Familiars have one action during combat and a movement action.
They cannot attack on their own, but they can use the help action to apply an attack advantage for their mage. Upon a success, any attack ability the familiar has (i.e. Natural weapon, Ambush predator) applies to the attack.
Familiars gain one free point for their own ability every time their mage levels up. This can be used on the familiar in the same way the mage uses their free points.
Bats are basically rats with wings, sharing similar personality traits with one exception. They are incredibly tired. All the time. It doesn’t matter if they manage to sleep through the whole day. They are always tired. Connected to this exhaustion is a heightened level of spite. They are tiny little heathens, and their mages love them, as does Vivii, who acknowledges them as one of their sacred animals.
Bats gain +1 to their total acuity score, a proficiency in
Winged Flight: So long as the creature is able to use its wings, it has a fly speed equal to its base speed.
Echolocation: The creature effectively has night vision up to 40 ft. They have heightened hearing, gaining an advantage on any perception check using hearing.
Small crocodillians and possibly the only creatures Oberrii finds more interesting and lovable than bugs, caimans are solitary hunters that prey on the unsuspecting, including, on occasion, their mages. They often don't realize that they are sharp, playfully biting their mages suddenly and with little warning. Despite this, their mages would end the world for the strange little creatures with no grasp of common sense if they were able. The fabled "Flo Ridaman" is said to be the most famous mage with a Caiman familiar, often using the strange creature to commit wild and ultimately very strange crimes.
Caimans gain +1 to their total Strength score, a proficiency in persuasion, and one other proficiency. They have the following abilities.
Ambush Predator: The creature gains an extra d4 to their damage dice if they succeed on an attack from stealth.
Natural Weapon: The creature gets proficiency in unarmed attacks and their unarmed attacks do 1d4 damage as a base.
Semiaquatic, disease-resistant mammals that form social bonds with creatures of other species, capybaras are relaxed creatures that tend to go with the flow. They like sitting in inconvenient places without moving, especially on top of their mages, and meeting new and interesting creatures. They're peacekeepers, adaptable and affectionate, fond of parallel play.
Capybaras gain +1 to their total Vitality score, a proficiency in Swim, and one other proficiency. They have the following abilities.
Hold Breath: The creature can hold its breath for up to half an hour.
Disease Immunity: This creature is immune to diseases
A type of small dragon, often known as “feathered serpents” or “winged serpents, that more or less appear to be snakes with feathers along their necks, at the ends of their tails, and small feathered wings. Usually, they have darker scales with bright, complex patterns on their feathers. They’re excitable and in near constant movement, that is until they crash. They can sleep for up to four days before it gets concerning, then stay awake for almost a month. Like many snake-like familiars, coatls are incredibly cuddly and clingy with their mages. Unlike reptilian familiars, they also tend to be cuddly and friendly with other people, especially those with magic.
Coatls gain +1 to their total presence score, a proficiency level in flexibility, and one other proficiency. They have the following abilities:
Winged Flight: So long as the creature is able to use its wings, it has a fly speed equal to its base speed.
Purrfect Companion: The creature is able to heal one level of exhaustion to a target it can touch per day through a sound similar to a gentle purr.
Do dogs truly need an introduction? Man's best friend, the most loyal of companions, the cute creatures that have been a part of our homes and families since the dawn of creation. A mage's dog is likely to be a breed that reflects their personality, as all familiars are in a way. They're working dogs, and they know it. They love their job, to assist their mage and ensure their human is the happiest they can be.
Dog familiars gain +1 to their total presence, a proficiency in perception, and one other proficiency level. They have the following abilities:
Man’s best friend: A dog is able to restore one Exhaustion level per day on any creature through slobbery kisses and affection.
Pack Hunter: The creature gains advantage on all checks assisting a creature in their party.
Griffons of all kinds are a type of dragon with the bodies of lions, wings and heads of eagles, and tails that appear almost like snakes. Domestic griffons are much smaller than their wild counterparts, around the size of a medium-sized dog, if a bit more dense. They’re playful and cuddly, acting like a mix between puppies and cats. Their favorite toys are often things they aren’t supposed to touch.
