#class: wizard

Some wizards believe that familiars should only be summoned when needed, and dismissed when not needed; to do otherwise would be pointless sentimentality. The Academe Arcanum, for example, requires its students to summon their familiars for certain ceremonial occasions or else when needed for study, but otherwise expects that they will be kept out of sight and mind. Students are not outright forbidden to have familiars present when not needed, but the culture of the school stresses a scholarly, unemotional, and completely controlled approach to magic so much that by the time they have taken the familiar exam, few students would risk being seen doing something so frivolous.

On the other hand, some cultures take the opposing view and believe that if one has a familiar it should be present whenever possible. Drow culture as a whole is not particularly concerned about whether or not one has an emotional attachment to one’s familiar, but because familiars are such an important status symbol for wizards, it would be considered both taboo and rather senseless for a wizard who had one to not have it summoned while around others. To not have a familiar present would not only mean failing to display a badge of one’s loyalty and social ties, it would be giving up on the opportunity for a casual show of power; after all, having a familiar with you reminds everyone who sees you that you are accomplished in the magical arts. The only time a drow wizard would be expected to dismiss their familiar would be when they were entirely alone, and even then they often choose not to do so, preferring not to give up the advantages of having a familiar present. Drow familiars are typically adorned with their own specially-made outfits or insignia, both as a way to further show off the accolades and prestige of their wizard and also because drow culture is, after all, nothing if not all about the aesthetic.

The Academe Arcanum, commonly held to be one of the single most famous and prestigious magical colleges in the world, requires all its students to be able to summon a familiar as an important exam halfway through their studies. The school has strict requirements for its students for this as in everything, including that the summoned familiar be one of the fifteen animals (bat, cat, crab, toad, hawk, lizard, octopus, owl, snake, fish, rat, raven, seahorse, spider, and weasel) known in the college as the Noble Forms, a list that stretches through the college’s lengthy history all the way back to—supposedly--the original founding members of the school and the familiars they chose. Because of the wide-reaching influence of the Academe Arcanum, these fifteen animals have become the most commonly associated with familiars, and laypeople who are only familiar with the Academe Arcanum’s magical methods may mistakenly believe that these are the only possible forms for a familiar to take.

In truth, however, while there are some limitations to the form a familiar can take—mostly in regards to size—there are many more than fifteen potential options. Most magical traditions that practice the keeping of a familiar have their own traditional list of animals for familiars to take the form of, though not all are nearly as strict about it as the Academe Arcanum. Geography plays a large part in this: a crucial part of casting Find Familiar is being able to clearly picture the desired form in one’s mind, so traditional familiar lists will be heavily influenced by the animals most common to the area the tradition originated in. Among the Wavesinger wizards of the southern seas, most familiars take the shape of fish or coastal birds. Halfling wizards typically have familiars in the shape of domestic animals such as cats, chickens, ducks, or small dogs. Wizards trained in the tradition of the Wheelstar, which originated among the nomadic peoples of the Noctland desert, choose from forms including scorpions, bats, desert foxes and several kinds of lizards and snakes.

Wavesinger wizards—who, in common with the culture their order arose from, place a great deal of importance in luck and superstition--believe that one’s familiar should be in the form determined by the star sign the wizard was born under, and that to change a familiar out of this form is not only terribly bad luck, but will put the wizard out of sync with the natural rhythm and cause their magic to be less effective. Wizards of the Wheelstar have a similar outlook: to change a familiar from the form that was divined for them is akin to going against the path of fate, something anathema to the entire belief system of the order. The only exception to this is if the wizard’s fate itself is changed, something that is only believed to happen to a person under very rare circumstances, such as dying and being resurrected.

Among other orders the obstacle to changing a familiar’s form is less a matter of fate and luck and more a question of societal taboos. For orders in which a familiar’s form is indicative of something about the wizard, it is only considered acceptable for the wizard to change their familiar if their status has likewise changed. A drow wizard, for example, would change their familiar if they became part of a new house, or ascended from a junior page in the clergy to a full priest, but to change it without an accompanying change in social position would be extremely taboo. (Which is not to say no drow wizard has ever done so for reasons of subterfuge or general sneakery, but they would be risking serious consequences if caught.) Among dwarves, changing a familiar’s form from the one decided upon by the wizard’s mentor or elders is considered to be flaunting the wisdom and guidance of those elders, an act of disrespect that is a serious transgression in dwarven society.

