Here on LOLA, we offer a variety of ways to introduce depth to your character, including getting a pet or familiar. You can even get a spirit guardian to summon to your side, with enough skill that is. I'll break into each of these one at a time, explaining the differences, pro's and cons.
PETS
Pets are generally small creatures that you can buy and raise from a pet store. These would be things such as Korra's Polarbear Dog, or the lovable lemur, Momo. These can offer some assistance in combat, but are generally more for company and companionship than anything.
These animals have no bending related abilities, nor are they granted any mystical abilities such as fire breath or the like. They are simply able to do things that normal animals of their kind can do. Such as the Eel Hound being able to run across water, Momo being able to glide or something of that nature.
Their stat points are based on age, as a 2 year old Polarbear Dog wouldn't be as powerful as a 6 year old Polarbear Dog. they gain 100 stats to allocate for each year they live. They all have a lifespan of around 10 years. Though, if you breed them, 10% of their stats go to their young, who begin at 0 stats until they age up. If not done through timeskip, it takes roughly 75 posts of being with your pet to age it up one year.
A pet costs 1,000 gold per year old they are.
To breed, you must have two pets.
FAMILIARS
Familiars are quite more powerful than pets and often appear to be the progenitors of bending. Such as Appa the beloved sky bison or one of the badger moles. Dragons are long since extinct and as such are unable to be tamed.
Familiars are different to pets as they cannot be bought, and instead must be tamed. The younger a Familiar is, the easier it is to tame, though, unless you breed your own, its difficult to find a lone, youngling to tame without one of its parents around.
There is a requirement of 10 posts per year old the familiar is, to tame it.
Familiars can live for up to 30 years.
Familiars are able to use bending of a singular element and are often several times more proficient in this element than a normal bender. As such, their "Chi Control" multiplier, is treated as x4 rather than x2. Though it takes at least 30 posts of training with your already tamed familiar to be able to bend with it.
Familiars are more powerful than pets given that they are generally much larger in size. As such they gain 300 stats per year for the first 10 years. After that, they only gain 100 stats to their "Chi pool" and "Chi control" stats per year.
SPIRIT GUARDIANS
Now onto the most powerful and rare form of familiar, the Spirit Guardian. These are spirits of deceased animals or even simply creatures that have always been spirits born in the spirit world that one summons to aid them in a time of need. These can range from a normal pet, all the way up to a supernatural dragon. These pets are able to use bending, or even mystic abilities such as healing touch or fire breath. All of this depends on their size.
Additionally, one must be at least Advanced in their spirituality skill to even summon a smaller spirit with no abilities, but the more powerful your spirituality skill, the more powerful the guardian you can summon.
To be able to summon a spirit, one must focus on drawing it into the living world, this would cost roughly 50% of one's chi the first time they do it. One must then complete 10/20/30 posts of taming the spirit to be able to summon it again at will. From then on, conjuring the spirit costs 20%/30%/40% of one's total chi. Each conjured spirit can only maintain its hold on the physical world for 5 posts at a time, with a 2 post cooldown.
Small Guardians: Ranging in size from a single foot up to six feet in height, these creatures are considered the weakest of the Spirit Guardians, but also the easiest to summon. They have no skills or abilities, but have 600 stats to be allocated. 10 posts taming
Medium Guardians: Ranging in size from seven feet to 30 feet, these are the more well rounded and powerful of the spirits that can be summoned. These are able to bend or use a mystic ability. Though, they are only allowed to have TWO abilities, including bending as an ability. These begin with 1,200 stats to allocate. 20 posts taming
Large Guardians: These range from 30 feet to 100 feet, these guardians are massive and demand respect of both living and spirits. These are the most powerful spirits one can normally summon and have access to up to THREE abilities to choose from, including bending. They are granted 2,000 stats to allocate wherever they wish. 30 posts taming