Suggest me unusual familiars

Discussion in 'Author Discussions' started by Gin_Hindew, May 30, 2021.

  1. Gin_Hindew

    Gin_Hindew Well-Known Member

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    I need a familiar for a plot im assembling, and i could easily slip in a dragon, but i feel its quite lazy and overdone
    I was planning on just using a drake or some other four-legged carnivore, and have the MC supply the powers required to do dragon-like stuff, such as flying and breath beams, but it never hurts to hear opinions
    The MC can provide utility powers and buffs, so, something that can provide brute force and endurance was my first idea, as it would be the base to build upon, but i want to hear any suggestions on which power can a familiar provide that can be enhanced, tweaked or have its weaknesses covered by the human
    The story is planned to be a battle shounen set on an isekai, so anything goes

    Any ideas?
     
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  2. vannn

    vannn Well-Known Member

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    If you’re set on reptiles, maybe pick something prehistoric?

    Sharovipteryx

    Still dragon like but would be fresh looking compared to the western dragons we usually think of.
     
  3. Juju48

    Juju48 Well-Known Member

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    Toad! Or Something funny... and ugly! Those are the best. More use later.
     
  4. Lyndiz

    Lyndiz Well-Known Member

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    Jormungandr, Hraesvelgr or Fenrir
     
  5. sekach

    sekach Outer Disciple

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    You can mix animals if you didn't want standard ones. For example mix between gorilla and lizard\dragon. It have gorilla like features, but dragon head and skin.
     
  6. simak

    simak Well-Known Member

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    How serious do you want to get?
    Paladin with a holy she gorilla. Could be a halfling who rides in a backpack.
    A stealthy scout or rogue on a kitty cat.
    A construct like a golem. One source of inspiration is Kamisama Dollz.I
    A few heroes have ridden on nightmares.
     
  7. TianKrea

    TianKrea 『Novice』

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    Hamster! Imagine a hamster with dragon bloodline. One second it is a cute fluffy thing and the next second it breathes hellfire on you! Best. Pet. Ever.
     
  8. Kretex_the_dragonic_Cat

    Kretex_the_dragonic_Cat Well-Known Member

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    fire breathing hummingbird
     
  9. Galooza

    Galooza The One True Walapalooza

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    Mythological-esque types like the kappa or yeti. Or go completely off the wall with a non-beast horror type monster.
     
  10. Blitz

    Blitz ⛈️ awakened from the reverie❄️

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    Go with a Kangaroo. Those guys can be Huge and contain titanic strength
     
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  11. Halcyon Observer

    Halcyon Observer Full stop

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    A tall, slender, cloaked figure that turns out to be three puppies stacked on top of one another.
     
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  12. HarukaNise

    HarukaNise Active Member

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    Speaking of unusual familiars I don't think I've seen someone summon a robot– something steampunk-ish. I've only seen snakes, golems, griffins the usual cliches.
    Have you tried salamanders yet? Frill lizards (is that what they call it?) can be cute too or if not then plain lizards can do too maybe even a comodo dragon that'd be cool
     
  13. Gin_Hindew

    Gin_Hindew Well-Known Member

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    In Rise Of The Mechanar, on royalroad the MC can summon drones RTS style, its a solid storywlthough the updates are very slow

    The suggestions are quite plain, except the one about the three puppies stacked together, as my MC has an ability specializing on buffing up crowds, so having several familiars may be the way to go
    I think i will go with a tiger, and use buffs to disguise it as a dragon
    An eagle is also fine
    Yeah, the idea was to have an MC with crowd buffing abilities, so several familiars it is
     
  14. Ddraig

    Ddraig Frostfire Dragon|Retired lurker|FFF|Loved by RNG

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    • Pair of ghost swords, as in something like Aegislash
    • A crow! Something like Badb Catha from SMT.
    • Rukh - Basically an oversized Eagle which is large enough to carry an elephant. Sounds like a perfect replacement for a dragon to me
    • Or just go for a good old lion ~

    In general series like SMT and Pokemon are a decent place to start searching for a cool familiar before diving deeper into mythology.
     
