Name your top three animal familiar picks, in no particular order of preference

Ravens and cats I can understand, but why rats? I'm not seeing the appeal of vermin as a familiar.

>Not having a catboi incubus as familiar

Smart, social, clean, friendly - what's not to like?

>crow
Cool bird.
>white tiger
Cool cat.
>mini rape pony
Cool horse.

>mini rape pony
Is it a full-fledged pony that dispenses mini-rapes, or is it a mini-pony that dispenses full-fledged rapes?
This is important.

Ah. Personally, rats call phrases like "filthy vermin" and "lower life form" to mind.

I'm more partial to foxes and owls. They've got the cunning/wisdom association and I like woodland critters.

>mini-pony that dispenses full-fledged rapes

>Smart social clean friendly - what's not to like? What do you mean smell? I don't feel anything.

Spotted the rat-keeper.

>Animals:
Tarantula
Mynah
Monkey
>Monster manuel:
Isitoq
Imp
Face in the mirror

A raven
Two ravens
A goblin

Snakes are allowable for only a certain aesthetic of mage, but not general purpose wizardry.

Non-real animals, especially stuff like are also great but then it should be a custom beast for the wizard, not a specific thing, and anyway it requires a higher magic setting than I usually like.

>Dog
who's a good boy, who's a good boy
>cat
basically a furry roommate, who kills rats
>hedgehog
hedgehog.

I don't actually keep a rat - just a dog and two cats. My friend, though, keeps one. Never noticed the smell, to be quite honest.
Then again, both of us live in the outskirts, so the only thing that my cats do in the house is eat and sleep. I'm pretty sure same is going on with his rat.
Honestly, I pity people who keep pets in their dinky-ass apartments. They can never just let the pet out to do its own thing, knowing that it will return on its own.

You could say all those things about a German. Doesn't mean you'd want to keep one around.

>semi-intelligent robot buddy
>Floating telekinetic axolotl
>Giant praying mantis

I believe those choices are self-explanatory, good day.

>Monster Manuel

For rats it's a matter of where they're living/kept.
Bet rats are fairly clean, because they aren't getting into garbage and corpses.
Wild rats away from people get into some corpses, and a fair bit of dirt, but are about as clean as all other wild animals.
City rats dig through a lot of trash, so their 'cleanliness' is just enough to keep them only moderately encrusted.

City rats in truly filthy cities keep themself just uncrusted enough they can move.

Why no one like frogs? They are iconic familiars to witches

Rats have really short lifespans so you get a quick return in the sadness you've invested in.

>Golden Eagle
>Hawk
>Fox
I fucking love bird familiars, and foxes are just adorable (at least for someone who's never owned one).

Generally the iconic familiars would be Bufo toads specifically.

this reminds me about why an aquarium I used to live near refused to keep octopuses.

People want to see the big octopuses, which means late into their life span, so after they get them they live about 2 years.
This is expensive, but they deal with that sort of expense for other things.

The problem is that octopuses are very smart, and love to interact with the workers. So they form bonds and love the octopus, and it dies in under 2 years. Repeat with the next one.
The aquarium people decided were just not going to keep going through that pain anymore.

Shit, now I have another reason to write my coastal campaign setting- adorable octopus familiars.

How about this?

they are apparently also trouble.
They can squeeze their bodies into tiny holes, and can crawl across land for short distances.

One would get out of it's tank, crawl over to the another one, eat the things there, then crawl back so it wouldn't get caught. They finally caught it on video after being stumped for weeks.

And I can tell you from personal experiance, their camouflage is amazing. I've been snorkeling 5 feet from one, with someone pointing right at it, and it took me a while to see it.

>Skunk

Nature's chemical weapon spec-ops unit. Comes equipped with fluffy tail.

>Porcupine

I was gonna say something about the large amount of defensive armaments on this mammal, but honestly I just think they're cute.

>Tiger:

Tigers are great for debating philosophy with.

Do you ride the tiger after the discussion?

Raven, cat and fox is objectively the best.

Sunless Sea?

If it's Sunless Sea it's possible it rides you.

Does that NOT seem like the sort of thing a wizard would want to have on his/her side?

it was not an argument AGAINST having them as familiars.

Are Monster Manuel and Crazy Hassan mortal enemies? They seem to have opposite outlooks on life.

I want a cormorant over a raven. You're correct about the other two, though.

>when you want a cute pet companion but you can never bring it on adventures with you in case it gets killed

>Compsognathus
>Archaeopteryx
>Hamster

Two dinosaurs, and a creature I've actually had as a pet IRL before.

NO

SABBATH GET OUT REEEEEEEEEE

Racoons, Opposums, Ferrets.

I love hipster rodents.

>grizzly
>dog
>elephant

>taking a raccoon as your familiar and not your wife

Raven
Weasel
Random bird

Ravens are eternally sick.
Having a little stoat as something is slick.
Any bird is pretty cool, I like having a small songbird, maybe a sparrow or a finch or something. Maybe a Dove for irony because my spellcasters are fucking brutal.

