Familiar

Your AI co-pilot for Foundry VTT

188 tools. 26 AI providers. Zero prep.

Run combat, set the mood, and voice your NPCs, all by talking to your AI.

Installation | Connect Your AI | Pricing | FAQ | Roadmap

What can Familiar do?

Ask your AI to do things that would normally take you minutes of clicking through menus:

"Roll initiative for all the goblins, have them attack the nearest player, and play battle music."

"Spawn two Wolves from the compendium as reinforcements, place them near the forest edge, and add them to combat with initiative rolled."

"Dim the lights, start rain and thunder, and have the innkeeper whisper a warning about the road ahead, in his voice."

"Find a CR 3 werewolf in the compendium, drop it into the scene as a boss, and give it resistance to non-silvered weapons."

"We're done for tonight. Summarize what happened and save it."

Familiar exposes 188 tools across 24 domains through the Model Context Protocol. Tools load as your AI needs them. No upfront configuration.

Highlights

Combat & AI

29 tools cover encounters end to end: initiative, attacks, spells, damage, conditions, death saves, and XP. NPCs make their own tactical decisions using battlefield snapshots, scored movement, and cover analysis.

Auto-Pilot

Click "Run NPC" and walk away. Familiar plays every enemy turn in the encounter for you, with safety caps and optional turn-by-turn confirmation.

Live Transcription

Speak instead of type. Familiar transcribes your session in real time across three providers, color-codes per speaker, and saves the transcript to a Foundry journal.

Scenes & Canvas

Create scenes, place tokens, draw walls and doors, set lighting and darkness, add weather effects, and configure trigger regions. Full control over tiles, drawings, ambient sounds, fog of war, and camera.

Voice & Image Generation

Assign unique AI voices to NPCs across four providers. Have the tavern keeper actually speak his lines, in his own voice. Generate character portraits, item art, and battle map backgrounds on the fly.

Audio & Atmosphere

Play, stop, and crossfade playlists and individual tracks with volume and fade control. Cue battle music, build ambient soundscapes, or silence everything without touching Foundry's sidebar.

Knowledge & Memory

Semantic search across every journal, character, scene, and item. A persistent memory bank stores campaign facts that carry over between sessions, plus a continuously-rewritten plot summary the GM can read later.

Multi-Session Chat

Pin, archive, and switch between named campaign threads. Each thread persists as a Foundry journal entry with a full audit log, so you can return to any conversation later.

Characters & Items

Build NPCs, manage party inventory, apply buffs, and clone monsters from any compendium. Active effects, ownership, and player permissions all wired up.

| Domain | Tools | What it does | |---|--:|---| | Scenes & Tokens | 19 | Build scenes, place and move tokens, configure vision and movement | | Canvas Environment | 18 | Walls, lights, weather effects, fog of war, darkness levels | | Combat & Initiative | 17 | Start encounters, roll initiative, advance turns and rounds | | Characters & Actors | 16 | Create, inspect, update, and manage player characters and NPCs | | Audio & Playlists | 14 | Play, stop, and crossfade music and ambient sound | | Combat AI | 12 | NPC tactical decisions, target selection, ability usage, positioning | | Journals & Notes | 10 | Create and edit journal entries, map pins, and handouts | | Card Decks | 9 | Draw, deal, shuffle, pass, and manage card hands and decks | | Canvas Drawing | 8 | Draw shapes, text, and freehand annotations on the canvas | | Rollable Tables | 7 | Create tables and roll on them for random encounters or loot | | Macros | 7 | Create, edit, and execute Foundry macros | | World & System | 7 | World info, system settings, time, pause, and user management | | Items | 6 | Create, update, delete, and search world-level items | | Active Effects | 5 | Apply, remove, and toggle buffs, debuffs, and status effects | | Folders | 5 | Organize documents into folder hierarchies | | Regions | 5 | Define map regions with triggered behaviors | | Ember Events | 5 | Custom event system for module-to-module hooks | | Knowledge & Memory | 5 | Campaign knowledge base, session memory, context retrieval | | Compendium & Rules | 4 | Search and import from compendium packs and rule references | | Voice Generation | 4 | Generate NPC speech audio with distinct AI voices | | Chat Messages | 2 | Send and read chat messages in the Foundry sidebar | | Dice | 1 | Roll any dice expression with full Foundry roll parsing | | Image Generation | 1 | Generate scene art or character portraits on demand | | Scene Generator | 1 | Generate complete scenes from text blueprints |

Pricing

$3/month with a free 1-month trial so you can try everything before you commit. All features are available during the trial, no restrictions.

Familiar itself costs $3/month. AI provider costs are separate and depend on your usage and chosen provider. A typical D&D session runs roughly $0.50–$3 in API costs depending on the model, or $0 if you use a subscription (Claude, ChatGPT/Codex, Antigravity/Gemini) through MCP or local models through Ollama.

Your keys, your cost

Most AI tabletop tools lock you into their ecosystem. They charge per turn, per credit, or per token, and you're stuck with whatever model they picked for you. Run out of credits mid-session? Too bad.

