Familiars/Companions

[Kosus]

Just an idea I had for Wiz/Sorc familiars and companion creatures for rangers and possibly druids eventually.
It uses the existing hireling system for the most part, with a few tweaks here and there.

When Wizard/Sorcerer level 1 is attained it grants a bonus feat, Familiar. The feat allows them to purchase from a new hireling vendor that sells only these types of creatures. They could have no timer and the caster could only carry a maximum of one at a time. The idea being, the vendor would check their level in the classes that are able to purchase them and only allow those appropriate to that level. There could be a timer to prevent switching them often, as well as materials and/or monetary costs to do so. Likewise for rangers (though not granted till 4th level and consisting of a list shared with druids taking into account the lower level for this) starting with simple snake/dog/ect and scaling from there. Eventually, druids would see the full potential of this second list, possibly with companions such as Dire Tigers or Bears. They would be no more powerful than the other hirelings of this level (finger of death, heal spells, ect) but would retain a very distinct flavor of DnD. They would also not be usuable in a full group of course, but I think would offer very interesting alternatives to the standard humanoids. The by level abilities or HD/armor ect could be built into the hirelings themselves to avoid extensive adding of a PnP type system dependant on class level to determine their stats.

Anyway, just a thought. Keep up the great work making the game better.

[Razic-Thule]

I admit i would like to see Familiars and Animal Companions added. I hoping when Druids are added they do get Animal companions. But i think they both should be treated different then Hirelings are treated now. I believe some balance issues would need to be worked out. With a better AI set up then Hirelings i think people would really enjoy both Familiars and Animal companions. I could just be crazy tho. I just can't help but remember my fond memories of playing my Druid with her Wolf companion by her side.

[Letrii]

Pale Master looks to be getting a persistent minion, maybe we will get animal companions soon.

[JPDefault]

The d20 system tries to make it so that familiars are not overpowered via rules that are difficult to implement in a MMOG... well not so difficult to implement, but almost impossible to be accepted by the playerbase.

A sorcerer can obtain a familiar. Doing so takes 24 hours and uses up magical materials that cost 100 gp. A familiar is a magical beast that resembles a small animal and is unusually tough and intelligent. The creature serves as a companion and servant.

The sorcerer chooses the kind of familiar he gets. As the sorcerer advances in level, his familiar also increases in power.

If the familiar dies or is dismissed by the sorcerer, the sorcerer must attempt a DC 15 Fortitude saving throw. Failure means he loses 200 experience points per sorcerer level; success reduces the loss to one-half that amount. However, a sorcerer’s experience point total can never go below 0 as the result of a familiar’s demise or dismissal. A slain or dismissed familiar cannot be replaced for a year and day. A slain familiar can be raised from the dead just as a character can be, and it does not lose a level or a Constitution point when this happy event occurs.

A character with more than one class that grants a familiar may have only one familiar at a time.
(...and much more...)

I always played a wizard in PnP D&D, and I'd also like to see familiars coming to DDO, but sticking to 3.5e rules as much as possible. I don't want to play Pokémon Online...