Prologue (3k)
Chapter One: Designing Beasts (61k)
Chapter Two: New Rules for Familiars (2k)
Chapter Three: Familiars and Saga Development (42k)
Chapter Four: Popular Familiars (103k)
Chapter Five: Quadrapeda (84k)
Chapter Six: Birds (84k)
Chapter Seven: Serpents (62k)
Chapter Eight: Worms (9k)
Chapter Nine: Fish (13k)
Appendix One: Humans as Familiars (12k)
Appendix Two: Familiars of the Realms (70k)
Appendix Three: Forms, Effects and Sizes (11k)
Bibliography (6k)
Most sagas applying these rules will be usual Ars Magica story cycles. In a usual saga, there are basically four character types; the magus, the companion, the grog and the "spirit" of the covenant, which is a sort of meta-character that the players build co-operatively. This book gives you a fifth character to add to these ingredients, the familiar. You need not do so, and should ask your storyguide before designing a familiar player-character. The following section will assist you to play or write stories for familiar player characters.
Familiar characters do not take the "mage" or "companion" slot unless your storyguide so wishes. Since familiars vary in power from little rodents to lesser drakes, the storyguide should select which, if any, of the usual character slots the familiar fills on a case-by-case basis. When making this decision storyguides should consider that the core rulebook allows players to design familiars which they run as an extension of their magus; their familiar should be the reward for an adventure whose difficulty reflects the creature's usefulness; they have spent vis and time on its enchantment. If familiars are particularly useful in your saga, you should upgrade the value of the flaw "No Familiar" and reduce the value of the virtue "Follower of Bjornaer".
In many ways the familiar plays a role similar to that of the companion. It mediates between the magus and the outside world, acting as an assessor, adviser and agent. Companions specialise, so that each is most useful only in a single environment. Many familiars are also specialised, but, in the same way that the skills of the companion extend the abilities of the magus, so do the abilities of the familiar enhance "their" human.
When planning a setting rich in familiars, the storyguide must take them into account. In the same way that if a player has asked to play a merchant the storyguide should design scenarios where bargaining and wealth will be useful, so when a player asks for a character who is a dog, the storyguide should leave hooks that allow this to be interesting. If you feel uncomfortable redesigning scenarios so that familiars, or certain species, are useful characters, then, be fair. Either ban some, or all, species of familiar or explain to the players that although you'll allow familiars, you won't go to any special effort to make them part of the storyline. This avoids later dissatisfaction, much like explaining that your scenarios will be mostly court intrigue will head off disappointment for someone designing an immature Flambeau magus.
When leaving hooks for familiar characters, you should concentrate on what environment they intermediate with on behalf of the magus, then on what their life is like beyond their duties at the Covenant. This is, again, similar to a companion, where for each type there are plot elements based on their covenant function and private life. Imagine, for example, a Lady whose duties on expeditions include smoothing out interactions with the peasantry, handling fiddly details like payment, giving the magi field instruction in social graces, getting information from womenfolk through gossip and speaking on behalf of the group to nobles and priests. In addition to her role on expeditions, the lady has estates, including the covenant, to manage, friends to see, enemies to monger nasty rumours about, suitors to encourage, trysts to keep, relatives to support and servants to hire and that's all in the same month! You also need to link the two sides of her life together, so that you know why she serves the covenant. Perhaps she's terrified of ageing and the magi have promised her longevity and illusionary assistance?
With a familiar, the two interlinked roles need also to be defined:
This is mentioned here, in the saga chapter, instead of the character design phase, to simulate the way in which opportunity, or misfortune, strike regardless of the best-laid plans. Nothing forbids a little cat designed as a troubadour, who serves as comic relief between the stories, eventually becoming defacto leader of the Order of Hermes. Storyguides should have a sense of the unexpected potential in the lives of the player characters, and should sometimes foil their plans, giving them interesting alternatives to the life they have been designed to lead.
