Spell: NEW

Spellbook
By James Wyatt

Have the usual familiars available to spellcasting characters become a little, well, too familiar? To liven things up in your campaign, we're offering three new familiar spells to finish out the year. Add them to your heroes' repertoires and watch the double-takes these faithful friends elicit! This month, the second spell of the trilogy, elemental familiar, provides a companion that's far from basic.

Elemental Familiar
Transmutation
Level: Sor/Wiz 3
Components: V, S, M, XP
Casting Time: 10 minutes
Range: Touch
Target: Living creature touched
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: Fortitude negates (harmless)
Spell Resistance: Yes (harmless)

In order to cast this spell, you must have a familiar. When you cast the spell, the target creature becomes a Tiny air, earth, fire, or water elemental, as detailed below. You choose what type of elemental the creature becomes. The creature retains its basic shape, but it is in every way an elemental, not an element creature (as described in Manual of the Planes).

You lose any special ability the familiar previously granted to you (such as the +2 bonus to Move Silently checks bestowed by a cat familiar). However, you gain a replacement special ability, depending on the type of elemental your familiar becomes:

Air -- Master gains a +2 bonus to Initiative checks (stacks with Improved Initiative).
Earth -- Master gains +1 natural armor.
Fire -- Master gains a +3 resistance bonus to saving throws against fire attacks.
Water -- Master gains a +1 resistance bonus to Fortitude saving throws.

Only a limited wish, miracle, or wish or similar magic can restore a transmuted familiar to its original state. Otherwise, the familiar remains an elemental forevermore. You cannot cast this spell on another character's familiar. Most creatures consider the transformation harmless and beneficial, but if the creature decides to resist, a successful Fortitude save negates the spell.

Material Component: A small quantity of air, earth, fire, or water, depending on the elemental type the creature is to become.
XP Cost: 500 XP.

	Tiny Air Elemental	Tiny Fire Elemental
	Tiny Elemental (Air)	Tiny Elemental (Fire)
Hit Dice:	1d8 (4 hp)	1d8 (4 hp)
Initiative:	+6	+5
Speed:	Fly 100 ft. (perfect)	50 ft.
AC:	16 (+2 size, +2 Dex, +2 natural)	15 (+2 size, +1 Dex, +2 natural)
Attacks:	Slam +4 melee	Slam +3 melee
Damage:	Slam 1d3-1	Slam 1d3-1 and 1d3 fire
Face/Reach:	2 1/2 ft. by 2 1/2 ft./0 ft.	2 1/2 ft. by 2 1/2 ft./0 ft.
Special Attacks:	Whirlwind	Burn
Special Qualities:	Air mastery, elemental traits	Elemental traits, fire subtype
Saves:	Fort +0, Ref +4, Will +0	Fort +0, Ref +3, Will +0
Abilities:	Str 8, Dex 15, Con 10, Int 4, Wis 11, Cha 11	Str 8, Dex 13, Con 10, Int 4, Wis 11, Cha 11
Skills:	Hide +10, Listen +4, Spot +4	Hide, +9, Listen +4, Spot +4
Feats:	Flyby Attack, Improved Initiative, Weapon Finesse (slam)	Improved Initiative, Weapon Finesse (slam)
Climate/Terrain:	Any land and underground	Any land and underground
Organization:	Solitary	Solitary
Challenge Rating:	1/2	1/2
Treasure:	None	None
Alignment:	Usually neutral	Usually neutral

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	Tiny Earth Elemental	Tiny Water Elemental
	Tiny Elemental (Earth)	Tiny Elemental (Water)
Hit Dice:	1d8+1 (5 hp)	1d8+1 (5 hp)
Initiative:	1	+0
Speed:	20 ft.	20 ft., swim 90 ft.
AC:	16 (+2 size, 1 Dex, +5 natural)	16 (+2 size, +4 natural)
Attacks:	Slam +4 melee	Slam +3 melee
Damage:	Slam 1d3+3	Slam 1d3+1
Face/Reach:	2 1/2 ft. by 2 1/2 ft./0 ft.	2 1/2 ft. by 2 1/2 ft./0 ft.
Special Attacks:	Push	Water mastery, drench, vortex
Special Qualities:	Earth mastery, elemental traits	Elemental traits
Saves:	Fort +3, Ref 1, Will +0	Fort +3, Ref +0, Will +0
Abilities:	Str 15, Dex 8, Con 13, Int 4, Wis 11, Cha 11	Str 12, Dex 10, Con 13, Int 4, Wis 11, Cha 11
Skills:	Hide +7, Listen +4, Spot +4	Hide +8, Listen +4, Spot +4
Feats:	Power Attack	Power Attack
Climate/Terrain:	Any land and underground	Any land and underground
Organization:	Solitary	Solitary
Challenge Rating:	1/2	1/2
Treasure:	None	None
Alignment:	Usually neutral	Usually neutral

