Familiars, Extended table version.

Of course, I retain author's rights for this text in its entirety. This is primarily to prevent T?R from just grabbing this text, though I doubt they find the quality good enough to do such a thing. Oh well, it all boils down into the big company vs. the little man thing, I suppose. The table is not copyrighted, and all is free to use and modify this piece of this text with abandon.

This is a small table produced for the first level spell Find Familiar in the AD&D fantasy roleplaying system. Though many of the familiars in this table are relatively powerful, I find that a wizard truly relishes the opportunity to have an especially rare familiar, and will go to great lengths to protect his or hers familiar. Nevertheless, I suggest that this table is only used when the wizard calling a familiar is relatively powerful, i.e. for instance about 7th level.

The familiars are all taken from the 2nd Edition Monstrous Manual, and the page numbers refer to this work. For all of those that does not have this work of art, I can highly recommend it. Though the art in the book is of varying quality, most of it is of such an exceptional quality that I truly enjoy just browsing through the book.

Also, some of the familiars given here have specific alignment requirements. If a wizard tries to call a familiar with an incompatible alignment requirement, the spell fails, and the wizard must wait a year (or, if the DM is merciful, a level, whatever comes first) before trying again.

Some of these familiars are regarded as monsters (they are!), and even though the wizard (and maybe the party) can come to terms with cuddling with an auromvorax (for instance), towns the party arrives to may not be as understanding.

When a wizard receives a truly exceptional familiar, the DM is encouraged to give the party some roleplaying problems in order to impress that the familiar is rare. Also, always remember that the DM has the final say-so on a familiar's availability or not. If the DM rules that there is no familiar of the indicated sort in the vicinity, the spell fails, with the normal effects.

This table is primarily intended for the DM to use, i.e. that the player of the wizard is not allowed to look at the table when casting the Find Familiar spell, even though it is common that the player is allowed to roll the dice. I suggest that it is possible for the player to either add or subtract the wizard's level to the roll, or whole levels thereof, in order to simulate a very powerful wizard's control of the spell. I also suggest that no wizards except Conjurers and Summoners are allowed to look at the table when deciding what familiar the spell calls, in order to simulate these specialists' greater control over this kind of spell.

Nevertheless, the DM is free to exercise the right of ruling the spell to be a failure. Note that a roll of 00 (100), or a modified roll of 00 (100) lets the player choose the kind of familiar called. If the player chooses munchkinwise, however, the DM is free to rule the spell to bea failure. Also, with intelligent familiars there are great possibilities of roleplaying between the familiar and the wizard. In addition to this, it is common that in order for an intelligent monster to become the familiar of a wizard, some sort of bargain must be negotiated between the familiar and the wizard. I suggest that such a bargain will function as a Geas spell, and the contract should be written down. Note that it is possible to subtly modify the Find Familiar spell with such a contract, like specifying a length of servitude.

Enough patter, let's get down to the business at hand. To roll on this table, there is a rather unusual dice rolling method suggested, as the number of entries on the table makes it difficult to just roll so-and-so many dice. Roll 1d100 (1d10 twice, with first tens and then ones, with 00 as 100), and then roll 1d6. 1-3: 1d100 roll as normal. 4-6: add 100 to the roll. If the roll is more than the number of entries on the table, reroll. Also, remember the level modifications.

Feel free to add your own creatures, and remove those that you find overly powerful. Unfortunately, this table has not undergone any playtesting, but I intend to use it first chance. Please mail me with any suggestions for additions.

Here are some examples of how the table was intended to work:

Example #1: A 5th level mage tries to call a familiar. The player rolls 120 (20, and 5 on 1d6), and chooses not to modify the roll. He gets to choose any snake as his familiar (lucky roll).

Example #2: A 10th level mage tries to call a familiar. The player rolls 90, and modifies with his level so that he gets 100. He gets to choose any familiar he wants (lucky thaumaturge).

