Café de Nuit

Interesting ideas for familiars. I'm not a huge fan of the dread companion idea, so I take that part with a grain of salt, but just having some of these as pets or bonded to a ranger sounds like it might be cool, especially since some of the proposed benefits could come just from having one around, bonded or not.

http://www.highlevelgames.ca/blog/7-unf ... -ravenloft

Really glad you like it! As with all the RC articles, I hoped it could be used for other settings.

Personally, I think that dread companions help emphasize Ravenloft's distinctiveness. It also helps hammer home the notion that magic is unnatural at best (and corrupt at worst). I hate seeing people's familiars used as weapon against them, though, which I've seen often enough that I have considered mentioning it in an article in the future. I like the idea that the familiar is imbued with a piece of your soul, and it's going to treat you accordingly, since you're both parts of the same whole. Of course, I also like the idea that the portion of your soul invested into your familiar might reflect traits you'd rather not admit you possessed...

(I also really enjoyed writing the seven deadly sins correlation in this one.)

Yeah, I hear you, and I've had fun playing it that way. It's just that I don't like the idea that a familiar is automatically a liability. I'd rather see some mechanism by which a familiar might temporarily move to the dark side, and then move back. Something like a failed powers check, but not permanent.