Familiar

Wizards and Death
When a wizard dies their soul is often so wrapped in their secret that they will return as an embodiment of it. Necromancers often become liches, wraiths or other ghouls. Those with animal associated secrets or that have a symbolic animal or object will come back as something related, usually forged out of raw magic. Those with more abstract secrets such as words may return as a poem, a story or a tome written by the wizard and now animate. Those that perform none of these may still linger and eventually settle into other artifacts or items closely associated with their life. The potency of a familiar is often related to the power of the wizard, and some even continue their careers well past their second and third death, merely growing more intensely associated with their secret with each passing through the spirit state.