Familiars are stated as unable to perform movement actions. Familiars cannot jump over pits, use glyphs, open doors, etc. So, can they move up or down a staircase?

I believe there has been a general statement that familiars should never be prevented from following their masters, and since they can't use glyphs, this means that at least in some cases they must be allowed to use stairs.

IMO, the rules for stairs are clumsily-written and using stairs should probably not be considered a movement action in the first place, but that's just me.

Not by the rules as written, but it seems insane not to allow them to travel with their owner (using a staircase isn't grounds for stripping a hero of a skill or inherent ability), so this is a case where usability prevails over perfect adherence to rules in my games.

We adopted a houserule for pits (since that, too, can cause a familiar to get stranded).

Any hero can pick up a familiar in his space for 1 MP. He can then carry the familiar, which takes up either 1 hand, 1 other, 1 potion, or the space of 1 item in the pack. The hero can drop the hero in own space for 0 MP, or into adjacent space for 1 MP.

I think we will adopt the same rule for the stairs.

GalaGalaxia said:

Uh...how? I'm not aware of any rule that would prevent a familiar from moving into or out of a pit, and since familiars can't be damaged it's not as if it poses a threat to their life...

Climbing out of a pit = action a familiar cannot take, RAW (since it's a movement action, which familiars are prevented from taking)
Jumping over a pit = action a familiar cannot take, RAW (since it's a movement action, which familiars are prevented from taking)

GalaGalaxia said:

Climbing out of a pit is not a movement action. (Jumping over one is). (pg 16)

It is simply a normal movement that costs an extra movement point, much like moving into a mud space. (also pg 16)

Ah, right you are.

I was getting confused by the "Movement Costs" list on pg 28 (last page) of the WoD rulebook, where climbing out of a pit is included.

GalaGalaxia said:

I remember a post from Kevin from early in the game's run (not sure if it was in the FAQ or just here on the boards) where he said that although familiars are not allowed to jump over pits (at a cost of 3 MP), they are allowed to fall in (for 1 MP), take no damage because familiars are invincible, and then climb out the other side (for 2 MP). Bravo rules writers, bravo...

The more I play this game, the more I want to sit down and completely rewrite the rulebook so it makes sense...

I think the "stairs" should have just been tiny portals that you could not shoot through. It would have made things so much simpler.

Veinman said:

Forbidding attacks through stairs invites a monster to stand on the other side and trap you forever. The current rules for attacking through stairs are a little more complicated than they absolutely have to be, but I think they're pretty reasonable.

I think this kind of "portal blocking" could be worked through, possibly by allowing figures to move through blocking figures. There is an RtL dungeon level that has a similar rule, something about an invincible figure that could be used to block a hallway.

That's a bad rule, though, because it's unclear exactly when and how it applies, it creates an exception where none ought to be required, and it still isn't guaranteed to fix the problem unless you carefully construct a really complicated version of it (for example, what if there's so many monsters on the other side of the stairs that the heroes can't reach any open space, even if they're allowed to move through the monsters?). And there's no real reason to forbid attacking through staircases in the first place; it makes tactical and thematic sense, it's simpler to apply than a special "you can move through monsters if you're trapped" rule, and it sidesteps this entire problem.