Primalist ability suggestion: Wild familiar

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Bean
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Primalist ability suggestion: Wild familiar

Post by Bean »

Hi!

Here's yet another ability suggestion, this time for our favorite of all tree vampires, the primalist.

It would be neat if primalists could, once an animal has been pacified, turn it into a temporary familiar. This familiar would be then be loyal to the primalist and their group for a set amount of time, perhaps depending on the caster's druidry skill.

This seems like a neat little support ability for the more scholarly bend of druid, without it leaning too much into the combat side of things. Here are some possible uses for the new furry friend.

Familiar guard: Causes your familiar to intercept attacks coming your way. Familiar may have a chance to run away if it is too wounded. Could also periodically attack on its own.

Projection: Act through your familiar. While projecting, the primalist's body is defenseless and striking it will break the spell. You can move around, attack, forage, and emote as your familiar. You can not talk, of course.

Deliver: Assuming a character is online and in the wilderness, send your familiar off to deliver an item to them. Item should be no larger than medium.

Forage: Send your familiar out to look for food. They may come back with berries or fish, but usually less than what you may have gotten yourself. Can't blame an animal for being hungry and eating a little. Handy in a pinch when your character is too tired to hunt, or if you're just lazy.

Of course, to keep things from getting crazy, what animals could be turned into familiars could be from a pre approved list of common animals. Either way, that's all I have. Let me know what you think, and if any more ideas spring to mind. :)
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Rias
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Re: Primalist ability suggestion: Wild familiar

Post by Rias »

I love the idea of Primalists having an animal familiar type thing like this. The biggest thing to figure out will be keeping the expectations managed, I think. I don't particularly love the idea of permanent combat pets, for instance, which I think a lot of people might end up wanting or expecting. It could be a really a neat tree of abilities though! Start out with some really basic stuff and work up to unlocking more familiar options and functions with additional abilities.
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Lexx416
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Re: Primalist ability suggestion: Wild familiar

Post by Lexx416 »

Rias wrote: Mon Jun 27, 2022 9:51 am I love the idea of Primalists having an animal familiar type thing like this. The biggest thing to figure out will be keeping the expectations managed, I think. I don't particularly love the idea of permanent combat pets, for instance, which I think a lot of people might end up wanting or expecting. It could be a really a neat tree of abilities though! Start out with some really basic stuff and work up to unlocking more familiar options and functions with additional abilities.
I think this could make for a neat tree of abilities for sure, and I think instead of being just a straight up "FIGHT ENEMIES!" pet like a bear, you could keep the familiars fairly small, and allow for them to offer utility (help with searching, tracking, maybe even morale/sanity boosts from companionship), as well as some mild forms of CC/Debuffs/Buffs in combat (I like to envision a world in which Primalists get little quicktime opportunities, similar to the Marauder/Rogue things we've seen, where they can use a short command to direct their pet to assist in an attack (boost the roll of someone else), distract an enemy (negative rerolls on an enemy), or cause status effects.
Last edited by Lexx416 on Mon Jun 27, 2022 10:10 am, edited 2 times in total.
"You hear the Woses, the Wild Men of the Woods... Remnants of an older time they be, living few and secretly, wild and wary as beasts."
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Rias
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Re: Primalist ability suggestion: Wild familiar

Post by Rias »

Yeah, I think that's how I'd want to go for the most part. Bigger and scarier animals could be part of a "magically coerce local critters to your brief aid in an oh-crap-moment" type of ability.
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Lexx416
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Re: Primalist ability suggestion: Wild familiar

Post by Lexx416 »

Originally an edit, but: I also think it would be neat if there were some more "spirit-y" options too - things like the Will-o-Wisp that Tulpa posted as an idea, or a little primal earth or wind thing, etc. (with more associated sanity options, for drawing on something too disconnected from humanity).
"You hear the Woses, the Wild Men of the Woods... Remnants of an older time they be, living few and secretly, wild and wary as beasts."
jerc
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Re: Primalist ability suggestion: Wild familiar

Post by jerc »

My initial reaction as a Warlock main was "Hey, that's our thing!", but I think if any other class is deserving of a familiar, it's the Primalists.

Some overlap is probably unavoidable, since "how many ways can a pet/familiar assist you really?", but I would hope that they both have distinct enough flavors to feel like "their own thing" rather than simply "naturey familiars" and "nethery familiars."

Being able to puppet my familiar is something I've always wanted. It would be cool if different types of familiars had different sizes/skills/places they could get to.

Sea turtle familiar? Lots of extra TT on land, but can swim and dive for you!

Mouse familiar? No help at all in a fight, but can slip through cracks that are too small for you to crawl through!

Birb familiar? No need to climb - just fly up the mountain!
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Rias
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Re: Primalist ability suggestion: Wild familiar

Post by Rias »

Primal-entity-spirit-things could be a lot of fun too, agreed!
jerc wrote: Mon Jun 27, 2022 11:26 am My initial reaction as a Warlock main was "Hey, that's our thing!", but I think if any other class is deserving of a familiar, it's the Primalists.
I'd definitely want to keep them distinct. Warlock familiars already have a whole suite of abilities lined up that are very much unique to sorcery.
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