Familiar works differently. You bring your own AI, whether that's an API key you already have or a subscription to Claude, ChatGPT/Codex, or Gemini. Familiar never proxies, meters, or marks up your usage. Your API keys go straight from your browser to the provider. With MCP, your existing subscription handles it. There's no middleman, no per-turn limits, and no credits that run out.

Installation

Install the Foundry module, pick a provider, and start talking to your game.

If you want to connect an MCP client (Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Codex CLI / Desktop, Antigravity CLI / Editor, Gemini CLI, or ChatGPT), you also need the MCP server:

npx familiar-vtt

The MCP Setup Wizard in Module Settings → Familiar walks you through connecting your client step by step. No JSON editing.

Compatibility

| | Supported | |---|---| | Foundry VTT | v13, v14 | | Game System | D&D 5e (2024 rules), full support. Other systems work for general features (chat, journals, scenes, audio) but lack system-specific tools like character sheets and combat automation. |

Connect your AI

There are two ways to connect an AI to your game. Both give the AI the same 188 tools. The difference is where the model runs and how you pay.

Option 1: Built-in chat (API key)

No server. No terminal. No config files. Install the module, pick a provider, paste an API key, and start talking.

Familiar connects directly to 26 AI providers across four categories:

| Category | Providers | |----------|-----------| | Chat (16) | OpenRouter¹, Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, Groq, Mistral, Together AI, DeepSeek, xAI, Cohere, Perplexity, Fireworks AI, Cerebras, SambaNova, Ollama (local), LM Studio (local) | | Voice (4) | ElevenLabs, Cartesia, OpenAI TTS, PlayHT | | Image (3) | OpenAI (GPT Image), fal.ai, Leonardo AI | | Transcription (3) | Gladia, Deepgram, AssemblyAI |

¹ OpenRouter unlocks 300+ models on a single key.

This is the right choice if you want the simplest setup, or if you want voice, images, and live transcription alongside chat. It's also the only option that supports local models (Ollama, LM Studio) for fully offline play.

Option 2: MCP (your existing subscription)

Already paying for Claude, ChatGPT/Codex, Gemini, or have a Google account for Antigravity? Put that subscription to work. Connect it directly to Familiar through the Model Context Protocol. Your subscription becomes a DM assistant at no extra API cost.

Familiar supports eight MCP clients out of the box:

| Client | Subscription | Transport | Setup | |--------|-------------|-----------|-------| | Claude Desktop | Anthropic Pro / Max / Team | stdio | Add to claude_desktop_config.json with env: { FAMILIAR_WS_SECRET } | | Claude Code (CLI) | Anthropic Pro / Max / Team | stdio | claude mcp add --env FAMILIAR_WS_SECRET=… familiar -- npx familiar-vtt | | Codex CLI | ChatGPT Plus / Pro / Team | stdio | codex mcp add familiar --env FAMILIAR_WS_SECRET=… -- npx -y familiar-vtt | | Codex Desktop | ChatGPT Plus / Pro / Team | stdio | Add [mcp_servers.familiar] block to ~/.codex/config.toml (shared with CLI / IDE) | | Antigravity CLI (agy) | Google free / Pro / Ultra | stdio | Generates ~/.gemini/config/mcp_config.json; sign in via agy → Google OAuth | | Antigravity Editor | Google free / Pro / Ultra | stdio | Add to ~/.gemini/antigravity/mcp_config.json (desktop IDE; separate install from CLI) | | Gemini CLI ¹ | Google | stdio | Add to MCP settings with the env block | | ChatGPT | ChatGPT Plus / Pro / Team | Streamable HTTP | Remote URL via Cloudflare tunnel |

¹ Gemini CLI is deprecated by Google on 2026-06-18 — use Antigravity CLI instead.

You don't need to configure each client by hand. The MCP Setup Wizard in Module Settings → Familiar detects your connected client and generates the exact config — including the auto-generated FAMILIAR_WS_SECRET baked in. Copy and paste.

Which should I pick?

| I want to... | Use | |--------------|-----| | Get started in under a minute | Built-in chat with any API key | | Use my Claude / ChatGPT / Codex / Gemini / Antigravity subscription | MCP | | Run everything offline | Built-in chat with Ollama or LM Studio | | Have voice, images, and transcription | Built-in chat (MCP is text-only) | | Run complex multi-step tasks | MCP (external clients handle long chains better) |

Works with what you already have

Familiar works best when there's already great content in your world. The Foundry community has spent years building incredible modules, battle maps, character sheets, compendium packs, and ready-to-play adventures. Familiar doesn't try to replace any of that. It reads what's already there and uses it.

Those compendium entries with pre-built monsters, spells, and items? The AI pulls from them instead of making things up. That beautifully lit dungeon map someone spent weeks on? The AI can place tokens on it, trigger the right music, and run the encounter. The more content your world has, the better Familiar gets.

Why I built this

I'm Ryan. Dad of two young kids, married to my favorite person, with the free time you'd expect.

