Okay Game Masters, how many times have your players asked you about familiars and other companions? If at least one wizard or warlock in the group displays how fun this relationship can be, that may lead to a desire for others to have their own little friend.
Some want one for color or roleplaying. Some want one for the power it gives in scouting and the Help action. Some want one out of sheer envy. Players are all different.
Despite any plot hooks you might think are obvious, or clear indications the characters should take on a task or head in a specific direction, they still seek out something they want. Feel free to jump on this opportunity as a way to create new encounters, plot threads and campaigns.
No player could honestly or fully shrug off any culpability in any events which spawn from their agency, if and only if you allow the story to follow their direction.
To that end, you might even wish to have a district in a larger community filled with places like the one in this encounter, along with potion apothecaries, arcane focus dealers and material component markets.
Even in a lower magic setting, so long as you have no magic item dealers, you could run such establishments in their own section. They might even come with their own social stigma, or their own array of con men and charlatans who would more than gladly pawn off their junk as magical.
You may even wish to make some of these vendors transient. They could take their wares from town to town like the snake oil salesmen of our own history. Imagine mixing fake magic trinkets with actual oddities as the makeup of their wagon bound inventories.
The options here are truly endless.
In this specific case, we address Fibble and his Fantastic Familiar shop. For the purposes of this encounter we’ll place this shop in an urban setting whether it’s a city, village, town or thorpe. But the shop could just as easily be mobile, and adventurers could pass by the merchant wagon on the roadside.
Encounter Type: Social
Map: Shop
Lighting: None (single room encounter.)
System: 5E
Length: One shot
Installation Type: Addon
License: Roll20 End User License Agreement
(Personal Use Only, Do Not Distribute)