Familiar
- "Familiars" redirects here. For the inn on the Cerulean Ocean, see Familiars (Cerulean).
A familiar is a coveted piratey possession. It can be created by Ocean Masters and offered as a prize in special events, such as the Olympic Champions League or certain forum contests. Certain types of familiars can be won from Atlantis, Cursed Isles, Haunted Seas, black boxes or gold boxes. Familiars are among the rarest objects in the game, and as such, carry a high value when traded among players.
Familiars typically act as a clothing item, but cannot be placed in wardrobes or on tailors' racks. They can be worn by non-subscribers, and do not age. When a pirate wearing a familiar has a portrait made, the familiar will appear on the pirate's shoulder in the portrait.
Contents
Species
There are currently sixteen basic types of familiar available:
Hatted familiars
Hatted familiars are a type of familiar that wear a hat upon their heads. They usually cannot be recolored using rogue marks because most have at least one limited edition color, which prevents recoloring.
The current known familiars which can have hats are:
Coloring
Bats, ippolitos, kraklings, monkeys, octopodes, owls, skeletal monkeys, skeletal parrots, and ravens are monochromatic, while ghostlings are achromatic. Chameleons, dragons, lobsters, parrots, serpents, spiders, and toucans have two colors each, as do familiars with hats. The color will depend on the source of the familiar: if from a contest, some allow for the winner's color choice within the guidelines, while others will be decided beforehand. A few general restrictions apply, regardless of how color is determined:
- Pure white monkey, octopus, and parrot familiars are reserved for winners of the Olympic Champions League
- Pure black monkey and parrot familiars are reserved for Ocean Masters and developers. Prior to the introduction of Kraken lairs, which made black octopodes available to players, pure black octopodes were also reserved.
- Monkeys (except the skeletal type) may be chosen in only "natural" colors. See the page on monkeys for more information.
- Skeletal monkeys and skeletal parrots are available in "skeleton" colors.
- Originally (as of June 25th, 2006) tan familiars were exclusively given out in automated tournaments. Currently, they may be won from gold boxes as well, and are also given out in impromptu Bake-offs as well as other events where a full color familiar is not appropriate.
Familiars can be recolored for a charge of 20 rogue marks by clicking on them in the booty panel, and selecting the 'Recolor yer familiar' option. Players are not permitted to make their familiars completely black in this fashion (a parrot with only one color as black is allowed, however.) The familiar palette shows all possible color combinations for player-owned familiars. Unnamed, non-tan bat familiars can be recoloured at the trading post at a cost of 100 Vampirate trinkets.
The following familiars cannot be recolored at all:
- Tan familiars.
- White monkeys, octopodes, or parrots.
- Black octopodes.
- Dragons, ghostlings, ippolitos, kraklings, lobsters, owls, ravens, serpents, skeletal parrots, skeletal monkeys, spiders, or toucans. Chameleons also cannot be recolored using rogue marks, but the color of their body changes to match their owner's clothing.
- Familiars in special colors.
Parrots are considered tan if either of their colors is tan; the non-tan color cannot be changed.
Familiars can not be recolored to any special color.
It may require logging out and logging back in to see the effect of a recoloring.
Acquisition
Familiars are occasionally available for purchase. When a player decides to part with his or her hard-won familiar, the general asking price for a colored familiar varies widely from 2,000,000 to 8,000,000 Pieces of Eight. The Ringers auction off familiars on the forums about once a month, one on each ocean; however, in recent months, alternative forms of auction have been explored, such as boat auctions, rag/stick auctions, and rare item auctions, as well as plain old PoE.
Under the new familiar system, regular quasi-weekly tournaments for each carousing puzzle are held on every ocean. These tournaments are automated and not announced beforehand, with top prize of a tan familiar; in the case of a parrot, a tan/other color parrot is awarded. Other "full" familiar tournaments will be held for carousing puzzles, but not as frequently as they have been in past. These tan familiars tend to go for between a quarter and a half of the price of a colored familiar, although the price depends strongly on the color, name and owner of the familiar.
Bats, chameleons, dragons, ghostlings, ippolitos, kraklings, lobsters, ravens, serpents, skeletal monkeys, skeletal parrots, and toucans are unique from the original familiar types, in that they are obtained by luck, not contests. Spiders and owls are unique in that they are the only familiars that can be purchased directly from a trading post; owls cannot be traded between players on the Obsidian Ocean.
- Chameleons, dragons, and toucans can be found in gold boxes.
- Bats, ghostlings, ippolitos, kraklings, lobsters, and serpents can be found in treasure chests.
- Ravens can be found in mystery boxes.
- Skeletal monkeys and skeletal parrots can be found in black boxes.
- Spiders can be purchased from trading posts in exchange for 100 Black Market trinkets.
- Owl eggs can be purchased from trading posts in exchange for Faction trinkets on the Obsidian Ocean.
 Bat familiar |
 Chameleon familiar |
 Dragon familiar |
 Ghostling familiar |
 Ippolito familiar |
 Krakling familiar |
 Lobster familiar |
 Owl familiars |
 Raven familiar |
 Serpent familiars | |
 Skeletal monkey |
 Skeletal parrot |
 Spider familiars |
 Toucan familiar |
Naming
Familiars can be given a name by clicking on them in the booty panel, and selecting the 'Name yer familiar' option. There is a limit of 18 characters for familiar names. The first name is free, but renames come with a charge of 20 rogue marks. Familiars can be renamed by clicking on them in the booty panel and selecting the 'Name yer familiar' option.
 They are also named in the booty panel. |
History
Until release 2020-05-27, it was possible to store familiars in wardrobes.
See also
- Color
- Pet
- How familiars appear in portraits
- Event Calendar With List of Familiar Events
- Familiar tournament schedules
- Familiar records
- Piplicus' Familiar Colour Tables