My wife and I play D&D together, just the two of us, 1-on-1 campaigns. It's our thing. But solo DMing is a lot. You're the storyteller, every NPC, the rules engine, the sound guy, and the atmosphere all at once. Mid-monologue as a mysterious stranger, I'd have to break character to roll initiative, look up a spell range, adjust the lighting, and find that one tavern ambience track I swore I bookmarked. By the time I got back to the scene, the moment was gone.

I wanted something that could handle the mechanical side of the table so I could stay in the story. Not a replacement DM, a co-pilot. Something I could say "roll initiative for the goblins, dim the torches, and start combat music" to, and it would handle it. While I kept talking.

So I started building. First it was a handful of tools to move tokens and roll dice. Then I added combat tracking. Then scene management. Then "what if it could also generate NPC portraits on the fly?" and "what if it could voice the tavern keeper?" That's how you end up with 188 tools across 24 domains and 26 AI providers.

It started as a personal itch-scratcher for a dad who wanted to run better D&D games for his wife. It turns out a lot of GMs have the same itch.

FAQ

No. There's no telemetry, no analytics, and no data collection of any kind. Familiar runs entirely inside your local Foundry instance. Your data only leaves your machine when you choose to send a message to an external AI provider. If you use local models through Ollama or LM Studio, nothing ever leaves your network.

Familiar sanitizes all document updates so the AI can't change ownership, permissions, or internal IDs. Prototype pollution protection is built in, destructive operations require confirmation, and WebSocket connections use shared-secret authentication. Always keep backups regardless. Good practice with or without AI.

Everything stays in your Foundry world. Memory banks, knowledge base indexes, session transcripts, generated portraits, all of it lives in your local Foundry data directory, owned by your world. Cancelling stops Familiar from running new tool calls once the license check fails, but nothing the AI already created gets touched.

Built-in chat works anywhere Foundry runs, including The Forge. The module makes API calls directly from the browser. MCP mode is trickier: it needs a local MCP server alongside Foundry, so hosted providers without shell access can't run the server. Use built-in chat for hosted Foundry, MCP for self-hosted.

Built-in chat runs inside Foundry with no extra server. The fastest way to start. MCP connects Familiar to external clients (Claude Desktop, Codex CLI / Desktop, Antigravity CLI / Editor, ChatGPT, Gemini) through a local server, letting you use existing subscriptions and handling complex multi-step tasks better. Both have access to the same 188 tools.

For the best experience: Claude Opus 4.7 or Sonnet 4.6 (Anthropic), GPT-5.5 (OpenAI), Gemini 3.1 Pro (Google), Grok 4.3 (xAI), Mistral Large 3 (Mistral), or DeepSeek V3.2 (DeepSeek).

Absolutely. Solo and small-group play is one of the main use cases. I built Familiar for 1-on-1 D&D campaigns with my wife. The AI can run NPCs, manage encounters, describe scenes, and help with rulings so you can play without a dedicated DM.

Familiar requires GM permissions. It's designed as a GM tool that reads and modifies world data. Players can interact with it through the built-in chat if the GM enables it, but the module itself needs GM-level access to function.

Familiar is designed and tested for D&D 5e (2024 rules). Basic features like dice rolling, scene management, and journal editing work with other systems, but system-specific tools (character creation, spell resolution, combat automation) are built around the dnd5e data model and won't work elsewhere without changes.

No. Familiar operates through its own namespaced flags and doesn't monkey-patch or override core Foundry functionality. It works alongside any other module you have installed.

Roadmap

Things I'm actively working toward. No promises on timelines.

Module Integrations

Let the AI control the most popular Foundry modules: automated rolls, visual effects, animations, loot, and more.

| Module | What Familiar will do with it | |--------|-------------------------------| | Sequencer + JB2A | Orchestrate animation sequences and trigger spell effects | | Token Magic FX | Apply shader effects to tokens and tiles (fire auras, glowing shields) | | Item Piles | Create and manage loot drops, merchants, and treasure hoards | | DFreds Convenient Effects | Apply and manage curated status effects and buffs |

Ready-to-Play Adventures

Plug-and-play support for published adventures. Import the adventure, enable Familiar, and the AI already knows the story, NPCs, maps, and encounters. Starting with Ember (Foundry's own 500-hour sandbox campaign) and expanding to popular published modules.

Game System Support

Expanding beyond D&D 5e with full system-specific tools (character sheets, combat automation, spell resolution).

| System | Status | |--------|--------| | D&D 5e (2024) | Supported | | Pathfinder 2e | Planned | | Call of Cthulhu | Planned | | Savage Worlds | Planned |

Improvements

• Combat AI: retreat behavior, morale, group coordination beyond what shipped
• Voice generation: emotion control, more natural multi-voice conversations
• Image generation: consistent character portraits across sessions, style presets
• MCP: richer notifications/message feedback so external clients see tool progress in real time

Feedback

Join the Discord for bug reports, feature ideas, or just tell me about the weird thing the AI did to your goblin encounter.

License

Familiar is licensed under the PolyForm Shield License 1.0.0. You can use, read, and modify the software freely, but you may not use it to build a competing product. See LICENSE for the full text.

Built for the DM who has more ideas than free time.

May your rolls be high, your prep be low, and your players never notice the AI is helping.