A Familiar Question!

[Xar Zarath]

Hey guys and gals!:smallwink: I have a question that has been rattling in my brain for a while.

When a wizard/sorcerer has a familiar, say an Imp for example, can the Imp familiar's supernatural/extraordinary abilities such as their poison sting, fear, suggestion etc affect the wiz/sor they are bound to?

I understand that if they scratch or strike their masters that would count, but can their magical abilities really affect their "owners"?

[Diarmuid]

Why wouldnt they?

Fear, Suggestion are just spells. If the Sor/Wiz cast these with the familiar targetted they would have the normal effect.

The same would be the case in reverse. The Master/Familiar relationship doesnt imbue any special immunities.

[The Trickster]

From Player's Handbook;


Familiars are magically linked to their masters. In some sense, the familiar and the master are practically one being.

From Rules of the Game on the Wizard's website;


In spite of its links to the master, a familiar can think and act on its own. It can perform any number of tasks that don't exceed its physical limits.

Even if the master and familiar are "as one being", a wizard can still attack himself if he wanted to. So I would say yes, an imp's poison would work it's master.

As for fear...well, from Player's Handbook;


Empathic Link (Su): The master has an empathic link with his familiar out to a distance of up to 1 mile. The master cannot see through the familiar's eyes, but they can communicate empathically. Because of the limited nature of the link, only general emotional content (such as fear, hunger, happiness, curiosity) can be communicated.

If the imp casts fear on the wizard, and they share an empathic link...wouldn't the imp become afraid too? :smallbiggrin:

[Barstro]

If the imp casts fear on the wizard, and they share an empathic link...wouldn't the imp become afraid too? :smallbiggrin:

The imp would feel that the wizard felt fear. Pretty sure they only sense emotions, but do not share emotions.

As for poison sting, I'd try to convince my DM to allow the wizard to slowly build up an immunity.