Example #3: A 20th level mage tries to call a familiar. The player rolls 04, and modifies with 3 downwards so that the mage calls an aurumvorax. Regard: A happy 20th level mage.

Roll	Familiar	Page	Alignment Requirements	Special
01	Aurumvorax	10	None	Needs gold in diet
02	Bat, Common	5	None	None
03	Bat, Large	15	None	None
04	Bat, Huge	15	Any Evil	None
05	Bat, Azmyth	15	Any Neutral or Good	None
06	Bat, Night Hunter	15	Any Evil	None
07	Bat, Sinister	15	Lawful Evil	None
08	Bat, Choose Any	15	As creature chosen	None
09	Giant Beetle, Bombardier	18	None	None
10	Giant Beetle, Boring	18	None	None
11	Giant Beetle, Fire	18	None	None
12	Giant Beetle, Rhino	18	None	None
13	Giant Beetle, Stag	18	None	None
14	Giant Beetle, Water	18	None	None
15	Giant Beetle, Choose Any	18	None	None
16	Bird, Blood Hawk	27	None	None
17	Bird, Boobrie	27	None	None
18	Bird, Condor	27	None	None
19	Bird, Crow	27	None	None
20	Bird, Giant Eagle	27	None	None
21	Bird, Eagle	27	None	None
22	Bird, Eblis	27	Any Evil	10% chance for spellcaster
23	Bird, Emre	27	None	None
24	Bird, Falcon	27	None	None
25	Bird, Flightless	27	None	Can not fly
26	Bird, Large Hawk	27	None	None
27	Bird, Kingfisher	27	None	None
28	Bird, Owl	27	None	Nocturnal
29	Bird, Giant Owl	27	Any Neutral or Good	Nocturnal
30	Bird, Talking Owl	27	Any Good	Needs bargain
31	Bird, Raven	27	None	None
32	Bird, Huge Raven	27	None	None
33	Bird, Giant Raven	27	Any Neutral or Evil	None
34	Bird, Skyfisher	27	None	None
35	Bird, Swan	27	None	None
36	Bird, Vulture	27	Any Neutral or Evil	Scavenger
37	Bird, Giant Vulture	27	Any Neutral or Evil	Scavenger
38	Bird, Choose Any	27	As creature chosen	As creature chosen
39	Brain Mole	29	Any	Psionivores (eats Psionics)
40	Great Cat, Cheetah	36	None	None
41	Great Cat, Jaguar	36	None	None
42	Great Cat, Leopard	36	None	None
43	Great Cat, Common Lion	36	None	None
44	Great Cat, Mountain Lion	36	None	None
45	Great Cat, Spotted Lion	36	None	None
46	Great Cat, Giant Lynx	36	None	Needs bargain
47	Great Cat, Choose Any	36	None	As creature chosen
48	Small Cat, Domestic	38	None	None
49	Small Cat, Wild	38	None	None
50	Small Cat, Elven	38	Any Neutral or Good	Needs bargain
51	Small Cat, Choose Any	38	As creature chosen	As creature chosen
52	Centipede, Giant	42	None	None
53	Centipede, Huge	42	None	None
54	Centipede, Megalo-	42	None	Needs bargain
55	Centipede, Choose Any	42	None	As creature chosen
56	Cockatrice	45	None	None
57	Pyrolisk	45	None	None
58	Displacer Beast	56	Lawful Evil	Needs bargain
59	Dog, Wild	57	None	None
60	Dog, War	57	None	None
61	Dog, Blink	57	Lawful Good	Needs bargain
62	Dog, Death	57	Neutral Evil	Needs bargain
63	Dog, Choose Any	57	As creature chosen	As creature chosen
64	Dragonet, Faerie Dragon	89	Any Good	Needs bargain
65	Dragonet, Fire Drake	90	None	None
66	Dragonet, Pseudodragon 91	Any Neutral or Good	Needs bargain
67	Dragonet, Choose Any	89-91	As creature chosen	As creature chosen
68	Frog, Giant	119	None	None