One of the main advantages of having familiars on an expedition is that many possess superhuman senses. The storyguide should bear in mind the clues and warnings that a dog's nose or a hawk's eyes can give the group. This is best emphasised to the players by changing the way you present information to match the interests of the receiver. Imagine that a character walks into a throne room and you want to hint that this kingdom, once rich, is temporarily short of cash. If it is a Tremere magus your description might be:
| "A room, long and opulently decorated, that terminates, after dining tables and benches, in a raised dais, upon which sits a gilded throne. Above it, on the wall by which it rests, is emblazoned the dragon banner of the Prince of Wallacia. (Perception 9+) The gilt on the armrests of the throne is worn in patches, which have not, for some reason, been replaced." |
Were it a merchant, it would be:
| "The throne room has a golden chair at the end, raised high on a platform and polished wood tables, nicely tooled, on either side of a walkway from it to the door. The drapes are fine linen and the ceiling ornamented with gilded images of angels or saints. The room is lit by tallow candles. (Perception and Craft or Bargain: The local church had beeswax candles, which are superior to tallow candles but a luxury.)" |
Were you a dog, it would be:
| "Many feet have trod into this room over the years. Laid down in it is a patina of sweat, smoke, cooked meats, spilled wine, oiled armour and honeyed candles. A layer of pollen, thinner than the eye can see, lays over the table at the entrance end of the room, where you stand. The scents are somehow fainter than at home, although the room is not very airy. At the far end there's a gilded chair raised up on a dais. (Intelligence: There has been no feast in this room since last spring.)" |
Instead of the senses, you can use the mood of the animal for differentiation. For example the cycles of hyperactivity and lassitude which are the daily life of a ferret can colour perceptions when something is described for them. Animals often have a sense of value that's foreign to humans and their perceptions are keyed toward the things they think are worthwhile. A magpie sees more value in a polished spoon than in mushrooms packed with raw vis, so when describing a faerie feast they have seen, describe the things that are, to them, of interest. Eventually most familiars will get the idea of what it is that humans value, although to many human needs seem comical.
It is through interaction with their surroundings that storyguides can force characters which are being played too much like furry humans back into role. A cat who wears boots, fences with a sword and speaks is still a cat, and when he is walking through a marketplace, regardless of his intellect, he will still notice fish before money. The storyguide should, therefore, emphasise the way the character thinks by presenting information filtered through a feline mind's priorities.
Every so often, it's an interesting change of pace to run a story solely from the familiar's perspective. Even when playing grogs, players who usually play magi can retain many of the same techniques, but asking them to play a bird or rabbit forces them to improvise wildly. When running a familiars-only story, it's important to link the result back to the welfare of the covenant, and therefore the human characters. This prevents this story being an aside from the continuing saga.
Adventures as an apprentice always seem far more important than they really are. Partially this is because children lack a sense of the true scope of human activity in Europe, thinking only of their little social circle as being significant. Additionally, however, some magi set up voyages themselves, making them appear more dangerous by seeding the area in which the quest takes place with lackeys and illusions, so as to make the character feel they are facing greater difficulty than they truly are.
Storyguides attempting to design a voyage should take as a model children's literature, such as Enid Blyton. Voyagers rarely encounter foes they cannot handle, since the magus tinkers with the apprentice's opponents from a distance, in many cases. It is exceptionally rare for a voyaging apprentice to die on their quest, for example, since villains seeming to prefer capture, from which an ingenious apprentice, with the help, of course, of the familiar, can contrive an escape.
The rewards of voyaging are small, but appear far more significant to an apprentice than they truly are. A single pawn of vis, or a pouch of silver coins, can make the trip seem wonderfully worthwhile to the magus-in-training. Many magi uncover keepsakes while voyaging that they retain as momentoes for the rest of their lives. It's not unusual for an archmage to have an enchanted device whose physical form was discovered on an apprentice's voyage.
Occasionally a familiar will notice a weak patch in the border of an adjoining territory. Entering this weak spot, the familiar is able to travel for miles without being challenged. This should alarm the familiar, as there are only two possible reasons for this, fantastic opportunity or terrible danger.
When an areas becomes resource rich, the creatures whose territories surround that area flood into it. This leaves their old territories empty, so their neighbours first enter this newly free space, then discover the resource rich area and also abandon their territories. In this fashion, whole populations can be sucked to a resource rich area, leaving their old territories utterly abandoned.
