Octopus Familiar

[werescythe]

Let's say your a warlock and you really like the idea of having an octopus as your familiar (which is possible). Considering that the octopus needs to be in water in order to breathe, what do you do to keep it alive?

Are there any spells you can think of that would help.

[zinycor]

If you really don't want to say "it breaths air, because: reasons! Deal with it", just use the control water cantrip to always be around him, maybe after sometime the octupus could cast it himself and do funny things with it.

[MrWesson22]

Decanter of endless water

[MarkVIIIMarc]

Its D&D. Create a land octopus. It wouldn't be the strangest thing in the game. Give it more Komodo dragon type skin. Have it need to soak in water every soo often, enough said.

What we need is a cool name based somewhat in reality....Adopus? Adopus Rex? Adopus dragon? Adopus Terra?

Oh, it really sorta happens... https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/octopus-chronicles/land-walking-octopus-explained-video/

[Greywander]

I've run into the same problem with a custom race that gets what is, more or less, their own familiar (more like a totem spirit companion, tomaytoes tomahtoes) that could be basically any animal, including aquatic animals, and even plants. Also, you couldn't change it out for a different one, you were stuck with that familiar for the entirety of your character's lifespan. I never did find a satisfactory solution to plant familiars, but for aquatic familiars I decided that they could "swim" through the air and breathe just fine as long as they stayed within a short distance of you, say, 10 feet.

In D&D, any of the aquatic familiars seem like they would be situational, something you'd use when you go to search for a sunken shipwreck or something, then abandoned when you return to land. If you wanted to use one consistently, it would work better in an aquatic campaign, where you're all sailors or pirates or mer-people, each of which are pretty cool but not exactly "standard" D&D fantasy.

If you're insistent on using an octopus in a non-aquatic campaign, you could use a fish bowl and the Shape Water cantrip, as zinycor suggested. But I feel like unless the DM specifically accommodates you, you're going to get frustrated pretty quickly and switch it out for weasel or owl or something.

[Naanomi]

Summon or True-Polymorph into a Water Elemental and just keep it inside

[Crgaston]

Per it's stat block, the octopus can hold it's breath for 30 minutes. So most of the time, it stays in it's extra-dimensional pocket. Then when you need it to perform some tentacular shenanigans, summon it up and you've got 299 rounds to work with before sending it back.

[Greywander]

It also has a walking speed of 5 feet. Honestly, I do think octopuses are cool, but I just don't see how you would use one effectively in a non-aquatic campaign. Giving it a fly speed of 30 feet would do wonders, and would still be competitive with other flying pets.

[Quoxis]

Built a GOO warlock with the pact of the tome once - find familiar as a ritual from that one invocation, shape water and poison spray (the latter was more for flavor). The familiar would spend most of its time in a glass container strapped on the warlock‘s hip, if the container would somehow break he‘d use shape water to keep it alive. Mechanically you could send it away too, but i planned to use the octopus as a spell focus (as it doesn’t really have any use in combat anyway).
Fluff-wise that means that my warlock carries an octopus with horrifyingly staring red eyes and an indefinite amount of tentacles with him, and all his spells were cast through the tiny eldritch horror.

[Afrodactyl]

Why not buy a fish bowl?

[furryblueelf]

I've been thinking about them since I saw some new warhammer figures. This one in particular.

https://goo.gl/images/GJtrMH

[Vogie]

Just have it handwaived that air-based octopi exist in the world, "swimming" through the air.

You can even reference the -zoas, a race of flying jellyfish (http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Search/Default.aspx?output=spoiler&method=visual&name=+%5bzoa%5d) from various MTG worlds, although none they've made Plane Shifts for as of yet.

[the_brazenburn]

I'd permit the spell Water Breathing to be used as a makeshift Air Breathing spell.

That's up to your DM, though.

[vicente408]

I mean, technically the familiar is a celestial/fey/fiendish spirit taking the form of an octopus, so as a DM I would absolutey be okay with handwaving it and letting it breathe air as well as water. It’s strengths are so niche in most campaigns that it isn’t a problem IMO.

[Grear Bylls]

Its D&D. Create a land octopus. It wouldn't be the strangest thing in the game. Give it more Komodo dragon type skin. Have it need to soak in water every soo often, enough said. [/URL]

In OotA a random encounter is literally a "Rocktapus". Stone camouflage, no amphibiousness or ink cloud. That's all you've got to do

[Grear Bylls]

Just have it handwaived that air-based octopi exist in the world, "swimming" through the air.

A flumph?





P.s. I know theyre actually jellyfish

[sophontteks]

In order to keep your familiar alive you have to spit on him at regular intervals.

[Quoxis]

In order to keep your familiar alive you have to spit on him at regular intervals.

Kinky. Works best if your patron is an extraordinarily powerful Succubus.

[Sinon]

Tree octopus (https://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus/)?

[Mith]

My first thought is gunnerkrigg court's floating octopus.

I like the idea of a GOO warlock Pact of ghe Chain, with the Octopus being the severely weakened Patron. Think Om in Small Gods.

[Greywander]

Well yeah, if you're chain pact I wouldn't see a problem with taking, say, the imp stat block and flavoring it as a flying psionic octopus (probably also changing it from fiend to aberration). Chain pact opens up a lot of options balance-wise, as chainlock pets are meant to be more powerful. This is something you could work out with your DM, and might be fun to build.

From the way the OP worded their post, though, it sounds like they were asking about a RAW octopus, not anything homebrewed or reskinned.