Opinion - What is a better familiar: Kelpie vs Owl of Virtue

I would like to read your opinios about the pros and cons of Kelpie VS Owl of Virtue as familiar.

I feel that the Kelpie is more comlicated , but end as a much stronger familiar.

A Kelpie is a magical thing rather than a magical animal, so you'd need some appropriate virtue to be able to bind one as a familiar.

Assuming you can bind them, which one will suit a particular magus best depends a lot on that magus. Strongest Arts, personality traits, etc.

Well, a Virtue isn't necessarily needed for a Magic kelpie, the rules are simply vague; we only really know about the homunculus. If you're talking about a Faerie kelpie, Faerie Magic is sufficient.

I would base in on the Arts and character style/tendencies. And if you decide on a Kelpie, kill the owl to take its skull to enrich and use as part of your Talisman. :wink:

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We do know that

It is not
possible for most magi to have anything but
an animal as their familiar, but there are mys-
teries for binding a spirit familiar, and there
may be variations on these Virtues for bond-
ing with a magic thing instead (see Spirit Fa-
miliar, The Mysteries Revised Edition, page 66).
RoP:M p33

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Callen is right that a faerie familiar can get around that. I always felt the real advantage of faerie familiars are that you're not restricted to just aminals. You're more likely to get a smart familiar. With thumbs.

Of course, every actual familiar-in-play I've seen has an int of +2 to +4... so... Player power.

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Notice the "most" in the quote. And this is followed up later with:

Some hedge wizards know the secret of converting a mandrake root into a kind of homunculus, which they use as Hermetic magi use familiars. This knowledge is obscure, but not totally unknown within the Order. It may require a story to find the correct magical process, or, if the storyguide prefers, she can allow a magus to simply bond the mandrake root as if it were an animal. (RoP:M p.130)

This is why I said "isn't necessarily needed" and "the rules are simply vague." The rules do not specify the need for such a Virtue. Having secret special information moves you out of the "most" category, and so the statement on p.130 still fits that p.33 quote even though it requires no Virtue. We don't know if the magi on the Path of Walking Backward have bound homunculi or other plants, and we don't know if they use a Virtue, either, but we do know some of them have bound plant Familiars, too.

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How'd the kelpie get from Australia to Mythic Europe?

A kelpie would arguably be a dog of virtue. :slight_smile:

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