The difficulty is that a similar effect can be created by a terribly efficient predator. It harvests the first animal, then kills each of its neighbours as they spread into the first victim's territory. This also creates the inward migration usually due to a resource rich area.
A familiar noticing that the territories of its neighbours are receding to a point, if they understand the process, is both excited and worried. Many animals are social creatures and will miss the company of their neighbours. If process is caused by predation, the hunter, once it exhausts the local population, may begin to travel from its original point in an outward spiral, seeking new prey. Excessive caution, however, may prevent the familiar from enjoying the luxuries of a resource rich area, if its neighbours have migrated into its comfort.
Occasionally a covenant will be considered a resource rich area by a species of creature, and waves of immigrants will flow into it. This is especially common with rodents.
Each familiar is intensely interested in other intelligent animals of their species. This is generally due to a territorial drive, but some familiars feel the need to develop friendships with their own kind. Those familiars for whom the bond does not replace pairing urges seem to prefer other familiars as mates. When another animal of the familiar's type disappears, they will usually wish to investigate the cause.
Familiars are interested in long-dead members of their species. Many such creatures had small magic items, constructed for them by their magus, which are prized by other creatures of the same type. Researching a famous, fallen, predecessor, especially if that creature is also an ancestor, sometimes becomes a lifelong hobby for familiars. Since Hermetic magic can bring creatures back from the dead, these researches occasionally secure valuable information, if the remains of a familiar prematurely dead can be found.
Fossils and long-buried bones were known to medieval people, they just didn't realise how old they were. Human remains, for example, might be thought of as those of murder victim from a century ago. Since fossils are usually fragmentary, medieval people could usually mistake them for a species with which they were familiar. When they found something extremely odd, they could write it off as a magical thing.
Most magi discovering these bones powder them up for vis.
An alternative use for ancient bones by an Hermetic magus is reviving the dead animals. In some cases this can allow them to bypass many of the difficulties involved in the transportation of exotic familiars to Europe. For example, hippopotami once swam in the British Thames and Tees rivers, so a magus finding a hippopotamus fragment might be able to call up one of these strange beasts. On a less eccentric level, the huge cave lion, cave bear and crocodilian left fossils throughout Europe, as did many varieties of ape. In mythic Europe these probably can't be used to call up prehistoric beasts, just very large versions of the brown bear, the lion, the crocodile and the faun. Since -living- lions are so difficult to transport, however, the magus's only option may be to revive a dead one and hope for the best.
Some medieval people did find dinosaur bones, which they believed belonged to dragons. Any magus silly enough to revive a dragon deserves all the suffering the storyguide can devise.
In Ars Magica it's possible to bring creatures back from the dead. This dissipates the drama of life-threatening situations in those campaigns where the magi can afford 12 pawns of animal to bring back their lost friend. Storyguides should limit this process in the following ways:
|
Since you can't play a familiar without knowing what their magus
is like, this section first gives a rapid creation method for
magi. You need not use this for player characters, although you
may, with your storyguide's approval.
Designing the MagusMagi are best generated by the laborious process of seasonal advancement, but to do this accurately requires that you also generate each of the covenants of which they were a member. Since this strains the patience of even the most obsessive Storyguide, the following rule of thumb can be used instead: A magus usually gains 25 experience in Arts and 25 levels of spells each year of their life. (With thanks to David Chart for this suggestion) That the progression is linear may appear strange. It simulates that young magi, while they can advance quickly, usually lack the resources to do so, while older magi, while they have vast resources, advance only slowly. This figure assumes that the magus regularly loses at least one season of study to adventure or covenant administration. Further
If these figures do not suit your campaign split the magus's life into periods of faster or slower development, or tinker the trading costs above to suit your game. When generating a magus remember:
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Begin by choosing a species that you like the look of. Give its text a brief read-through, to make sure you have the gist of how that sort of creature thinks and behaves. Then grab your dice.
If you'd prefer not to go through the complete character creation process for familiars, then take the statistics in one of the chapters, alter them slightly, then use up the experience points. If creating an NPC familiar, then remember that it has studied alongside its magus. Decide how many years it has been a familiar and give it an extra two experience, in abilities, per annum.
