Roleplaying Familiars

[yoshi67]

I am getting my first familiar, an Earth Mephit, as a Hexblade. I know I'm gonna give him a Dwarven Waraxe and a cloak. With his Disguise ranks and mine, I assume I can reasonably pass him off as a Drawf in towns, and have him throw off the cloak whenever I need him to help with Intimidation or anything. However, I read that he gets an Intelligence bonus (I think per caster level?) which would make him about as smart as normal Human. Does anyone have any tips on how exactly to RP him? I don't know if familiars are more like NPC friends, or servants, or if people even include them in in-game discussions, treating them like a pet. I kinda want him to have some personality, but don't want to overdo it and certainly not to the point he becomes another PC. Not sure where to draw the line...

[BWR]

A familiar is as much of a character as you wish it to be. Sadly, I've seen most familiars ignored and forgotten most of the time.
I've also seen then played to great effect (usually comic). Like the sorcerer's cat who preferred the cleric to his master (since she spoiled him rotten) and liked to use the kobold as a cat toy, who was always running off and delaying the party from moving on because there was too much fun stuff to explore.
Or the wizard's parrot who would always squak and insult his master (and everyone else).

Anyway, the correct answer is 'whatever you feel like' and where that intersects with 'is ok with the rest of the group'.

[Zalphon]

I always roleplay my familiars as alternate characters.

My Paper Wizard (he was a hero from a time long past, but in this new time--he was made from the pages of his old spellbook and actually memorized spells off himself) had a familiar (Raven) named Vynn who would try to teach him about his own history.

I had one wizard who was Lawful Evil and had an Imp familiar named Lazarus. Her and Lazarus had a lot of back-and-forth dialogue (typically quite playful, but really sarcastic).

[Afgncaap5]

It might work well if you thought about what kind of character the familiar would be, and then translate that familiar to someone of the familiar's situation. For some Disney examples, you've got Iago from Aladdin, Archimedes from The Sword In The Stone and Maleficent's Raven (Crow?) from Sleeping Beauty. Each one was a different character with different approaches to the job; The Raven was a pet/helper who was willing to do just about anything, Archimedes sort of felt like an old friend/stuffy roommate that bickered with Merlin constantly, and Iago felt almost like a punchclock minion (though one who generally seemed to enjoy Jafar.)

If you could think of a fun character to have around with you, then it might be good to just go with that and ask yourself how that character might react to things in different situations.

[Loasty625]

I've always thought of a familiar as a sort of "splinter" of the spellcaster him/herself. Anyone with a familiar imbues a small portion of their own soul into the familiar when it is first summoned. This explains why a familiars master loses XP should the familiar be slain, and also the empathetic link, share spells, and even alertness abilities that the familiar and its master acquire. To quote the Player's Handbook: "In some sense, the familiar and the master are practically one being."

This all being said, a familiar was once a normal animal (or other creature, though the Improved Familiar feat), and (especially as it gains intelligence) it has its own distinct personality, and perhaps even *alignment. It is bonded with its master, but it is not its master.

In terms of RP, I like to think of the familiar as one side of the master's personality. Like a manifestation of his/her conscience, or the other half of a coin. Its up to you in the end, and I think all familiars are different, but basically my opinion is that they share some characteristics of their master, but definitely not all.

Now, mentioning the Improved Familiar feat again: A lot of the options for an improved familiar have greater intelligence than an animal. Extraplanar beings, including Imps, Quasits, Lantern Archons, and even Elementals have a much greater level of sentience before being summoned as a familiar. Small Elementals have an Int of 4, which technically is within the bounds of a player character (bottoming at 3), so I would be inclined to give these kinds of familiars a more separate personality than a raven, or a toad. In these cases the familiar is almost more like an NPC, or servant, as you mentioned, but not quite. I still believe the bond formed when a familiar is summoned joins the souls of the two in a way. That's your call though (or your DM's).

I know this was a lot but hopefully you read it and it helped. I play a lot of druids, wizards, and paladins, and I always love my critters. Good luck with yours. I've always wanted a Mephit familiar!

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*I always believed that a familiar took on the same alignment as its master, but re-reading the Player's Handbook tonight I cannot find anything about that. Does anyone else know if I was correct? Do they take their master's alignment, or do they keep their original alignment (true neutral for an animal, or Lawful Evil for an Imp, for example)? Can a familiar change to any alignment? Should it be close to its master's?
I'd love to hear some feedback. :smallsmile: