They also, of course, could be used as spies or sentries. These forms were also rarely fixed, allowing the familiar to change frequently.Ĭommonly assumed to be either demons (in the case of witches) or fairies (in the case of more benign practitioners), familiars were often credited with teaching their masters magic or other secrets or detecting and diagnosing medical problems. In these early depictions, familiars were spirits that were sometimes in the form of an animal, though in a number of cases they might look like tiny humans or stranger, arcane creatures.
And an 11 th Century Arabic text translated into Latin makes explicit mention of someone having a familiar. Romans had similar beings in their households (the word “familiar”, in fact, likely comes from the Latin famulus, or “servant”). The basic notion of familiars extends back into the ancient era – Greeks spoke of daimons, or personal spirits that aided them. So, let’s take a closer look at this idea of spellcaster’s little sidekicks – what they can and can’t be, and can and can’t do. Stemming from a long history in European folklore, this idea of an animal servant – or, more correctly, a servant masquerading as an animal – has been engrained in popular culture in general and in fantasy (and fantasy RPG’s) in particular. There is a classic trope of spellcasters having some sort of animal companion, from a witch’s black cat to a wizard’s owl.