Familiars, what are they good for?

[swang 0]

Other than a couple of adventures, what do the familiars do? Sure, you can train them, and they give 50% back to you, but each action you use to train your familiar, you're not training yourself. Add the cost of training the bond skills, and it's definitely a net loser.

 

Sure, to get to skill 10 from skill 9 takes a while, so it's easier to train your familiar that way. Other than that, what other use is a familiar? You might as well wait until the last 2 months, and figure out which skills you're going to max out on, and train your familiar then.

[Zwackus 0]

Other than a couple of adventures, what do the familiars do? Sure, you can train them, and they give 50% back to you, but each action you use to train your familiar, you're not training yourself. Add the cost of training the bond skills, and it's definitely a net loser.

 

Sure, to get to skill 10 from skill 9 takes a while, so it's easier to train your familiar that way. Other than that, what other use is a familiar? You might as well wait until the last 2 months, and figure out which skills you're going to max out on, and train your familiar then.

 

Yeah, the cost/beneift ratio of the familiars needs to be looked at a bit, I think. So, you can train them in skills up to their bond level. Raising their bond level requires raising each of the 3 bonds by one point, so that's at least 3 actions right there. Then there's the actual skill training itself. And, there are no fancy bonus locations for familiars, like there are with people - when you train your familiar, it's slowly, one step at a time.

 

A possible fix here would involve the fact that familiars seem to go off on their own and do their own thing during class and study time. So, maybe when you're in class, the familiar has a chance of auto-boosting skill points. Not necessarily in the class you're studying, but maybe from a set of skills that your breed might partake in. These skills won't surpass the bond level, I suppose, but it'd be something.

 

Further, I'm really unclear on the relationship between character skill level and familiar skill level. If your character has 0 in a skill (Say, Navigation), but you train you familiar up in that skill, what does it mean? How should that even be possible? On the other hand, if I have a 10 skill in Navigation, and my familiar has 0, does my familiar get some bleed-over effect from my character's skill level? How exactly does that work?

[Legate of Mineta 0]

Jeff;

 

You can certainly play the game without any need to Train your Familiar at all. Familiars are a source of companionship (through their Adventures), some have some interesting Abilities that can be unlocked, and all are useful to give you bonuses to important Skills.

 

The cost-to-benefit ratio here is purely one of character and playstyle, I believe. It might be interesting to have the Familiar auto-boost Skills during the Day- we'll have to consider that carefully.

 

But in short: your Familiar is worth what it's worth to you and your story.

[shin 0]

I think if you do get 1/2 from the familiar in a skill regardless, it's a way of getting up to 15+ in a related skill, which is rather useful in some cases.

[nightguard 0]

While I certainly understand that the decision to train a familiar or not is one of personal preference more than anything else, it should be possible to give a bit of a carrot to people who do choose to train their familiars, yes? Perhaps having some new events that have at least one option being one that tests on your familiar's skills instead of your character's skills?

[Rhialto 15]

I hope that thread necromancy is not frowned upon, but apparently, College Morvidus has a mandatory Familiar Handling Course in Y2. Will failure to train one's familiar at all during Y1 make this course difficult to pass/excel in?

[Metis 1,064]

I don't think so. Learning how to do something and actively doing it are two separate things...at least that's my logic.

[Schwarzbart 1,029]

With the exception of the rock familiar If you don't care for you familiar in year 1 it will leave you at year 2.

But you can get a new familiar in year 2 even if you lost the one you got in year 1 either by buying a new one or finding one with a ability like exchange familiar from Zoology 11.

[thezooqueen 4]

Something to consider is lowering the max skill level families can reach. I think having a cute ferret with a level 10 Gates and a level 10 Mastery is kinda scary. For any skill really. IMHO 5 would be more reasonable 

[Schwarzbart 1,029]

You have to invest a lot to get a familiar this far so why should it limited more?

I personal find it great that you have the option to go strong into teach your familiar instead of focus on your student training.