Quick question about familiars

[Vladislav]

When a player is creating a Sorcerer or Wizard character with a familiar, is it customary to enforce the cost of the summoning ritual (100 gp) to be taken off their WBL, or is it usually handwaved?

(note that this is more a question of "what is customary in a practical game", not "what is RAW")

[LadyLexi]

I usually choose not to summon a familiar(annoying little xp drains), and would definitely not do it with that rule enforced. This is based primarily on the fact that I played a Wizard (my first time playing one) with a raven and the thing died the second session.

[KillianHawkeye]

In my group, the first one is typically free. I'm not sure about after that because of how rarely a familiar needs to be replaced. I think the only familiar we had that regularly got into trouble was the one my 4E sorcerer had, but familiars in 4E come back to life after you rest and there's no cost associated with them so that doesn't really help much.

[Telonius]

First one is customarily free. I've never seen a DM charge the 100gp fee, unless it's for a replacement familiar.

[panaikhan]

In our group, a familiar is free only at first level. You are assumed to have stumped up before-hand.
After level 1, then yes - you end up paying.

[rot42]

Familiars always cost the components in the games I run and play. Same with greatswords.

If I wanted to run a fast-paced game starting at level 1 where the wizard would not have a day of downtime to activate their class feature for several sessions, I would probably consider letting them pay the component cost retroactively, though.