Summon Dark Familiar

Summon Dark Familiar Mystic Basic 600 hours Requires: Pentacle Summoning Circle and either Bind Familiar or Demon-summoning knowledge

Using this ritual, a mage may conjure and bind a Demon as her familiar. This is a Minor Demon and Imp. It will most likely have either the ability to shapeshift into a normal animal, or the ability to posess a normal animal. It is almost certain to be able to speak, and will definitely be sentient (and able to understand the summoner) in any case. There are three primary ways to acquire a demonic familiar. One is to conjure and force it to serve. This involves winning a Willpower contest, and woe to the mage who failed to enslave. The second way is to enter into an arrangement with the summoned Extrinsic. The traditional storybook exchange is for the familiar to serve for the life of the wizard, and then take his soul after death. With the value of used souls at historic lows, this deal may not be acceptable to the Demon. A limited timeframe or additional compensation may be needed. The third way is as part of a deal with a more powerful entity. There is no Willpower contest or deal with the new familiar spirit, it agrees to whatever arrangement is made with the more powerful spirit. Though your familiar always calls you 'master' it is actually still working for its real boss: your supernatural benefactor. Familiars belonging to cultists are commonly of this third variety.

All standard bonuses of familiars apply. The Imp improves in level automatically with its master. It shares the conjurer's mystic knowledge. It cannot harm or act counter to the wizard (unless the deal is broken or the demonic slave set free). Can it sense supernatural evil? Of course. They can smell their own. Other abilities of the dark familiar are up to the Game Master. The Demon may bring additional skills or spells into the relationship. However, the Imp is not bound to voluntarily divulge its hidden talents, and the mage does not instinctively share the Demon's mystic skills. That part of the bond only works one way (which is also true for standard familiars, incidentally). However, unique talents may be openly shared as part of the arrangement. This is especially true for familiars gained as part of a supernatural boon. It is worth noting that a demonic familiar may be gained by the powerful Extrinsic casting this spell on the mage's behalf. In other words, a cultist can be given an Imp without knowing this ritual, or even having any magic ability at all. In fact, one use of this spell is so that the Imp can teach select spells to its 'master' for the cult's benefit.

One major advantage over standard familiars--other than heightened intelligence and the potential for greater supernatural power--is in the ritual itself. Summoning the Imp in the first place is the hard part. This ritual only takes about an hour (longer if there are drawn-out contract negotiations), and you don't even have to like each other.