The Bond
Tying the familiars to their mystics is a fundamental part of this game.
If we know wht mystics can do, and since the other half of the bond is the familiar, then we really should start determining what the familiars can do (and why the bond is important to them).
An idea I keep coming back to is the notion of the elemental realm, orbiting reality like an electron orbiting it's nucleus. I touched on this idea back in my post about places to see in the spirit realms (now going back almost 4 years). It was an idea at the time that different chracters could have different elemental realms as their homes, and this might impact on their abilities as a character... almost like the alignment relms in Planescape, but orbiting in a three dimensional space rather than a two-dimensional circular disc.
That post was written back when the SNAFU system was still gestating, and before it had solidified into the current incarnation found in "The Law", but a lot of the principles still hold up. In my current thinking, these realms will probably serve as the homes of the familiars.
The idea was that every location had an elemental affinity made up of 3 parts. If a location was specifically associated with one element, all three of those parts would have the same element, but most would have two components (2 of one element and 1 of the other) or three distinct and different components. If a location had two opposing elements in it's components, they'd basically cancel each other out, but there would be a residual tension between these elemental forces that still defined the location. The beauty of having three elemental components for each location is that there will always be a skew toward an elemental force...nothing will ever be in harmony.
If a familiar comes from a realm with at least one component belonging to a specific element, they may purchase a basic power from that element. If the home realm has two components belonging to a specific element, they may purchase an intermediate power from that element. If the home realm has all three components belonging to the same element, they may purchase an advanced power from that element.
Similarly, in the physical world, there will be a set of "common" skills that any mystic character (or anyone else for that matter) can choose from, but it might be interesting to offer a different range of "common" skills native to the various elemental realms that familiars call home.
The familiars are forces of nature, creatures capable of manipulating reality according to specific predestined techniques, they bond to mortals for the ability to think outside the box, the familiar provides the energy, the mortal mystic provides the creativity and understanding of the material plane. The type of magic they employ needs them both. Familiars will have a tendency to be attracted to mystics who share elemental affinities with them... this won't always be the case, sometimes a familiar simply won't be able to find a mystic who shares their nature.
I'm in two minds about whether to give familiars their own attributes and abilities, or whether to leave them only with their advantages and magical potential. I guess that's the next thing to resolve.
If we know wht mystics can do, and since the other half of the bond is the familiar, then we really should start determining what the familiars can do (and why the bond is important to them).
An idea I keep coming back to is the notion of the elemental realm, orbiting reality like an electron orbiting it's nucleus. I touched on this idea back in my post about places to see in the spirit realms (now going back almost 4 years). It was an idea at the time that different chracters could have different elemental realms as their homes, and this might impact on their abilities as a character... almost like the alignment relms in Planescape, but orbiting in a three dimensional space rather than a two-dimensional circular disc.
That post was written back when the SNAFU system was still gestating, and before it had solidified into the current incarnation found in "The Law", but a lot of the principles still hold up. In my current thinking, these realms will probably serve as the homes of the familiars.
The idea was that every location had an elemental affinity made up of 3 parts. If a location was specifically associated with one element, all three of those parts would have the same element, but most would have two components (2 of one element and 1 of the other) or three distinct and different components. If a location had two opposing elements in it's components, they'd basically cancel each other out, but there would be a residual tension between these elemental forces that still defined the location. The beauty of having three elemental components for each location is that there will always be a skew toward an elemental force...nothing will ever be in harmony.
If a familiar comes from a realm with at least one component belonging to a specific element, they may purchase a basic power from that element. If the home realm has two components belonging to a specific element, they may purchase an intermediate power from that element. If the home realm has all three components belonging to the same element, they may purchase an advanced power from that element.
Similarly, in the physical world, there will be a set of "common" skills that any mystic character (or anyone else for that matter) can choose from, but it might be interesting to offer a different range of "common" skills native to the various elemental realms that familiars call home.
The familiars are forces of nature, creatures capable of manipulating reality according to specific predestined techniques, they bond to mortals for the ability to think outside the box, the familiar provides the energy, the mortal mystic provides the creativity and understanding of the material plane. The type of magic they employ needs them both. Familiars will have a tendency to be attracted to mystics who share elemental affinities with them... this won't always be the case, sometimes a familiar simply won't be able to find a mystic who shares their nature.
I'm in two minds about whether to give familiars their own attributes and abilities, or whether to leave them only with their advantages and magical potential. I guess that's the next thing to resolve.
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