Dracopiom's Companion

Your character may have an animal companion or, if you prefer, a small garden they keep that you have a magical bond to. While it seems most obvious to have a garden of the carnivorous plants you resemble, it is not necessary to go that direction. If you do choose to have a garden, you will need to carry a sample from it (the primary plant grown there) as a representation of it to gain any magic from it. If you choose an animal, it will be your constant companion unless you ask it otherwise.

You can choose any animal or plants or fungi native to the wetlands of Italy, but here are some options that would give you an extra magical ability:

• Bladderwort (or the carnivorous plant you resemble if it is not a bladderwort): +1 permanent bonus to one of your innate powers.
• Crested Newt: these 5” to 6” newts would give you the ability to self-heal a wound thrice during the campaign. Pick this one if you want a companion that clings to you and loves to swim.
• Dice Snake: this nonvenomous water snake would give you a permanent +2 to swimming; it would have the ability to spray a foul-smelling musk as a defense.
• Glasswort: if this is the primary plant in your garden, should you choose a garden instead of an animal, you will have +3 to your poison resistance. It is an edible plant.
• Great White Pelican: if you choose this bird, you will have the ability to take wounds for other characters thrice in the campaign. It would go fishing for you.
• [European] Green Lizard: this 5” to 6” green lizard would give you a bonus to escaping from holds or grapples. It would otherwise be a lazy companion.
• Kingfisher: these colorful little birds would give you the ability to see clearly even in muddy waters. They would help you with fishing.
• Lesser Flamingo: having a flamingo companion would make you resistant to heat and fire attacks. They would be very bright and distracting.
• [Italian] Mastiff: also called Cane Corso, this is a breed of guard dog. They would act as a living alarm. You would get +2 to smell perception.
• Osprey: this fishing raptor would give you a token to make a non-major enemy NPC surrender once during the campaign. The osprey would help with hunting and fishing.
• [Sardinian] Pika: this little lagomorph would give you +2 to speed and be a cute little friend who I would die for.
• [European] Polecat: a short mustelid with attitude, it is a hunter of vermin. You would get the ability to make a called headshot without penalties against an enemy thrice per campaign, and your companion would be a mean fighter with a smelly musk defense.
• Purple Heron: choosing this 3’ tall long-necked water bird would allow you to twice tell it a secret that is then protected from being taken from you.
• [Arno] River Dog: [Canis arnensis] these golden protojackals would give you the ability to speak to all canines. It would be a large, powerful canine companion.
• Saker Falcon: this very swift falcon would give you five tokens to spend to automatically catch up with someone or something running from you. It would be a powerful hunting companion.
• Southern Festoon Butterfly: this butterfly would give you a more youthful appearance and +1 to PRS. You could have up to three of them as companions (though the bonus would not stack), and they would be able to lift small objects.
• Tethyshadros: if you choose this 15’ long hadrosaur, you get no special abilities, but you get a 15’ long dinosaur. It’s big enough to ride.
• [Jersey] Tiger Moth: this moth would make you more sensitive to light sources and give you +1 to STH. You could have up to three of them as companions (though the bonus would not stack), and they would be able to serve as a distraction for you.
• Water Milfoil: if this submerged plant is the primary plant in your garden, you will have the ability to breathe underwater.
• Water Violet: if this plant is the primary in your garden, you can walk on mud, wet sand, or other wet ground without being slowed down.
• Western Marsh Harrier: this raptor would give you +2 to hunting and be a powerful hunting companion.
• Wild Mussel: if you are weird enough to pick a mussel as your companion, you get +5/+5 toughness and a companion that does nothing but needs lots of water. Weirdo.

Below are some animals and plants common to the wetlands of Piapperto:

• Amphibians: agile frogs, crested newts, southern spectacled salamanders, yellow-bellied toads
• Arthropods: mosquitos, brine shrimp, festoon butterflies, jersey tiger moths, marsh fritillaries
• Birds: ferruginous ducks, greylag geese, kingfishers, lesser flamingos, great cormorants, little bitterns, mallards, moorhens, moustached warblers, pochards, purple herons, red-backed shrikes, red knots, reed buntings, saker falcons, teals, western marsh harriers, wrynecks, buzzards, cranes, dunlins, glossy ibises, great egrets, great white pelicans, little grebes, loons, northern lapwings, marsh sandpipers, marsh tits, marsh warblers, ospreys, pied avocets, river warblers, spoonbills, spotted crakes, water rails, western swamphens, white or black storks
• Fish: bream fish, brook lampreys, carp, chub, horse barbels, lavarets, marbled trouts, perches, rudds, tenches, white bleaks
• Mammals: brown bears, cats, cows, dogs, jackals, otters, [sardinian] pika, polecats, red foxes, sheep, water shrews, water voles, wood mice
• Mollusks: wild mussels
• Plants: reeds, rushes, field elms, ash plants, tamarisk, willows, seepweed, glassworts, sea purslanes, many salt-tolerant plants, many submergent plants, floating vegetation of many kinds, artemisia caerulescens cretacea, centaurea aplolepa subciliata, sedges, rice, narrowleaf cattails, summer snowflakes, water violets, marsh spurges, pines, junipers, zostera, water plantains, cottonwoods, pondweed, water milfoils, orchids
• Reptiles: barred grass snakes, dice snakes, green lizards, viperine water snakes

While there are many turtles present, it is illegal for you to keep one due to Venutomartio’s fondness for them.