Age of Treason familiars

[Darsu Dhberac]

Having last night finished our first Age Of Treason mini-campaign, I have volunteered to write and GM our next one!

I'm designing a fairly powerful sorceror as a major, recurring npc, and his/her familiar is likely to also play a prominent role. I am toying with the idea of said npc being a gifted conjuror capable of summoning and coercing otherworld entities to help or hinder the adventurers. As such, it seems in keeping that he/she possesses an imp (for example) as a familiar.

Age Of Treason says:

A daemon that has crossed into the mundane world can be
trapped there by giving it SIZ, which permanently incorporates
the entity and prevents it ever returning to its own dimension.

So, my conjurer summons an imp, dominates it long enough to perform the Enchantment ritual. The conjurer sacrifices 1 or more points of SIZ. I don't think it is explicit from the text - but correct me if I'm wrong - the sacrifice needs to be sufficient to invest enough characteristic points to match the SIZ characteristic of the summoned entity.

For example, if the imp is rolled with a SIZ of 5, the sorcerer needs to be able to transfer 5 points of SIZ. The table on page 65 suggests that a sorcerer with 55% Grimoire skill can sacrifice 1 point of SIZ to yield 1d6 characteristics points. If he rolls a 5 or 6, he's laughing. If he rolls lower, does he need to sacrifice another point of SIZ or does the enchantment simply fail?

Right, having successfully summoned an imp and trapped it here with an enchantment, is he now able to create a familiar with it? The imp already has INT and CHA, so would the sorcerer be able to enchant it with the virtues require to make it a familiar?

Apologies for the rambling post!

TL;DR - make me an imp familiar!

 

[Simulacrum]

Having last night finished our first Age Of Treason mini-campaign, I have volunteered to write and GM our next one!

Good for you! Depending on when you are likely to kick off, there's a lot in the Companion that could be of help.

I'm designing a fairly powerful sorceror as a major, recurring npc, and his/her familiar is likely to also play a prominent role. I am toying with the idea of said npc being a gifted conjuror capable of summoning and coercing otherworld entities to help or hinder the adventurers. As such, it seems in keeping that he/she possesses an imp (for example) as a familiar.

Any particular region or area? I ask just because I can maybe throw out some suggestions based on the locale.

So, my conjurer summons an imp, dominates it long enough to perform the Enchantment ritual. The conjurer sacrifices 1 or more points of SIZ. I don't think it is explicit from the text - but correct me if I'm wrong - the sacrifice needs to be sufficient to invest enough characteristic points to match the SIZ characteristic of the summoned entity.

Any gift of SIZ traps it on the material plane. On summoning, Its SIZ has been granted by a significant Magic Point contribution in the Summoning Ritual. To make that permanent and not able to be dispelled, you can approach in two ways:

1) The 'temporary SIZ' it has been given through the summoning is 'locked' by any grant of SIZ. consider it a change of state that takes place irrespective of the amount granted, just as when you give INT to a Fixed INT creature and render it sapient.

2) Should you want to, you could take a different view - that if the IMP does not recieve enough SIZ to match it's 'natural' form, it becomes a strange, part-physical entity. It can touch and feel, but is somewhat ethereal. Personally I don't like this outcome, although I can see there is some interesting 'colour' you can get out of this state of affairs.

However to make this fit with the AoT Enchanting system of an Intensity cost to invest a thing with 'Virtues', you require a 'Virtue' to effect this part of the enchantment. The obvious place to look is 'Permanence' - ie make the summoning spell permanent - however that's a POW Virtue and you cannot gift the daemon with POW because it already has it. It would work if you summoned an inanimate object from the Many Hells, however.

So instead you need an Enchantment Virtue that is derived from the SIZ Characteristic. Since there are none listed, here are your options:

A 'Golem Virtue', which is Golem SIZ -being a Intensity 2 Trait. This is pretty exotic (and not in the book), because SIZ does not form the basis of a skill/ability, which is a key purpose of the 'Golem' Virtues, but only of Attributes, and most things you enchant have a substance already. This Virtue will only gift the summoned Creature with a SIZ equal to that generated by the Enchanting Ritual. So if it's not enough (you roll 4), either you have the semi-etherial entity described above, a miniature example of the entity (too comical perhaps), or it simply fails to work. GM fiat.

OR better, the following new Virtue:

SIZ VIRTUES
Substance (Intensity 3 Trait): This Virtue is used when locking an otherworld creature into a material form. The target creature must be physically manifested during the enchanting process, and the Sorcerer must invest at least 1 point of Characteristic SIZ in the enchantment. The creature becomes unable to dissolve its form and return to another plane of existence. This enchantment can be used to 'fix' entities such as Nymphs, Daemons and Elementals as material beings.

Right, having successfully summoned an imp and trapped it here with an enchantment, is he now able to create a familiar with it? The imp already has INT and CHA, so would the sorcerer be able to enchant it with the virtues require to make it a familiar?

No you can't, for that reason. Enchanting needs to give an entity or item a characteristic it doesn't possess - tho Fixed INT and Variable INT are treated as different Characteristics for this purpose. You can make it a slave, with the promise to break the enchantment at some point in the future. The Imp won't thank you, and they are nasty little buggers.

