Alternative Warlock familiars

[Falcon X]

I am a DM working with a player on a chainlock that is about to get it's familiar and I know she isn't too crazy about her default options. I might set up a new set of 4 for her to choose from. I'm going to glean some ideas from the 3.5 improved familiars, but I was wondering if the playground had any ideas.
Here are my first thoughts:

As-is in the Monster Manual:
Faerie Dragon (Young)
Stirge
Mephit (various)
Mycanoid Sprout
Flumph
Darkmantle
Skeleton (Undying Light Patron)
Zombie (Undying Light Patron)
Specter (Undying Light Patron)
Will-O'-Wisp (Undying Light Patron)
Crawling Claw (Princes of the Apocalypse Supplement)

Homebrew/Reduce:
Shocker Lizard
Coure Eladrin (Reduce to Sprite stats)
Formian Worker

I will update this post with suggestions from others. However, I will leave out all "creative" ideas that need more explanation than their name. They can be referenced in the comments.

[krugaan]

I am a DM working with a player on a chainlock that is about to get it's familiar and I know she isn't too crazy about her default options. I might set up a new set of 4 for her to choose from. I'm going to glean some ideas from the 3.5 improved familiars, but I was wondering if the playground had any ideas.
Here are my first thoughts:

As-is in the Monster Manual:
Faerie Dragon (Young)
Stirge
Mephit (various)
Mycanoid Sprout

Homebrew/Reduce:
Shocker Lizard
Coure Eladrin (Reduce to Sprite stats)
Formian Worker

Flumph is just begging to be a familiar.

[Falcon X]

Flumph is just begging to be a familiar.
Completely agreed. I'll edit the list

[JakOfAllTirades]

I've always liked the Darkmantle as a potential familiar for a GOO or darkness-themed warlock.

[Malifice]

I am a DM working with a player on a chainlock that is about to get it's familiar and I know she isn't too crazy about her default options. I might set up a new set of 4 for her to choose from. I'm going to glean some ideas from the 3.5 improved familiars, but I was wondering if the playground had any ideas.
Here are my first thoughts:

As-is in the Monster Manual:
Faerie Dragon (Young)
Stirge
Mephit (various)
Mycanoid Sprout
Flumph

Homebrew/Reduce:
Shocker Lizard
Coure Eladrin (Reduce to Sprite stats)
Formian Worker

Man just re-fluff the existing ones and call them what you want.

An Imp/ Sprite/ pseudodragon can me a homonculous, a celestial spirit, a flumph or whatever.

[Falcon X]

I've always liked the Darkmantle as a potential familiar for a GOO or darkness-themed warlock.
Love it. Right in the right power range too I'm thinking.


Man just re-fluff the existing ones and call them what you want.

An Imp/ Sprite/ pseudodragon can me a homonculous, a celestial spirit, a flumph or whatever.
That's definitely what I'm doing for some of them that I'll look at. Sprite = Coure Eladrin. Pseudodragon = Faerie Dragon. She also requested an owl type, so I might gimp an Owl Archon into the stats of a Sprite.

Only problem is that some desired creatures just do not have a direct equivalency. A mephit is elemental and therefore will have elemental abilities. However, it's a CR 1/2 creature so it shouln't break the game if her character wants her familiar to be one.

[Millstone85]

I am running into the same issue as a player.
I made a thread here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?471891-GOO-familiar-homebrew) before realizing this one already existed.

[Anderlith]

Homunculi really need to be Improved Familiars. & they need a necromancer themed one & a light/radiant themes one to reflect the new pacts

[Lonely Tylenol]

Homunculi really need to be Improved Familiars. & they need a necromancer themed one & a light/radiant themes one to reflect the new pacts

If you don't mind a little bit of creep (as regards HP, mainly), skeleton and zombie are both CR 1/4 creatures which can be used as familiars for the Undead patron. Aside from being larger and bulkier than normal, they are not out of line with the power level of other improved familiar options; in fact, they offer nothing over Imps and Quasit aside from being bulkier combat forms (and, in the case of skeletons, the ability to wield normal-sized weapons).

If you are willing to scale down, Specter and Will-'o-Wisp also make plausible familiars, both for the Undead and (in the case of the latter) the Undying Light patrons.

[Silavor]

Crawling Claws also make great familiars for necromancer-types.

[Bgharcourt]

I have a mini Cloaker named Noroth(Nori for short). A reskined owl that travels on my head, giving me both a cool looking hood and eyes on the back of my head.

[M Placeholder]

Flumph is just begging to be a familiar.

A familiar for a Warlock whose patron is from the Far Realm, but benevolent and wants to help the creatures in our world in the only way he knows how fits the flumph pretty well I feel. Also, you could have the flumph be the correspondent for the dude from another plane of existence and tell him all about our world.

[gfishfunk]

- Pixie Skeleton. An undead pixie servant.
- Very small gelatinous cube, like 11 centimeters by 11 centimeters.
- Floating Animated Top Hat.

[Lonely Tylenol]

Crawling Claws also make great familiars for necromancer-types.