Griffon familiars gain +1 to their total strength, a proficiency in athletics, and one other proficiency level. They have the following abilities:
Winged Flight: So long as the creature is able to use its wings, it has a fly speed equal to its base speed.
Venomous: Adds an additional d4 poison damage to any successful unarmed strikes.
The Gods' gift to man. Ever see a duck waddling along? Absolutely glorious. At least, that's the mentality of the mages that keep these strange waterfowl. They're often seen happily waddling after their mage's, a ribbon or some similar accessory adorning their waterproof feathers, content in the knowledge that they are better than any other familiar, at least so far as they are concerned.
Duck familiars gain +1 to their total Pressence, a proficiency in Swim, and one other proficiency level. They have the following abilities:
All Seeing: The creature is able to see everything within a 30 foot range.
Hold Breath: The creature can hold its breath for up to half an hour.
Falcons are intelligent, noble, and fast predators. They like to perch upon their mage’s shoulder or act as their eyes in the sky. They’re confident and they know that they are powerful, though, unlike cats or self-assured creatures, Falcons are rather good at avoiding hubris. They trust their mage and partners to cover their flaws. This is what makes them stronger than a common falcon, their mage and their team.
Falcons gain +1 to their total acuity, a proficiency level in perception, and one other proficiency level. They have the following abilities:
Winged Flight: So long as the creature is able to use its wings, it has a fly speed equal to its base speed.
Quick Feet: The creature can use dash as a reaction.
Small shapeshifters that mimic dragons, false wyrms tend to think themselves much scarier and more noble than their dumpster-diving selves actually are. So far as they are concerned, they are the most powerful creatures in the world, ready to defend their mage from absolutely everything. They don't have the most ideal blend of traits, and sometimes fall on their faces and very much attempt to fly.
False Wyrms gain +1 to their total presence, a proficiency level in deception, and one other proficiency level. They have the following abilities:
Another Man's Trash: Occasionally, the creature will simply have an item of interest to it that it has no explicable means of obtaining. A number of times per day equivalent to their dexterity total, they are able to roll a percentage table containing the items they might be able to claim. They may put up to ten different items on the table in any number slot they want. Unless they roll one of those ten numbers, they will not miraculously claim that item.
Shapeshift: The creature is able to shift its form to mimic another creature of the same category.
Fathoms are small spirit class creatures that are not only connected to their mage’s souls, but born from them. Often, their mages lived through a near death experience close enough to give them a connection to the realm of spirits and the undying. Whether that be dying in a hospital bed, taking a severe injury, or otherwise seeing their reaper early. They take on a form reflecting a small animal or amorphous creature based fully on how stable their connection to their mage is.
Fathoms gain +1 to their total intelligence score, a proficiency level in Magical Endurance, and one other proficiency. They have the following abilities:
Semicorporeal: The creature gains advantage on any dodge, stealth, or resistance checks. They do not require breathing, food, drink, or sleep, instead taking a meditative rest in the spirit realm, the creature’s haunt, or similar magical resting place.
Welcome Home: The creature always knows the direction of home, no matter where they are.
House cats are very common familiars. Cats see themselves as regal, being waited on paw and tail by their humans, though they’re not always the most intelligent creatures. Cats as familiars know that they are a common creature to be bound, and they see this as yet another sign that they are the perfect companions to the all-powerful mage. Why mess with perfection, after all? Cats see their mage as the only thing that may be equal to themselves. They share a soul, after all. Their mages are little more than dumb kittens that they have to assist, though dumb kittens are still superior to most sapients.
Cat familiars get +1 to their total presence score, a proficiency level in the stealth skill and one other skill. They have the following two abilities:
Purrfect Companion: The creature is able to heal one level of exhaustion to a target it can touch per day through a sound similar to a gentle purr.
Ambush Predator: The creature gains an extra d4 to their damage dice if they succeed on an attack from stealth.
