From Cantrip to Cataclysm: A Comprehensive Guide to Becoming an Archmage, by Archwizard Ail’Finas
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Familiars:
Familiars are one of the most iconic members of any mage’s retinue. An otherwise-mundane creature, whose mere exposure to magic grants it exceptional abilities and whose presence likewise elevates its master’s capabilities in new ways. Not all mages have a familiar, of course, but those that do tend to leave quite the impression, as the mouthpieces for the mightiest wizards in the world, an intensely intelligent creature as smart as their master, or even as an otherworldly being unlike anything else ever seen.
Truly, they are the perfect microcosm of what it is to be a mage: simple interaction heightens both lives in fantastical ways, surely?
Naturally, as with any situation that seems too perfect, it is. Relatively few familiars are genuinely wholly mundane creatures outside of the familiar bond, and oftentimes the ‘benefits’ which are received on either party’s behalf amount to ‘has a firm bond with another being.’
In addition, there is no truly unique bond between a familiar and their master. While it is true that most mages will only bond to a single creature, it is more than possible to obtain multiple familiars, though this must be done with care.
That is not to disparage the strength of the familiar, of course! They are iconic and ubiquitous for a reason, as the array of possible utilities which they may grant is vast. It is mostly to explain that the mere presence of a familiar is not what you desire. Grabbing a mouse and forcing it into a bond will almost never go well. Instead, one must choose their familiar carefully. Or more accurately, choose the method by which a familiar is obtained carefully, as one does not ever wholly choose one’s own familiar.
To this end, there are roughly three broad categories by which you can obtain a familiar: Binding, Summoning, and Construction.
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Bound Familiars
Binding familiars is the classical method of obtaining a familiar, and certainly the most well-established and oldest form. And of this old and distinguished form of bond, there exists the oldest and most distinguished of all, the Classical method.
The concept behind a Classical bond is simple- using a ritual, create an ongoing magical pulse looking for the appropriate form of resonance between the caster and their future familiar. Once the future familiar has been located, it attracts them to the ritual site, where the ritual then binds its soul together with the caster. Depending on the locale, the type of creature which may be summoned this way is usually mundane.
Classical bonding produces the most reliably positive results, as the bonded creature always shares a high degree of compatibility not only with the personality of the mage, but also their magic. Accordingly, familiars bonded in this manner are especially good at serving as a channel for their master’s magic, and thus any spell cast on or through the familiar is easier and more powerful. Furthermore, it is the least likely to result in any personality damage, as the attracted animal is assured to be compatible with the mage’s current personality and even true goals. A Classical familiar may often look unimpressive, but it is never a bad choice.
This method is also the most likely to awaken magic within the familiar, in a manner appropriate to both the creature and the master, and such magics and powers are stronger within Classically bonded familiars than in most other familiar bonds.
The second method by which a Binding-type familiar bond might take place is through a directed soul bond. Known as Chosen familiars, this is a much newer method (pioneered by Kiaski in 3928) which eliminates the first portion of a Classical familiar ritual, namely attracting a compatible creature, in favor of directing more power to the actual binding of the familiar. This allows for bonds between less compatible individuals, but has the inherent drawback of being between less compatible mages and familiars.
A Chosen familiar is ideal when a mage has a specific creature which they desire to bond with, usually one less common or more magical than a mundane animal. Pseudodragons, drakes, unicorns, and ethrids are all common Chosen familiars.
Over time, this type of bond deepens as the soul bond slowly morphs the two souls into being more compatible, but likewise has a substantially higher chance of bond rejection compared to all the other types. Even when completely successful, Chosen familiars have the highest chance of altering their master’s souls and personalities in an undesirable way. Increased aggression, paranoia, and antisocial tendencies may all manifest depending on the new familiar, and even the mage’s magic may be damaged if the familiar is suitably incompatible. This can be insidious, as well. What may appear to be a perfect bond before the ritual may still hide some misalignment on true personality or goals, to such a degree that the mage may not even be aware of it.
Despite all the drawbacks, Chosen familiars are very popular for good reason; being able to directly bond to a magical creature can often lead to the mage developing minor innate magical abilities corresponding to the creature. Faerie dragons often grant an affinity for illusions to their masters, unicorns a measure of resistance or immunity to poison and disease, and so forth. While such backspill is perfectly possible with a Classical familiar, the odds of bonding to a sufficiently magical creature is far lower.
The third type of bonded familiar are Pact familiars. These are familiars who by some innate magic are capable of entering into a soulbond of their own volition. Faeries, some dragons, and many outsiders are all capable of this phenomenon, and the nature of this familiar bond can vary wildly. In general, however, they still provide the standard benefits which are associated with familiars: A singular creature which is far more receptive to the mage’s magic than other beings (such as how a draconic imprint or standard familiar bond allows the mage to wholesale bypass a dragon’s normally formidable resistance to magic), an empathic or directly telepathic bond, and a heightening of the mage’s magic in some form.
