When familiars die

[Rith]

That would rock.

[Serineth Swiftpaw]

I think that would be to disadvantagous to the players of NWN if it were to be implemented like that. With Baldur's Gate you had full control over all characters and summons. Now you have limited control at best, and need to possess your familiar to get any useful control other than "Follow" and "Stand still"...

[apandapion]

It might be worth a poll asking if anyone would actually summon familiars if they lost XP when they died. After a while the things are just silly-hard to keep alive. You'd be able to tell someone spotted danger by all of the familiars disappearing.

[The Nomad]

On another server I used to play on you lost 300xp if your familiar died because of the close bond that exists between the player character and the familiar.

On a low xp server that hurts, but it does act as a counterbalance to having the abilities of a familiar available to the player.

[DanishPastry]

Perhaps a minor 5-10 xp / level loss? I think it would contribute to making them more than just expendable meat shields. Of course, many players RP their close relationship with their familiars really great, so it ain't like I see a trend or something.

[TarkaPop]

I too would favour an xp loss per level, I would say maybe 10-20 xp per level. To me, the closer they can obey the same rules as another member of 'the team' the better. Since the familiar cannot lose xp, the mage should.

But on the other hand, as I brought up in the player suggestion thread, it seems to me it would be good if they had a death script the same as a player (i.e. bleed to death from -1 to -9 but can be healed) . This way, the number of times a familiar actually dies could be greatly reduced and they would have the same chance as a PC. Apparently there may be some problem with the familiar dying if it is possessed at the time...but maybe something can still be done.

Also it has to be taken into consideration in all this that the familiar does act dumber than the the average player e.g. kamikazee raids into a horde of monsters. So some slack to penalties given to a mage need to be taken into consideration. (When Glendir's faerie dragon gets surrounded by a bunch of dwarven mercenaries and is being pummeled to death, I often think in reality all she would really have to do is fly in the vertical direction to get out of trouble!)

[beezel_bug]

In my old PnP campaign the death of a familiar would be so traumatic that the mage would have to make a save or die!

Fort save or go bleeding anyone?

is that enough of a penalty?

[Serineth Swiftpaw]

I think if something like this gets passed then you can assume that you wont see any familiars anywhere anymore, heh

[szabot]

There is already magic damage done to the mage when the familiar dies. Perhaps that could be increased to something like 1d4/level?

I don't use my familiar in combat anyway; he's a liability.

[loki70]

There is already magic damage done to the mage when the familiar dies. Perhaps that could be increased to something like 1d4/level?

I don't use my familiar in combat anyway; he's a liability.

Only one problem with this. IIRC, mages only get 1d4/level. Though it would make CvC against straight mages just downright funny.

"What are you doing?"
"Beating the crap out of this fairie dragon"
"Why?"
"To kill that mage over there!"

Perhaps something a little less severe, like shutting off the summon familiar ability for a few IG days, or the xp loss.

*imagines taking out epic mages by using quivering palm on a panther*

[szabot]

Heh, oh yeah. I kind of forgot that, because my character gets d6 for pale master levels (plus deathless vigor, has toughness feat, and a good CON). Still, I like something along those lines better than XP loss. It will still make the mage think twice about using the familiar as a meat shield, but won't hurt the mage too much if the familiar dies due to lag, stupidity, etc.

[Midknight]

I would say make it a d2/level loss, half of the mage's d4 HD. If that proves slightly severe, make it d3-1/level or even d2-1/level (and roll a seperate dice for each level). That way, losing the familiar can be crippling but not deadly... alternately, perhaps d2 temporary CON damage?

[Isengrim]

I think that PERMANENT loss of hp is a very bad idea. The familiars will disappear from Avlis - or everyone will use panthers and hell hounds, which are the ones only able to survive. My bat sucks in combat, has some 35 hp on (my) level 12 and I use it for fun - in combat he only serves as a distraction. I try to unsummon it when he is about to die. I will stop using it in fights ever, as I still cannot unsummon it on time often. I will not risk loosing hps, (even though it's metagaming) because with my bat I would soon end up with 1 hp permanently.
Temporary CON damage sounds better, as well as xp loss. The best idea, already implemented by some players on their own, is that you have to wait several IG days to summon the familiar again.

My 2 cents.

[Shuteyes]

*eagerly erases a note from the boards*

[Shuteyes]

Do familliars in NWN give you any bonuses, i have not noticed it, besides the "share spell" wich does not work with all spells i thought the familliar itself could "help you cast spells" making them harder to resist or even grant you bonus spells. since i dont have a manua..
do they gives bonnuses besides a loyal servant wich dies in 1 hit?

[Sojan]

If you want to be able to share EVERY single spell you cast on yourself with your familiar, make sur to talk to him first...then, just do nothing and cast your stuff...that is the only way I found to have my spells shared evey single time.

I noticed that...since I have a panther and it is a rogue...guess others have other abilities, when I am in detect mode, I get my familiar's bonus....I can find hidden doors I wouldn't be able without...I nearly got stuck somewhere once since my familiar died on the other side of a secret door that had to be found to come back...couldn't find it alone...had to stay there and RPed it as looking for the way out...that I was sure it was somewhere there until I fell asleep...(rest...got my familiar back and found it again).

I think that XP loss AND temporary 2d4 CON damage would be great for when your familiar dies....of course some would say it is easy to say when you have a panther...but hey...I say that a familiar should be cared for as much as oneself life....so it would be of your decision to have your familiar to Stand ground instead of following you through all the dungeon levels...(IG having it stand ground while going farther down will have your familiar appear next to you each time you zone...but it will stay there...so you can RP it as if he was still at the entrance of the whole thing).

The save or die thing would be too harsh I think...but a good way to express how a familiar is linked to your own soul....like some believe that if you are dreaming and see yourself die in your dream you can get in a coma or even die. anyways I posted my comment about this in another thread...that I can't remember so...I guess that will seem that I want to make a point...well...I do

[WrathOG777]

Familars are not intended to be meat shields.