A quick question regarding the Arcane Collection: Since I'm from Europe and shipping US-EU is extremely expensive, I'd be very interested if there would be a PDF version available - is this planned in any way, a "maybe", or something that I shouldn't expect? Or could there be something done about shipping to Europe? Thank you in advance! I honestly love your content, and have been a fan of the channel for a long time
I found it kinda funny that most of what you wanted in a familiar is something you can do in Pathfinder 2E. Awakened animal, changing your familiars abilities and form with every long rest. Using it as a spell focus or as a defender. Glad that your brining these options to DnD.
My owl familiar is a machine to give advantage in combat and administer health potions to my dying companions. And notice pickpockets who ty to steal my shiny material components! 10/10 most valuable paty member.
I cannot express how nice of you it is to still give the doc for the unfamiliar for free even now you have a book. Not many people have the moral fiber to not try to profit from their audience at their cost
I had two rats we found in the first sewer dungeon that were really consistently useful in scouting and searching rooms and the like. There was also a bit where these street kids picked the party's pockets but got caught after a rat bit them. Felt pretty cool. I never got to use it before the game ended but I also had a potion of dragon's breath on hand. Making rat flamethrowers would've been useful eventually, I think.
When I first started DND, I made a teifling cleric/warlock multi class who was once a pirate who survived a shipwreck. My DM, most likely as an inside joke, eventually allowed me to purchase a pet, where I chose the red weasel. I named him Scrabble. You should have seen my face when I watched critical role for the first time. The coincidences were way too on point. I was just a fjord/jester hybrid, which is awfully fitting for them ending up together
No way the youtube algorithm didn’t recommend me this video -2 minutes before it was uploaded, despite the fact I was not subscribed until two minutes ago!
The freakishly good timing of this video my goodness. I was just working on familiars and stuff for character lore, and then this video drops. Perfect timing, amazing video as always ✨
As someone that doesn not use reddit this is the one channel that I believe could really use a sub-reddit or a space where people could upload their thoughts on the material that is provided here and could really act as an inspiration for the whole "DnD with a twist" vibe. Also since you are delving into merchandise that would be a nice way to keep in track how people are enjoying them and adjust (if necessary -and if you so choose-) accordingly
There is one I think! It's not official (as in, i don't run it and i don't check it) but you can discuss anything there! There's also a pretty popular tv tropes page
My current D&D character is a literal sentient animal, with a modified magic hand, rogue boi who got himself cursed after a mess up, now it’s time to talk to my DM to see how to implement this thank you!
A game I payed a LONG time ago (like, the late 90s) had a perk for a wizard that took a familiar, ripped it's soul out and replaced it with a demon, making it kind of grossly powerful for a familiar. Dude had a ferret demon familiar that he referred to as the fuzzy missile in combat, all teeth, claws and spiky fur. It was a silly game, but that familiar was a delightful lil ass, and we all side-eyed the wizard. Good times. Heh
"Where does the idea of Familiars come from?" "The Medieval and Early Modern idea of Witches receiving a demon servant in the form of an animal from the Devil. They would help perform tasks of black magic for the witch in exchange for suckling blood from them from a teat known a witch mark, which is believed to be in the form of a birthmark or wart that won't feel pain. Witch-hunters would torture victims accused of witchcraft with stabbing them with a sharp pin looking for said witch mark."
I have two characters (so far) that use familiars. One is a Drake Warden that has (gasp) a tiny Dragon, pretty standard stuff honestly. The other (and the one I'm more excited about) is a Shadowmancer that casts through their Shadow. As in, their shadow is a Shadow that can act somewhat freely and manipulate the world near him (think similar to Dr. Facilier).
Not a familiar, but one time I had a a cat named mouse in my dnd campaign. My dm killed out of nowhere but after some polite and civilised negotiations he brought her back to life. Only half of her, though, so now we have one half that moves and walks like normal and a dead, lifeless back half we carry around in our bags. I love Mouse.
I lov your channel so much honestly. The book looks amazing. Like almost half the price of official DnD and with about 10 times the subclasses. I love that you make things free online. I hope your merch does well. You can just tell your passion in all your work. Love getting more vids. you are amazing keep up the good work.
Your Familiar focused wizard reminds me so much of the Pathfinder 1st.ed. Summoner-class. They would get an Eidolon, that grew and gained abilities when you gained levels. Never got around to playing one, but once ran a mission where an Eidolon asked the party to help and rescue their summoner.
