Your character has a magical bond with a spirit that aids him, one that is either in Twilight (it’s immaterial and invisible) or that’s embodied. Twilight familiars have no bodies; they are spirits in an ephemeral state of existence called Twilight. Embodied familiars inhabit a physical body in the material world. Only shamans who possess Visionary Trances (••••) and apostles of the Dark One who have Communion (••••) may possess Twilight familiars, and only hedge witches who know Enchantment (••••) may possess embodied familiars. A Twilight familiar is bought for three dots; it is a spirit originating in the Shadow Realm, and is also known as a “fetch.” Twilight familiars can temporarily manifest as ghosts can (see “Manifestations,” p. 210 of the World of Darkness Rulebook), but the ephemeral bodies of Twilight familiars are otherwise invisible and intangible to the physical world. A Twilight familiar must manifest or use Numina to affect anything in the physical world, except for the Twilight familiar’s bound thaumaturge, whom it can touch at will. (The Twilight familiar’s thaumaturge can also see and speak with the familiar even when he is not using a ritual that allows him to see Twilight.) Twilight familiars exist in this world, not in the Shadow Realm, although they can accompany their masters into the Shadow Realm or travel there themselves if Numina allow it.

An embodied familiar is bought for four dots. It takes the form of an earthly creature. Many of the legendary stories of sorcerers with cunning animal companions — cats, rats, bats — are actually references to embodied familiars.

Familiar Traits

Whether immaterial or embodied, a familiar is considered to be the lowest rank of spirit (a “squire” or “Lesser Gaffl ing”) with a limit of 5 on all Traits and a maximum Essence of 10.The Storyteller designs the spirit’s Traits. Each familiar begins play with at least one dot in each Attribute, with extra dots as listed below. For rules concerning spirits Traits, including additional Spirit Numen, see pp. 210–212 of the World of Darkness Rulebook, as well as pp. 317–322 of Mage: The Awakening and pp. 273–282 of Werewolf: The Forsaken.

Twilight Familiar Traits

Attributes: 3/3/2 (allocate dots in any order among Power, Finesse and Resistance)
Willpower: Equal to Power + Resistance
Essence: 10 (10 max)
Initiative: Equal to Finesse + Resistance
Defense: Equal to the highest of Power or Finesse
Speed: Equal to Power + Finesse + “species factor” (same as its earthly counterpart)
Size: 5 or less (same as its earthly counterpart)
Corpus: Equal to Resistance + Size
Influence: 2 dots (choose one)
Numina: Choose one
Ban: The fetch has one Ban, chosen by the Storyteller (see pp. 320–321 of Mage: The Awakening and pp. 278–279 of Werewolf: The Forsaken). When a fetch tries to manifest, use the following modifiers for the effort:

Location	Modifier
Wilderness	+3
Place associated with the spirit’s Influence	+2
Minor magical nexus	+1
Major magical nexus	+2
Handmade structure (wooden bridge, shed)+1 Parking lot	-1
Modern commercial building (grocery store, mall)	-1
Modern industrial building	–2
Modern laboratory	-3

Embodied Familiar Traits

Attributes: 5/4/3
Skills: 9/6/3
Willpower: Equal to Resolve + Composure
Essence: 10 (10 max)
Initiative: Equal to Dexterity + Composure
Defense: Equal to highest of Dexterity or Wits
Speed: Strength + Dexterity + “species factor” (based on its animal type)
Size: 5 or less (based on its animal type)
Health: Equal to Stamina + Size
Influence: 2 dots (choose one)
Numina: Innocuous (see below), and choose one more
Ban: The fetch has one Ban chosen by the Storyteller.

Embodied familiars live in the material world in a physical body, although it might be a somewhat unusual body like a snow-white raven or a cat with violet eyes.

All embodied familiars have the Innocuous Numen (pp. 321–322 of Mage: The Awakening); they are very good at not being noticed by others. Anyone but the familiar’s bonded thaumaturge suffers a –2 penalty on Perception rolls to notice the animal, unless it does something to draw attention to itself.

A spirit-familiar’s bound thaumaturge is considered to be its anchor to the material world, although there is no limit to how far a familiar can travel from its mystic. It does not lose Essence for every hour it spends in the physical world or Twilight. The familiar must follow all the other rules concerning Essence, however, including spending one point per day. If the familiar is reduced to zero Essence, it falls into Slumber, but it is not transferred back into the Shadow Realm as long as the thaumaturge-familiar bond persists. Similar to other spirits, the being can gain Essence by being in proximity to something that the familiar refl ects (see pp. 319–320 of Mage: The Awakening and pp. 275–276 of Werewolf: The Forsaken).

Master and familiar have an empathic connection; each can feel the emotions of the other automatically. (Supernatural effects that damage or manipulate a familiar through an emotional attack don’t damage or manipulate the master.) All familiars have a sensory magical connection to their bound thaumaturges, meaning that a mystic can use the familiar’s senses as a magical connection without any penalty to ritual rolls. This effect makes familiars superlative spies.

Improvement: To improve a familiar, you must spend some of your character’s experience points on the being.