69	Frog, Killer	119	None	None
70	Frog, Poisonous	119	None	None
71	Frog, Choose Any	119	None	None
72	Gloomwing, Moth	157	None	None
73	Gremlin, Gremlin	174	Any Evil	Needs bargain
74	Gremlin, Fremlin	174	Any Neutral or Good	Will not fight; needs bargain
75	Gremlin, Galltrit	174	Any Evil	Needs bargain
76	Gremlin, Mite	174	Any Evil	Needs bargain
77	Gremlin, Snyad	174	Any Neutral	Needs bargain
78	Gremlin, Choose Any	174	As creature chosen	As creature chosen
79	Imp	201	Lawful Evil	Needs bargain
80	Quasit	201	Chaotic Evil	Needs bargain
81	Insect, Choose Any	204	None	None, though diet may be a problem
82	Insect Swarm, Ants	206	None	None, though limited lifespan
83	Insect Swarm, Hoppers	206	None	None, though limited lifespan
84	Mammal, Wild Baboon	241	None	None
85	Mammal, Badger	241	None	None
86	Mammal, Banderlog	241	None	None
87	Mammal, Bhaergala	241	None	Needs bargain
88	Mammal, Wild Boar	241	Any Chaotic	Needs bargain
89	Mammal, Chattur	241	None	None
90	Mammal, Cooshee	241	Any Neutral or Good	Needs bargain; caller should be elf
91	Mammal, Dakon	241	None	Needs bargain
92	Mammal, Debbi	241	None	None
93	Mammal, Goat	241	None	None
94	Mammal, Gorilla	241	None	None
95	Mammal, Hyena	241	None	None
96	Mammal, Jackal	241	None	None
97	Mammal, Monkey Spider	241	None	Needs bargain
98	Mammal, Skunk	241	None	None
99	Mammal, Sleek	241	None	None
100	Player's Choice	Any	As creature chosen	As creature chosen
101	Mammal, Tyrg	241	Any Neutral or Evil	None
102	Mammal, Warthog	241	None	None
103	Mammal, Weasel	241	None	Needs bargain
104	Mammal, Wolverine	241	None	None
105	Mammal, Choose Any	241	As creature chosen	As creature chosen
106	Small Mammal, Choose Any	244	None	None
107	Rat, Normal	300	None	None
108	Rat, Giant	300	None	None
109	Scorpion, Large	309	None	None
110	Snake, Amphisbaena	320	None	None
111	Snake, Boalisk	320	None	None
112	Snake, Constrictor	320	None	None
113	Snake, Giant Constrictor	320	None	None
114	Snake, Heway	320	Any Evil	None
115	Snake, Poison	320	Any Neutral or Evil	None
116	Snake, Giant Poison	320	Any Neutral or Evil	None
117	Snake, Spitting	320	Any Neutral or Evil	None
118	Snake, Jaculi	320	As species	None
119	Snake, Winged	322	None	None
120	Snake, Choose Any	320/322	As creature chosen	As creature chosen
121	Spider, Hairy	326	Any Evil	None
122	Spider, Large	326	Any Neutral or Evil	None
123	Spider, Choose Any	326	As creature chosen	None
124	Stirge	332	Any Neutral or Evil	None
125	Giant Toad, Ordinary	345	None	None
126	Giant Toad, Fire	345	None	Needs bargain
127	Giant Toad, Ice	345	Any Neutral	Needs bargain
128	Giant Toad, Poisonous	345	Any Neutral or Evil	None
129	Giant Toad, Choose Any	345	As creature chosen	As creature chosen
130	Wolf, Common	362	None	None
131	Wolf, Worg	362	Any Neutral or Evil	None
132	Wolf, Dire	362	None	Needs bargain
133	Wolf, Winter	362	Any Evil	Needs bargain
134	Wolf, Choose Any	362	As creature chosen	As creature chosen