This is awesomeeee! The unfamiliar is the best thing i've seen! It's literally perfect and really makes familiars that much more complex and interesting. :)
Pointy Hat: Mentions raising a dragon with magic as a HTTYD reference Me: It's a The Summoner Trilogy book reference and you can't make me see otherwise
I love the pf2e Witch class' familiar. Tons of powerful abilities, functions as a spellbook, and for roleplay acts as your patron's mouthpiece! One of my players has a spooky undead otter as a familiar, and it's great.
Home brewed a circle of drakes Druid, at lvl 6 I let them use a wild shape or spell slot to summon a faerie dragon familiar. Works out splendidly giving a Druid some ways to use illusion magic that they normally miss out on. Plus a familiar that can throw down a faerie fire? Yes please.
I was once part of a DND campaign that used a lot of homebrew content centered around the legend of Zelda. I ended up using the Kokiri homebrew species, and part of their abilities was that they had an innate familiar in the form of a small fairy. Our group decided that in this version of hyrule the Kokiri and their fairies were for all intents and purposes twins who were magically bound together. It was certainly fun having a familiar who was seen as an equal and sister to my character.
Been watching the channel for awhile now! So excited you got the merch, Love the black mage set! I may break down and get the other set separately down the line :)
I had actually made a backstory for an awakened pet bunny [using haregon stats] to become a warlock player character, so your species concept is just a neater version of the hoops I jumped through trying to figure out how to play a normal bunny with magic.
I really wanted to buy the book to give it to my friend (wile keeping the pointy hat plushy of curse muhahaha) but I just saw that it can’t be delivered to Brazil 😭 anyways I love your hole channel it just is so fun to draw wile learning about D&D and also getting amazing ideas to create characters!! Lots of love from Brazil, and I’m just so happy I came across this channel!!
this idea gave me summoner vibes form pathfinder in all the best ways, im so down for it i always wanted my familiars to be more impactful and anything for the wizards that not just extra spells is a bonus thank you so much my players will love it
I was in a dragon lance camping were the wizard had a flying cat and my bard had a teacup Chihuahua (which was based on my IRL cardiac service dog). We'd use our familiars to scout. Often I'd send mine with our rogue so I could cast bard spells through him. Such as invisibility.
10:09 No, YOU CAN'T CHANGE YOUR TONE LIKE THAT. I was in bloody tears. Story of Igor made me cry (and probably somebody else too) and you are not leaving him just like that. This good boy... no. GOODEST OF BOYS story deserves goodest ending.
I do my familiars in one of two ways (letting the player choose it) 1: Elemental based. This one is pure magic. The player chooses an element they want to be stronger in, and the familiar will take the characteristics of that element. Like a fire bird, or ice fox, ect. When it is awake, it can move around like normal. When it is asleep, it takes the form of a tattoo on the player. This type will keep giving the caster bonuses to the element it represents. Or 2: an animal. This one, the player chooses an animal. The longer the person has the animal, the more they, and the animal can do together. And for some, gain their own magic they can cast. Like one player, he had a panther (I know, original, right?) Later on down the road, the player kept on needing someone to provide them with ways to put distance between himself and the enemy(the party NEEDED another tank in my opinion). So, the panther started to develop powers similar to shadow magic. Letting him control and shape the darkness around people. Stuff like that. But I made it so the player had to find the animal they wanted. It wouldn't appear in front of them. And I made it to where if the familiar were to die, the player would take a huge cut to their stats for about a month. Usually half their stats, unless they had them for a really long time. (The guy who had his for 2 full real time years lost 90% of his.) But I still made a way for them to try and bring them back with a rare item
Steamforged games actually released Animal Adventures (formerly Dungeons & Doggies , and Cats & Catacombs) which have lots of materials, including stats, lore ideas, adventures and even miniatures to play as awakened animals! After cats and dogs, they started branching out into turtles and orangutans, it's definitely worth checking out for the minis if nothing else.
I have an awakened familiar concept that I just home brewed with the Custom Lineage from (I want to say) Tasha's. Can't wait for the species version so I can make the naive psuedodragon wizard she is!
I recently ran a homebrewed version of the beastmaster ranger and i really liked it, basically this revised version does for animal companions what the circle of the moon druid does for wild shape take it to its logical/illogical conclusion 1 beastmasters are not bound to the beast category 2 beastmasters are not bound to one companion, all companions take thier turn in battle immediately after ranger 3 the companions CR can only be as high as 1/2 ranger level
The Unfamiliar is so much like a character I made a while back and still yet to use. An Unfamiliar that has the main appearance of an anthropomorphic rat, but the ability to change into nearly any other animal. it’s master, it’s creator, through illegal forms of magic, merged together dozens of of different animals and creatures, to create the ultimate killing machine. But when the illegal action was discovered, authorities arrived to put a stop to all this. However, my character, the rat, managed to escape only after it was created, not having gained sentience yet. Only to then wake up with sentience, having no memory to anything prior to
Ive found the familiars in the witch class made by the worlds beyond number podcast have had a pretty big impact on my character that uses that class, although that character is also blind and uses her familar as a seeing eye familiar so it has a pretty specific purpose in both the mechanics and story beyond the stuff in the class
I once started a campaign with the party being contacted by the familiar of an incompetent wizard who was failing his first year of wizard school and was going to be expelled. The poor familiar was being teased by all the other competent students, and so they decided to ask the party to help them find a headband of intellect in a nearby dungeon, and told the party they could keep whatever other loot they found. The familiar came along with them, got to know the party, and did its best to assist them in combat and scouting. Fast forward a couple sessions, and the familiar had kept the headband of intellect for themselves and was a minor BBEG.