But user, mares are the best animal waifu, followed by dolphins

Can a wolverine be a familiar?

>cat
>giant wasp
>squid or octopus

That horsey is more feminine than many women.

I dunno man, slap some vampirism on that fucker. You're a wizard with two years to prepare, you'll think of something.

Owls.

>+12 move silently bonus

something capable of flight
something capable of speech
a cat

a cat is fine too

yes, you can be his familiar

Raven, spider, snake.

why not both?

Tiny dragon, owl, hedgehog. OBVIOUSLY.

Dog, because man's best friend
Pig, because smart as dog and also cute
Rat, because rats are bros

How do people never say ant? Honestly.

Even Cat sized ants would be strong as fuck

>Raccoon
>Rat
>Possum
I like things that are vermin and eat garbage, they remind me of myself.

what the flying fuck

Vampires have human familiars

Because ants are not cat sized. They're ant sized.

So you can have giant spiders and tiny dragons but not larger than normal ants?

Owls are fucking stupid though.

Yes, exactly.

Because snakes are pretty, bats are cute, and cats are okay.

This is under the assumption that these are just regular animals you share a psychic bond with:

-Crow
Ravens are cool, but they're easier to spot than crows. Crows blend in in any urban area. The crow would be a general purpose messenger and the only familiar smart enough to carry out actual tasks

-Cheetah
Cheetahs are chill as fuck, have a cat's lifespan combined with the size of a dog, and you can't outrun a cheetah. A cheetah would be a fantastic guard.

-probuscis monkey
I need something to laugh at.

>imp (category to include mephits, quasits, and any other little gobliny devilly winged dudes)
Classic, sinister, can talk, probably has some magic powers of his own
>bat
Cute, can fly, echolocation for spotting invisible threats
>snake
Pimpin' fashion accessory, can fit in small places, either poisonous or a constrictor - both are cool

Little girls, tiny girls, tiny little girls.

Fox. Playful conniving assholes, perfect soulmates for the adventuring sorcerer.

Toad. The old reliable.

Raven. Odin had two, so I guess you'd want at least one if you're serious.

Familiars don't die of age while their wizard lives.

A raven
A raven
Trash

>Possom
A mage of the far realms, I see.

Raven is fair game though.

I always pick the raven, aside from when I can pick spirits and then I pick raven spirits.
Aside from that, I suppose cats are fine too in an urban or modern setting
A third pick, well perhaps dragon puppies? I tried that once, but rules wise it was a cohort, not sure if it counts.

Tiger, rhino and bumblebee.
Because I have a small dick and like wacky shit.

>Owl
Owls are fucking killers and they are wise.

>Hyena
Motherfuckers laugh will spook the enemy and also it offends gnolls.

>Cat
Chill as fuck and easy to cuddle.

Bats are terrifying and their "sonar" squeaks make my ears hurt.

Fuck bats. Cat master race coming through.

>Dragon
>Genie
>Living planetiod

>Why?
Because why power game when I can have others power game for me?

>hare
>badger
>imp

hare has some insane speed so you get a free mail service with your familiar.

badgers because fucking badgers.

Imps because there's something delightfully predictable about a sniveling, shit-for-soul sadist on your dark wizardly shoulder.

>not being an awakened house-cat wizard with a human familiar that you pretend is the wizard while you pretend to be the familiar
What the fuck is wrong with you

>fellow players traveling with a nice old woman who bakes cookies and her cat
>woman is reputed to be powerful sorceress, and has reagents and arcane paraphernalia
>basically just spends all day doting on her cat though
>get into battle
>she scurries away, leaving the cat, who starts levitating and shooting fireballs everywhere

Cats don't normally take their humans with them when they go on adventures.

>Cats don't normally take their humans with them when they go on adventures.
>he doesn't have a face human to talk through, so you can be a cat adventurer without arousing suspicion

I mean in real life. Cats have a home base where a human provides for them, and then go hunt and fuck and fight independently.

Hawk, dog, snake.

For the spell caster that doesn't particularly like other spell casters.

Humans already have the best Familiars.

>Raven
>Not crow
Crows are smarter, resourceful, cabable of mimicry, and can recognize faces.

Raven, Weasel, Homunculus.

Pygmy gryphon
Bat
Psudo/baby dragon.

Favorite familiar will also be cat. BUT, assuming, in arguendo, that I chose differently...

Gibbon
Crow
Fox

Dodo
Theyre dodos

Fuck your horses, I got a motherfucking camel

Coconut Crab
Pistol Shrimp
Irukandji Jellyfish

Monkey
Scorpion
And lastly, the giant isopod.

>pangolin
It's a pangolin, what more do you want?

>bat
Could be a big, cyte fruit eater, or a little vampire, or maybe they protect you from mosquitos and such

>halfling
What? It's not like they're people.