Of course, due to the highly variable nature of creatures with this ability, it is challenging to say anything properly meaningful about this class of familiar as a whole, and I would encourage anyone considering a Pact familiar to seriously study their options and the dangers therein, as it is all too easy to accidentally end up with your soul sold to an imp or sprite with nothing to show for it in return.
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Summoned Familiars
The second class of familiar are summoned familiars, which encompasses familiars originating from a layer of reality other than our own. Elemental spirits, devils, demons, and angels all can make excellent familiars if handled properly, but are inherently less compatible with any mortal spellcasters attempting to bind them.
In truth, naturally, to say that there are only three types of bonds is somewhat misleading. After all, many Pact familiars are summoned in a manner quite akin to a ritual classified as Summoning. To that end, Embodied Spirits are quite akin to a more normal bond, with an incorporeal spirit added as an additional party in the bond, acting a bit as a mediator and a bit as an additional familiar altogether.
These familiars have something of an advantage in that even if the animal itself dies, the spirit possessing it persists and can be added into a new host via a substantially simpler ritual than the original binding, as well as the obvious advantages of not having to re-familiarize with a new familiar.
The abilities which Embodied familiars usually grant to their masters are either perceptive or mental-type powers, usually connected in some way to the type of animal they are inhabiting (such as the ability to communicate with other creatures of that type). Furthermore, the mage also gains a weaker form of the benefits which correspond to the creature which the Embodied Spirit is utilizing as a host. The familiar, for its part, gains a form of the benefits normally associated with their host while retaining their full intelligence. Embodied spirits do have an unusual (but not assured) chance of causing slight mental dissociation between the mage and their body, with the mage thinking of their body as not so much ‘them’ so much as something which they merely control. This can have… unfortunate consequences for the psyche, but is fortunately still rare even with Embodied familiars.
Disembodied familiars, by contrast, are spirits without a permanent host. Oftentimes, they may reside in part or wholly within the soul or body of their master and only venture out to possess or scout the area. These familiars are inherently incorporeal and occasionally invisible, or occasionally appear as a ghostly spirit of some form often resembling an animal. They provide little in the way of direct magical power to their mages, but can serve as excellent sources of knowledge and wisdom, with inherent insight into the ebbs and flows of the planes, destiny, and magic itself. The bond with the mage also makes them uniquely attuned to their master, and can thus serve as an almost perfect tutor for many subjects.
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Alternatively, Disembodied familiars may possess a compatible magical item, directly enhancing its power by utilizing their innate magical prowess to bypass some of the normal limitations of inanimate magical items without resorting to direct necromancy. While whether or not this use of a Disembodied familiar ought to be counted as a separate type of familiar is heavily debated, it is fundamentally the same type of spirit and bound in the same manner as a ‘truly’ Disembodied familiar. Regardless, many intelligent magical items either are or started their existence as a Disembodied familiar. Disembodied familiars, when bound into an item, do serve as excellent general magic foci, and there are theories that in fact all general magic foci involve a Disembodied familiar (or a similar spirit, at least) in some form.
The third type of summoned familiar is the Animus familiar. Despite the name, there are in fact no animals involved in this process. Instead, the ritual is focused on calling out to an elemental or divine spirit and creating a suitable vessel for its habitation. While this vessel may well be reminiscent of a mundane animal, it is a true outsider, with no mortal biology.
This type of familiar is usually the worst for outright channeling of magic, but it is bound to the mage’s strength in such a way that there is little need for it to serve as a direct conduit of spell energy. Instead, it independently grows in strength and magical potency alongside its master, and the reverse may also be true.
The type of spirit is intimately tied to the caster (elemental specialists always summon an elemental corresponding to their magic, for example), but beyond that connection virtually any kind of spirit, from a mighty primal elemental to a lowly demon, may all be called upon in this method. These are the most challenging to control, as they are the most free-willed of all familiar types.
Overall, they are best for a mage who possesses a patron of some form or another (common among priests, for instance) and desire a bond with one of their patron’s servants, and thus an indirect connection to their patron or god. This also binds them ever-closer to their patron, or the home plane of their familiar, which sounds substantially worse than it usually is. It does still tend to have a noticeable impact upon the mage’s personality, however.
The final type of summoned familiar is the Manifested familiar. In truth, there is some debate as to whether a Manifested familiar even is a true familiar, as it is not a creature by most metrics. Instead, it is functionally a form of autonomous spell. It is by far the most challenging type of familiar to gain, as not only is the ritual needed immensely complex, it is so intimately tied into the mage’s personal magic as to require completely re-deriving the spell not only for each mage, but also each familiar the mage may desire.
