Notes on Familiars

Among the various tomes and scrolls within the countless documents stored in the Hall of Concordance, one segment is devoted to the work of one Ms. Carla Bunkle, the world’s leading expert on familiars and how to summon them. Her segment, ‘Carla’s Compendium of Conjurable Companions’, is maintained regularly within the Wizipedia and updated alongside new revisions of the physical tomes she makes broadly available for public consumption.

Dear readers … please bear in mind, as always, whatever shape your familiar takes it is still a thinking, feeling entity. Before it became your companion, it was a spirit that lived its own life in other world. Remember that whatever form your familiar ultimately takes, whether you conjured it into being or forged a pact with the creature, remember they are just as much a part of you as you are them. Treat a familiar well, and it will be an unquestionably loyal servant for the rest of your life. Treat it poorly … well, you’ll end up like the unfortunate Brevelius, whose imp familiar betrayed him and transformed his home into a haunted maze of nightmares.

Carla Bunkle, the Carousing Conjurer

Standard Fare

These familiars are the most commonly found servants and companions among mages. Treat them right, and they'll take care of you in kind.

Bat

Cat

Crab

Frog (Toad)

Hawk

Lizard

Octopus

Owl

Poisonous Snake

Fish (Quipper)

Rat

Raven

Sea Horse

Space Guppy

Space Mollymawk

Spider

Weasel

Use at Your Own Risk!

These more ... unusual familiars are not found nearly as frequently as most familiars. They come with rather unique traits compared to most familiars, but in turn, tend to lose out on some of the more well-rounded features more standard familiars typically provide. Some are also notoriously difficult to control, as the contract of their service imprinted on them at the onset of your bonding may be interpreted more as a suggestion than rule of law.
I strongly recommend avoiding these familiars if you do not consider yourself an experienced mage, or at the very least a quick-witted silvertongue able to explaining why the shrieking demon on your shoulder isn't a sign of ill portent, but you are your own person and capable of making your own decisions. Conjure at your risk.

Abyssal Chicken

Alimiraj

Anvilwrought Raptor

Chwinga (cannot use Magical Gift)

Chwinga Astronaut (cannot use Magical Gift)

Crawling Claw

Flying Monkey

Gazer

Tressym

Warlocks Only, Fools

There are some familiars that refuse to serve anyone without the proper credentials first. As the defacto masters of conjuration in its many forms, warlocks reserve access to some of the most impressive familiars in the bestiary, but with such powers comes risk - these are also among the most ornery, willfull, and potent familiars who will not hesitate to turn on their master or voluntarily terminate their own service. While the exact nature of how these familiars come into a warlock's service always varies, it is most often a result of a pact agreement and may even be a patron's personal gift to the recipient, with all the complex subtexts probably implied by that.

Imp

Pseudodragon

Quasit

Sprite