I am so unwell over you naming the monster an Unfamiliar. THAT NAME IS SO GENIUS. I'M GONNA RIP OUT A WALL THAT'S SUCH A GOOD NAME. It's so simple yet works so horribly well. I'm gonna go explode now.
We had a Grim Hollow campaign where my character (a Mirrored Soul Sorc/Seed of Evil Warlock who becomes a corrupted human whose body was used to create magic drugs for the Fae and was "chosen" by a corrupted Silvanus [who was also her dad, its a long story but TL;DR, the PCs are Godlings coming into their god powers and their domains while simultaneously saving the world from Ithillids and other world ending critters]) and her familiar was a fully monstrous flying pig creature with spikes and warts and a tongue that gives hentai folks the heebie-jeebies of Hell No-ness and his name was Preston and he was best boi
There's a 5e compatible 3rd party book, that has Familiars as a playable character, Monster Classes 3... And Valda's Spire, another 3rd party 5e product, has a wizard subclass dedicated to Familiars. It's got a few crazy abilities.
I remember my first character was an urchin rogue, the background saying I had a pet rat. the DM then allowed me to instead have a kitten. then when I became an arcane trickster I turned the kitten into a full grown cat and my familiar. I remember at one point I tried to use them outside their recon role and asked if my cat familiar could communicate with a cat at the dungeon for information. everyone looked at me like I was crazy 😅 a later character I then turned into the flipping of PC and familiar trope, where the thri-kreen wizard PC was actually the mech of the shadow cat familiar, iuts telepathy allowing the cat to talk. and I actually pulled off the getting info from cats thing. I've also had the idea of playng a druid with telepathy that spends most of their time as a cat. the awakened familiar race sounds perfect for that concept. as well as great for a customized critter for humblewood campaigns
My character is a rogue/druid multiclass, and he's so small that his familiar can carry him, and since the druid's familiar is temporary but free, he can have whichever one he needs at the time, and it's super disposable.
I've heavily used familiars with a few characters in 5e. One was a Sorcerer that I'd themed as a witch...which was more of just a thematic thing followed by an upgrade thanks to the Christmas adventure WotC released that let those with Summon Familiar add a pseudodragon to their familiars list...and referenced the actual Pseudodragon statblock which meant gaining magic resistance. I had a wizard who had a pyromaniac nutjob owl familiar...the rest of the party forced my diviner to take some combat skills rather than just various buff and fate screwing options with the creepy vibes of the Ghostwise Halfling for the wizard, so owls made sense there culturally. For the third, well, a human Arcane Archer with a familiar as a spotter, using either raven or owl depending upon the situation. In 3.5, I did play a Sorcerer who died early...and then ended up playing the familiar with a dragonblooded Awakened Cat Sorcerer...
Dang, I love this so much. And I love thinking about how familiars would change the fantasy world, especially in a world where low level magic was more common. Anyway Eberron video when? (But for real, this is one of my topics you've ever taken on. Thank you.)
1:50 I will in fact bring my 600-pound bear to the noble's house. What are they goonna do? Stop cocaine bear? I doubt it. XD the bigger the familiar the better.
I'm a Druid and have a huge snow leopard pet with me all the time. She doesn't even do anything (yet - when we have enough downtime I want to train her as a mount, since I'm a halfling I'm short enough for that). I make such an effort to bring her into the story and roleplay, but yeah, we forget about her a lot :(
Bringin back the PF1 summoner eidolon. Oh and my favorite familiar trick is using them when im blinded or deafened. Sit on my shoulder and use the shared senses.
What a spirit is, is pretty vague in general, but it's basically any supernatural being. A lot of languages have a word for this. Old English used the word wight, old Dutch had wicht and basically everything in Norse mythology could be considered vættir. Ancient Greece had daimon, which could be benevolent or malevolent. But yeah, any supernatural being.
