.

wonderful, I love this!

That's a rad jacket. And thank you for this video.

More D&D videos are always great.

It's worth looking into pathfinder 2ed familiars. I like the idea of a flying cat or a talking snake. Maybe a mouse lab assistant.

@RedshiftButterfly

4 жыл бұрын

I don't think Pinkie or Brain would make very good lab assistants.

I really like the idea of the familiar becoming a tattoo. Not so keen on the (old school) idea of the character permanently losing hp when their familiar dies. Maybe the tattoo burns into the skin becoming a permanent brand, and the character then needs to get another tattoo.

@abiggs4828

4 жыл бұрын

I like this. I dont think I'd make a wizard, of all classes, lose HP permanently. I think it'd dissuade players from getting a familiar in the first place. But 3-5 points of fire damage as the familiar tattoo instead becomes a brand seems reasonable, and that really drives home the sense of loss for the player. It's both a physical and emotional scar that character carries with them.

@silg7262

3 жыл бұрын

@@abiggs4828 I would rather permanently lose a few hp than lose my familiar lol

I have an arcane trickster in my group I dm and I have him a boggle familiar recently. Really proud of how I did it. Totally wish I had this video then lol. Keep up the good work Dael!

@silg7262

3 жыл бұрын

That's funny. I play a modified arcane rogue and our druid adopted two boggles while I was dming a side quest of our dms campaign.

I like how when you're describing bounded choices you give us a bounded choice on how to present the bounded choice of familiars to the player. I like the idea of two from the preferred category, btw.

Love it. Adds a more robust interaction with a typically glossed over aspect of character creation that could really add flavor and uniqueness to the persona as a whole. Good job. Grandma says hi. Her level 2 rogue's still a little squishy but she's already picking pockets like a pro.

This. Is. Amazing!

This is great!

That thing about the Wizard bringing their animal familiar into the real world reminded me of the Dream Eaters from Kingdom Hearts! In one of the games, Sora and Riku can shape their dreams and give them physical form to help them in combat. Really cool concept, I’m definitely using that in my next campaign!

I've always wanted my familiars to feel more important than just, "casting a spell". These rules are really inspiring!

This is brilliant!

The screencap for this one is absolutely adorable

Love this. I had my warlock have a quest given to him to earn his familiar. Obviously, it served the patron's needs in the overall picture (which the warlock couldn't see).

Those trials put me in mind of the personality quizzes at the start of the Pokemon Mystery Dungeon games

Hey!👏👏 Love the ideas you came up with. Definitely going to borrow this for my future games. I would like to suggest two additonal ideas for the ritual: as an extra component the character must offer up a small item that holds sentimental value, and the player must choose the environment that the ritual is performed in. Also, another cool familiar ritual is outlined in Stephen Brust's Book of the Jhereg 👌👌 Highly recommend. Cheers!

This video earns a "like" from the thumbnail picture alone.

I finally have a campaign and a wizard! Going to give him a shopping list tonight

i'll be honest i wasn't on board at first but after watching the entire video i love it. i still don't know about permanently killing the familiar.

@silg7262

3 жыл бұрын

I can't get on board with that either

I now have Don Spencer's Feathers Fur Or Fins stuck in my head. Cheers for that.

Good concepts!

I'm a fan of the thought that a Warlock's patron could observe the warlock and their actions through their familiar. That way it makes the patron feel more present to the warlock as well.

This is awesome. Definitely going to use this in the future. Now do a 20 minute video on magic missile! :)

Love itttttt

Damn, you're good at this. Got me wanting to play a wizard right now.

This is all so Burning Wheel! I love it :)

You look so happy in the thumbnail!!!

I really loved all of these ideas, I may implement these into a game. I think I'd tweak the "no pocket dimension" into maybe instead of a pocket dimension, since it is a part of them and their essence, maybe it flows back into them and leaves some sort of a mark until it is called back out.

Your second trial reminded me of the fire in the Cotton library.

Ooo! I had a neat idea. At the beginning of the ritual, the caster is on the outside of the magic circle, but upon the completion of the ritual, they are at the center of the circle, and the familiar comes out of them! Or it could just be on them - like in their clothes, perched on their shoulder, curled up in there lap. It doesn't have to be some sort of terrible body-horror birth thing...because most people probably don't want that.

I love the idea of the tattoo spell. I feel a familiars hit points are added to the wizard or whatever, then the two of them share hit points out of this pool. Yes, damage to the familiar hurts the wizard, but healing the familiar will heal the wizard also.