A Tiny air elemental is 2 feet tall and weighs 1/4 pound. A Tiny earth elemental is 2 feet tall and weighs 20 pounds. A Tiny fire elemental is 2 feet tall and weighs 1/4 pound. A Tiny water elemental is 2 feet tall and weighs 8 pounds.

Elemental Traits: Immune to poison, sleep, paralysis, and stunning; not subject to critical hits or flanking; darkvision 60 ft.; cannot be raised or resurrected (though a wish or miracle spell can restore life).

The special attacks of Tiny elementals conform to the information given for elementals of their subtype in the Monster Manual, except as specified. The save DC against the Tiny air elemental's whirlwind is 9, the damage is 1d3, and the whirlwind's height is 10 feet. The save DC against the Tiny fire elemental's burn is 10. The save DC against the Tiny water elemental's vortex is 11, the damage is 1d3, and the vortex's height is 10 feet.

Spellbook
By James Wyatt

Have the usual familiars available to spellcasting characters become a little, well, too familiar? To liven things up in your campaign, we're offering three new familiar spells to finish out the year. Add them to your heroes' repertoires and watch the double-takes these faithful friends elicit! Our final spell of the trilogy, animate dead familiar, enables you to keep that boon companion around a little longer.

Animate Dead Familiar
Necromancy [Evil]
Level: Sor/Wiz 5
Components: V, S, XP
Casting Time: 1 round
Range: Touch
Target: Corpse touched
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: No

In order to cast this spell, you must have a familiar, and that creature must be dead. You animate the dead familiar as a zombielike undead, restoring some measure of the bond you had with it while it lived.

You do not regain the experience points you lost when the familiar died. You also lose the special benefits you gained based on the familiar's animal type (such as the +2 bonus to Move Silently checks bestowed by a cat familiar). Being undead, the creature has no Constitution score, which affects its Fortitude saves but not its hit points. It retains its natural armor and its preternatural Intelligence, as well as all of the special abilities it had based on your level except for the ability to speak with animals of its type. It still has effective Hit Dice equal to your level and hit points equal to half your total hit points.

The undead familiar resembles a zombie, but is not slow like a zombie. Its type changes to Undead. As an undead creature, it is immune to mind-influencing effects, poison, sleep, paralysis, stunning, and disease. It is not subject to critical hits, subdual damage, ability damage, energy drain, or death from massive damage. If you are within range of the familiar's empathic link with you (one mile), it cannot be turned or rebuked. Beyond that range, it is subject to turning and rebuking (as well as commanding and destroying) as an undead of its effective Hit Dice.

In addition, the familiar gains a special attack delivered by a melee attack. The nature of this attack depends on your caster level at the time you cast this spell; it does not improve as your level increases. You may choose a lower-level ability than your level indicates.

Caster Level	Special Attack
9-10	Paralysis: Those hit by the undead familiar's attack must succeed at a Fortitude save (DC 14) or be paralyzed for 1d6+2 minutes. Elves are immune to this paralysis.
11-14	Strength damage: The undead familiar's attack deals 1d6 points of temporary Strength damage in addition to the normal damage.
15-18	Energy Drain: Living creatures hit by the undead familiar's attack receive one negative level. The Fortitude save to remove the negative level has a DC of 16.
19-20	Constitution Drain: Living creatures hit by the undead familiar's attack must succeed at a Fortitude save (DC 18) or suffer 1d6 points of permanent Constitution drain.

If the undead familiar is destroyed, you lose experience points as if you had lost a living familiar (again). The corpse is utterly destroyed in this case, and cannot be animated via this spell again, nor can it be restored to life with a raise dead spell (resurrection will work, however).

You cannot cast this spell on another character's familiar.

XP Cost: 100 XP.