1:59 Never in my life I felt more called out than now, because one of my characters had a pet weasel that I forgot about for like 10+ games and 3-4 in game month. I decided that in a next game I will free the weasel because I just didn't know what to do with him and it looks like Pointy Hat gonna help with that (I know he's talking about familiars but maybe it will help with pets also)
Well thought out and fun video as usual Pointy! Which brings me to my request. Druids can be fun to play, but their flavor and themes tend to he vague. Much like their secret language Druidic which has little to no details about leaving GMs to either house rule or ignore it entirely. Is there anything you can do to help flesh out Druids as a class for players and DMs ? Thanks so much for all of the fun content you've already given us. Edit: Yes, I did watch the problem with druid video and thought the urban druid was a fun and inspired additional subclass. Yet, the deeper issue of the sameyness and vagueness of the druid class remains. I'll just go sit in the corner over here and cross my fingers that you might follow up on this idea.
In the current campaign i am playing in I am playing a plasmoid voodoo potion maker named Mama Fia. In essence she's a sentient gelatinous cube that took a humanoid form. Well for her familiar my DM decided to play on the fact that oozes split to reproduce, so during the campaign as they were settling down for the night a small part of Mama Fia split from her and became her familiar. He took the form of an orange axolotl which she named Tequila and he is the best boi. He's capable of dealing acid damage as a slime but Mama Fia can also store a potion in him and should it be necessary tell him to disapate and activate the potion... which has been used to turn him into a firebox. But he also plays into Fia's story due to a side plot about Ooze queens: think a bee hives queen bee but slimes. Since Tequila is technically her offspring, this makes her a Slime Queen. She has honestly become one of my favorite characters to play thus far~
I play a twilight cleric and asked my DM if i could have the Tressym and Gazer familiars, those are variant optional familiars (strixhaven initate feat/background). They surely are more impactful with their abilities than the standard cat or bat familiar. Also just flavor your familiar from your backstory like a spirit from an ancestor or a deceased friend. Not using your familiar or forgetting about it is a player's choice and not a dnd-problem imo. Still a great video tho!
Give it up to the human familiar because he was NOT happy having to do that photoshoot. Hope y'all dig the Arcane Collection!
We love you pointy hat but where in the nine hells is the warlock lich! We want more of Which lich!
A quick question regarding the Arcane Collection: Since I'm from Europe and shipping US-EU is extremely expensive, I'd be very interested if there would be a PDF version available - is this planned in any way, a "maybe", or something that I shouldn't expect? Or could there be something done about shipping to Europe?
Thank you in advance! I honestly love your content, and have been a fan of the channel for a long time
question dose the acaine book include the 'witch' class you made for another book a while back as i was never able to get my hands on a pyshical copy
Is the human familiar you’re familiar?
I love the book but I can't order it, as in it won't accept my address, I live in Ireland.
>mentions dog with sword
>get flashbacks of Great Grey Wolf Sif boss fight
>further more flashback of the Red Wolf of Radagon
STOP! S T O P!
The fact that you turned Fry's dog into a dnd character is heartbreaking, also I would die for them
As someone who has never played d&d Pointy Hat uploads are peak
I found it kinda funny that most of what you wanted in a familiar is something you can do in Pathfinder 2E. Awakened animal, changing your familiars abilities and form with every long rest. Using it as a spell focus or as a defender. Glad that your brining these options to DnD.
That dog familiar's backstory is the most interesting one you've made so far, I really liked it
My owl familiar is a machine to give advantage in combat and administer health potions to my dying companions. And notice pickpockets who ty to steal my shiny material components! 10/10 most valuable paty member.
I cannot express how nice of you it is to still give the doc for the unfamiliar for free even now you have a book. Not many people have the moral fiber to not try to profit from their audience at their cost
No way youtube kept me another pointy hat masterpiece from me for a whole half of a minute
How cruel!!
@@gingersummer4005tsk-
I’m pressing charges
23 minutes for me. TH-cam has betrayed me.
36 minutes for my
For me a whole hour
My druid player acquired a parrot in the first session. He was excited. It comez up in play only when I ask him what the parrot is doing lol
I had two rats we found in the first sewer dungeon that were really consistently useful in scouting and searching rooms and the like. There was also a bit where these street kids picked the party's pockets but got caught after a rat bit them. Felt pretty cool.
I never got to use it before the game ended but I also had a potion of dragon's breath on hand. Making rat flamethrowers would've been useful eventually, I think.
Sounds like an unfamiliar in the making...
The way Antonio started taking notes when Pointy Hat said "...after rebelling against their cruel master!" 😂
When I first started DND, I made a teifling cleric/warlock multi class who was once a pirate who survived a shipwreck. My DM, most likely as an inside joke, eventually allowed me to purchase a pet, where I chose the red weasel. I named him Scrabble.
