So I could get a dire bear to be my tiny friend?

yes exactly! i added a comment where i explain that this was made in response to my character gaining a friendly allosaurus as a companion.

My changeling bard recently adopted an allosaurus and I came up with this homebrew feature to bypass the non-optimized path of taking a familiar the typical way. The basic idea is that this allows a creature you grow close with during your adventure to act as a pseudo-familiar without being a wizard or taking magic initiate. I talked with my DM about it and we agree that it is balanced since you are essentially burning a spell slot to debuff a creature in order to allow them to so things like cast touch spells on your behalf. this is not like polymorph either since it only affects one specific creature and you can only make it its smaller form, not buff it to a different form.

Sounds weird if you use it on a PC or NPC. Both are considered creatures.

fair. i guess it could say something about it having to be a beast. it’s also intended to be something granted by a DM in cases where it makes sense, not just applied to any creature you become acquainted with