PDA

View Full Version : fun with familiars/animal companions/mounts



grimbold
2010-10-29, 07:12 AM
I was curious if anybody else does this.
Whenever I play a wizard or a sorcerer i will choose a cat familiar and name it after my cat.
When i play a druid i will take a wolverine and name it Logan. (Please somebody get the reference)
When i play a paladin my DM lets me have a unicorn mount named... CHARLIE!

so anybody else into having fun with their animal friends and their names?

Last Laugh
2010-10-29, 07:30 AM
Well, right about now my druids birdy is named Meatshield IX

Lady Moreta
2010-10-29, 07:34 AM
I was curious if anybody else does this.
Whenever I play a wizard or a sorcerer i will choose a cat familiar and name it after my cat.
When i play a druid i will take a wolverine and name it Logan. (Please somebody get the reference)
When i play a paladin my DM lets me have a unicorn mount named... CHARLIE!

so anybody else into having fun with their animal friends and their names?

I get the reference :smallsmile: and seriously? a unicorn named Charlie? *facepalm*

I've never actually played a character that has an animal companion or familiar, but I'd probably just make up a name for it like I do for the characters themselves.

Urpriest
2010-10-29, 08:01 AM
One campaign I ran, the druid player was constantly getting calls from his parents. He'd leave the room and engage in a long conversation, and eventually we'd just start running his character to keep the game moving. During one especially long absence we had him rename his Fleshraker animal companion Ryan Seacrest.

Turns out Ryan Seacrest was the party's most effective character by far. A little scary.

Ernir
2010-10-29, 08:02 AM
My unicorn's name is Pink.

Zaydos
2010-10-29, 08:10 AM
I have a running theme of naming them after rivers. It started with an arcane hierophant's Familiar Companion named Rhine (later replaced with a companion named Scamander) and my next character was his reincarnation and had a pixie familiar named Tonegawa.

There was a DMPC with a squirrel familiar named Risu in between.

I need to play a game where I can have a familiar; they're awesome.

Gabe the Bard
2010-10-29, 08:11 AM
Once, I accidently named my sorcerer after the DM's dog.

GodGoblin
2010-10-29, 08:56 AM
When i play a druid i will take a wolverine and name it Logan. (Please somebody get the reference)
Hey Bub.

But yeah I love having fun familiars, Im still trying to find a mechanically sound way of having an awakened squirrel sorcerer with a human
familiar. It must be possible dammit!

Zaydos
2010-10-29, 09:08 AM
Hey Bub.

But yeah I love having fun familiars, Im still trying to find a mechanically sound way of having an awakened squirrel sorcerer with a human
familiar. It must be possible dammit!

3rd party, 3.0, and somewhat prone to being broken but the Encyclopedia Arcane series has a book on familiars which does have rules for human familiars.

And familiar's that have a BAB equal to your character level. And several other ways to break familiars.

grimbold
2010-10-29, 09:17 AM
me and the guys i used to play with would also use familiars to check for traps :)
the dm did not like this.

Zaydos
2010-10-29, 09:19 AM
me and the guys i used to play with would also use familiars to check for traps :)
the dm did not like this.

:smalleek:

The kitty is not supposed to be exposed to traps. That's what the halfling is for.

grimbold
2010-10-29, 09:22 AM
The kitty is not supposed to be exposed to traps. That's what the halfling is for.

permission to sig this?
(the party had no halflings or rogues)

Zaydos
2010-10-29, 09:25 AM
permission to sig this?
(the party had no halflings or rogues)

Of course.
And in that case a gnome, dwarf, or elf will do (warning: dwarves have a tendency to survive ridiculous explosions and kill you for sending them into them).

bokodasu
2010-10-29, 09:29 AM
I tend to change animal companions like other characters change their underwear* so I've been working on just reusing names for each type of animal; although poor Mr. Snuffles** the Dire Lion is having his name retired due to being turned into a super-undead-dire-lion by the BBEG who's now tracking us with his super-undead-dire-lion senses.

I name everything, though - summons, awakened creatures, random animals I find in the forest, NPCs my DM isn't quick enough to name...

--
*No, wait, probably more often than that. How many adventurers ever buy a new outfit after their first?

**YOU try breathing normally with fangs like that.

grimbold
2010-10-29, 09:34 AM
And in that case a gnome, dwarf, or elf will do (warning: dwarves have a tendency to survive ridiculous explosions and kill you for sending them into them).

the problem with elves is that then they'll whine forever about it.

Zaydos
2010-10-29, 09:36 AM
the problem with elves is that then they'll whine forever about it.