You should have seen my face when I watched critical role for the first time. The coincidences were way too on point. I was just a fjord/jester hybrid, which is awfully fitting for them ending up together
2:22
You should’ve said: “I’m going to concentrate on familiars for this video because I have…familiarity”
That little story melted the ice off my cold dead heart
No way the youtube algorithm didn’t recommend me this video -2 minutes before it was uploaded, despite the fact I was not subscribed until two minutes ago!
The freakishly good timing of this video my goodness.
I was just working on familiars and stuff for character lore, and then this video drops. Perfect timing, amazing video as always ✨
As someone that doesn not use reddit this is the one channel that I believe could really use a sub-reddit or a space where people could upload their thoughts on the material that is provided here and could really act as an inspiration for the whole "DnD with a twist" vibe. Also since you are delving into merchandise that would be a nice way to keep in track how people are enjoying them and adjust (if necessary -and if you so choose-) accordingly
There is one I think! It's not official (as in, i don't run it and i don't check it) but you can discuss anything there! There's also a pretty popular tv tropes page
damn this is cool you may just be the best dnd youtuber on the planet and your human familiar seems alright to
btw have only been watching for like 2weeks and already have almost finished this stuff it’s just so good
I was sitting here sick thinking “you know what would help in my sickness? A new Pointy Hat video.”
My prayers were answered!
My current D&D character is a literal sentient animal, with a modified magic hand, rogue boi who got himself cursed after a mess up, now it’s time to talk to my DM to see how to implement this thank you!
Dragonbane actually has a duck species, and much like donald duck, they are usually grumpy and quick to anger.
dear mr. hat,
thx for the video.
happy thanksgiving,
Hey Antonio, I just wanted to say to you that i love your videos. I'm always happy to see a new release. You rock dude, keep doing what you do
I mean he is pretty cool (for a human)
Um, don’t you know? Antonio’s only the familiar. Pointy Hat is the one who makes the videos (by making his familiar do it for him)
A game I payed a LONG time ago (like, the late 90s) had a perk for a wizard that took a familiar, ripped it's soul out and replaced it with a demon, making it kind of grossly powerful for a familiar. Dude had a ferret demon familiar that he referred to as the fuzzy missile in combat, all teeth, claws and spiky fur. It was a silly game, but that familiar was a delightful lil ass, and we all side-eyed the wizard. Good times. Heh
"Where does the idea of Familiars come from?"
"The Medieval and Early Modern idea of Witches receiving a demon servant in the form of an animal from the Devil. They would help perform tasks of black magic for the witch in exchange for suckling blood from them from a teat known a witch mark, which is believed to be in the form of a birthmark or wart that won't feel pain. Witch-hunters would torture victims accused of witchcraft with stabbing them with a sharp pin looking for said witch mark."
I have two characters (so far) that use familiars. One is a Drake Warden that has (gasp) a tiny Dragon, pretty standard stuff honestly. The other (and the one I'm more excited about) is a Shadowmancer that casts through their Shadow. As in, their shadow is a Shadow that can act somewhat freely and manipulate the world near him (think similar to Dr. Facilier).
Not a familiar, but one time I had a a cat named mouse in my dnd campaign. My dm killed out of nowhere but after some polite and civilised negotiations he brought her back to life. Only half of her, though, so now we have one half that moves and walks like normal and a dead, lifeless back half we carry around in our bags.
I love Mouse.
I lov your channel so much honestly. The book looks amazing. Like almost half the price of official DnD and with about 10 times the subclasses. I love that you make things free online. I hope your merch does well. You can just tell your passion in all your work. Love getting more vids. you are amazing keep up the good work.
Your Familiar focused wizard reminds me so much of the Pathfinder 1st.ed. Summoner-class. They would get an Eidolon, that grew and gained abilities when you gained levels. Never got around to playing one, but once ran a mission where an Eidolon asked the party to help and rescue their summoner.
This is awesomeeee!
The unfamiliar is the best thing i've seen! It's literally perfect and really makes familiars that much more complex and interesting. :)
Pointy Hat: Mentions raising a dragon with magic as a HTTYD reference
Me: It's a The Summoner Trilogy book reference and you can't make me see otherwise
I love the pf2e Witch class' familiar. Tons of powerful abilities, functions as a spellbook, and for roleplay acts as your patron's mouthpiece! One of my players has a spooky undead otter as a familiar, and it's great.
Home brewed a circle of drakes Druid, at lvl 6 I let them use a wild shape or spell slot to summon a faerie dragon familiar.
Works out splendidly giving a Druid some ways to use illusion magic that they normally miss out on. Plus a familiar that can throw down a faerie fire? Yes please.
