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What in your openion is the best animal familiar and why? Note: I said animal familiar.

I am partial to Eagles and Falcons myself. 1, there sight is most impressive, as is their hearing, speed, and let's not forget their diving attacks. Also comes in handy for hunting.

I've always liked small birds, myself. No one notices a chickadee.

My ranger, Falcon, has a wolf, but his family all have animal familiars. (Most of them are Druids.) My wife has a character with a panther, and another character, a Beastmaster, with a Grizzly Bear, a Bengal Tiger and a Hawk. She also has a mage with a ferret. (The ferret is pretty cool, I'll give her that.)

Personally, I like the land based familiars. Canine's and cats in particular.

i like the big cats myself, panthers most of all.

hmmm...a panther that weighs less than the maximum 25lbs allowed for a familiar? That is one wussy panther. I think someone sold you a cat.

Soldier of Od wrote:hmmm...a panther that weighs less than the maximum 25lbs allowed for a familiar? That is one wussy panther. I think someone sold you a cat.

No one follows that 25lbs rule in my games either, so. Who really cares?

One work-around I have allowed is that the familiar must weigh less than 25 pounds at the time of binding. So you can link a panther or something similar, but only when it's young. When it grows up, it will remain linked.

Shrink.

Owl

Uh, everyone lately seams to be missing the "AND WHY" part of the questions.

Misfit KotLD wrote:

lather wrote:Shrink.

You want a psychologist as a familiar?

And I'd name her Eliza.

FAMILIAR: Raccoon

AND WHY: They can get places other animals can't, and they are just so cuddly and cute. Ehm, I mean their razor sharp teeth and claws are fierce. FIERCE!

And diseased.

Has a Mage with a female BookWyrm....but she is the only mage I have with a animal famillier.

The only other char with a famillier is a NS with a human one. I don't use that char very much except in HP pick up games. Though I've used the Famillier in a few pick up games recently.

Misfit KotLD wrote:A diseased psychologist named Eliza?

No the raccoon is diseased.

Eliza convinced me that monsters don't exist back in 1994.

Tigers are my preference if I'm looking for a helper in battle, crow for scouting (or other medium sized bird to the area, dislike song birds, one too many kids with sling-shots causing me pain).

lather wrote:

Misfit KotLD wrote:A diseased psychologist named Eliza?

No the raccoon is diseased.

Eliza convinced me that monsters don't exist back in 1994.

Eliza lied.

pblackcrow wrote:

lather wrote:

Misfit KotLD wrote:A diseased psychologist named Eliza?

No the raccoon is diseased.

Eliza convinced me that monsters don't exist back in 1994.

Eliza lied.

Although, you have just given me an idea...What happens when a wizard has joined with a rabbid animal.

They don't lick each other's faces.

I would pick a SKUNK!! Who in there right mind would pick on someone who is fallowed by a Skunk? Ya, that would stink to have as a familiar but would lead to some FUN play!

DiceCollector wrote:I would pick a SKUNK!! Who in there right mind would pick on someone who is fallowed by a Skunk? Ya, that would stink to have as a familiar but would lead to some FUN play!

That's a good idea . . . Time to whip up a very annoying Druid NPC to bother my players with . . .

Well, I would go with something that is very small and innocuous. You don't want to have a familiar that everyone notices, else it won't make a very good spy. Also, I don't think something that is a combat aid is as useful as people think. IF that familiar goes down, it's very tramatic for the other side. That rules out things that people generally try to kill, like spiders, snakes, and vermin.

So, I would go with something small, quick, and commonly found in the area. I'd also want something that has good sensory organs to augment what you have. So, I figure something like a ferret, squirrel, or small rodent that isn't seen as dispicable as a rat.

-Vek
"Also something that's easy to feed."

pblackcrow wrote:Soldier of Od wrote:
hmmm...a panther that weighs less than the maximum 25lbs allowed for a familiar? That is one wussy panther. I think someone sold you a cat.

No one follows that 25lbs rule in my games either, so. Who really cares?