To determine cord strength and bond qualities, decide if the couple met a long time ago, and how much weaker the magus's Arts would have been back then. The quickest way is to assume that the bonds have either one score of +2 or two scores of +1 and use the basic three metals. If the magus is young, you might want to take away a point, but you might add one if they are an Animal specialist, or were older when the bonds were made. For each odd metal used, deduct a point. Choose 15 points worth of Bond Qualities. Don't forget to think of some interesting quirks that have been exchanged.
Of course, you might prefer to play through the finding and bonding of your familiar...
The familiar has:
Characters designed under these rules can be either Intelligent or Cunning, although most are the former. Once bound the creature has an Intelligence of (Magus's Intelligence -1) unless the familiar's Intelligence was already higher than this. It's possible to design a familiar far brighter than your magus using these rules, but storyguides may disallow this if they want the campaign to focus tightly on the actions of the magi.
Unlike the main rulebook, animals in this supplement can have Presence and Communication scores, but these are often ignored by humans. A particularly viscous looking cat might have a Presence score of 4, but because it's just a cat, magi might ignore it. Peasants who have heard folktales about magical cats might be more wary, and other cats will be terrified. Were this cat to also buy the virtue "Huge", then magi would at least be wary. As a rule of thumb, if interacting with humans, the animal's Presence either goes unnoticed or are at half value. The creature's Communication score is equal to their Bond of the Mind's strength, providing they can communicate with humans. If they aren't able to verbalise, their Communication is either ignored or at half their usual score.
Some animals are just so wonderful to behold that even humans notice. Even with humans feeling only half of their Presence, stags and unicorns are still considered paragons of grace. This is more a hindrance than a help, as the head of each is therefore prized as a wall trophy.
Familiars may take virtues and flaws from the main rulebook, using common sense.
You need not compare your familiar to a human being while selecting virtues, so eagles, for example, don't all have the "Keen Eyesight" virtue, although they can trade it to their partners. An eagle who was particularly keen sighted amongst its own kind, could take this virtue, however, gaining its bonus above an already high Awareness skill, coupled with an excellent Perception and a Species Bonus.
Some virtues and flaws are free to each species, as listed in the templates in later chapters, and in the vast majority of cases, they are taken. Storyguides should be reticent to allow a character to take the familiar's free virtues, but not the free flaws. For example, virtually all ferrets have the Deep Sleeper flaw and are Nearsighted. At the storyguide's discretion characters may buy off free flaws, either by setting aside "empty" virtue points in those troupes that play Virtue rich characters, or by buying the opposite of the flaw. The ferret might buy "Keen vision" for instance.
The following virtues and flaws can be used by most species.
Most familiars have magic resistance that shrinks their bond pool and saps their cord strength. If this virtue is taken the familiar can choose to drop their magical resistance during the process of bonding, enabling the magus to redesign the familiar's magic resistance as an attuned power. This virtue costs 1 per 10 points of might that you wish to suppress up to 20, then 1 per 5 thereafter.
Each character gets a power of level 10 for free. Purchasing this virtue allows a character to select an additional power.
| Power Level | Point Cost Per Use |
| 5 | 1 |
| 10 | 1 |
| 15 | 2 |
| 20 | 3 |
The familiar can use one power at a rate one degree cheaper than usual. For example, a 30th level power could be used for 5 points. A 5 point power can be used free. This virtue may only be purchased once per power.
The familiar has been invested with powers, as if it was a device. This virtue must be purchased for every ten levels of effect.
Discuss this virtue with your storyguide.
All familiars designed under these rules start with a Might score of 10. Each time this virtue is purchased, it adds 5 to the creature's Might score. This Might need not be tied to the Magical realm, but you should check with your gamesmaster before selecting Infernal or Divine Might, as it may not suit the themes of your saga.
Some storyguides will not enforce this virtue. The advantage of retaining it is that in a campaign where one player selects a cat and the other a griffin, the griffin's player narrows their other Virtue options to pay for their wonderful beast. The disadvantage to retaining it is that all of the beasts with high Magic Mights that become familiars are crippled or insane representatives of their species, loaded down with flaws to pay for their Might scores. Whether you should use it depends on the Saga your troupe is trying to tell.