Your videos are just amazing. I've been watching for a loooong time. Thank you for the entertainment.
I was once part of a DND campaign that used a lot of homebrew content centered around the legend of Zelda. I ended up using the Kokiri homebrew species, and part of their abilities was that they had an innate familiar in the form of a small fairy. Our group decided that in this version of hyrule the Kokiri and their fairies were for all intents and purposes twins who were magically bound together. It was certainly fun having a familiar who was seen as an equal and sister to my character.
every time a new Pointy Hat video releases, I audibly scream of happiness. that’s not a joke
Fantastic video, love the idea of making familiars more important in a story!
Been watching the channel for awhile now! So excited you got the merch, Love the black mage set! I may break down and get the other set separately down the line :)
good luck with the new merch. looks cool.
I just scrolled a bit through the comments and i love how wholseome and friendly it is down here
I had actually made a backstory for an awakened pet bunny [using haregon stats] to become a warlock player character, so your species concept is just a neater version of the hoops I jumped through trying to figure out how to play a normal bunny with magic.
I really wanted to buy the book to give it to my friend (wile keeping the pointy hat plushy of curse muhahaha) but I just saw that it can’t be delivered to Brazil 😭 anyways I love your hole channel it just is so fun to draw wile learning about D&D and also getting amazing ideas to create characters!! Lots of love from Brazil, and I’m just so happy I came across this channel!!
And bought... it's about time you made a book. Congratulations!!
2:07 that’s a pine marten. That is my familiar. But he hunts for himself. And yeah, the comerants are underrated.
God I love pointy hat lore I wish there could be a book with all the character he's made for all his eps
this idea gave me summoner vibes form pathfinder in all the best ways, im so down for it i always wanted my familiars to be more impactful and anything for the wizards that not just extra spells is a bonus thank you so much my players will love it
I was in a dragon lance camping were the wizard had a flying cat and my bard had a teacup Chihuahua (which was based on my IRL cardiac service dog). We'd use our familiars to scout. Often I'd send mine with our rogue so I could cast bard spells through him. Such as invisibility.
For 3rd edition, I made character sheets for familiars. I made entire "classes" for them, that level 1-20. The player basically played two characters.
The Monster partner fantasy is why Pathfinder made the Summoner class. I like your ideas too
The familiar wizard sounds like the Pathfinder Summoner & Eidalon I am here for it
10:09 No, YOU CAN'T CHANGE YOUR TONE LIKE THAT. I was in bloody tears. Story of Igor made me cry (and probably somebody else too) and you are not leaving him just like that. This good boy... no. GOODEST OF BOYS story deserves goodest ending.
I do my familiars in one of two ways (letting the player choose it)
1: Elemental based. This one is pure magic. The player chooses an element they want to be stronger in, and the familiar will take the characteristics of that element. Like a fire bird, or ice fox, ect. When it is awake, it can move around like normal. When it is asleep, it takes the form of a tattoo on the player. This type will keep giving the caster bonuses to the element it represents.
Or
2: an animal. This one, the player chooses an animal. The longer the person has the animal, the more they, and the animal can do together. And for some, gain their own magic they can cast. Like one player, he had a panther (I know, original, right?) Later on down the road, the player kept on needing someone to provide them with ways to put distance between himself and the enemy(the party NEEDED another tank in my opinion). So, the panther started to develop powers similar to shadow magic. Letting him control and shape the darkness around people. Stuff like that. But I made it so the player had to find the animal they wanted. It wouldn't appear in front of them. And I made it to where if the familiar were to die, the player would take a huge cut to their stats for about a month. Usually half their stats, unless they had them for a really long time. (The guy who had his for 2 full real time years lost 90% of his.) But I still made a way for them to try and bring them back with a rare item
Alright. Igor's (Eager's?) backstory hit me. Good job.
Steamforged games actually released Animal Adventures (formerly Dungeons & Doggies , and Cats & Catacombs) which have lots of materials, including stats, lore ideas, adventures and even miniatures to play as awakened animals! After cats and dogs, they started branching out into turtles and orangutans, it's definitely worth checking out for the minis if nothing else.
I need this book! Great video Pointy Hat 🎉
Insanely good job bro! You deserve everything! Codos to you!!
I have an awakened familiar concept that I just home brewed with the Custom Lineage from (I want to say) Tasha's. Can't wait for the species version so I can make the naive psuedodragon wizard she is!
I recently ran a homebrewed version of the beastmaster ranger and i really liked it, basically this revised version does for animal companions what the circle of the moon druid does for wild shape take it to its logical/illogical conclusion
1 beastmasters are not bound to the beast category
2 beastmasters are not bound to one companion, all companions take thier turn in battle immediately after ranger
3 the companions CR can only be as high as 1/2 ranger level
You got a source on that? I'd love to look at it.
