Category:Familiars

A familiar is a creature that assists an adventurer in various ways, such as by attacking enemies, helping to earn more meat or items, helping to regain HP and/or MP, and by increasing stat gains from battles.

To get a familiar, you must first have a Familiar-Gro™ Terrarium installed at your campsite. Then use the hatchling form of the familiar, which places it in your terrarium. You may have one of each type of familiar in your terrarium, and only one familiar may accompany you at any moment.

When you first acquire a familiar, it is automatically assigned a default name. It is possible – in fact, it is encouraged – to rename your familiar. Part of the fun of having familiars is giving them their own unique and whimsical names. If your custom familiar name includes swear words, the name will be replaced by the text [profanity]. A familiar's name cannot exceed 40 characters.

Once the hatchling is put into your terrarium, it will stay with you forever, except during Bad Moon or Avatar of Boris/Jarlsberg/Sneaky Pete (,or other "Avatar" special challenge path) ascensions. You will not be able to trade, sell, or get rid of any familiars already in your terrarium. Furthermore, after you have used a hatchling, you cannot use another one of the same type on the same account (except during Bad Moon). Collecting as many familiars as possible is a common goal among adventurers. The number of familiars that you have collected is mentioned in the other accomplishments section of your Quest Log, and it contributes to your Collector's Score.

Familiars gain experience when you defeat a monster with them. Normally, a familiar gains one experience point per kill, but there are several items and effects that can increase this (see Familiar Weight). As familiars' experience increases, they gain weight, to a maximum of 20 pounds. Familiars may also gain experience at the arena.

The base weight (without Familiar Equipment or effects) of a familiar is equal to the square root of its experience (weight = experience^1/2); the minimum possible weight is 1 pound, and the maximum possible weight is 20 pounds. In other words, a familiar gains a pound when it reaches 4, 9, 16, 25, 36, 49, 64, 81, 100, 121, 144, 169, 196, 225, 256, 289, 324, 361, and 400 experience points.

You may increase the effective weight of your familiar in many different ways. Some of the most common ways are using familiar equipment, equipping various tiny plastic accessories, obtaining the effect Empathy, and using the Turtle Tamer skill Amphibian Sympathy. Pastamancers (and any adventurers that have permanently learned the necessary skill) may increase the weight of their familiars by casting Leash of Linguini. For a comprehensive list of everything in the game that can modify the weight of your familiar, see Familiar Weight.

For a list of what familiars do, including related formulas and frequencies, see Familiars by type.

Notes

Of George Carlin's Seven Dirty Words (and Lenny Bruce's nine), the ones that you still can't say on T.V. yield the [profanity] message, while the ones that are now allowed on T.V. are accepted as names and publicly displayed. Other swear words that are allowed on T.V. (but are not on either Carlin's or Bruce's lists) are also accepted.

In addition, the first part of Carlin's fifth word can be used as a familiar name by itself; the main reason is that only the slang definition of the word is considered dirty, and its proper definition simply means a male chicken.

See Also

• Familiars (Ordered By Number)
• Familiars (Ordered By Type)
• Familiars (Ordered By Availability)
• Table of Familiar Abilities
• Hardcore Familiar Analysis