They'll whine forever no matter what you do. At least if the trap kills them they'll shut up.

grimbold
2010-10-29, 03:24 PM
They'll whine forever no matter what you do. At least if the trap kills them they'll shut up.

thou art truly correct

Coidzor
2010-10-29, 03:31 PM
:smalleek:

The kitty is not supposed to be exposed to traps. That's what the halfling is for.

what about tibbits? Best of both worlds, I say. :smallamused:

Squally!
2010-10-29, 03:42 PM
any familiar/companion ive had has been called Hand Banana in recent campaigns. Sadly, i dont seem to get many companions or familiars anymore :(

truth be told tho, most of my long term ones are named randomly, i try not to ever use the same name twice for chars or familiars

grimbold
2010-10-30, 03:54 AM
fair enough squally

Cicciograna
2010-10-30, 04:29 AM
Not completely relevant, but I use to call Warforged NPCs with names such as IBM, AMD, Intel, Asus, etc.

some guy
2010-10-30, 07:42 AM
One of my players called her badger companion simply "badger". When the group found some magic mushrooms in a cave, hilarity ensued. I didn't get it at first, not until one of the players asked me if they would encounter a snake.

Lev
2010-10-30, 07:55 AM
Of course it's fun having little friends in DnD, the only limit to pets is the depth of your wallet!

Little secret: Elephants cost 700g

My current character is a Exiled Modron Wizard (Tinkerer background) with the following companions:
Jyian the Brass Man
Ronk the Junk Golem
Paur the Clockwork Mender
Nox the Universal Key
Miel the Lantern Archon (Familiar)

RelentlessImp
2010-10-30, 08:00 AM
Raven Familiars get named Huginn or Muninn.
Horses get named Sleipnir, Shadowfax, or 'Horse'.
Dragons get named Smaug.

Frenchy147
2010-10-30, 08:02 AM
Actually, I once had a character named after my cat :smallsmile:

grimbold
2010-10-30, 09:03 AM
Raven Familiars get named Huginn or Muninn.
Horses get named Sleipnir, Shadowfax, or 'Horse'.
Dragons get named Smaug.

Nice horse and dragon names... Smaug is awesome
Maybe Bela for a horse if any of you read Wheel of Time?


Actually, I once had a character named after my cat

that reminds me of the first rpg i ever played which was basically a glorified choose your own adventure w/ d6's. I name my character after my cat to :)

Devmaar
2010-10-30, 11:11 AM
The druid in a campaign I'm playing has a Hawk called Tony.

And next time I play a humorous campaign I'm getting a pegasus and calling it Pig.

Coidzor
2010-10-30, 11:45 AM
Jyian the Brass Man
Ronk the Junk Golem

Where do these two come from?


Not completely relevant, but I use to call Warforged NPCs with names such as IBM, AMD, Intel, Asus, etc.

...Great, now I want a pair of twin deities of the Warforged like Dogar and Kazon/Mork and Gork named Awk and Sed....x.x

klemdakherzbag
2010-10-30, 07:12 PM
One campaign saw my warhorses named 'Dinner'. This was after tricking a red dragon into flying the party off his island in exchange for "chickens". Chickens = horses after we passed over a coastal farm with pastures of horses.

Hawriel
2010-10-31, 02:10 AM
For some reason It's harder for me to name pets than characters. I think the want to not sound to childish, uninspired, or over done. I know I dont have to have the most unique super cool name ever. I just over think it to much.

In MMOs I dont care so much.

I had a raven pet named four in twenty. A bear named Smokey, Fozzy, and Adam.

In D&D The names need to reflect both the owning character and pets personality.

I named an Onyx dog Jasper.

A horse named Nightshade, another Satan.

Huan for a dog companion. Tolkien reference.

Thats about all I can remember. I dont usualy use pets because well. I treat them like V did. Just another thing to fortet to keep track of.

However one I want to play with is a mockingbird. That one would belong to a bard character I have sitting around. Yes I know bards dont have familiers. Dont care, it fits the character and it will in no way brake the game.

Cerlis
2010-10-31, 02:26 AM
For some reason It's harder for me to name pets than characters. I think the want to not sound to childish, uninspired, or over done. I know I dont have to have the most unique super cool name ever. I just over think it to much.

In MMOs I dont care so much.

I had a raven pet named four in twenty. A bear named Smokey, Fozzy, and Adam.

In D&D The names need to reflect both the owning character and pets personality.

I named an Onyx dog Jasper.

A horse named Nightshade, another Satan.

Huan for a dog companion. Tolkien reference.

Thats about all I can remember. I dont usualy use pets because well. I treat them like V did. Just another thing to fortet to keep track of.

However one I want to play with is a mockingbird. That one would belong to a bard character I have sitting around. Yes I know bards dont have familiers. Dont care, it fits the character and it will in no way brake the game.

well A) I believe there is a feat summon familiar. and B) I think a pet one would do nicely for your purposes (if your DM is nice enough to let it live.)

2-HeadedGiraffe
2010-10-31, 02:35 AM
In the game I'm currently playing in, there's a sorcerer whose raven familiar is a more developed character than the sorcerer herself.

I named a raven Munin once, just like RelentlessImp suggests, but there are so many iconic dragons out there that I hardly think Smaug is automatic. I'd go with Nidhog (or any of the other spellings thereof) since the raven is already leading us towards Norse.