Familiar Adept (Wizard Archetype)
We’ve talked before about the bond between wizard and focus/familiar, but we’ve never touched on how the familiar bond tradition links modern wizardry to the old ways of witchcraft. Today’s entry does a nice attempt though.
Familiar adepts attempt to blend the focus of the familiar in witchcraft with the focus of individual arcane schools in wizardry, creating a unique combination that few expect.
This is a great archetype for emphasizing the importance of the familiar, and might represent a dual-disciplined character without multiclassing, or perhaps a pioneering innovater in arcane magic.
The devotion to this new, (or old, as the case may be in your world) style of wizardry does somewhat limit their understanding of traditional trappings of wizardry, not learning the basics of scroll scribing, having to take an additional opposition school, even if a professed universalist, and so on.
The results are quite impressive, as their familiar automatically becomes what is known as a school familiar, gaining unique magical powers that we will cover at a much later date, including the ability to channel the wizard’s school powers, and gaining special abilities tied to the school they are linked to.
Though they have no patron, these wizards also use the minds of their familiars as a living spellbook, the beast being less a conduit and more of a data storage device.
Though their own archetype allows them to funnel their master’s school powers through themselves, their special connection also allows them to use the least of those powers by themselves once a day.
Interested in having a familiar that is not only linked to your choice of arcane school, but also shares a much deeper connection with their wizard, acting as a spell repository? This archetype may be for you. Pick your arcane school based on what magic you want you and your familiar to specialize in, and be sure to also provide magical protection for them due to their increased importance.
Founder of wizardry in ancient times, fledgling witch who turned to book magic early on, or school-focused mage desiring a powerful familiar that matches their interest, all and more are possible reasons for taking this archetype, but there can be no denying the bond they share with their familiar, transcending the power granted to true friendship in many cases.
In the wizardly courts of the nation of Gendleflam, it is considered high fashion to have a powerful familiar, either through learning the secrets of bonding with outsiders and other creatures, bonding imaginary figments given life, particularly brutish specimens enhanced by their bond and so on, or in many cases, bonding with a familiar tied directly with their arcane school. There are even pageants every year that seek to judge these creatures based on breeding, physical fitness, and arcane capability.
Traveling far and wide with her shocker lizard: Mr. Brewster, the gnomish wizard Genatty is always on the lookout for new and exciting evocation spells, discovering new ways to evoke magical power into energy. Mr. Brewster even gets in on the fun, absorbing stray blasts of electricity to fire them off himself.
The Forgotten Valley of Xhaol is home to an immense tortoise that grazes on the very trees that have overgrown the buildings and temples. What few realize, however, is that this creature was once the familiar of Auchon, the serpentfolk abjurer, and the nature of their bond has lingered in the colossal terrapin, warding it from attack.