First time post, and first time player to Ars Magica and I ran into a question that my Story Guide isn't quite sure of either. Can created magic animals become familiars? Are they more likely to find you acceptable to bond with? Is there any way to stack the odds in your favor?
, so creating your's in the lab is a little ... weird. That said, lots of magi are weird.
Even really weird.
Think of a case of
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A troupe can rule, that any animal Creo-ed with a D: Mom ritual does have ArM5 p.104 "Inherent magic" even without Magic Might, and is hence eligible to become a familiar. But beyond that, tmk there aren't any bennies to be had from forging the bond with your own creation.
A Merinita with HoH:MC p.92ff Animae Magic, planning to initiate HoH:MC p.93 Becoming, might create Animae and for D: Until bind them with HoH:TL p.90 box Faerie Chains of the Familiar Slave, thus getting appropriate company until becoming a faerie herself.
Cheers
Opifex Superbus e Verditio: "When my apprentice complained about feeling lonely, I ordered him back to my lab to make some friends. Does one really need to explain that to today's youngsters?"
In the RAW the animal Conjured permanently is no different from any other, and as said, it shouldn’t be Rego’d to be controlled.
Balance that with neat story seeds and roleplay aspects which could add a flavour unique to your game.
If I were the SG if allow it, and perhaps some of the casters sigil and personality might be reflected in the Animal. Hopefully the Magus can appreciate that the animal is holding up a mirror to the Magus; does the Magus like what he sees?
That's basically what I was thinking. It wouldn't be guaranteed to be compatible, but that there was no real barrier to a Creo'd animal being a familiar.
Well, even if it doesn't work out as a familiar, I can make magical animal companions! Good to know.
It could also be strongly argued that animals created by a hermetic ritual should have some inherent tolerance for magic, given that the Wizard's Mount allows a horse that is unaffected by the Gift.
Its worth noting that you could create a few animals depending on their size too. If a base 15 spell creates one animal up to size +1 (The Wizards Mount (CrAn35)), that can be extended by the Target: Group (+2) to up to an equivalent mass of 10x size +1 creatures. And 10x +1 creatures equates to a few hundred size -3 creatures. have a look in Houses of Hermes: Mystery Cults p.39 for a good table of animal sizes. It adds levels in the ritual, but gains a lot of beasts.
I do not quite understand you here. Of course you can magically create an animal to accompany you, and have a meaningful relation with it.
ArM5 p.51 Animal Companion, p.56 Magical Animal Companion and RoP:M p.49 Magic (Being) Companion are Minor Story Flaws: the player character has a very close relationship with an unusually intelligent being, which is meant to generate adventures.
The trick for these Flaws is, that the being is intelligent (though a Magical Animal Companion might also just be very cunning). But there is no guideline for Hermetic magic to create an intelligent being: example illusion spells like ArM5 p.144 The Shadow of Human Life and MoH p.124f Image of the Lady simulate intelligence roughly like the ELIZA-program.
Cheers