Other cultures are rather more flexible on the matter. For orc wizards, the form of a familiar has great symbolic significance, but not one that reflects anything about the wizard themselves. Rather, the form is a way of invoking the qualities of one of the great orc heroes, and asking for their favor and guidance. An orc wizard will therefore change the form of their familiar if they feel they will need the assistance of a different hero for the coming situation. For example, a wizard who is preparing to travel through an unknown and treacherous forest might change their familiar into the shape of a dog to invoke the steadfastness and keen senses of Kyanygach the Tracker, while one about to enter a contest of chance might choose a cat form in the hopes that Njatchka the Trickster will favor them with her luck and wit.

For some it is simply a matter of practicality. Halfling wizards, ever practically-minded, will change their familiar’s form whenever it is useful to do so. Many halfling wizards use their art in service of their community, with the result that they must respond to a variety of situations, and thus often find it a very useful aid to be able to change the shape of their familiar. Such a wizard might, for example, have their familiar take the shape of a soft cuddly cat to soothe a sick child while treating them, then return to their study and re-summon their familiar in the shape of a mole to help examine the foundations of a building for damage after a storm. Other wizards are often shocked at how frequently and casually halfling wizards re-form their familiars, but halfling wizardry, like most halfling arts, is a patient and practical business which thinks little of spending three or four hours a day casting and re-casting the same spell if necessary. Things take as long as they take, after all, and if it’s a worthy job then it’s the worth the time and no sense rushing to the end.

Among wizards trained at the Academe Arcanum, the form of one’s familiar is a mark of where their particular specialty in magic lies. The first familiar summoning marks the middle-point where a wizard has finished their general studies and is about to begin focusing entirely on the school they have chosen, and their familiar thus becomes a symbol of their commitment to that field. These associations arose from the founding members of the college, with each familiar being linked to the school that their respective wizard was known for.

For all but one school there are two available options; the student chooses the form based upon where their particular talents lie and what they hope to accomplish with their magic. For example, the options for wizards specializing in the school of divination are a bat or an owl. Owl familiars are chosen by those who specialize in divination spells that contact gods and spirits, detect magical energies or foresee the future. Bat familiars are chosen by wizards who wish to focus on divination that interacts with the immediate, physical world, allowing them to locate objects, see through traps or illusions, or commune with the natural world. Necromancy alone has only one potential familiar: the raven. The raven is chosen by those who wish to take the only path of study for necromancy that the college supports, which focuses on communicating with and serving the dead through spells like Speak With Dead, Gentle Repose or Astral Projection. Legend has it that there was another founding member of the college who specialized in all the most forbidden aspects of necromancy, casting curses and raising undead. They were driven out of the college, however, with their teachings abandoned, and whatever form their familiar took has been stricken from history.

Other orders focus less on status and academics and more on the individual wizard when it comes to determining the right familiar. The Wavesingers choose their familiars based upon the star sign they were born under. Wizards of the Wheelstar, whose practices emphasize the importance of being guided by fate, perform a ritual involving the casting of carved bones to determine which familiar they are meant to have. Dwarf wizards (who are more common than most non-dwarves realize) customarily have their familiar chosen for them by their mentor, or sometimes by a presiding council of elders. Different traditional familiars each have certain qualities associated with them, and the mentor or elders will choose based on which qualities they feel the younger wizard has shown during their training.

Contrary to what is often believed, this typing has no effect on the morality of the familiar, although it may have a slight effect on temperament. Celestial familiars tend to be more calm, respectful in tone, sometimes rather reserved but polite, and usually very alert and vigilant, especially when ‘on duty’. Fey familiars are usually easygoing and humorous in nature, and are often very playful and inquisitive, sometimes to the point of being pranksters, and may get easily distracted by playing with something or investigating their environment. Fiend familiars are often a bit more sarcastic or acerbic, sometimes talking back to their wizards or being rude to other people; at the least they are usually rather cynical and dry-witted. They often appear to be rather lazy, finding warm spots to nap in whenever they’re not being asked to do something, although they are more aware than they seem. These are all generalizations, though, and do not make the familiar more prone to being good, evil or anything else; nor does it change the familiar’s absolute loyalty to their wizard.