In sagas where players gain familiars during character creation, it is usually best to have the virtue in place In those sagas where familiars are found during play this virtue is less important, as the magus seeking a cat can find it in a season, while the magus seeking a griffin may spend five years, or more, away from their studies. In this case the virtue may not apply at all, or may only be paid for points above the usual for the species. Troupes are encouraged to veto any familiar that they feel would disrupt their enjoyment of the saga regardless of either application of this virtue.
Your familiar was formed during, or is descended from the product of, a magical accident. This allows you to have, for example, the colourations of breeds not yet developed. This virtue's effect is purely cosmetic unless coupled with other virtues.
When William the Conqueror, one of history's most cunning acquirers of real estate, took the Crown of England, he passed a law saying that anything that didn't belong to someone else belonged to him. Later he proved himself doubly sneaky by creating English feudalism and declaring that anyone who owned land was owned by someone, who he owned. Rumours that the Tytalus magi put him up to it have never been confirmed.
Many English familiars remember William fondly, because a side effect of his cunning plan was that it became illegal for peasants to hunt in forests. This didn't stop them doing it, especially if the creatures there were dangerous, like wolves, tasty, like deer, or both dangerous -and- tasty, like boars, but it did give chartered animals some degree of protection. Wild boars, stags and roebuck were defended especially fiercely, since they were excellent sources of both meat and trophies. Those convicted of poaching these animals had their eyes removed with heated pokers.
King John signed the Charter of Forests at the same time as the Magna Carta, which gave much of the King's forest to his Nobles. Later laws gave the peasantry the right to hunt in woods and forests. If your familiar lives in an area where protection of the king's hunting rights is enforced, they should take this virtue. Ask your storyguide if you are unsure about this virtue.
You can talk, in the local human language of the area in which you were raised. You may learn other languages as though you were human. If you have this virtue, you need not duplicate it with bond qualities.
Purchasing this virtue allows the familiar to have an ability far above the usual in effect. You may upgrade your "free" talent to one of these as a +1 Virtue.
| Power Level | Point Cost Per Use |
| 25 | 5 |
| 30 | 10 |
For most species of familiar there are political organisations based on descent from a famous, magical ancestor. The three largest are the Black and White Lineages for cats and the Alban lineage of wolves. Selecting this virtue means that you are part of a political grouping of intelligent animals, probably bound by blood, that has played a lengthy role in Hermetic history. To retain this virtue you need follow the dictates of your society, but simultaneously its other members are usually expected to give you succour in times of trouble.
You are the scion of an ancient pairing of a magus and an animal. In the covenant for whom your ancestor laboured, you are welcome. The filial line of the magus treat you as kin, and may familiarise you. Among the Beast Magus tradition there are a several "paired lineages" like this. If your animal family is very large, or widely renowned you might wish to take the virtue "Magical lineage" instead.
The Bjornaer groupings, although they have fewer members than the lineages and lack their organisation contain active magi, Bjornaer who have taken animal form to avoid Twilight, and the products of generations of interbreeding between magi, familiars and fae beasts. Other members of your grouping will aid you, and you are expected to assist them, in times of difficulty.
Each grouping has meetings, although these are far from regular, at which privy rituals are performed for the good of the grouping. You are expected to attend these meetings.
Your character has been a familiar before. Any natural magical powers that you have are already attuned to Hermetic magic and you may have up to 12 points of virtues, so long as they are balanced by flaws. Most of the bond qualities you previously enjoyed were lost when the bond snapped, but you may take arcane knowledges. You have the equivalent of the "Highly Trained" Virtue, having 20 extra experience to spend as you wish.
All familiars designed under these rules begin with 10 points of Might aligned to their realm. Each time this flaw is taken, this score drops by five points, although it may not fall below zero. It is possible to have an unnatural creature with no Might score, to reflect the idea that Mythical Europeans don't know that a caladrius is mythical, while a dove is not. It might also represent a creature with links to their realm that are so obscure as to not give magical powers or protection.