I don't care what anyone does, I just thought I'd mention something, as people seemed to be doing stuff that wasn't allowed, without specifically saying they were using house rules. Just saying, that's all

It led to a discussion in my game where we wondered if we fed a PC's 25lb familiar enough burgers to make him 26lbs, would it break the spell and undo the bond?! (not that we actually took it seriously, but it makes you think.) I like Mark's idea about bonding when young.

As for a choice of familiar, I agree with some of the others for the same reasons - small and innocuous, for spying. Using a familiar as an attack animal is not a good idea, as you take all the damage it does. One of my players had a small hunting hound as a familiar (which he used mainly as a tracker and hunter), and when they got cornered and had to fight, the hound was bludgeoned to death, and it actually killed the PC as well, as the hound had more HP than the PC! Not good.

Soldier of Od.

P.S. This is the first time I've managed to quote from another post, and use smiley icons. <phew>, this modern technology stuff is difficult to grasp.

Misfit KotLD wrote:So you're a luddite?

Nah... he's just a little od...

I agree, with you Vek. That is why I added the swooping attacks come in handy when hunting. Other than that I rearly use them for fighting.

lather wrote:

Misfit KotLD wrote:A diseased psychologist named Eliza?

No the raccoon is diseased.

Only if it originates from East of the Mississippi, which I doubt few familiars in the Palladium world do.

Misfit KotLD wrote:So you're a luddite?

Yes, I'm definitely a Luddite. I don't even own an MP3 player or a computer (I post these from work!), and my phone doesn't do anything other than make phone calls.

Fortunately, I don't have to rise up against the factories of Britain, as competition from cheap Chinese labour is closing them all down for me! (little bit of politics there)

Jesterzzn wrote:

lather wrote:

Misfit KotLD wrote:A diseased psychologist named Eliza?

No the raccoon is diseased.

Only if it originates from East of the Mississippi, which I doubt few familiars in the Palladium world do.

I appreciate the humour but do you think it's impossible for a coon to be diseased in The Palladium World?

Misfit KotLD wrote:

Soldier of Od wrote:

Misfit KotLD wrote:So you're a luddite?

Yes, I'm definitely a Luddite. I don't even own an MP3 player or a computer (I post these from work!), and my phone doesn't do anything other than make phone calls.

Fortunately, I don't have to rise up against the factories of Britain, as competition from cheap Chinese labour is closing them all down for me! (little bit of politics there)

I must confess to my attachment to modern conveniences. But you're all set for the apocalypse at least.

Yea I had to buy a new phone recently and was saddened that you can't get them anymore that just makes and takes phone calls. The guy with all his bluetooth and all this other stuff clipped to his ears and belt looked at me as if I were from Mars.

Learn to swim, see you down in Arizona Bay.

lather wrote:

Jesterzzn wrote:

lather wrote:

Misfit KotLD wrote:A diseased psychologist named Eliza?

No the raccoon is diseased.

Only if it originates from East of the Mississippi, which I doubt few familiars in the Palladium world do.

I appreciate the humour but do you think it's impossible for a coon to be diseased in The Palladium World?

No more so than a house cat. I am just pointing out that the urban legend that raccoon's are carriers of rabies originates from the disproportionate amount of coon's that contract the disease east of the Mississippi. There are about four times as many coons west of the Miss, but only about four cases of raccoon rabies every year from those coons.

So people in the US tend to carry a missguided impression of raccoons as diseased based on the larger than normal cases of rabies in coons east of the Mississippi.

Jesterzzn wrote:

lather wrote:

Jesterzzn wrote:

lather wrote:

Misfit KotLD wrote:A diseased psychologist named Eliza?

No the raccoon is diseased.

Only if it originates from East of the Mississippi, which I doubt few familiars in the Palladium world do.

I appreciate the humour but do you think it's impossible for a coon to be diseased in The Palladium World?

No more so than a house cat. I am just pointing out that the urban legend that raccoon's are carriers of rabies originates from the disproportionate amount of coon's that contract the disease east of the Mississippi. There are about four times as many coons west of the Miss, but only about four cases of raccoon rabies every year from those coons.

