The Familiar or Pet Guide
by Lord Relkur Silvanthas

Everyone loves to have a familiar or pet to play with. Unfortunately only wizards have the ability to call them naturally, and rangers think they deserve the ability to do so as well. Unfortunatley, until the gods decide to make it available to everyone, we are just going to have to suffer.

But, occassionaly, wizards will imbed amulets that hold the familiar spell, and sell them on the amunet. I've seen amulets or other imbedables that have the spell in it go anywhere from 1000 silvers to 20,000 silvers for each pet imbeded into the object. Usually it is just one, and it's in a Maoral Amulet, they hold 30 mana, and a familiar spell is 20 mana, so it's hard to find anything better. If you get the chance sometime, get one, they are great fun, especially if you can afford them.

Below you will find all information regarding familiars. It is taken from the Wizard Spell Circle, but you don't need the entire thing, just the below infomation.

920 Call Familiar Duration: 1 min/lvl FAMILIAR

Once a wizard has obtained 20th level, he/she is usually expected to be seen with a familiar, though this often takes longer since learning this spell requires quite an investment in research. The Call Familiar spell will summon forth a small animal (such as a falcon, wolf, etc.) at random to be the familiar of the caster for the duration of the spell. The type of creature which appears is dependent on the local inhabitants of the area the caster is in.

A familiar can be commanded to perform a few simple tasks, and the wizard can see through the eyes of the familiar at any time. Although a familiar is not useful as a weapon, it can be used for information gathering and as a messenger. Different types of familiars have different types of abilities, strengths and weaknesses.

The premature death of a familiar can stun a wizard. However if the wizard should die, a familiar will attempt to seek help on its own, though this is not always effective. Sometimes a familiar will find a character and try to get him/her to come to your aid, sometimes the familiar will even find other folk who can help.


For details on how to command a familiar, see the information at the end of this article. Note that if you log off GemStone, either by QUIT or by disconnection, the familiar will still stay in the world and wait for a short time. Sometimes the hold on a familiar will be broken for some unfathomable reason. This type of break will not stun your character, however you will have to call a new familiar. This usually happens when random elemental forces interfere with the relationship.

Commanding a Familiar

A familiar can be controlled with some simple commands. Because the creature is not intelligent, it can only perform a limited number of actions. The communication path is mental, so contact is maintained even if your familiar is in another area. A familiar can speak with your voice (albeit poorly).

General format:


You will see what the familiar sees regardless of where it is.


The familiar will travel in a given direction if possible.


The familiar will travel through the door if possible.


The familiar will attempt to find a given character. This can take some time, and some creatures are suited to outdoor searches (like hawks). If they find the character, they will follow him/her and you will be notified. Otherwise they will continue to search forever until you either give them another command, tell them to return, or the spell wears off. Note that certain areas are inaccessible to some (or all) familiars.


Causes the familiar to try and return to your location. Because of the mental bond, this is usually easier for the familiar to do than to seek another character. The familiar will follow you until instructed otherwise.

TELL FAMILIAR TO SAY Bardon, come to the gates!

You channel your voice through the familiar. This is a difficult thing to accomplish and may incur a roundtime.


With this command your mind will be linked with that of your familiar, allowing you to see what the creature sees. If the familiar is in a different room/area than you are, anything that happens will appear on your screen as well. To help differentiate the messages, those events which are being seen by the familiar will be in ANSI underline mode IF you have the MonsterBold flag set and have a terminal program which can display ANSI (AOL MEMBERS DO NOT AT THIS TIME). Note that some terminal programs use bold for underline.

To break this link, simply tell the familiar to STOP WATCHING. Keep in mind that if the familiar is in the same room/area with you, then you will not receive both points of view (because they would be identical).

Note: For GEnie members additional support for the Familiar view is supported by Simutronics Graphics Front End software for GemStone III, via the alternate Familiar Window. This puts messages from your familiar in one window, while messages in your room or area are in another window.


Some creatures are capable of picking up an item (usually in their mouth) and carrying it for you. Most will avoid sharp objects that might hurt them if they tried to pick it up with their mouth, and telling an animal to pick up food usually doesn't last long. Simply tell the familiar to DROP the item when you want it back. You can use some familiars to courier objects to other players in this way. TELL FAMILIAR TO SLEEP

If a familiar is getting on your nerves, tell it to sleep and it will hush up and snooze a bit. Telling it to do anything else will wake the familiar back up.


If you tell your familiar to leave, the spell will be broken.

Other commands, such as SIT, STAND, FLY, LAND, etc. are also possible.

Comments or Questions? Write to Copyright ©1998 by Michael T Schreiber All Rights Reserved.