All creatures designed under these rules get a free minor magical power. This flaw removes that advantage. It is possible to have an intelligent animal with no magical might score, and no power, since "Intelligence" is considered standard for all unflawed characters designed under this system.
Magi generated under the rules given above are assumed to have been Gauntleted between 50 and 75 years ago. For every 25 years younger than 75 the magus is, a familiar must take this flaw. Remember that the magus must still have the basic abilities required to bind a familiar, so a 25 year old magus is likely to be an Animal specialist, or have a related affinity. Since this flaw is lost so simply, it should be replaced with others once the magus has matured. This flaw should only be used if the magus is a non-player character.
Your animal is not truly intelligent, and cannot plan beyond the ability of a normal member of their species. Since familiarisation almost always removes this flaw, you should choose a fresh one to replace it when you are bound to a magus.
For some reason, your animal has no magus, nor can they ever get one. This dramatically shortens your life expectancy, in most cases, and prevents you from having bond qualities. In long-lived creatures the storyguide should select a lesser value for this flaw.
Familiars learn quickly, having full complements of skills even when only a few years old. To reflect this, each species begins with a set of skills that they are assumed to have once they reach sexual maturity. Most species also have a few spare points, which the player or storyguide may spend as they wish. Creatures must be intelligent rather than cunning to select Knowledges.. Familiars may trade down their starting skills to gain points to spend elsewhere, if they can justify an unusual background to the storyguide. Since the skill lists assume intelligence on the part of the creature if it's only cunning, its player should trade down its knowledges.
Each species of familiar has bonuses that reflect their inhuman abilities. These bonuses add directly into all rolls for that ability, but do not affect the amount required to gain new skill through experience and cannot be traded away in character creation.
For example, cats have a bonus of +3 on Stealth. A human with a skill of 3 is competent, but to a cat, he's only so good as an untutored kitten. A cat would consider another cat with a skill of 3 and a species bonus of 3 to be competent, whereas they are as good as master human huntsman, with a skill of six. The finest of cat hunters, who have a skill of 9 and the species bonus of 3 exceed the human capacity for stealth.
For those creating their own species templates, a beginning familiar should have 20 + age experience points. The racial bonuses of the species should be purchased as though they were part of their related skill, at this stage only. If, for example, the storyguide were creating a "Dog" template, they'd set aside 3 experience points for Awareness, as it's practical beginning value is 2, 1 for the skill and 1 for the species bonus. In play, the skill is, however, added to normally for the purposes of advancement, so it'd take 2 experience to raise the skill to 2, for a practical value of 3.
When setting species bonuses, remember that it's often better to assign an attribute modifier than a slew of species modifiers. Cats, for example, have excellent balance and are athletic, but this is because they have a high Dexterity score, not because they have species bonuses. This is best demonstrated by looking at a modern breed like the British, which is a pudgy and undexterous cat.
In the templates, the species bonus is the second number after the ability name.
The vast majority of the creatures described later fight with bits of hardened anatomy. Creatures who train in "Brawling" should alter their attack, defence, initiative and combat fatigue scores. Characters with atypical characteristics should modify their attack scores appropriately. For example, the Bite statistics given in Chapter Four for a wolf assume a Strength of +1. An exceptional wolf, with Str +5, adds 4 to their melee damage bonus and encumbrance.
Choose a trait based on your species, for example "Cat +3", which represents how closely you are tied to the quirks described in your species template. Additionally you should choose a few traits to separate your personality of that of the rest of your species. Familiars often choose "Human +1", or more, to represent that they are more anthropomorphic than other animals. Magi develop a comparable trait.
As a guideline, work out how many quirks the partners have exchanged. Divide this figure by three. Treat each of these points as an experience point toward the personality trait, so long as this doesn't take it higher than 3. Bjornaer magi often also develop quirks, since regular shapeshifting distorts the human body and mind.
Most animals keep track of other familiars of the same species. If there were only two familiar cats in Britain, one at either end, each would have the sensation of a border running through Nottinghamshire, and would know the habits and vulnerabilities of their neighbour. Select your reputation with other members of your species with care.