So people in the US tend to carry a missguided impression of raccoons as diseased based on the larger than normal cases of rabies in coons east of the Mississippi.

Or the situation is worse than it is on the eastern front

I'm amazed that nobody has mentioned snakes yet. While it might not be the best thing in a fight, it is a free source of poison. Snakes are also intimidating. A king cobra or rattlesnake will make any would be thief think twice before Would make a great spy and assassin.

UR Leader Hobbes wrote:I'm amazed that nobody has mentioned snakes yet. While it might not be the best thing in a fight, it is a free source of poison. Snakes are also intimidating. A king cobra or rattlesnake will make any would be thief think twice before Would make a great spy and assassin.

Not in the winter.

UR Leader Hobbes wrote:I'm amazed that nobody has mentioned snakes yet. While it might not be the best thing in a fight, it is a free source of poison. Snakes are also intimidating. A king cobra or rattlesnake will make any would be thief think twice before Would make a great spy and assassin.

And if you're an evil priest type, you can shoot them like arrows!

I must just be a bastard of a GM , because i've never allowed players to have a familiar that has any sort of attack (no predators) or that could be used as a mount.

So the list used in my games include

numerous small birds
a bat
a mouse
and my all time favorite, a small monkey.......who constantly poohed in and on the groups belongings

Jesterzzn wrote:

lather wrote:

Jesterzzn wrote:

lather wrote:

Misfit KotLD wrote:A diseased psychologist named Eliza?

No the raccoon is diseased.

Only if it originates from East of the Mississippi, which I doubt few familiars in the Palladium world do.

I appreciate the humour but do you think it's impossible for a coon to be diseased in The Palladium World?

No more so than a house cat. I am just pointing out that the urban legend that raccoon's are carriers of rabies originates from the disproportionate amount of coon's that contract the disease east of the Mississippi. There are about four times as many coons west of the Miss, but only about four cases of raccoon rabies every year from those coons.

So people in the US tend to carry a missguided impression of raccoons as diseased based on the larger than normal cases of rabies in coons east of the Mississippi.

I shall agree with that, but there is more than 4 cases reported. But of humans contracting it from raccoons, there is probably 4. As apposed to run in with the rabied coons. I know...I have a friends who work as game wardens. And yes, I live in TN, for now anyway.

pblackcrow wrote:I shall agree with that, but there is more than 4 cases reported. But of humans contracting it from raccoons, there is probably 4. As apposed to run in with the rabied coons. I know...I have a friends who work as game wardens. And yes, I live in TN, for now anyway.

It was 4 one year, but I don't remember which. The most recent study from 2006 says that of the 2,615 reported cases of raccoon rabies, 19 occured west of the Mississippi and they were all in Texas. So yea, more than four, but still statistically negligible.

Mark Hall wrote:I've always liked small birds, myself. No one notices a chickadee.

I have a PC who's a mage and she has a sparrow as a familiar. I like having small birds simply because in most situations they can be sent ahead to spy on people and almost no one pays any attention to them because of their small size and the fact that they're non threatening.

Heh. That's true. I find NOT giving GM's awful ideas to be a good thing. After all, they can think up things all on their own.

I must be the only one that augments his familiar with magic.

I played a Diabolist who familiared him self with a Peregrine Falcon, the fasted animal on palladium
-with the help of a fellow wizard and some rather expensive demon bone, we gave him a permanent fleet feet, sustain and super human strength enchantment.

The end result has a familiar that could fly at 274mph without fatigue or sleep.

Gentrell's Familiar page 63 the northern hinterlands book

Animal: Snake

Why: Free source of renewable poison, can fit into very small areas, easy to feed, can be used as a hard to spot guardian, lots of people are afraid of snakes already without being prodded into it, natural rodent removal, practically silent when moving, and can be easily hidden on the person even wearing it around the neck.

A little Monkey in a vest. Why, Duh It's creepy