Non-Traditional Familiars

[Dr Miroux]

Hello all!

I'm rolling up a wizard after my warlock died early in our campaign due to an unfortunate run-in with a tree. I have decided that I want to try playing a Conjurer, so naturally I took Find Familiar as one of my level 1 spells. My DM recently got his hands on a copy of of Andreas Walters' "Baby Beastiary" (Which is pretty neat) and wants to introduce the rest of our players to idea of raising assorted magical beasts. His suggestions was to use one of the creatures from the book as a familiar in the same way a wizard might bond with a Pseudodragon. I am still deciding on whether or not to take him up on the offer, but in the meantime, I thought I would throw the idea out here to see what you all thought. With the relatively minimal set of actions a familiar has availiable, would this be particularly over-powered?

In that same vein, what sorts of familiars have you used outside of the ones listed in the PHB spell description, and what sort of RP have you used beside just casting Find Familiar?

[JumboWheat01]

Hmm... I know there's a big debate on the whole "quasit sharing its magic resistance" thing, so if some of these beasties seem any more overtly powerful than what is normally listed, I would be wary of it. Still, its your game, so your choice really.

As for your second question, I did have a gnome illusionist with a rabbit familiar that he went out of his way to buy a normal (and quite cute) rabbit at a pet store just for the occasion. He sat there and pet the rabbit the whole time he was casting the Find Familiar spell. My DM told me that was far too cute and he needed to get an insulin shot.

Taking his words to heart, I proceed to rub the cuteness in any time I could.

[Dr Miroux]

This has been one of my only real concerns so far. My first thought was to grab a baby Rust Monster (to keep it tiny or small sized instead of medium) since as a wizard I won't have too much metal on my person, but I figured that the rest of the party would end up rather peeved at my new friend and I.

[indemnity]

It really depends on your DM and what you want to do with the familiar (are you going to break the game?). I've never had a problem summoning any tiny creature for which I can find stats.

Warlocks can also get other familiars such as imps, pseudodragons, sprites, and quasits. Do you want one of those? Shared magic resist, speaking common, etc.

In 4e I had a pixie bard who rode a familiar fairy dragon as a mount and shot tiny arrows at enemies. If I got too munchkin, the DM would scare the dragon to make it teleport to another dimension.

Other uses can include:
Weasel has +5 stealth,+3 perception/keen hearing/keen smell: makes a good scout
Snake or spider to harvest poison for gold or attacks.
Octopus using camouflage to prank other party members.

[EvilAnagram]

A small child.

There was a horrible mix up, and now somewhere there's a confused family raising a Quasit.

[Dimers]

In that same vein, what sorts of familiars have you used outside of the ones listed in the PHB spell description, and what sort of RP have you used beside just casting Find Familiar?

Skunk. Hedgehog. Chicken. Sheep. Yip-dog. Capybara. Tortoise.

The familiar I always wanted most would be a money sink -- the crysmal from the 3.5 Psi book. It's a crystal/gem earth elemental creature shaped kinda like a very angular scorpion, and it reproduces by consuming and transforming gems. Get one of those as a familiar, play up how important the familiar is to the 'owner', and you'll constantly be feeding it gems (thus making baby crysmals). I dunno. Can't explain why I love it. I just do.

I gotta say, I'm used to PCs starting the game with a familiar, not casting the spell during play. So I can't answer the second part of that question.

[RickAllison]

I've always liked robins, so that's my choice. Nothing too special about it, I've just always liked robins :smallbiggrin:

[mgshamster]

Chicken.

I tried to get a chicken familiar once. The DM told me that she grew up on a farm and chickens are the dumbest animal on earth and there's no way it could ever be as smart as a familiar. Meanwhile, another player had an undead skeletal cat as a familiar. :(

[Belac93]

I tried to get a chicken familiar once. The DM told me that she grew up on a farm and chickens are the dumbest animal on earth and there's no way it could ever be as smart as a familiar. Meanwhile, another player had an undead skeletal cat as a familiar. :(

Should have petitioned for an undead chicken. Or demonic, or celestial, or fey.

Pigeons, chickens, platypuses, hamsters, octopuses, detached humans hands, and bunnies.

[RickAllison]

Should have petitioned for an undead chicken. Or demonic, or celestial, or fey.

Pigeons, chickens, platypuses, hamsters, octopuses, detached humans hands, and bunnies.

"You summoned me!?"

http://img05.deviantart.net/e1be/i/2010/086/8/9/demon_chicken_by_kevin_studios.jpg

[Logosloki]

Choose something that is local to your area or indigenous to your country. I have at times had kea, tui, kakapo and kiwi for a familiar, companion or as a wildshape.

Probably the most nonstandard outside of a magical beast would be an insect. Both normal and giant sized is fine.

[Coyote81]

Should have petitioned for an undead chicken. Or demonic, or celestial, or fey.

Pigeons, chickens, platypuses, hamsters, octopuses, detached humans hands, and bunnies.