Crawling Claw! Forgot about that one. I'm away from book, but how would sharing senses work with it?

[Silavor]

Crawling Claw! Forgot about that one. I'm away from book, but how would sharing senses work with it?

Like a lot of magical constructs without eyes, Crawling Claws have "Blindsight 30 ft. (blind beyond this radius)" as their means of 'seeing' the world around them. Sharing senses with one would certainly be an experience! I guess it would be like having a 30 ft. spotlight of near-perfect vision centered on the hand, while everything outside that 30 ft. sphere is total darkness.

Edit: 'spotlight of near-perfect vision' might not be the best way to describe blindsight. It's more like having a near-perfect outline/mental map of all physical objects within that radius, regardless of light level.

[gfishfunk]

Like a lot of magical constructs without eyes, Crawling Claws have "Blindsight 30 ft. (blind beyond this radius)" as their means of 'seeing' the world around them. Sharing senses with one would certainly be an experience! I guess it would be like having a 30 ft. spotlight of near-perfect vision centered on the hand, while everything outside that 30 ft. sphere is total darkness.

I imagine it like a pressure pushing in from different directions, giving an idea of what is around - almost like wind on the face, but giving a more detailed feel.

[Dalebert]

One thing to keep in mind is that special familiars tend to share qualities that give them a certain utility beyond just fighting--stealthy scouting, communication, special senses (that can be shared with the master), conveying messages over distances, etc. Just because you can use a special familiar for combat doesn't mean you should, and that becomes increasingly true at higher levels as its combat potential dwindles to insignificance. A chain warlock is defined by their familiar so it should continue to be useful at high levels.

If you just think smallish creature of a certain CR range, you may be selling it short. I've been screwed IMHO by a DM who was trying to be creative. In a 2nd edition game when you rolled randomly, I got lucky and rolled a 15 which should have netted me a pseudo-dragon based on my alignment at the time. The DM always seeking to be creative and unconventional had me get a giant firefly that's only abilities were making a little light and shooting fire from its butt once a day. We were in the teens in levels. It was nothing but a liability and I still hold a grudge to this day.

[Falcon X]

A familiar for a Warlock whose patron is from the Far Realm, but benevolent and wants to help the creatures in our world in the only way he knows how fits the flumph pretty well I feel. Also, you could have the flumph be the correspondent for the dude from another plane of existence and tell him all about our world.
True enough. However, the rules aren't strict that your alignment must match the familiar. I could also see some fey with Flumph buddies, even though they are aberrations.


I have a mini Cloaker named Noroth(Nori for short). A reskined owl that travels on my head, giving me both a cool looking hood and eyes on the back of my head.
Nice. The one I'm currently looking for specifically requested something owl-like. I don't know if she will get it, but I'll look into this idea.

I was considering making a miniature Owl Archon, or creating a new breed of Guardinals that were owls and putting them lower than the Musteval Guardinals.


One thing to keep in mind is that special familiars tend to share qualities that give them a certain utility beyond just fighting--stealthy scouting, communication, special senses (that can be shared with the master), conveying messages over distances, etc. Just because you can use a special familiar for combat doesn't mean you should, and that becomes increasingly true at higher levels as its combat potential dwindles to insignificance. A chain warlock is defined by their familiar so it should continue to be useful at high levels.

If you just think smallish creature of a certain CR range, you may be selling it short. I've been screwed IMHO by a DM who was trying to be creative. In a 2nd edition game when you rolled randomly, I got lucky and rolled a 15 which should have netted me a pseudo-dragon based on my alignment at the time. The DM always seeking to be creative and unconventional had me get a giant firefly that's only abilities were making a little light and shooting fire from its butt once a day. We were in the teens in levels. It was nothing but a liability and I still hold a grudge to this day.
True enough. That's also why you are given 4 options of different challenge ratings. For example, a Mycanoid Sprout is pretty worthless for most things. However, it's one power of using communication spores makes it as valuable as many of the others.

It is worth discussing if familiars can change forms. I believe the book implies that the warlock's familiar is a spirit that can change into any of the 4 forms + all the normal familiar beast forms. Though, personally, I might have it have a primary form that defines it's personality.
That is the assumption I'm making with this list. I intend to create a bank of 4 creatures that fit her character's patron. Taking a note from the player's handbook, they should also be spread out a bit among alignments.
Ex. One of her options for a patron is an Asura (CG Angel who wields fire). An appropriate set might be a fire mephit, quasit, faerie dragon, and flumph. She would make the flumph it's personality, but it could turn into the form of a quasit if it desired.

[Dalebert]

I believe the book implies that the warlock's familiar is a spirit that can change into any of the 4 forms + all the normal familiar beast forms.

It's quite explicit that it can do exactly that. Anyone with FF can change the form of their spirit to any of the animal choices. A chain warlock can recast the spell to change their spirit's form to any of those OR any of the improved familiars. So you can have an imp one day and spend 10 gp and 70 mins to have a pseudo-dragon the next day.