Small, fast, and capable of flying in every direction, these excitable birds dart around in a constant search for food. They're highly territorial. Their mage is theirs and no one else's, so far as they are concerned. They enjoy attention, and on the rare occasion that they do perch, they often do so in such a way that they will not move for hours. With legs too weak to walk and a metabolism so high, anytime they can perch on their mage and ride their way to glory is taken.
Hummingbird familiars get +1 to their total Dexterity score, a proficiency level in the Dodge skill and one other skill. They have the following two abilities:
Winged Flight: So long as the creature is able to use its wings, it has a fly speed equal to its base speed.
Quick Feet: The creature can use dash as a reaction.
Hydralyngs are a type of dragon that sprout a new head every time theirs is cut off, though if a hydralyng must use this ability, it is considered a horrible trauma. Mages that cut off their own hydralyng's head for "The aesthetic" are considered animal abusers. One of the many subspecies of hydra, these little dragons are wingless and act similarly to medium-sized dogs, sharing their rough size as well. they like to cuddle, rubbing their furry manes, feathered ears, and scaled bodies against their mage. Like many dragon species, hydralyngs tend to hoard, though their hoard is unconventional, including (but not limited to): Frogs, fake and forged currency, stuffies, and orphans. How they get these things is often confusing, even to their mage, who sometimes turns around to find this creature that shares their soul proudly presenting something they definitely should not have. Hydralyngs are the sacred animal of the Lord in Red, Kaz, and are thus often found working with mages that honor the capitalistic nature of the world or objects of strange worth.
Hydralyng familiars get +1 to their total presence score, a proficiency level in the sleight of hand skill, and one other skill. They have the following two abilities:
Hydra's neck: Anytime the Hydra is decapitated, it sprouts a new head. Each head has a venomous bite that deals 1d4 poison damage on top of any other damage.
Another Man's Trash: Occasionally, the creature will simply have an item of interest to it that it has no explicable means of obtaining. A number of times per day equivilent to their dexterity total, they are able to roll a percentage table containing the items they might be able to claim. They may put up to ten different items on the table in any number slot they want. Unless they roll one of those ten numbers, they will not miraculously claim that item.
Iguanas are not entirely common as familiars, but they are by far the most common lizard familiar to be found. They’re far more active then the average iguana due to the magic running through them, taking full advantage over their ability to swim and climb, often to bother their mages. They’re surprisingly spiteful creatures who absolutely revel in drama.
Iguana familiars get +1 to their total strength score, proficiency in climb, and one other proficiency. They have the following abilities:
Natural Weapon: The creature gets proficiency in unarmed attacks, and their unarmed attacks do 1d4 damage as a base.
Hold Breath: The creature can hold its breath for up to half an hour.
Magpies are playful little corvids. They enjoy singing in voices not their own and scavenging through what is cast aside by others. They are masters of finding treasure in trash, taking what amuses them, and playing tricks on those around them. It is no wonder, then, that they act as Soven's favorite creature. Mages that hold magpies often, on some level, maintain her blessing, whether that be through her boons or through a penchant for tricks and finding what they need from nothing.
Magpie familiars get +1 to their total intelligence score, proficiency in Sleight of Hand, and one other proficiency. They have the following abilities:
Winged Flight: So long as the creature is able to use its wings, it has a fly speed equal to its base speed.
Mimicry: The creature is able to mimic the sounds it has heard or memorized.
Meerkat familiars are anxious little things always on the lookout for threats. They find safety with their mage and often alert them to perceived threats. They greatly enjoy poking heads out of backpacks to act as eyes in the back of their mage's head. They love being helpful, but they also love to play. They often reflect their mage's work hard, play hard philosophy.
Meerkat familiars get +1 to their total Acuity score, proficiency in Perception and one other proficiency. They have the following abilities:
Venom Immunity: Merekats are immune to poison damage
Burrower: The creature has a dig speed equal to their base speed.
