The Winds of Magic blow across the Warhammer World, occasionally forming pools and eddies of
potent magic that cause strange events to occur and even magical beings to come into existence:
imps, sprites, faeries, pookas and similar mythical beings thought of by ordinary folk only
with a shudder. To powerful Wizards, however, they may be useful aides in their quest for
knowledge, and such creatures that come to serve a Wizard are known as Familiars.
Familiars may take all manner of bizarre forms, some taking on more recognizeable forms of
imps, faeries and the like, or they may even look like small animals. Some look positively
unnatural, such as an open book with legs, a talking skull, a winged lantern, or any number of things.
Wizards acquire these creatures in various ways, perhaps by encountering and befriending
them on their travels through the wilderness or exploring ancient catacombs. Others actually
create their own familiars through strange alchemical processes or summon them from other
planes of existence. Chaos Sorcerers may be granted a familiar in the likeness of their dark gods, whereas Skaven sorcerers often have familiars that look like nothing so much as oversized rats.
GAINING FAMILIARS
A Wizard may obtain a Familiar in one of three ways. First, he may encounter one during the
course of adventuring, and choose to keep it as his Familiar. Second, he may conjure or
actually create one. Third, he may encounter one between adventures, when he has earned sufficient Fate Points to attract one.
Second, he may conjure or actually create one between adventures by spending 500 GCs in material components. This may only be done if the Wizard has earned at least one Fate Point through
adventuring.
Third, if a Wizard does not have a Familiar already, when he earns two Fate Points through
adventuring, he may encounter a potential Familiar, which he may elect to take on as an
assistant. If he does not wish to do so, he will not encounter another Familiar in this
manner until he has earned another two Fate Points through adventuring, and so forth.
SPECIAL RULES
A Familiar is treated as a Henchman under the command of the Wizard. A Wizard benefits from
a Familiar's powers only so long as the Familiar remains in base contact with the Wizard.
During the Wizard player's turn, if the Wizard starts in base contact with the Familiar, and
the Wizard moves, the player may immediately move the Familiar to stay in base contact, before
resolving any other actions the Wizard might make this turn.
Unless specified otherwise, Familiars may not wear armor or use shields. They may only use
weapons that would normally be usable one-handed (such as daggers and swords). Despite their
small size, they can actually carry as much as a normal Henchman or Hero can (up to 250 GCs).
A Wizard may have no more than one Familiar at a time. Familiars do not require upkeep
expenses. Familiars form a special bond with their Wizards, and the death of a Familiar
(unless it is somehow resurrected) means that the Wizard permanently loses 1 Fate Point.
Familiars do not start with Fate Points, but a Wizard may expend Fate Points on behalf of his
Familiar.
CREATING A FAMILIAR
A Wizard that has earned at least one Fate Point through adventuring may choose to either
create or conjure a Familiar through magical means. Doing so costs 500 GCs in material
components. The Wizard is free to choose the type of Familiar. If it is a Spell Familiar,
the exact spell known is still randomly determined. (Such are the capricious ways of magic.)
ATTRACTING A FAMILIAR
Alternatively, a Wizard may encounter a Familiar in the same way as a special Henchman.
When the Wizard earns two Fate Points through adventuring, he has the opportunity to acquire
a Familiar as an assistant. The type of the Familiar should be randomly determined, and
if it is a Spell Familiar, its College should be determined as well, on the charts at the bottom of this article.
FAMILIAR TYPES
Despite the great variation in appearance of Familiars, they come in one of three types:
Warrior, Spell or Power Familiars.
WARRIOR FAMILIAR
A Warrior Familiar might resemble a tiny armored man, or something far more bizarre, such as a
disembodied claw or an enormous mouth on legs, but in any case is typically menacing in
appearance if not in stature. They are surprisingly tough and dangerous despite their small size,
due to the magical energies that power them.
Warrior Familiars fight to defend their masters.
If an enemy model attacks the Wizard in hand-to-hand combat while the Warrior Familiar is in base contact with the Wizard, the Familiar may leap to interpose himself in the way, swapping
places with the Wizard. The attack is delivered against the Familiar instead. If the attacker
fumbles, the Familiar will be the one to deliver any counter-attacks.
SPELL FAMILIAR
A Spell Familiar is the most intelligent variety, actually capable of learning the ways of
magic; select a Color College that the Spell Familiar is aligned with (which may not be the
same one as the Wizard), and randomly pick one spell from that spell book, which the Spell
Familiar actually understands, though it is incapable of working powerful magic on its own.
Rather, it is capable of working through the Wizard.
So long as the Wizard is in base contact with the Familiar, it can cast any spell that the
Spell Familiar knows (so long as appropriate spell components are available). The Familiar can
be trained to learn new spells in the same way as a Wizard, but at double the normal
training expense, and it is limited in how many spells it may learn -- no more than one spell
for every two spells its Wizard knows how to cast.
POWER FAMILIAR
Power Familiars are creatures that serve as natural collectors of the energy of the Winds of
Magic, and Wizards can exploit this fact to power their own spells. Once per expedition, if
the Familiar is in base contact with the Wizard, the Wizard may cast one of his spells without
having to expend a spell component, by drawing upon the Familiar's energy. (If the spell
normally requires two components, then the Familiar only supplies enough energy to replace one
of those components, of the Wizard's choice.)
As the Wizard becomes more powerful, so does the Familiar. Each time the Wizard earns 2 Fate
Points through adventuring, once the Familiar has entered his service, the Familiar becomes
more powerful, able to store an additional "charge" of magical energy per expedition, up to a
maximum of four. Each of these "chargess" may be expended in lieu of a spell
component, as described above.
SPECIAL FEATURES
Choose one of the following special features for the Familiar, dependent upon its form:
Winged: The Familiar is a Flying Creature.
Mite: The Familiar can wear miniature armor, which costs the same as normal armor.
Portable: The Familiar is small enough to be stuffed in a pocket or hat. While "put away", it confers no benefits to the Wizard, but is kept out of harm's way.
Weapons: The Familiar has Fangs and Claws.
The Winds of Magic blow across the Warhammer World, occasionally forming pools and eddies of
potent magic that cause strange events to occur and even magical beings to come into existence:
imps, sprites, faeries, pookas and similar mythical beings thought of by ordinary folk only
with a shudder. To powerful Wizards, however, they may be useful aides in their quest for
knowledge, and such creatures that come to serve a Wizard are known as Familiars.
WARRIOR FAMILIAR
SPELL FAMILIAR
POWER FAMILIAR