Steven Brust wrote a series of books about a magic using rogue Vlad. In the first or second book he goes thru the ritual to get a familiar. It is very well written and reminds me a bit of your system. They are great books by the way and very easy to read.

"dare forma fisica alla mia anima" That was some flawless Italian there, bravissima!! I guess Latin-based languages could sound somewhat arcane-ish, which would work wonders for a wizard (the power of alliteration is with me!)

I've always flavored the becoming of the familiar as the herbs and oils needing to be packed into a ball and lit on fire with a drop of the caster's blood, then as the ritual completes, the embers of the ball burn out, and after a moment the ball unfurls itself into the form of the animal familiar, shakes off the ash, and there stands the familiar the wizard (or warlock) chose.

I think His Dark Materials has my favorite concept of familiars. Also you mentioned HDM literally as I was typing this. The internet continues to teach me that I am not special or creative. V_V

I ran a warlock who had a litch patron. His familiar was a large ( about 8 inches long)scarab beetle. And the cool part all the warlock spells were cast by the beetle. I love the idea of this bug shooting eldrith blast or crown of thorns.

I like this. It makes the Familiar more personal to the caster. It feels kinda like your Avatar from Mage: The Ascension/The Awakening, where you have to pass Trials personal to your character to advance. And PS: I prefer Necromancy over evocation. Never know when a few debuffs and skele-bros help a situation.

I love the idea of the familiar giving a small bonus to the caster, that got me thinking. ^___^

@CobaltContrast

3 жыл бұрын

Go look at 3.5 basic familiars have always done this. The tables listed are very balanced.

On the death of the familiar, I prefer instead of making the wizard lose hit points, to mar the wizard with a permanent mark on their appearance for the death of the familiar. Like a strange mark appearing on their hand or face. Something like that.

@ericbuchner2982

4 жыл бұрын

If your using the tattoo idea from the video you could have it become a scar instead.

Not going to lie, got a bit of a shiver when you started that incantation.

@MonarchsFactory

4 жыл бұрын

Hahaha, the Italians probably disagree, but thank you

I can't even tell ya how happy I am to hear about a hedgehog familiar. Mostly 'cause now I wanna play a wizard with a hedgehog familiar.

I've always wanted to make familiars more special in my games. I think this will do the trick!

Sooooo... The wombat familiar gives you an extra hit die on short rests because it poops in the shape of d6's? That's clever on the level of old school spell components!

thought on the whole "familiars die forever" angle: Maybe make it a choice? Have them make a choice at the time they're summoned (or during downtime, perhaps, in the same way some people would do research or carousing) wherein they decide how closely this creature and their own soul are intertwined. If they opt to bind the familiar to themselves, they would suffer some sort of maximum HP decrease if the creature dies, or take away one of their spell slots, as a temporary measure until they're brought back. If you go with the whole "benefit based on what creature they are" thing, maybe the inverse happens where a dead hyena familiar takes a toll on your ability to speak eloquently, or a dead rooster familiar makes them feel sluggish to the point of having disadvantage on initiative. That way if a character really gets attached to their familiar, they can opt to revive that familiar, but the choice needs to be made in advance and it carries weight. Just a thought!

@aqueousconch1103

4 жыл бұрын

Or maybe you cannot summon the same type of familiar, and must summon one of the other two options.

Who chooses Evocation?? Transmutation and Divination are so cool!

Warlock ideas are phenomenal! DM’s for breaking the rules!

The fact that the familiar is an extension of yourself reminds me two things: a) The Golden Compass movie b) the homebrew Emergent class, designed by Ross Leiser. I really like that idea. I also love the idea of a Warlock's Patron just screwing up with the ritual to do whatever they want. xD

This is actually a neat system. I'll have to pitch it to my spellcasters.

Damn, that is a killer jacket.

I also like the Warlock's familiar being loyal first to the patron, and second to the Warlock.

I like to imagine my old fiend pact warlock bargains with his imp to gain new powers. The imp teaches the spells and invocations on behalf of the patron.

I love this idea, im gonna call it "Enhanced Familiar" and it replaces Find familiar in your spell book once you complete the ritual (also the tattoo idea could be part of the spell, it should take a spell slot to turn it into a tattoo but free to release)

22:50 Yes, bouncy, bouncy ideas abound. And bounce. Oh, my brain!

I catch myself using the phrase “vague and evocative” in regards to regular storytelling, and then I go, wait, you didn’t come up with that lol

You are a genius