Familiars

Familiar Eggs and How to Hatch Them 

LARP Adventures

What is a familiar?

• A Familiar is a creature with connections to arcane energies, divinities, the leylines, deities, or other extraplanar beings.

• They can attune to any main path Tier 3+ Mage or Healer who successfully finds and hatches a familiar egg.

• They are not hatched with magical abilities, but may acquire them to function as minor NPCs.  Ex.  They don't add extra hit points.

• Animal Companions are mundane, non-magical creatures that are available for flavor/messenger/rp purposes as pets. Any player may have a mundane animal companion regardless of path or Tier, and they have no special magical abilities. 

How do I find one?

• To find a familiar, you must find one of their eggs. These eggs are decorated and in themed baskets/holders that will be hidden.

• Eggs will only be hidden at campouts, except in special circumstances where an announcement will be made. 

• Familiar eggs can only be retrieved and hatched by a main path Mage or Healer of Tier 3 or higher. Any other class or Mages and Healers lower than Tier 3 will feel a sudden SHOCK if they try to pick up the egg, and will lose all memory of seeing the basket and its contents. 

Egg Rules

• Eggs must be on your person for 3 events before they can hatch. One of these events must be a campout.

• They must be on your person at all times you are In Character for those 3 events. Events where you spend about or more than half the time as another character and/or an NPC will not count.

• Eggs must remain In Play at all times. If not carried by the player, they may be stored In Game elsewhere, but this storage will not count towards their required hatching time.

• Eggs cannot be hidden during the same event they are hatched. There are a limited number of eggs in circulation. Once one is hatched, a new one will be hidden at the next camp out.

• Eggs may be concealed on your person if you possess the Tier 4 Rogue skill Conceal Item.

Eggs and Looting

• Eggs can be Looted/Pickpocketed and generally worth a minimum of 10 gold.

• Eggs are priority loot for pickpocketing and cannot be warded. This means an egg is given up before gold when a player is pickpocketed. If the egg is not stored somewhere else In-Game, it must be given up first.

  • The exception to this is an egg covered by the “Conceal Item” rogue skill.

• Eggs cannot be “destroyed” if pickpocketed/looted. 

• Eggs out of possession of their Healer/Mage for more than one full day (8 hrs of In Game play) will have their ‘bond’ timer reset. This time may carry over between events, depending on the time of looting.

Hatching Guidelines

• To hatch your familiar, you must have a ritual prepared and must have a physical representation of your familiar.

  • This can be a plush doll, figurine, 3d printed creature, or something else along those lines.

  • Rituals can be as long as you’d like, but must be at least two minutes.

• Hatching rituals can take place at either day events or campouts.

• Your familiar hatching ritual does not have to be public, you can invite whoever you wish. An Organizer in charge of the egg distribution must be in attendance to witness it. If one is not at the event, a trusted stand-in will be sent in their stead.

• Your ritual must announce your familiar’s name to bond it to you.

Familiar Guidelines

• A familiar’s form can run the full range of the animal kingdom, real or imagined.

• You may determine a single unique gift or benefit your familiar possesses over time. This benefit must be approved by an Organizer and cannot be changed once discovered. 

  • Suggested abilities should take minimal explanation and not require inherent knowledge/action from other players to resolve

  • The benefit typically reflects the Familiar's form and should require its presence (like a Phys Rep) and manipulation of the Familiar to activate, telegraphing it.

  • NPCs may not be affected by familiar abilities depending on the scenario.  The NPC will decide effectiveness.

  • The Familiar's gift should be niche, not typically redundant or stacking with combat abilities.

  • Benefits are typically limited to a number of times per event/day and are not continuously active.

  • The Familiar's ability can be discovered over time while adventuring and should not always be expected to manifest immediately upon hatching.

• Some Organizer run modules may have special tasks for Mages and Healers with familiars. 

• Familiars should be regarded as an extension of the bonded player. If your familiar is on your person, it can be targeted by skills such as pickpocket as though the Rogue pickpocketed the player directly. Similarly, if the bonded player is allowed to cross a Ward/Sanctify/Defile, the familiar can pass as a part of that player.

  • If a familiar phys rep is NOT on the bonded player’s person, it is considered an OOG item unless actively engaged in a scene.

• Familiars themselves cannot take physical damage. Weapons, Poisons, and Combat Spells do not affect them. They cannot be used as shields and should not be intentionally targeted with combat strikes for the safety of the prop. However, if an attack strikes your familiar you must take the damage as though it struck your person directly. 

  • Hits on a familiar go through both mundane armor and Mage/Holy Armor. 

• If the bonded Mage or Healer of a familiar dies, the familiar then falls unconscious until the affected player respawns or is healed. Familiars are subject to the same death amnesia as all citizens of Osterra.

• Familiars can only be understood by the Mage or Healer bonded to them. However, familiars can understand each other. So messages can be passed from familiar to familiar.

  • Comprehend Language/Speak Language will not work on a familiar. 

• Spells such as Sense Arcana or Sense Blessed/Cursed will work on familiars, as will the Divine Arcana or Divine Blessed/Cursed spells. 

  • These spells will show that the creature is a magical being, which Mage or Healer it is bonded to, and the familiar’s alignment should one exist. 

• Summon Creature/Banish Creature spells will not impact any bonded familiar or an unhatched egg.

Passing it along

• Once your egg is hatched you are responsible for creating and hiding the next nest at a subsequent campout.

• Be sure to label what it is clearly.

  • Must include a tag that describes what happens if you are not a main path T3 Mage/Healer, and also reminds the player to turn the nest in to Meryn/Julie

• Flavor the nest so it reflects your personality!

  • Nests that are returned to Meryn will be returned to the crafter if they have provided their own supplies. Just in case, remember where you hide your nest!