Chwinga familiars

[Aaedimus]

A Chwinga is a great familiar choice. TOO good in-fact, with at will pass without a trace and the once a day magical gift. If a character were to try and obtain one after grabbing magic initiate at level 4 though, what changes if any might you make to balance him out? Or would you just stick to "No. Player's Handbook only"?

[Stupidly_Rogue]

I'm playing with a chwinga familiar and me and my DM concluded that, while it's a good stealth booster and scout, the 1/day magical gift would be too OP. So we just treat as a rare occurrence. Something the chwinga (aka the DM) would use situationally. I also made my character have the ideal of "not abusing nature's powers", so its very rarely that I ask my familiar for anything but scouting missions. And since most strange familiar choices have a reason to stick around (for example, if you break a contract with an imp, he'll just leave), I just have my character learn new proficiencies in downtime activity to keep the chwinga interested in this partnership. As for "Player's handbook only", depends on the DM.

[JNAProductions]

A Chwinga is a great familiar choice. TOO good in-fact, with at will pass without a trace and the once a day magical gift. If a character were to try and obtain one after grabbing magic initiate at level 4 though, what changes if any might you make to balance him out? Or would you just stick to "No. Player's Handbook only"?

What book are they from?

[JackPhoenix]

It's also invalid familiar choice. It's not on the list for Find Familiar (and it isn't a beast anyway), and there's no sidebar allowing it as an exception in ToA.

[Aaedimus]

Not in the find familiar spell, but just like with a pseudo-dragon they're designed to be little buddies

[JackPhoenix]

Not in the find familiar spell, but just like with a pseudo-dragon they're designed to be little buddies

They are not. Unlike pseudodragons, they lack the familiar variant, so there's no way to obtain one as a familiar, and serving another being is against their nature. Even if the character attracts their attention, they'll avoid being seen.

Note that the pseudodragon/imp/quasit familiar can't be summoned by Find Familiar either (ignoring chainlock's special rules). They'll just stick around for as long as they want, they are free-willed NPCs.

[Unoriginal]

What book are they from?

Tomb of Annihilation

[Greywander]

It's also invalid familiar choice.
Not necessarily.


Any spellcaster that can cast the find familiar spell (such as an archmage or mage) [MM] (such as an apprentice, warlock, or wizard) [Volo] is likely to have a familiar. The familiar can be one of the creatures described in the spell (see the Player's Handbook) or some other Tiny monster, such as cranium rat [Volo], a crawling claw, a gazer [Volo], an imp, a pseudodragon, or a quasit.
- Monster Manual pg. 347, Volo's Guide to Monsters pg. 213
Under variant rules, any tiny monster can qualify as a familiar, and the chwinga is a tiny monster. This will, of course, be dependent on your DM, as allowing any tiny monster as a familiar can lead to such unbalanced options as a demilich familiar or other unusually strong monsters. Many tiny monsters aren't designed to be familiars, and thus aren't balanced around such.

I made a list in another thread of tiny monsters (but not regular animals) found in the MM and Volo's here: http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?548701-Unusual-Familiars-(MM-pg-347-variant-familiars)

It's not quite correct to say it's an invalid familiar choice, but neither is it correct to say that it is a valid choice. It's a variant rule, and as such it would still be within the rules, but at the same time it would also be within the rules to disallow such a choice.

But generally I would say that a non-chainlock familiar would need to be a beast (and likely CR 1/4 or less), and only chainlocks could access other types of familiars. So a chwinga familiar would at least require a chainlock.

[Rfkannen]

I'm pretty sure that variant rule is only supposed to apply to familiars for npcs? Personally the familiars in the spell are the only ones the spell can do (though we can reflavor them) any other magical helper you have to find and befriend, and even then it's your buddy not your familiar.

[Greywander]

I'm pretty sure that variant rule is only supposed to apply to familiars for npcs?
Maybe RAI, but definitely not RAW. "Any spellcaster..." I'm pretty sure "any" includes PCs.

Again, this is DM fiat territory. Both allowing and disallowing are within the rules. I merely wanted to point out the "allowing" part.

[Maxilian]

Yes it would be OP.

Note: In theory, you could use the Conjure Woodland Beings to conjure Chwinga and give yourself and your whole party minor buffs like those every day (Have in mind that by RAW the DM is the one who select what is summoned though)

[Aaedimus]

I've yet to find a DM that didn't let me pick what I summoned