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Talking Familiars

Posted: Thu May 16, 2024 10:06 pm
by Waldo52

I forgot if we got an official ruling as to which familiars are and aren't allowed to talk.

I can see the argument around "any of them can talk", because they're using the voice of the summoner, but I'm not sure how it works.


Re: Talking Familiars

Posted: Fri May 17, 2024 12:59 am
by Tempedius

I'm not sure about any existing policy as is. But I know in pen and paper Ravens specifically get to have 1 spoken language.


Re: Talking Familiars

Posted: Fri May 17, 2024 11:00 am
by DM Monkey

People misunderstand what a familiar is and how NWN displays it vs how it is in PnP: https://www.d20srd.org/srd/classes/sorc ... #familiars

Have a read there! Familiars generally shouldn't be talking unless the type of creature is capable of speech. That's the general rule of thumb, sometimes creatures can be capable of repetition (parrots), limited speech (ravens) or full fluent communication (pixies/imps).


Re: Talking Familiars

Posted: Fri May 17, 2024 1:17 pm
by Security_Blanket

Speak with Animals of Its Kind (Ex)
If the master is 7th level or higher, a familiar can communicate with animals of approximately the same kind as itself (including dire varieties): bats with bats, rats with rodents, cats with felines, hawks and owls and ravens with birds, lizards and snakes with reptiles, toads with amphibians, weasels with similar creatures (weasels, minks, polecats, ermines, skunks, wolverines, and badgers). Such communication is limited by the intelligence of the conversing creatures.

Familiars can't speak common but can talk to other animals of its kind. Since there are no other animal languages do Familiars speak Animal then?


Re: Talking Familiars

Posted: Fri May 17, 2024 8:41 pm
by Spriggan Bride
DM Monkey wrote: Fri May 17, 2024 11:00 am

People misunderstand what a familiar is and how NWN displays it vs how it is in PnP: https://www.d20srd.org/srd/classes/sorc ... #familiars

Have a read there! Familiars generally shouldn't be talking unless the type of creature is capable of speech. That's the general rule of thumb, sometimes creatures can be capable of repetition (parrots), limited speech (ravens) or full fluent communication (pixies/imps).

It might be useful to just have a list in the wiki because there are a lot of creatures who may or may not be able to talk (or may be somewhere in between). Like mephits, pseudo dragons, fairy dragons, eyeballs, quasits, meenlocks, manes, wisps, probably more I'm missing all seem like they have enough intelligence to speak though some would be cruder than others.


Re: Talking Familiars

Posted: Fri May 17, 2024 9:39 pm
by chris a gogo

RP it anyway you want to it's a pretend game with fairies and goblins if it's fun and entertaining to others your doing it right.


Re: Talking Familiars

Posted: Sat May 18, 2024 2:36 am
by DM Monkey

Seems like you’ve worked it out!


Re: Talking Familiars

Posted: Sun May 19, 2024 2:51 pm
by Kuma
chris a gogo wrote: Fri May 17, 2024 9:39 pm

RP it anyway you want to it's a pretend game with fairies and goblins if it's fun and entertaining to others your doing it right.

honestly this is where i stand with it


Re: Talking Familiars

Posted: Sun May 19, 2024 4:15 pm
by Waldo52
Kuma wrote: Sun May 19, 2024 2:51 pm
chris a gogo wrote: Fri May 17, 2024 9:39 pm

RP it anyway you want to it's a pretend game with fairies and goblins if it's fun and entertaining to others your doing it right.

honestly this is where i stand with it

You know what? I'm going with this 😆