Hi guys. As I see, Summoners shouldn't begin the game with any summoned creatures, but since using summons is all they can do, I'd like to let one of my players (who's going to be a summoner) begin with a bound controlled creature. Since I don't want to give it for free, I've decided that he can take an Artifact advantage and trade it for a reasonable level creature already controlled and bound to a item.

How much "presence" would you give to a creature bound inside a Level 1/2/3 Artifact?

I don't read it at they shouldn't be allowed to start with any. I think if they're a summoner they should have at a minimum of the knowledge of how to summon at least one creature of equal level. This would allow them to at least be a summoner from the beginning instead of needing to roleplay into there choosen class. I started my group, that contained a summoner, at level 2. I allowed him to have knowledge of how to summon a level 3 and a level 0 but he had to make the rolls to see if he could start with anything bound.

I agree in allowing a Summoner PC to start with a summoned monster of their level or lower for free. Its an integral part of the PC concept and reflects the resources invested in the Summoning skills from the get go.

I'd look at it as more of an opportunity. For a summoner, especially, see if the player would be interested in RPing how they got their summon. This could occur minutes or days before the campaign's start, or even years earlier in the character's life.

Familiars for non-summoners also present opportunities: One player decided to get an artifact familiar for his warlock... an heirloom that he doesn't know much about. Since its not a traditional summon, it doesn't participate so much in battles, yet it still brings fun to the table... because even its owner doesn't know what it can do.

Ok, I'll let the summoner buy with artifact points a bond Familiar (Level 0 if he spends 1 CP, Level 1 if he spends 2, and Level 2 if he spends 3, since Levels can't differ by more than 1 point, and my heroes, of course will begin the campaign as Level 1 pushovers.

I've just a question about familiars. Do they reside inside objects like bound creatures, or do they stay out of it?

As a side question: how much Gnosis do you usually give your players as a starting value (a value which should hardly change as I'm full aware)? Do you use the rules for Natura?

PS - About knowledge on how to summon other creatures, I'll award it to the player depending on his starting Occult value. I suppose he'll invest points there, in which case I'll allow him to know a few creatures he can summon as a starter.

Wait, what? No! A summoner doesn't need an artifact to be able to start with a bound creature! What a horrible waste of CP for something he should have easily done for free.

To clarify, the only reason my player got an artifact was because he's a warlock, with no points in summoning.

You mean, a summoner should begin with a Familiar for FREE? I can't see a reason why should he...I'll give him a bunch of starting "known" creatures he can try summon and control, based on his Occult value (which should be very high, since he's interested in developing Elan with Erebus, which seems very ok, to me). As for "ready to use" creatures I can't see why should he begin with something "free", while other players don't. A familiar is quite a big advantage on my opinion, especially since I'll build it pretty well and responding to his mayor requests, but allowing him a free familiar would be like allowing a free weapon to a warrior...something I'm not giving. One of my characters wants to be armed with 2 Rapiers and only has 20 GC...I'll allow him to gain both as advance payment for his next job (which will come very soon, so he won't be wondering unarmed, don't worry). Other people will be awarded 500 GC for their job, he'll gain just 450.

Characters must begin the game on equal terms. Allowing a summoner a few creatures to summon "for free" (and somewhat based on points he spent in creating his character) is one thing...giving him a 400-600DP companion free of cost is out of question.

Here's the thing, if you don't let your summoner start with at least a bound creature, then they are going to just go sit in a wizarding tower for a couple of months summoning one up, before they want to do anything else.

Unless you have a really good reason why the summoner hasn't already done something (that is within his power to do, and wants to do) before the game starts, you should really let him have something to start with.

Not letting a summoner have a creature is like a character who sank a bunch of points into wear-armor and then not letting them have any armor.

Letting him have creatures he know and can summon would be fine, except for how long it takes to summon a creature. At first level it is pretty much impossible to summon a creature in combat. And even at higher levels the creatures you might be able to summon in combat are so much lower level than you that they likely won't do you much good.

If you are worried about your player abusing his free bound creatures, remember that you basically are the one who builds them.

I think its important to remember that this isn't a video game, its a roleplaying game. The book gives good guidelines you should try and follow, but they should come second to having fun. My players most certainly haven't started on "even terms"... one is a traveling monk, he has handwraps that glow white when he uses his ki and are very very easy to clean (not in the book), an armored longcoat his master gave him at graduation, and only has 1GC to his name. On the other hand, the ex-mercenary starts like a mostly well-equipped mercenary. Same goes for the two other soldier characters. The characters should be assumed to at least have average equipment, considering they have above-average skills and easily could have done so already. Don't make your players have to deal with tedious fluff, thats not fun~

Elric of Melniboné said:

Yes. Definitely. Otherwise, the PC has sunk a massive amount of resources into the 4 Summoning Skills but has to wait in game before he can capitalise on them unlike all the other PCs.

I see it being more equal to allow him to start with 1 bound familiar, plus its less hassle and better for roleplaying purposes as well.

I think everything should be ok...summoning and controlling low Level creatures can be afforded in a reasonable time (1 day) even for a low level character. Of course it cannot be done in combat, but I believe summoners should be evoking in advance most of the time. Only the greatest masters should be able to evoke during combat. Besides, since the evoker is rich (starting wealth Level 1), he won't have problems buying high presence items to bind and store a few creatures. Summoners look like the typical class that should start weak to become very powerful on the long term. Anyway, I'll fix things as soon as I see they're getting bad.

Your mixing two things. A summoner should start with a bound creature, but NOT a familar. a lv.1 Bound creature that the summoner can control is perfectly fine for new charecters in anima. However a lv1 summoner starting with a familar is just retarted. He could not even pass the rolls needed to perform the joining himself at that level.

Elric of Melniboné said:

Just as a piece of advice, give the PC's the minimum of what they need for free in order to survive - otherwise they will simply get screwed over by anything you throw at them. Fighters should have one or a few weapons, and a low-ish armor (depending on their build style, more defensive characters would probably want better armor). Same for Prowlers, although only weapons like daggers (since that is probably what they'll end up using). Mages and Psychics already have what they need, so now problem there.

For Summoners, however, I would give them atleast 1 bound/controlled creature of lower-level built in a way that seems appropriate for the kind of creature (and to you) rather than a battle-style in mind. Otherwise, aside from Invocations, and potentially low-level magic, a Summoner has not form of self-defense. If you are striking for balance with the other PC's, stick to a level 0 creature - in practice, these turn out to be mediocre in comparison to a player of the same level.

But I would advise against a familiar, simply because it is powerful, and it is more interesting to have a creature that doesn't necessarily follow orders the whole time, or can be a bit of a backstabber. The thing to play on with a summoner is his relationship with his creatures - having a viable but tense relationship offers a variety of possibilities for roleplay.

I think it's worth noting that the level 1 Summoner in the pre-generated characters in the GM Kit starts with a bound summoned creature.