TruthScape.com  9  TruthScape Skill Secrets       9  TruthScape Skill Secrets - Summoning            9  TruthScape Skill Secrets - Summoning - Understanding, Using and Benefiting From Familiars

Making Best Use of the Special Move Bar The Many Uses of Beasts of Burden

The combat prowess of familiars has been the subject of most of the discussion—and controversy—associated with Summoning in its first few weeks. What most players don’t realize, though, is that it is the non-combat abilities of familiars that are the real sleeper of the skill. These abilities can help you with skills, gain you resources, save you time and money, and much more.

Most familiars have non-combat abilities, and of course, every one is at least slightly different. There are many common categories of these capabilities, though, and so to avoid repeating myself too much in my individual familiar descriptions, I decided to provide this common section to explain how the more popular features work. I then refer back here, when appropriate, from the topics that outline the familiars themselves.

I start out with lots of information on beasts of burden, which will carry items for you, making them handy in many circumstances. I explain how skill boost abilities work, contrasting the two types used in Summoning, and then discuss how you can make good use of familiars that forage, gather or produce items. The last topic covers miscellaneous features, including light enhancement and remote view. (Note that right-click abilities are generally combat-related and so are in the next section rather than this one.)

Making Best Use of the Special Move Bar The Many Uses of Beasts of Burden