1d12 Demon Familiars
By making a pact or, like cats picking their owners, you might be chosen to bond with a demonic entity known as a familiar. They do not serve. Not really. They might be prompted to help in their own ways but they are intelligent creatures in their own rights and very selfish.
1d12 Demonic Familiars:
- Many Eyed Toad: Slothenly and Gluttonous. Doesn't really move it's horrible warty girth so much as just happen to appear near whenever it wants to be. Little Wants: Food. Big Wants: Human Flesh. Power: Can expand to ludicrous sizes. Spy on locations for you. Chomp someone.
- Brown Jenkin: Conniving and Treacherous. Skittering and searching always. Little Wants: Promises of foul deeds. Big Wants: Souls. Power: Deliver Messages. Translate all languages. Open dark passages through folding space.
- Flame Imp: Deceitful and Flattering. Very much a toady and a yes-man for wizards who like to stroke their own egos, but his words are empty and his advice is poison. Little Wants: Praise and Flattery. Big Wants: Positions of Power. Power: Commanding Flames, Discovering Secrets, Delivering messages and items.
- Rust Gremlin: Manic and Giggling. A barely restrained explosion of all things gone horribly wrong. Little Wants: Neat gadgets to destroy. Big Wants: Grand Acts of Destruction. Power: Sabotage. Cause Bad Luck. Setting Traps.
- Horn Imp: Lustful and Lecherous. The dirty old men of the demon world. Little Wants: Pornography. Big Wants: Orgies. Power: Charm Spells. Illusions. Glamors.
- Little Shoggoth: Searching and Watching. A dark mass of squirming tendrils and ever-watching eyes. Little Wants: Secrets told. Big Wants: Ancient tomes. Power: Mind Reading. Scrying. Freezing Gaze.
- Pale Snake Baby: Despair and Fear. Your deepest fears made manifest. Little Wants: Stories of fear and dread. Big Wants: Permission to make your fears come alive. Power: Create Fear, Bestow Nightmares, Sap Strength
- Plague Frog: Slime and Stagnation. Boiling over with warts and boils. Surrounded by a rancid odor. Little Wants: To eat bugs and filth. Big Wants: Spread disease. Power: Cause Wretching, Create Sickness, Swarm of Frogs.
- Cat of Cats: A strangely colored feline, larger than most of its kind, with a kind of grace and intent to its gaze that exceeds most cats. Though it is a creature of Hell, it still likes to sit in boxes and push things of edges. Little Wants: Mice, Milk, Boxes, Ear Scritches. Big Wants: Temples Built in its Honor. Religions built around it. Power: Going Unseen. Unnatural Grace. Escaping Death.
- Masked Monkey: Silent but Laughing. Speaking in hand gestures. It moves in ways that confuse the eye. Its limbs bend and twist with eerie freedom. Little Wants: To degrade and mock, confuse and tear down boundaries. Big Wants: Faces and Identities. Power: Disguise. Terrible Laughter. Bring Madness. Distort Self.
- Shadow Spinner: Conspiracy and Lies. A pale, almost transluscent spider, weaving glistening black webs. Little Wants: Magic and Power. Big Wants: Grand Conspiracies. Total Control. To Possess your Body. Power: Possession. Bend Fate. Bind. Puppet. Manipulate.
- Necrotic Raven: Dread and Doom. A raven who utters grim prophecies with cruel glee. Little Wants: Fresh Corpses. To set traps. Big Wants: Mass Death. Power: Cause Fear. Carry Messages. Scout ahead. Detect Trap. Speak Portents.
I like this format a whole lot! You could probably turn it into a table with columns and get some freaky familiars going
ReplyDeleteThat's a good idea! I might just do that!
DeleteI had to look up brown Jenkin. All in all a creepy and nasty list. I think it would add a rather sinister a macabre touch to a Dolmenwood game.
ReplyDelete...or Cthulhu-esque game.
DeleteYeah it could fit well for Cthulhu and I like the idea of introducing that creepy touch to a more folklore-y game. My feel for this is definitely grim and grotty
DeleteSome of the ‘lower magic’ fantasy that I read long ago was also more folklore-y, but had touches of such stuff as you described. I think this provides some good inspiration for tweaking a game’s tone.
DeleteVery nice.
ReplyDeleteThanks Dan!
DeleteExcellent work. These are ghoulish and disturbing, but in an surprisingly subtle way.
ReplyDeleteThank you!
Delete