Familiar Question

[HoodedHero007]

Would a familiar act as the form it takes would or not?
Just asking

[Ninja_Prawn]

Does a housecat act like a feral cat?

Familiars are extraplanar spirits with telepathic links to a humanoids, so it seems likely that they would behave very differently from wild beasts that don't have such a link. Perhaps some familiars try to emulate beasts, but even then, it'd be an approximation of the behaviours with a different underlying motivation.

[gfishfunk]

This question actually gets asked a lot, so it is a familiar question.

Here is where I would put it: the familiar has mannerisms similar to the form that it takes: a cat will preen and nap for example. Someone watching the creature will notice that it acts a bit different, though, in subtle ways that show a greater inherent intelligence.

[Addaran]

I'd say it's up to you and your DM.

If you prefer to have a familliar that always act like a nice well manered celestial no matter the body, that's a possibility. Or your fiend familliar always act like the animal he's in but more aggressive.
For warlock, it could be that the sprite really is a sprite from the Feywild, so act accordingly. You could decide that it never changes form.

[TundraBuccaneer]

I'd say it's up to you and your DM.

If you prefer to have a familliar that always act like a nice well manered celestial no matter the body, that's a possibility. Or your fiend familliar always act like the animal he's in but more aggressive.
For warlock, it could be that the sprite really is a sprite from the Feywild, so act accordingly. You could decide that it never changes form.

I would do fiend more like actual cats :smalltongue:. In that they wouldn't care about attention when it gets offered. But(t) when someone else gets attention they will try to claim it for them selves. So I make them possessive of their summoner.
And fey are more the type of cat that paws things of the table.

[JellyPooga]

Regardless of type, the form of the Familar determines its stats, including its Int/Wis/Cha, so it would be reasonable to assume the "personality" of the form would also dictate the personality of your Familiar.

However, it would also be reasonable to assume that the chosen Type (fey/fiend/celestial) also contributes; fey being capricious, celestial being benevolent, etc.

Then factor in the fact that it's a Familiar with a bond to its master and you've got any number of different influences being bandied around. A Familiar granted to a Warlock, Chain Pact or not, might also have an agenda given to it by the Warlocks Patron, further altering its persona.

So yeah, make it act however you want, really.

[CursedRhubarb]

After reading the variant familiars listed in Volo's Guide I've been tempted to see if my DM would let me set my familiar to a Crawling Claw.

The blind-sight would be nice but I mainly want it so I can have it up my sleeve to do the fake hand gag when shaking hands meeting new people or to have it on my shoulder constantly flipping the bird at the Wizard when he isn't looking.

[DracoKnight]

After reading the variant familiars listed in Volo's Guide I've been tempted to see if my DM would let me set my familiar to a Crawling Claw.

Which variant familiars?

[CursedRhubarb]

Which variant familiars?

Crawling Claw (severed hand), Gazer (tiny beholder-ish guy 4 eye stalks), and Cranium Rat (rat with glowing brains, freaky in a swarm but a rat that makes light on it's own) are the ones I remember.

[DracoKnight]

Crawling Claw (severed hand), Gazer (tiny beholder-ish guy 4 eye stalks), and Cranium Rat (rat with glowing brains, freaky in a swarm but a rat that makes light on it's own) are the ones I remember.

Okay, so I see the bit about the gazer - somehow I missed that :smalltongue: where does it say that the other two can serve as a familiar?

[CursedRhubarb]

Okay, so I see the bit about the gazer - somehow I missed that :smalltongue: where does it say that the other two can serve as a familiar?

Towards the end of the book on page 213. Just above the block for Diviner is a note on variant familiars.

[Millstone85]

Great! More optional rules obviously designed for NPCs but soon to be all the rage among players!
Then again, I see no obvious balance issue.