@hehehe88 not yet, it's something I worked on with my DM for a home game but I'll work on putting it online
The Unfamiliar is so much like a character I made a while back and still yet to use. An Unfamiliar that has the main appearance of an anthropomorphic rat, but the ability to change into nearly any other animal. it’s master, it’s creator, through illegal forms of magic, merged together dozens of of different animals and creatures, to create the ultimate killing machine. But when the illegal action was discovered, authorities arrived to put a stop to all this. However, my character, the rat, managed to escape only after it was created, not having gained sentience yet. Only to then wake up with sentience, having no memory to anything prior to
Ive found the familiars in the witch class made by the worlds beyond number podcast have had a pretty big impact on my character that uses that class, although that character is also blind and uses her familar as a seeing eye familiar so it has a pretty specific purpose in both the mechanics and story beyond the stuff in the class
I once started a campaign with the party being contacted by the familiar of an incompetent wizard who was failing his first year of wizard school and was going to be expelled. The poor familiar was being teased by all the other competent students, and so they decided to ask the party to help them find a headband of intellect in a nearby dungeon, and told the party they could keep whatever other loot they found. The familiar came along with them, got to know the party, and did its best to assist them in combat and scouting. Fast forward a couple sessions, and the familiar had kept the headband of intellect for themselves and was a minor BBEG.
I am so unwell over you naming the monster an Unfamiliar. THAT NAME IS SO GENIUS. I'M GONNA RIP OUT A WALL THAT'S SUCH A GOOD NAME. It's so simple yet works so horribly well. I'm gonna go explode now.
FINALLY A PLUSH!! I was honestly going to make one myself, including being able to sit on your head, but now I can just buy an official one!!😊
We had a Grim Hollow campaign where my character (a Mirrored Soul Sorc/Seed of Evil Warlock who becomes a corrupted human whose body was used to create magic drugs for the Fae and was "chosen" by a corrupted Silvanus [who was also her dad, its a long story but TL;DR, the PCs are Godlings coming into their god powers and their domains while simultaneously saving the world from Ithillids and other world ending critters]) and her familiar was a fully monstrous flying pig creature with spikes and warts and a tongue that gives hentai folks the heebie-jeebies of Hell No-ness and his name was Preston and he was best boi
Dropped my entire homework load for this
This episode was a real tear-jerker
Giving a familiar a sending stone and using it as a mobile phone is the best way of using a familiar
There's a 5e compatible 3rd party book, that has Familiars as a playable character, Monster Classes 3...
And Valda's Spire, another 3rd party 5e product, has a wizard subclass dedicated to Familiars. It's got a few crazy abilities.
OMG! I needed this video so much!!!
I literally cheered at the mention of HDM!
I remember my first character was an urchin rogue, the background saying I had a pet rat. the DM then allowed me to instead have a kitten. then when I became an arcane trickster I turned the kitten into a full grown cat and my familiar. I remember at one point I tried to use them outside their recon role and asked if my cat familiar could communicate with a cat at the dungeon for information. everyone looked at me like I was crazy 😅
a later character I then turned into the flipping of PC and familiar trope, where the thri-kreen wizard PC was actually the mech of the shadow cat familiar, iuts telepathy allowing the cat to talk. and I actually pulled off the getting info from cats thing.
I've also had the idea of playng a druid with telepathy that spends most of their time as a cat.
the awakened familiar race sounds perfect for that concept. as well as great for a customized critter for humblewood campaigns
My character is a rogue/druid multiclass, and he's so small that his familiar can carry him, and since the druid's familiar is temporary but free, he can have whichever one he needs at the time, and it's super disposable.
Does anyone else wish the hat would narrate more things? Cause that voice is relaaaaaaxing.
Me, tuning in to watch the hat serve up some more amazing dragon game ideas--
...the awakened familiar...
Cue the waterworks.
This is actually a really cool idea that came out of nowhere for me. Wow
I've heavily used familiars with a few characters in 5e.
One was a Sorcerer that I'd themed as a witch...which was more of just a thematic thing followed by an upgrade thanks to the Christmas adventure WotC released that let those with Summon Familiar add a pseudodragon to their familiars list...and referenced the actual Pseudodragon statblock which meant gaining magic resistance.
I had a wizard who had a pyromaniac nutjob owl familiar...the rest of the party forced my diviner to take some combat skills rather than just various buff and fate screwing options with the creepy vibes of the Ghostwise Halfling for the wizard, so owls made sense there culturally.
For the third, well, a human Arcane Archer with a familiar as a spotter, using either raven or owl depending upon the situation.
