Anyone can fly with flying Chainlock familiars

[Windwaert]

Hi everyone,

The idea of using flying familiars to carry character aloft is not new. An imp (carry cap. 45 lbs.) or flying monkey (carry cap. 120 lbs.) can carry a Kobold (min. 27 lbs.) up to naked medium humanoids. However, the rules for trivially carrying living conscious creatures as objects are not nearly as clear as my suggestion below.

Anyone can fly
What if we use grappling rules instead? You'll need the Warlock Pact of the Chain (Pact Boon L3) to attack with your familiar, since grappling is a special melee attack. Let's assume the flying familiar (any will do) successfully grappled the PC (I'm afraid the PC cannot choose to fail). Tiny familiars can grapple small PCs, small familiars can grapple medium PCs. The PC's speed becomes 0 during the grapple. The familiar can move the Grappled Creature using the "Moving a Grappled Creature" rule, regardless of the grappled creature's weight (https://twitter.com/JeremyECrawford/status/907788091267543040), but its speed is halved (e.g., 30 ft flying for raven form imp). It seems the PC can stay in the space (cube/tile) exactly below the familiar, i.e., the relative position of the PC to the familiar can remain constant (https://twitter.com/JeremyECrawford/status/852314898218369024). So what are the pros and cons?

Pros

Flying movement for any PC race at level 1!
The PC's speed is 0, but the movement is forced onto the PC, so...

The forced movement onto the PC will not trigger OAs. Make sure that the familiar stays out of reach.
Effects on the PC that limit speed or affect willing movement (Frightened, Booming Blade, etc.) are effectively bypassed.

The familiar's movement can be readied to trigger on the PC's turn. The Attack action or Spells can be readied by the PC for when the familiar's reaction forced movement brings enemies within reach.
The familiar's movement can also be readied as a reaction to flee when an enemy moves within striking distance of the PC.

Cons

Relies on a frail creature. Don't fly too high, or fall like a brick when the familiar dies or becomes incapacitated.
The grapple also ends when the two are forced apart.
The grappled PC cannot stand up from Prone.
The PC can attack during the forced movement on their turn only via the ready action. Extra attack may work on the readied Attack action when the reaction triggers during your own turn. Readying spells does take concentration.


I'm pretty sure this would all work [RAW + some JC rule interpretations], even at level 3, but would this be allowed by any DM (seeing as the Adventurers League banned flying races altogether)? Let me know what you think :smallbiggrin:

EDIT: Thanks to MaxWilson for pointing out that Find Familiar creatures can't attack (grapple is a special melee attack)

[Trustypeaches]

Are there any "small" flying familiars that could grapple and carry medium sized characters?

Owls, Hawks, Ravens (from Find Familiar) and Imps, Quasits, Pseudodragons, and Sprites (from Pact of the Chain) are all Tiny.

[Unoriginal]

No offense, but you're two editions late for the "let's abuse the legalese of the game to get waaaacky additional powers" stuff.

There's not even a legalese anymore.

[8wGremlin]

The winged monkey from Chult is small

[Laserlight]

Winged Boots are merely Uncommon and don't take any kind of Action to activate. By comparison, you're using a resource (the familiar) which can't do the scouting or Aid things which are a familiar's normal uses, and you're making yourself a target, and subject to falling damage being prone when you land, so I'd probably allow it. Cheesy, probably legal if you can match PC size to Familiar size (Ii don't remember any but I haven't gone looking)....and you're going to spend a lot of gold on resummoning dead familiars.

[R.Shackleford]

No offense, but you're two editions late for the "let's abuse the legalese of the game to get waaaacky additional powers" stuff.

There's not even a legalese anymore.

Tell that to snake tsunami.

[Windwaert]

No offense, but you're two editions late for the "let's abuse the legalese of the game to get waaaacky additional powers" stuff.

There's not even a legalese anymore.

I think I would've really enjoyed 3.x, but I like the challenge of coming up with creative ideas within the rules of 5e, and I might actually get to use them sometime. I also like to stress test the rules, to determine how I would DM them. For instance, this idea only works well because of JC's ruling of "moving a grappled creature" ignoring weight. Invoke the carry weight rules and the whole idea falls apart.

---


Winged Boots are merely Uncommon and don't take any kind of Action to activate. By comparison, you're using a resource (the familiar) which can't do the scouting or Aid things which are a familiar's normal uses, and you're making yourself a target, and subject to falling damage being prone when you land, so I'd probably allow it. Cheesy, probably legal if you can match PC size to Familiar size (Ii don't remember any but I haven't gone looking)....and you're going to spend a lot of gold on resummoning dead familiars.

I think that is a nice summary of the practicality of this, indeed, cheesy idea. Believe it or not, but I am woefully unfamiliar with magic items, so thank you for the comparison.

[MaxWilson]

Since we're playing the "Rules As Written" game I'll use green text.

Familiars can't take the Attack action and so cannot grapple.

[Windwaert]

Since we're playing the "Rules As Written" game I'll use green text.

Familiars can't take the Attack action and so cannot grapple.

Good point! I was building on Chainlocks and forgot about this limitation on all other Find Familiar users. This means only Pact of the Chain Warlocks L3+ get the fun.

[Dalebert]

You can't grapple something two sizes bigger so only a flying monkey can do it and they're not a familiar option. Sure a house rule could allow one but the DM house-tiling the monkey could just as easily just house-rule it can't grapple past what it can carry.

[Windwaert]

You can't grapple something two sizes bigger so only a flying monkey can do it and they're not a familiar option. Sure a house rule could allow one but the DM house-tiling the monkey could just as easily just house-rule it can't grapple past what it can carry.
Are the Almiraj and Flying Monkey from ToA, and Tressym from SKT familiars options all considered house rules? I thought they were pretty much official, but the player just needs the DM's permission, like other setting specific stuff.

Yes, it makes sense for the DM to invoke the carry rules. The whole idea relies heavily on JC's "Moving a Grappled Creature" rule interpretation.

[Trustypeaches]

Good point! I was building on Chainlocks and forgot about this limitation on all other Find Familiar users. This means only Pact of the Chain Warlocks L3+ get the fun.
So the Chain warlock would have to take one of their non-upgraded forms so they could take the flying monkey?

Seeing as the Imp, Sprite, Pseudodragon and Quasit are all tiny

[Windwaert]

So the Chain warlock would have to take one of their non-upgraded forms so they could take the flying monkey?

Seeing as the Imp, Sprite, Pseudodragon and Quasit are all tiny

You need Pact of the Chain for the attack option (grappling) only. Yes, medium PC races would need at least a small familiar (only Flying Monkeys), small PC races can take any of the flying options.

[Dalebert]

Are the Almiraj and Flying Monkey from ToA, and Tressym from SKT familiars options all considered house rules?

Where does it say they are familiar options? A tressym is still tiny BTW.

[Windwaert]

Where does it say they are familiar options? A tressym is still tiny BTW.

It's in the creature descriptions: For example, in Tomb of Annihilation, in the description of Flying Monkey in between the stat blocks of the Froghemoth and the Giant Four-Armed Gargoyle (pg. 221).
The all say things along the lines of ... with the DM's permission, the spell can summon a X.