Standing at about the size of a cat, Miniature wyverns act very similar to their furry counterparts. They seem to understand on some level that they're in the same order as the great wyverns and the same class as the Greatwyrms. Depending on the breed, they may have feathers, fur, scales, or any combination of the three. They often perch on their mage’s shoulders, from which they can see the world.
Miniature Wyvern familiars gain +1 to their total Dexterity, a proficiency in Magical knowledge, and one other proficiency level. They have the following abilities:
Winged Flight: So long as the creature is able to use its wings, it has a fly speed equal to its base speed.
Purrfect Companion: The creature is able to heal one level of exhaustion to a target it can touch per day through a sound similar to a gentle purr.
Skittering across the night, opossums rarely connect to mages. Often, opossum familiars are more independent than others in their actions, assisting their mage in combat or curling up with them in times of rest. They scavenge for themselves, eating bugs and digging through trash rather than eating just what their mages provide. Perhaps most interesting to the mages that keep them, they often return from their exploration with shimmering stones and stolen coins in their pouches.
Opossum familiars get +1 to their total dexterity score, proficiency in climb and one other proficiency. They have the following abilities:
Prehensile Tail: The creature is able to use their tail as if it is an extra limb and use it to hang from objects that can anchor it, such as branches and rafters.
Pouch: The creature has access to an inventory through its pouch. It will have a prefered item to steal and store in its pouch (food and shining stones or coins).
The famed archmage Icarus Melody had an interesting familiar, one that fit his spitefully inquisitive existence. Like him, this creature thrived in the urban wilds, refusing a true home in favor of the scruffy existence around them, forsaking the order of capitalism for the freedom of the streets, defecating on institutions, and defending only their own. Unafraid to play thief and unforgiving in their ingratiating. This familiar, of course, was a pigeon.
Pigeons gain +1 to their total acuity score, a proficiency level in persuasion, and one other proficiency. They have the following abilities:
Winged Flight: So long as the creature is able to use its wings, it has a fly speed equal to its base speed.
Welcome Home: The creature always knows the direction of home, no matter where they are.
Soft pink, hard-shelled creatures that burrow into their humans' packs, pink fairy armadillos are particular little nocturnal creatures. They're picky about their surroundings and their diet, they know themselves to be above common creatures, and they flaunt it through flaunting nothing. They remain quiet and hidden unless they have to do stuff. They remain in their safe, nice baggy burrows unless they're needed. They need not concern themselves with the peasants above. Except that one. That one is their favorite.
Pink Fairy Armadillos gain +1 to their total vitality score, a proficiency level in resistance, and one other proficiency. They have the following abilities:
Burrower: The creature has a dig speed equal to their base speed.
Desert Dweller: The creature ignores difficult terrain in sand and exhaustion levels from hot weather
A small, nonsapient ball of fae magic and dust, pixies appear almost like palm-sized colorful puffballs with black button eyes, tiny fangs, and rapidly fluttering wings. They produce a substance known as Pixie dust, often used in alchemy. They are mischievous little things and like being a problem, so long as their sweet chittering and sparkling dust can get them out of it. For some strange reason, mage's pixies often love hiding in pockets or bottles when not causing mayhem.
Pixie familiars gain +1 to their total presence, a proficiency in persuasion, and one other proficiency level. They have the following abilities:
Winged Flight: So long as the creature is able to use its wings, it has a fly speed equal to its base speed.
Pixie dust: Once per day, a pixie can produce a vial’s amount of pixie dust with a random effect. The effected creature must have the full vial’s worth to be affected. The creature is affected until the dust is cleaned off of them.
Halves the speed of the affected creature
Gives disadvantage to the creature's attack checks
Provides negative inspiration to a creature’s will saves
Leeches 1d4 HP from the affected creature per round
Leeches 1d4 mana from the affected creature per round
Halves the affected creature’s natural armor
These dragons have baffled zoologists for centuries. They lay eggs like birds, have fur like mammals, excrete milk through their sweat glands, have the bill of a duck, the tail of a beaver, and poisonous spurs on their hind legs. Some have found that they even glow in the right conditions. No wonder, then, that they have been claimed by the glorious golden god of chaos and madness, for their very existence drives scientists mad. Those rare mages who claim ownership of such bafflingly aggressive semiaquatic creatures note that their beloved familiars are rather fond of routine and kicking those that interrupt their routines very, very hard. It is noted that, for some reason, only male platypuses have venomous spurs, and that no mage in recorded history has had a fully female platypus, though records of otherwise female-presenting platypuses that do have the spurs have been recorded. It may be something to do with the magic from which familiars achieve their soul connection.