I was playing a death cleric with ritual master and I took find familiar. My DM let my use me use an Undead Owl as my familiar.

[goto124]

My PCs have a pet penguin (http://antarctica03.weebly.com/uploads/5/6/8/6/56865577/2138204_orig.jpg).

Not a familiar, but close enough.

[Ogh_the_Second]

This was a 3.5 campaign, so familiar options were a bit wider, but my Circus-Actor character had a flea circus as its familiar.
This was under a rather permissive DM, though.

[Addaran]

For a pact of Chain Warlock, no problem. Just keep it at a relative CR of the strongest one they can get and pay attention for abuses.

For anything else, i'd be more careful. Normally you just cast the spell and a fey/fiend/celestial appear in the form of the chosen animal. It doesn't really matter if it dies, the real essence will just go back to it's plane and you can resummon it. For imp/quasit/pseudodragon familiar however, you have to actually find the creature and it has to aggree to share a bond with you (via casting the spell to get telepathy, share sense, etc) Depending how you treat it, the familiar can break the bond whenever it wants. And if it dies, you can't resummon it, so you need to be extra careful.

So i'd allow it for your wizard but it's be more a pet and your spell lets you have special powers with it, that the other members of the party won't enjoy with their pets. Same way, if the DM wants to encourage everyone to get pets, the Beastmaster should be able to make his pet become his class pet, even if it's not the right type of creature or too high CR (as long as everyone else can have the same CR-ish).

edit: Unusual familiar i've heard. Get a ant or bee queen as your familiar, so you actually have a swarm of normal ant/bee at your command. You won't be able to share senses with them but they can scout, come back to tell the queen who will tell you everything.

[jkat718]

One of my players' characters was a Necromancer with a Zombie Crab as his familiar. Unfortunately, he wasn't quite high enough level yet to cast Raise Dead, so for the first few levels, he walked around with a dead crab which he threw at people.

[Ewhit]

If your DM allies a wizard to get different special familiars it's ok but it takes away from warlock

[JakOfAllTirades]

A couple of creatures I'd like to see as familiars.

1. Darkmantles. From the Monster Manual.

2. Jackelopes! I haven't seen a 5E write up for these yet.

[mgshamster]

A couple of creatures I'd like to see as familiars.

1. Darkmantles. From the Monster Manual.

2. Jackelopes! I haven't seen a 5E write up for these yet.

We had a jackelope skull on display at a natural museum I used to work at. :)

It was fun to talk about.

[krugaan]

Are CR 1/2 commoners allowed as familiars? Lol

[JumboWheat01]

Are CR 1/2 commoners allowed as familiars? Lol

Considering how your average house cat can kill hundreds of commoners, I think you'd be holding yourself back a little too much.

[krugaan]

Considering how your average house cat can kill hundreds of commoners, I think you'd be holding yourself back a little too much.

Yes, but ... JARVIS!

[JumboWheat01]

Yes, but ... JARVIS!

I'd also like to point out that animal companions are (usually) incapable of snarking at you in a total deadpan manner when you do something particularly facepalm worthy.

[JakOfAllTirades]

We had a jackelope skull on display at a natural museum I used to work at. :)

It was fun to talk about.

Got any pics?

Seriously tho, if there's a Jackelope stat block for any edition of D&D, I could at least try to convert it to 5E. LOL

[Ikitavi]

If you allow a strength combat familiar instead of the traditional finesse ones, the Augment Summoning feat is pretty useful.

In my campaign, I allowed the 3rd level mage to have a small Earth Elemental familiar. Starting off with a strength of 21 makes a good door knocker. I allowed it mostly because the mage player was a bit new, and needed something to be effective, and because she liked the idea of having something that superficially looked like BB-8 as a familiar.

[Flashy]

If you allow a strength combat familiar instead of the traditional finesse ones, the Augment Summoning feat is pretty useful.

Wait, what Augment Summoning feat?

[goto124]

One of my players' characters was a Necromancer with a Zombie Crab as his familiar. Unfortunately, he wasn't quite high enough level yet to cast Raise Dead, so for the first few levels, he walked around with a dead crab which he threw at people.

That reminds me... (http://thepunchlineismachismo.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/2010-04-26.jpg)

[Balyano]

Have a pet rock as a familiar, only moves when nobody is looking. Just appears in places it ought not to be. Sculpt the little guy to look like Bob Ross and cover him with chia seeds so he can grow some ''hair''.

Or get a plank of wood, draw a face on him, and call yourself Johnny.

[Flashy]

Have a pet rock as a familiar, only moves when nobody is looking.

That's the best familiar idea I ever heard.

[Ikitavi]

Wait, what Augment Summoning feat?

Dang it, I keep forgetting which forum I am posting in. There are more interesting subjects in the 5th edition, but Augment Summoning is 3.5.

[JumboWheat01]

Dang it, I keep forgetting which forum I am posting in. There are more interesting subjects in the 5th edition, but Augment Summoning is 3.5.

Well it's KINDA in 5e... if you're a Conjuration Wizard. I think it's their specialization capstone.