In 3.5, I did play a Sorcerer who died early...and then ended up playing the familiar with a dragonblooded Awakened Cat Sorcerer...
Oh my goodness the way Eager is drawn makes me so happy I just want to fluff him up and give him hugs
Cannot wait until I get the codex gonna order it right now!!! Love your videos!!!
4:25 Basically the Alfiq from The Elder Scrolls, Awakened animals from Pathfinder 2e, or Uplifted Bears and Entu Symbiotes from Starfinder
Dang, I love this so much. And I love thinking about how familiars would change the fantasy world, especially in a world where low level magic was more common.
Anyway Eberron video when?
(But for real, this is one of my topics you've ever taken on. Thank you.)
Unfamiliar is such a good name!! Also potentially an obvious choice, but still great choice!
1:50 I will in fact bring my 600-pound bear to the noble's house. What are they goonna do? Stop cocaine bear? I doubt it. XD
the bigger the familiar the better.
I'm a Druid and have a huge snow leopard pet with me all the time. She doesn't even do anything (yet - when we have enough downtime I want to train her as a mount, since I'm a halfling I'm short enough for that). I make such an effort to bring her into the story and roleplay, but yeah, we forget about her a lot :(
IMMEDIATELY went to pre-order the Black Mage bundle! It'll be a nice surprise for next year, bc I just know I'll forget that I ordered it LMAO
Bringin back the PF1 summoner eidolon.
Oh and my favorite familiar trick is using them when im blinded or deafened. Sit on my shoulder and use the shared senses.
can't believe youtube hid this from me for 4 minutes
What a spirit is, is pretty vague in general, but it's basically any supernatural being. A lot of languages have a word for this. Old English used the word wight, old Dutch had wicht and basically everything in Norse mythology could be considered vættir. Ancient Greece had daimon, which could be benevolent or malevolent.
But yeah, any supernatural being.
I played a dachshund paladin in a game once. It was amazing! He was the goodest boy.
1:59 Never in my life I felt more called out than now, because one of my characters had a pet weasel that I forgot about for like 10+ games and 3-4 in game month. I decided that in a next game I will free the weasel because I just didn't know what to do with him and it looks like Pointy Hat gonna help with that (I know he's talking about familiars but maybe it will help with pets also)
It's mildly hilarious that "Fucking up familiar creation and creating a magical monster" was something I was brewing not long ago.
you always make your subclass horror themed.
Dungeon Coach has his own custom familiar system but it'll be interesting to see yours to compare
So.. Battle Smith with robes? I like it!
Well thought out and fun video as usual Pointy! Which brings me to my request. Druids can be fun to play, but their flavor and themes tend to he vague. Much like their secret language Druidic which has little to no details about leaving GMs to either house rule or ignore it entirely. Is there anything you can do to help flesh out Druids as a class for players and DMs ? Thanks so much for all of the fun content you've already given us.
Edit: Yes, I did watch the problem with druid video and thought the urban druid was a fun and inspired additional subclass. Yet, the deeper issue of the sameyness and vagueness of the druid class remains. I'll just go sit in the corner over here and cross my fingers that you might follow up on this idea.
In the current campaign i am playing in I am playing a plasmoid voodoo potion maker named Mama Fia. In essence she's a sentient gelatinous cube that took a humanoid form. Well for her familiar my DM decided to play on the fact that oozes split to reproduce, so during the campaign as they were settling down for the night a small part of Mama Fia split from her and became her familiar. He took the form of an orange axolotl which she named Tequila and he is the best boi. He's capable of dealing acid damage as a slime but Mama Fia can also store a potion in him and should it be necessary tell him to disapate and activate the potion... which has been used to turn him into a firebox. But he also plays into Fia's story due to a side plot about Ooze queens: think a bee hives queen bee but slimes. Since Tequila is technically her offspring, this makes her a Slime Queen. She has honestly become one of my favorite characters to play thus far~
I play a twilight cleric and asked my DM if i could have the Tressym and Gazer familiars, those are variant optional familiars (strixhaven initate feat/background). They surely are more impactful with their abilities than the standard cat or bat familiar. Also just flavor your familiar from your backstory like a spirit from an ancestor or a deceased friend. Not using your familiar or forgetting about it is a player's choice and not a dnd-problem imo. Still a great video tho!
“Who would have a problem with it?”
Well you see, the good ending of getting his master back entails killing a dog
Here are some ideas for a Familiar/Spirit Beast Companion I'd like to have.
1. Deer-Fox
2. Dragon Turtle
3. Blood Ape
4. Eaglebear
5. Tea Dragon
I'm stealing this for my next campaign
This shit is so cool, pointy never change you are great!!!