If you want something that looks like a demon but is a familar then build a construct, or, like the wizard Imalgrum who hangs out across the Shol River from Felsang, get a flesh elemental, shape it with Form/Set Flesh, give it permanent Substance, and give it INT and CHA. Imalgrum does like to attach/merge flesh elementals with his own body too. One of the reasons he lives away from polite society...

 

[Darsu Dhberac]

Good for you! Depending on when you are likely to kick off, there's a lot in the Companion that could be of help.

Believe me, it's as good as purchased. My group have taken to your setting in a way that I haven't seen in twenty five years of RPG experience.

Any particular region or area? I ask just because I can maybe throw out some suggestions based on the locale.

The campaign is likely to be based in a single city, as the pitch is a small group of thieves and ne'er-do-wells working for a powerful npc who is anything but a benevolent and avuncular figure! Given that the Companion is fleshing out Sorandib, that is a potential destination.

I have asked the players to start new characters and to focus on non-combat skills as much as possible (and have promised to scale encounters accordingly). So while I'm happy to have players using Tarsenian Dirks and appropriate combat styles for the occasional moonlight rooftop knife fight, I'm not anticipating much in the way of huge melee encounters while out in the wilderness. They should never be too far away from a source of healing, safety or the opportunity for roleplayed, potentially Treasonous, adventure!

The npc in question is probably going to be an Assabian - I quite liked the idea of the Sultan using spell slaves to sniff out incidents of daemon activity in Perlak. I see this guy/girl as being only one step ahead of the authorities determined to put a stop to their nefarious activities!

Any gift of SIZ traps it on the material plane. On summoning, Its SIZ has been granted by a significant Magic Point contribution in the Summoning Ritual. To make that permanent and not able to be dispelled, you can approach in two ways:

1) The 'temporary SIZ' it has been given through the summoning is 'locked' by any grant of SIZ. consider it a change of state that takes place irrespective of the amount granted, just as when you give INT to a Fixed INT creature and render it sapient.

2) Should you want to, you could take a different view - that if the IMP does not recieve enough SIZ to match it's 'natural' form, it becomes a strange, part-physical entity. It can touch and feel, but is somewhat ethereal. Personally I don't like this outcome, although I can see there is some interesting 'colour' you can get out of this state of affairs.

However to make this fit with the AoT Enchanting system of an Intensity cost to invest a thing with 'Virtues', you require a 'Virtue' to effect this part of the enchantment. The obvious place to look is 'Permanence' - ie make the summoning spell permanent - however that's a POW Virtue and you cannot gift the daemon with POW because it already has it. It would work if you summoned an inanimate object from the Many Hells, however.

So instead you need an Enchantment Virtue that is derived from the SIZ Characteristic. Since there are none listed, here are your options:

A 'Golem Virtue', which is Golem SIZ -being a Intensity 2 Trait. This is pretty exotic (and not in the book), because SIZ does not form the basis of a skill/ability, which is a key purpose of the 'Golem' Virtues, but only of Attributes, and most things you enchant have a substance already. This Virtue will only gift the summoned Creature with a SIZ equal to that generated by the Enchanting Ritual. So if it's not enough (you roll 4), either you have the semi-etherial entity described above, a miniature example of the entity (too comical perhaps), or it simply fails to work. GM fiat.

OR better, the following new Virtue:

SIZ VIRTUES
Substance (Intensity 3 Trait): This Virtue is used when locking an otherworld creature into a material form. The target creature must be physically manifested during the enchanting process, and the Sorcerer must invest at least 1 point of Characteristic SIZ in the enchantment. The creature becomes unable to dissolve its form and return to another plane of existence. This enchantment can be used to 'fix' entities such as Nymphs, Daemons and Elementals as material beings.

This is a fantastic explanation - many thanks. And I'm nabbing the SIZ virtue.

Enchanting needs to give an entity or item a characteristic it doesn't possess - tho Fixed INT and Variable INT are treated as different Characteristics for this purpose. You can make it a slave, with the promise to break the enchantment at some point in the future. The Imp won't thank you, and they are nasty little buggers.

Much as I suspected. But I quite like the idea that the imp is an enslaved, and likely recalcitrant servant, rather than a loyal familiar. My npc is going to need to be on his toes to avoid getting his soul pinched.

If you want something that looks like a demon but is a familar then build a construct, or, like the wizard Imalgrum who hangs out across the Shol River from Felsang, get a flesh elemental, shape it with Form/Set Flesh, give it permanent Substance, and give it INT and CHA. Imalgrum does like to attach/merge flesh elementals with his own body too. One of the reasons he lives away from polite society...

Must have missed Flesh Elementals on my many read throughs - that opens up all kinds of new possibilities, many of them unpleasant, warped and potentially disgusting. Excellent!

Many thanks for a really comprehensive answer!

 

[Simulacrum]

Must have missed Flesh Elementals on my many read throughs - that opens up all kinds of new possibilities, many of them unpleasant, warped and potentially disgusting. Excellent!

To get Elemental stats you need a copy of the old MRQ2 rulebook, as they aren't in the Monster's of Legend book or the Core book. The Companion will have those Elemental stats in (as OGC) and the Blemmye, or Flesh Elemental, will be added as an AoT novelty.

Many thanks for a really comprehensive answer!

You are welcome!