Tormenting Familiar Flaw

The book Mythic Locations has a mage with the "tormenting familiar flaw", but I cannot find any description of the flaw. Can anyone tell me where it is defined?

1 Like

You find in Mythic Locations p.114 box:

Mengalaz is the familiar of Bartholomew and although he once loved his master, Mengalaz treats the doddering old fool that Bartholomew has become with contempt. He knows that when Bartholomew dies he will also begin to fade and die. Mengalaz’s plan to survive this event is to become the familiar of whomever replaces Bartholomew as the master of the Merinita covenant.

That is all. Beyond that there is tmk no rule.

2 Likes

I did see that, but thought there would be more to the formal description of the flaw (how it arises, affects on the bond etc), rather than just a description of the attitude of the familar in question. I guess I will interpret the flaw as best I can myself. Thank you for the response.

1 Like

I believe it's basically having the Magical Animal Companion Story Flaw rather than just having the Familiar. It should probably be changed to this for clarity, with the paragraph explaining how this Story Flaw shows up.

1 Like

"Tormenting Familiar" is an utterly obvious allusion to "Tormenting Master", especially since Baltholomew is 193 years old.
But puns and roleplaying rules don't go together well ... :disguised_face:

1 Like

I definitely got the connection, but the main way Masters torment you is by political assault. I don't see how a familiar can do that, and I didn't think the bond would allow for physical assault, so I wasn't quite sure what was supposed to be taking place..

1 Like

When it comes to Familiars, one interpretation I'd potentially go for is to focus on the angle of them not being human and thinking in ways alien to humanity? And/Or perhaps the familiar still genuinely likes the magus and wishes to help, but their method is...counterproductive. Sure, there is that underlying respect for each other, true friendship if you would. But, as its most often the case, true friends give each other shit often.

Perhaps your Familiar somehow got their paws on the Tytalian Book of Instruction and wishes to keep you sharp; "Strength through Adversity!". I'm just imagining a neurotic cat trying to put its magus through a training montage...

It could also be making deals and promises in your stead, but is hilariously bad in the noble art of Bargaining and the whole concept of "Debt" and "Interest" is kinda lost on it.

The bottomline is; your Familiar's shenanigans are gonna draw you into stories.

5 Likes

To build on what Kodlak said and tie it back to the character in question, it's worth remembering that as well-defined mechanically as its benefits are, the Familiar Bond is also a metaphysical and mental one on a less mechanically specific level. If the magus goes mad in some way, such as from a bad Twilight experience (or a positive Criamon one :face_with_hand_over_mouth:), the familiar could easily follow suit and become harder to work with thereby, or just as easily not do so and find the deranged mental feedback of one it used to be so closely aligned with upsetting. Either of these can generate stories.

1 Like