Do Familiars and Steeds generate body heat?

[odigity]

Do the magical creatures summoned by Find Familiar and Find Steed generate body heat? In other words, if you were freezing, could you share a blanket with one to increase your chance of survival?

I know you can't go full Tauntaun, because they disappear when they drop to 0 hp.

PS - I got this question from watching Dice, Camera, Action episode 32. Chris Perkins said no, but he was on the spot which is not a good time for deep contemplation, and I'm not sure I agree with that ruling.

[dejarnjc]

I'd wager that most DMs would say "yes they do" but it's one of those things that really is left to the individual DM's interpretation.

[odigity]

I'd wager that most DMs would say "yes they do" but it's one of those things that really is left to the individual DM's interpretation.

Well, can we try to build a case one way or another using the rules?

We know they're corporeal. When you strike them, do they bleed? Can they be healed?

It doesn't say they're ghosts or illusions, just that they're Celestial/Fey/Fiend. Fey are generally real life, living, breathing creatures, aren't they? Certainly Elves are...

On the other hand, the spells saying nothing about food or upkeep, so they're not entirely normal...

[MaxWilson]

Do the magical creatures summoned by Find Familiar and Find Steed generate body heat? In other words, if you were freezing, could you share a blanket with one to increase your chance of survival?

I know you can't go full Tauntaun, because they disappear when they drop to 0 hp.

PS - I got this question from watching Dice, Camera, Action episode 32. Chris Perkins said no, but he was on the spot which is not a good time for deep contemplation, and I'm not sure I agree with that ruling.

You just have to keep them above 0 HP when you go full Tauntaun on them.

[Willie the Duck]

You just have to keep them above 0 HP when you go full Tauntaun on them.

Roll high enough on you medicine check and your Find Steed acts as Create Food as well.

[hymer]

When you strike them, do they bleed?
When you tickle them, do they laugh? When you poison them, do they die? And when you wrong them, shall they not revenge?

That the rules say nothing about them being unable to be healed, it should be safe to assume that they can be. You could build a lot of circumstantial evidence along that line of reasoning, but on the other hand, the rules don't mention what happens to a kilothermic snake in a tundra, or a muskox in a rain forest. They do speak to the opposite, though, on p. 110 in the DMG. Creatures adapted to particularly hot or cold weather are in no danger from it.

[odigity]

Roll high enough on you medicine check and your Find Steed acts as Create Food as well.

I prefer to slice a bear steak off the wildshaped Druid. Nothing like Goodberry-fed bear steak!

[Nifft]

I'd rule that they do, unless it would somehow break the game. In that case the player is to be abused until the game-breakage stops.


I prefer to slice a bear steak off the wildshaped Druid. Nothing like Goodberry-fed bear steak!

Mmm, good-bear-y.

[iTreeby]

I prefer to slice a bear steak off the wildshaped Druid. Nothing like Goodberry-fed bear steak!

It's vegan if they consented to being eaten.

[odigity]

It's vegan if they consented to being eaten.

That had not occurred to us, dude.

[hymer]

I prefer to slice a bear steak off the wildshaped Druid. Nothing like Goodberry-fed bear steak!
A pound of flesh, I suppose. I'm sorry, but you guys keep standing right next to these references, what am I supposed to do?

[Talionis]

It might be important to remember that some familars would not give off heat, snakes etc. A lot of the familars are not large enough to provide enough warmth to be appreciable. I think all the steeds would provide a lot of heat especially if you have a blanket.

I can't imagine using half a owl familar for lunch, but having to keep it alive. But if that's the gritty campaign you want.

[odigity]

PS - I got this question from watching Dice, Camera, Action episode 32. Chris Perkins said no, but he was on the spot which is not a good time for deep contemplation, and I'm not sure I agree with that ruling.

BTW - Three episodes later he said the opposite, describing the Paladin clinging to her steed "for celestial warmth" in a storm.

[ciarannihill]

Well, can we try to build a case one way or another using the rules?

We know they're corporeal. When you strike them, do they bleed? Can they be healed?

It doesn't say they're ghosts or illusions, just that they're Celestial/Fey/Fiend. Fey are generally real life, living, breathing creatures, aren't they? Certainly Elves are...

On the other hand, the spells saying nothing about food or upkeep, so they're not entirely normal...

Not all things that are alive give off body heat the way you're implying... I personally would rule no as well, they're not of fey ancestry like Elves, they're actual fey and wouldn't abide by the same rules as a humanoid of distant fey ancestry.

I would personally say no -- for one it feels like it cheapens the stakes of the scenario as presented, plus the concept seems wrong to me somehow although admittedly this is super subjective.

The one true answer is this: Whatever the DM at the table rules the answer to be. And it's important that it be that answer.

[Theodoxus]

Celestial, Fey, Fiendish doesn't really provide enough description...

Are the Fey seelie or unseelie? I could definitely see a fey from the winter court not providing much heat... but a summer court fey probably would...

Fiend? Most of us think of the fire belching evil demonoids.. but there's ice devils too - so, maybe your fiendish owl is ice cold to the touch?

Celestials would probably give off heat when asked... I mean, they're supposed to be good and all. But maybe they're void touched and cold to the touch too...

[Willie the Duck]

It might be important to remember that some familars would not give off heat, snakes etc. A lot of the familars are not large enough to provide enough warmth to be appreciable. I think all the steeds would provide a lot of heat especially if you have a blanket.

Hmmm... Looking at the PHB list (bat, cat, crab, toad, hawk, lizard, octopus, owl, poisonous snake, quipper, rat, raven, sea horse, spider, or weasel), all of the non-mammal, non-avians would be pretty useless. The birds--specifically body heat the would be rather lacking... but: the reason they would be is because they don't need to generate much heat because they have excellent insulation in their feathers, something which would help greatly in the op scenario of "could you share a blanket with one to increase your chance of survival"). Having handled pet cats, rats, and weasels (well, ferrets) in the summer, I can attest to their body heat. Can't speak to bats. I bet it depends on what size of bat we're talking about.


I can't imagine using half a owl familar for lunch, but having to keep it alive. But if that's the gritty campaign you want.

I am pretty sure this is more (black) comedy than grit. :smalltongue:

[Corsair14]

All of them that are warm blooded like the steeds and rabbits and so forth will provide heat. Cold blooded animals and familiars might not provide heat but are likely in cold weather to curl up with you anyway to get the PCs heat.