Platypuses gain +1 to their overall acuity score, a proficiency level in swim, and a level in one other proficiency. They have the following abilities:
Venomous: Adds an additional d4 poison damage to any successful unarmed strikes.
Electroreception: The creature is able to "see" without seeing within five feet
Rabbits gain +1 to their overall presence score, a proficiency level in jump, and a level in one other proficiency. They have the following abilities:
All Seeing: The creature is able to see everything within a 30 foot range.
Quick Feet: The creature can use dash as a reaction.
As the god Kaetherin’s favorite creatures, it’s only natural that rats would be common familiars. Intelligent and scrappy, rats generally act one of two ways. They either see themselves as the most perfect creatures known to man, as even their flaws are gifts from the gods, or they lean into the image of themselves as dumpster creatures.
Rats gain +1 to their overall Intelligence score, a proficiency level in resistance and a level in another proficiency skill. They have the following abilities:
Burrower: The creature has a dig speed equal to their base speed.
Hot and Cold: The creature does not take exhaustion levels from temperature.
Ravens are incredibly intelligent creatures with natural ties to magic. Whether that be as omens, servants of the gods, or as familiars. They often stumble upon magical means. They like to collect shiny objects and magic items. They’re capable of mimicking other creatures in a limited fashion, becoming more capable of such through magic or a process known as “freeing their tongue”. These birds are considered holy to the Lord of Famine and Prosperity, Nikkarrae.
Ravens gain +1 to their overall Intelligence score, a proficiency level in Magical Knowledge and one level in any other proficiency skill. They have the following abilities:
Winged Flight: So long as the creature is able to use its wings, it has a fly speed equal to its base speed.
Mimicry: The creature is able to mimic the sounds it has heard or memorized.
Snakes are curious familiars. Though they do not need to eat often, they do require plenty of rest, often taking it curled up around a body part of their mage or hanging off their belt. They cling to the warmth and the magic that their mage emits. They are generally rather happy creatures so long as their basic needs are met. They may communicate to their mages with very succinct thoughts, such as “warm”, “humgur”, and “slep”.
Snake familiars get +1 to their total vitality score, a proficiency level in the flexibility and one other skill. They have the following abilities:
Ambush Predator: The creature gains an extra d4 to their damage dice if they succeed on an attack from stealth.
And
Constrictor: The creature has advantage on any grappling check it attempts as well as maintaining grapple.
OR
Venomous: Adds an additional d4 poison damage to any successful unarmed strikes.
Sun bears are one of the smallest bear species in the world and intelligent tool users. They mimic facial expressions that they see humans making and climb anything they can. A Nocturnal and solitary familiar, Sun bears tend to leave their mages to their own devices until they're called upon, though when they are with their mage they tend to be increadibly affectionate.
Sun Bears gain +1 to their overall Knowledge score, a proficiency level in climb and one level in any other proficiency skill. They have the following abilities:
Burrower: The creature has a dig speed equal to their base speed.
Natural Weapon: The creature gets proficiency in unarmed attacks and their unarmed attacks do 1d4 damage as a base.
Anxious little menaces to society, squirrels are quite smart and capable of causing mayhem wherever they go. They steal food and skitter away up a tree before someone can get a chance to stop them, or in the case of the squirrel familiar, skitter up their mage's leg and into their pocket.
Squiiels gain +1 to their overall Dexterity score, a proficiency level in climb and one level in any other proficiency skill. They have the following abilities:
Feather Falling: The creature does not take fall damage
Quick Feet: The creature can use dash as a reaction.