  15. Deleted member 348269

    Deleted member 348269 Guest

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    An earthworm

    Or a caecilian < - i always forget this third branch of amphibians.
     
  16. Darius Drake

    Darius Drake A poster of verbose posts

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    Only just saw this thread, and decided to suggest my answer it.

    How are you planning on treating the familiars? That is to say, are they going to be ever-present or storable? Ever-present familiars are summoned, but are treated akin to animals afterwards, needing to be fed, have biological needs, and a place to sleep. Storable familiars can be more diverse, as they can "survive on magical energy", don't have biological needs that you have to pay attention to, and can sleep inside of the place they're stored. Basically, it's the difference between whether a summoner summons once and can afterwards be separated from their summon by a door being too small for it, of if the summoner creates a contract and permanently has contact with said summon afterwards.

    If the summon is ever-present, then having a singular summon that's something that's either big and scary, or weird and tricky is the way to go. Big and scary, which is basically any large mammal or lizard when treated right, allows the MC to have a powerful ally that they can empower and be a terror on the battlefield with, and has a straight forward approach to threats, while allowing the MC themselves to be separated and have climatic battle scenes due to things like the familiar sleeping outside the inn while the MC is inside. Weird and tricky are a singular small creature that the MC can have on themselves that can be used in interesting ways. Seaway's idea of an earthworm, or caecilian can also be applied to snakes, and any of the three can give the MC a familiar that could be used like how Earthworm Jim uses his earthworm head, only more versatile due to magic. That is to say, the familiar can easily be a whip and, when appropriately buffed (and even debuffed for some uses, like makeshift crowbar), become an all-round utility tool.

    If the summon is storable, then I would suggest going with a legion-type summon, to support the fact that you have said that the MC specialises is buffing groups. Legion types are generally creatures that live in packs, swarms, or other groups, so you can have a pack of wolves, a swarm of ants, a hive of bees, a flock of birds, a school of fish, or a chimeric combination that you came up with. Most of these are individually weak (wolves being the most individually powerful, but having the smallest group in comparison), but use numbers to make up their strength.

    The final option, which works with both types, is a Familiar that creates it's own, temporary, type of familiars. This can be versatile, from a Planarian familiar (a type of flatworm that can replicate itself when split in half or more pieces) with the ability to infinitely replicate itself by cutting parts of itself off, to a familiar that creates golems from the earth or nearby plant life. The most interesting I can think of is something like mixing a Planarian with a Jellyfish and Magical Abilities, creating a Familiar that's a Jellyfish in appearance with a set number of tentacles (that's number may grow as the story progresses), that can cut off those tentacles to create temporary versions of itself that produce and pilot armed golems from whatever's nearby. That is to say, a familiar that produces soldiers, but can easily be limited by the environment being set up to prevent it from doing things.
     
  17. Xian Piete

    Xian Piete Author of many mediocre stories

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    A dragon can kill you, a black mamba can kill you and a Canadian Goose can kill you, only with the Candian Goose will it come after 8 generations of your family and your neighbors before attacking an unrelated child three blocks away.
     
  18. S4TY4

    S4TY4 Well-Known Member

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    Chickens -> try messing w/ one either on Zelda or Skyrim *evil-grin*
     
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  19. Partyrocks

    Partyrocks Active Member

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    Definitely a BEHEMOTH, it'll be one epic familiar for sure!
     
  20. Gin_Hindew

    Gin_Hindew Well-Known Member

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    Excellent answer, i had already decided to go with a little of all
    The main familiar will be a storable tree with huge vitality, its main ability will be to produce big sticks to use as a weapon, and wooden domes as barriers, the MC can produce golems, so he can coat the stick with weapon heads like maces, lances or swords
    Im also throwing in a tiger and eagle as everpresent familiars, but im thinking on making them more of occasional allies