[Hank Parsons]

I like the ideas for familiars in this thread (esp. Six and MR's).

Every class, I agree, but *only PC*. As it is now, only PC Mages can FF. Six's modification would let my PC Ranger or Cleric have a magical pet regardless (at one point I had to do the potion trick for my cleric). I think that would be cool, in game-terms (especially for soloists). It can be justified and come with risks/trade-offs. MR is of course correct it's against the D&D/FR tradition for a non-mage to FF, but I kinda just think of it as your B-spawn having a magic animal companion. Not that non-mages need +12HP, just that the little animal adds to the game, and it seems reasonable to have one pet in the party.

I'd have no problem installing a Familiar mod that varied away from the original rules creatively, so long as it was limited enough to be somewhat balanced.