View source for Witch's familiar

{{monster
 |name=witch's familiar
 |symbol={{brown|r}}
 |difficulty=8
 |level=5
 |experience=93
 |speed=6
 |AC=0
 |MR=0
 |align=0
 |frequency=0
 |genocidable=No
 |attacks=Bite 1d3 [[vampiric]], Cast 0d6 mage spell
 |weight=20
 |nutr=50
 |size=tiny
 |resistances=
 |resistances conveyed=
 |attributes={{attributes|A witch's familiar|animal=1|omnivore=1|nopoly=1|female=1|infravisible=1}}
 |reference=
}}

A '''witch's familiar''', {{brown|r}}, is a type of [[monster]] that appears in [[dNetHack]] and [[notdNetHack]]. The witch's familiar is a [[tiny]] [[omnivorous]] [[animal]] that can be seen via [[infravision]] like other [[rodent]]s. 

A witch's familiar lends her magical abilities to her master: [[apprentice witch]]es, regular [[Witch (dNetHack)|witches]] and the [[coven leader]] must have a familiar present to cast spells, but can do so without any spell cooldown while their familiar is alive.

The witch's familiar herself has a [[vampiric]] bite attack and the ability to cast [[dNetHack monster spells|monster spells]], with which she will exclusively cast [[open wounds]].

==Generation==
Witch's familiars are not randomly generated, and are not a valid form for polymorph.

The witch's familiar is always generated accompanying the witches, apprentice witches and coven leader in the Temples of the Old Gods within the [[Neutral Quest (dNetHack)|Neutral Quest]]. A familiar is generated at the same level as her witch, and the witches and coven leader are capable of summoning another if the necessity arises.

==Strategy==
The witches' familiars are a primary reason that players should carefully consider line-of-sight when approaching the witch coven: their open wounds spells can deal surprising amounts of damage to a character foolish enough to walk out into the open. Fortunately, they are quite slow at 6 [[speed]] and can be rendered ineffective by keeping out of their range.

While a familiar's casting abilities and importance to her witch should make the familiar a priority target in theory, the witches are capable of flying where their familiars cannot, and will approach you over the river while the familiars remain behind in relative safety - this can cause situations involving the coven to get out of hand, and often requires that characters have a high amount of HP and a source of [[half spell damage]] to deal with the battalion.

==Origin==
{{wikipedia|Brown Jenkin}}
The witch's familiar is partially based on Brown Jenkin, the familiar of Keziah Mason in the 1933 [[H.P. Lovecraft]] short story "The Dreams in the Witch House". Brown Jenkin is described as "a small white-fanged furry thing" raised on Keziah's blood, and appears as "no larger than a good-sized rat" in shape, with a sharp-toothed and bearded human face and human hand-like paws. For years, Brown Jenkin haunts the titular Witch House and Arkham in general, terrorizing the denizens and carrying messages between Keziah and the Devil; it also demonstrates the ability to speak all languages. Unlike Brown Jenkin, the witch's familiars of (not)dNetHack are referred to as "she" and "her", and squeak when [[chatting]] to them rather than speaking any form of language (at least to the player character).
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[[Category:dNetHack monsters]]
[[Category:notdNetHack monsters]]
[[Category:Cthulhu Mythos]]