Interested2/ModifiedFamiliars

Modified Familiar Rules

Having read Telgar's Familiar modifications, I was struck by the elegance of his fix to the currently-underpowered Familiar background. With that in mind, there are several modifications I would implement.

XP

It is mentioned in Telgar's writeup that five dot familiars "almost certainly grow with their master", but no mechanic for this is provided. I propose the following solution:

Four and five dot familiars are automatically subscribed to the XP system presented below. Familiars of 3 dots and below may gain access to XP-based advancement by their masters spending an extra dot of background.

Our guidelines for creating the XP-based advancement system are simple.

• A familiar should always be useful. While artifacts do not grow with a character, they are not destructible (at least not easily). In order for Familiar to be a viable background in the long term, they *must* learn and grow with the characters - an your loyal attack dog companion is useful at the start of the game, but by the time you're throwing around Essence 8 Charms and Solar circle sorcery, he starts to look less like your loyal companion and more like wasted XP.
• At no point should a familiar overshadow its master. He-man was about He-man, not about Battlecat. The companions of the classical hero, human and otherwise, provide strong narrative support and often are closely tied to the story overall, but they are not the heroes.

With these two critical points in mind, I suggest the following. When a familiar is obtained, a fraction of the XP the character has obtained is invested in the familiar. This is a synergistic effect - the Essence flows of the two are intertwined, and both gain from the interaction. The mechanical effect of this is that the familiar gains XP at a rate equal to that of the character. If a familiar is obtained after play has started, the familiar automatically gains XP equal to 75% of the total XP of its master.

Familiars are, however, limited in how they spend this XP. The first limitation is simple: barring extreme circumstances, Familiars who were not able to learn Charms previously do not gain that ability by becoming familiars. Familiars may spend XP to raise their traits as shown on Tables 1.1 and 1.2. God-Blooded and Demon familiars should use their own tables to determine Charm XP costs. Storytellers and players should work together to determine appropriate XP distribution for the familiar.

||||||||||Table 1.1|||||||||| ||Trait Increase||||Cost||||Training Times|| ||Attribute||||Rating x6||||(rating) months|| ||Ability||||Rating x3||||(rating) weeks|| ||Essence||||Rating x20||||(rating) months|| ||Virtue||||Rating x3||||Immediate|| ||Willpower||||Rating x3||||Immediate|| ||Familiar Path*||||Rating x8||||(rating) weeks||

||||||||||Table 1.2|||||||||| ||New Trait||||Cost||||Training Times|| ||Ability||||5||||1 month|| ||Specialty||||3||||3 weeks|| ||Familiar Path*||||12||||3 weeks||

*Familiar Paths are a special, optional addition to the familiar rules. They add a large amount of complexity to the task of developing and playing a familiar, and are recommended for experienced players and storytellers only. Your mileage may vary.
**Wyld Mutations may be purchased for XP points equal to twice the BP cost of the mutation. Please note that in most cases the effects of these are not from Wyld exposure - they are a simpler method of handling supernatural ability development.

Familiar Paths

The lack of Charm availability deprives any being of an XP-sink, and Exalted XP-rewards were balanced with Charm selection in mind. We also run into the problem of supernatural abilities - many, many mythological beings have powers that are only revealed after time, and with no Charms, it is difficult at first glance to replicate that time-based emergence of abilities. Instead of Charms, familiars may take levels in Familiar Paths, representing increased levels of experience with extant powers and abilities or the development of new ones. Higher level familiars, and virtually all four and five dot familiars should have at least one custom Familiar Path to allow the development of unique powers over time. All familiars are thusly given Keywords, which indicate the general types of Familiar Paths that they may take. Familiars may take any Path that shares at least one of their keywords - for example, a cat familiar developed under this system might have keywords "Cat, Fur, Claw, Bite". Paths are developed in a linear fashion, similar to those of the Dragon Kings, and are of the general format given in the sample Path below.

Name: Bat
Path Name: Eviscerate
Path Level: 1
Path Keywords: Physical, Claw, Tentacle
Mins: Strength 3, any one of Melee 1, Brawl 1, or Martial Arts 1
Type: Passive
Duration: NInterested2/ModifiedFamiliars/A
The familiar who learns this path learns the art of brutality in close combat. The familiar may henceforce bat their target away from them with a sufficiently powerful strike, sending them flying or tumbling from the tremendous force of the familiars blow. When in melee combat, the familiar has the option of making a contested (Strength+Melee) for free upon a successful attack. Should the familiar win this roll by two successes or more, the opponent is flung bodily backwards, traveling one yard per net success. The target may take extra damage from impact with hard or sharp objects, as the Storyteller deems appropriate.

Feedback

Why not just allow them to take Charms equivalent of their master but with some sort of limitation. This way you don't need to modify the game mechanics. I mean half-caste can learn the Charms of their parent why shouldn't familiars. So if I want a toucher familiar I just have it take Ox-Body Technique a few times. Besides that I like hte idea of allowing familiars their own XP, I think it makes sense and allows them to grow in power like their master. -Heru

You're probably right, but honestly what worried me was, for example, your Familiar 2 pet cat taking Solar charms. -Interested2