In return, a Manifested familiar is a functionally perfect channel for the mage’s magic and can effortlessly both accept empowering magics as well as serving as a channel or source for any spells cast. In addition, the custom nature of the spell means that in theory a familiar can be perfectly suited for whatever task the mage so desires. They may be able to fly, or turn invisible, to shapeshift or to serve as an automatic scrying point, with the power to dominate small animals or possess a sapient being. These familiars may be capable of anything which magic itself can do, and thus are immensely variable in ability.
It is not all good, however. The mage receives very little in the way of benefits back from a Manifested familiar, as it brings no magic of its own to the bond. In some cases, the mage may even find their magic weakened by the ritual, as a substantial amount of their magical potency may be locked away by their newly formed familiar.
These familiars are usually the closest bound of all types of familiars, being little more than an extension of their master’s will. Some have compared Manifested familiars to the avatar of a god; a living expression of a more powerful being’s abilities and wholly representative of their will.
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Constructed Familiars
The third category of familiars, Constructed familiars, are a bit of an odd case. They are not, after all, proper creatures in their own right and like Manifested familiars are more an expression of magical prowess. Some categorizations outright include Manifested familiars as a type of Constructed due to many similarities, and is just as correct a choice as classifying them as Summoned.
Most Constructed familiars are more than a simple spell, no matter how in-depth a ritual is needed. Golems of all sorts, many forms of undead, homunculi, and various forms of automata are the most common Constructed familiars, but beyond differences in their actual creation and abilities associated with their forms, all function broadly the same as familiars.
They do not add any innate magical abilities to their master, but usually serve as an excellent conduit for further spells. They are most often linked via telepathy, and do not possess any mind of their own (though some do develop some level of sentience and sapience in time). They have whatever inbuilt magical abilities their creator manages to imbue within them, and nothing more or less.
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The following guide is meant as a summary when making your decision, but keep in mind that there exists a counterexample for each and every statement made. For more information, do make sure to consult a dedicated work.
In summary:
All Familiars:
* Gain some level of mental connection to the mage, which ranges from faint empathy to comprehension of meaning regardless of language differentials, to complete telepathy.
* Gain a magical bond to the mage, allowing for spells to be cast on or through them with greater ease.
Bound Familiars:
* Are much easier to gain, both in the difficulty of the ritual and the amount of work required before and afterwards.
* Have a moderate impact on their master’s magic, and gain a moderate amount from the bond, corresponding to its native magic.
* Are biological animals, and are thus not inherently immortal.
* Are the most independent of all familiar types.
Classical Familiars:
* Serve as the best conduit for the mage’s magic while retaining autonomy.
* Are the most compatible Bound-type Familiar with the mage’s personality and magic.
* Have the simplest overall process to obtain.
* There is little control over the specifics of the bond; from what type of creature to what kinds of benefits the master and familiar may gain.
* Have the least impact upon the mage’s personality.
* Are the least likely to cause any damage or issues with their master’s magic.
Chosen Familiar:
* Are capable of being any type of creature, no matter how magical, of the mage’s choice.
* Have the greatest likelihood of returning magical capabilities to their master.
* May experience substantial personality or magic clashes with incompatible masters.
Pact Familiars:
* Require the least amount of magical effort from the caster to instantiate the bond.
* Have an intensely variable set of costs and benefits involved with their bond.
Summoned Familiars:
* Require a moderately complex ritual to summon and bind.
* Are the most inherently magical of all familiar types.
* Have the broadest range of forms and powers which they may possess.
* Are dependent on the mage for their form.
Embodied Spirit Familiar:
* Grant many of the benefits of a Chosen familiar.
* Are fully sapient and are usually capable of language.
* Can only inhabit mundane creatures.
Disembodied Familiar:
* Have the least physical presence and prowess of all familiars.
* Possess the strongest direct mental connection with their mage, even capable of aiding with memory or spellcasting.
* Provide incredible wisdom and guidance otherwise unobtainable.
* Possess the greatest insight into a mage’s capabilities and proclivities.
* May be integrated into a magical item to mimic proper artifacts.
Animus Familiar:
* Are indirectly tied to the magical strength of their master, growing stronger in step with their mage.
* If they somehow grow stronger in a way beyond their mage, the mage has the potential to grow to match them.
* Possess the weakest direct connection to the mage for the purpose of channeling or having spells cast upon them.
* Have intensely varied forms.
* Tie the mage to a powerful outsider, god, or plane in magic and personality.
* Are the most independent, personality-wise, to the mage.
Manifested Familiar:
* Are the most dependent of all familiar types upon the mage.
* Do not grow in strength substantially over time.
* Have negligible impact on their master’s inherent magic.
* Serves as a perfect conduit for spells from the mage.
* Involves the most complicated ritual to summon/bind.
Constructed Familiars:
* Are the most difficult and expensive to gain and maintain.
* Have negligible influence on the mage’s magic.
* Are assured to be exactly to the mage’s specifications.
* Usually have no free will of their own until substantially later into their existence.