Companion / Familiar Rules

[Zyraen]

COMPANION

- You gain a companion. This replaces your SM1 ability and requires 3 UP as per SM1.
- Your companion is considered an ally of you and your allies. It can be affected by powers in the same way as any other creature can be.
- You can communicate telepathically with your companion as long as it is within 20 squares of you. Its intelligence may limit how well it takes your commands. If it leaves 20 squares of you or loses line of effect, based on what the GM agreed for the companion, it may either vanish or be controlled by GM as per its last instructions.

- Your companion’s max hit points is half your max hit points. Its defenses are same as yours, attacks and damage are as if you attacked. Temporary bonuses to attack, damage, defenses etc that apply to you do not apply to your companion, and vice versa. It is an extension of yourself and is in the same role you are in.
- Your companion cannot access your abilities (eg Common Attacks, SM Heals, CM Marks, Signature abilities) unless otherwise stated. It typically uses melee basic attack, thus its own weapon/implement profile, and has its own movement type and speed.
- As a general guideline, companions may have no more than speed 8 on land, swim speed 6 or fly speed 6 (altitude limit 1). A companion cannot fly in combat while being ridden/held on to by any character, and flies slowly when being ridden/held on by any character, but this constraint may be waived by the GM (and re-imposed if he finds it bothersome)
- It has your skills but may be limited in terms of how it interacts, its languages or perceives things. Eg A cat may have your high Thievery but has no opposable hands to handle lockpicks. An owl may have your high Arcana or Research but is unable to read. A fox may have your high Persuasion but cannot talk. Generally speaking, a companion that is an animal is limited in terms of Thievery, and all Intelligence and Charisma based skills. The GM may pre-agree to give an animal companion 5 skill points in one Str Con Dex Wis skill you have less than 5 skill points. Intelligent companions that share your skills completely do not get this.

- Your companion shares your number of reserves. Whenever an effect requires your companion to spend a reserve, the reserve is deducted from your total. At the end of a rest, your companion regains all its hit points.
- If your companion drops to 0 hit points, it disappears as the energies that sustains it dissipates. You have two ways of calling your companion back:
* Swift Action: While in Healer role, you take a swift action and lose a reserve. Doing so causes your animal companion to appear in the nearest unoccupied space, with hit points equal to your reserve value plus twice Pri Trait. If you do not have the Healer role, you can still do so but it does not regain twice Pri Trait extra HP, and you are considered to have no role (ie neither Slayer nor Tank) during the turn in which you recall your animal companion.
* Rest: You expend a reserve during or immediately after the rest. Doing so causes your companion to appear in the nearest unoccupied space, with full hit points.

- As a creature under your control, your companion relies on you for strict guidance while you are within 20 squares of it. You take actions so that it can act, and its initiative is the same as yours during an encounter.
- Standard Action: Your companion uses your standard action to take a standard action
- Move Actions: Whenever you take a move action, your companion can also take a move action. A standard action downgraded to a move action is considered such a move action. You can downgrade your move action to a swift for yourself, while letting your companion take a move action.
- Swift Action: Your companion uses your swift action to take a swift action
- Free Actions: Your companion can take free actions on its own, subject to the usual GM imposed free action cap.
- Triggered Actions: If one of your companion’s triggered actions is triggered, the companion uses your action to trigger it.
Eg. if an enemy adjacent to your companion provokes an OA from it, it uses your OA to do so. Thus if the same enemy draws an OA from you in the same turn, you do not have an OA action left.

- Based on what the GM agreed for the companion, if you are unconscious or otherwise unable to act (eg tied up in a chair), your companion may either vanish or act independently
- When a companion acts independently, it either takes a standard, move or swift action on its turn. It can also take opportunity actions and free actions, but it cannot use interrupts.

Edit (23 Oct 2020) : added movement speed recommendations in bold.
Edit (09 Jan 2021) : added role requirement when losing a reserve to recall a mount

[Zyraen]

FAMILIAR

Familiar is unlocked via a Feat.

Your familiar is a spirit that is your ally. It doesn’t need to eat or breathe. 

Your familiar grants you +2 in any two skills, typically implemented as 4 skill points that must be spent in two separate skills. Your familiar has the same skills as you do, and a skill check made by your familiar counts as if you made the skill check. Thus it never grants you rerolls nor assists, etc, these are factored into the skill bonuses it grants.

You can communicate telepathically with your familiar, and it understands the languages you know, plus one native language of its own. Unless the GM allows it on a case by case basis, it cannot speak or communicate with other creatures. If it can, it does so only when commanded by you or to express some inane opinion, and always has a -5 to all checks made to communicate with other creatures. Your familiar cannot pick up or manipulate objects, items or otherwise interact with the environment.

When inactive, your familiar shares your space, and is treated as if it is removed from play. You may speak to it or interact with it, or vice versa, if you wish. You may use a swift action to turn an inactive familiar active, whereupon it appears in a space adjacent to you.

When active, your familiar is a tiny creature with your defenses and 1 HP. A missed attack never damages your familiar. When reduced to 0 HP, it vanishes and only returns after your next rest. If you die, your familiar vanishes.

It cannot flank, make attacks, nor take any grapple, total defense, etc actions. It acts on your initiative, during which you may use your move action to grant it a move action, using its own movement modes, which are decided by the GM. As a general guideline, familiars may have no more than speed 8 on land, swim speed 6 or fly speed 6 (altitude limit 1).

A familiar may move up to 20 squares from you. If it leaves 20 squares of you or loses line of effect to you, it vanishes and reappears in your space in an inactive state. The GM may on a case-by-case basis waive this for a scene, possibly for expenditure of WP (typically for the purposes of scouting or keeping watch on an area), but this is at GM discretion.