Stating Custom Warlock Familiar (Feystag)

[Grimmnist]

One first time player in my upcoming game is playing a Arch-Fey Warlock and plans to go pact of the chain (she really wanted to have a pet and I recommended against Beastmaster). When she sent me her background info she asked if she could have a feystag as a familiar (2e stats here (http://www.lomion.de/cmm/feystag.php)). I like this idea, and since it doesn't exist in 5e I have a lot of freedom to make it non-gamebreaking. As a DM I tend to do fewer hard encounters rather than a lot of easy ones, a slight nerf to short rest classes like Warlock, so I'd like to have this familiar buff the warlock at least a bit over the book.

I never played 2e so I'm not sure exactly how to convert most of the stats. The one idea I had is based on the Feystag's ability to control magical items, I was going to allow the warlock to give magic items to the Feystag, enhancing its abilities. For example at some point I will probably give her a belt of enlarge, allowing the Feystag to be used as a steed.

Note that this is for a first time player, so it can't be overly complicated. Thanks in advance for any help or tips.

[Clone]

I mean if you want to take a sprite or quasit and reskin it as a feystag then there wouldn't be any problem.

Other options are the Tressym (basically a cat with wings and can detect poison) from Storm Kings Thunder, or a Gibbon of sorts from Tomb of Annihilation. They give a similar vibe to what you're looking for.

When you say you want this to give the player an upgrade of sorts, what do you mean? Do you want it to be viable in combat, give the player buffs etc?
I may be wrong in this, but I believe most familiars have a similar ability to use magic items so long as they have the appendages to use them.
Maybe giving the Feystag a single attunement slot?
The Pseudodragon in the Monster Manual can give its owner magical resistance of sorts within 5/10 feet of it but normally isn't available through the spell. You could give that as a benefit? It is a rather strong effect.

What about the Feystag's abilities do you want to keep/ what do you want it to be able to do?

[Grimmnist]

I mean if you want to take a sprite or quasit and reskin it as a feystag then there wouldn't be any problem.

Other options are the Tressym (basically a cat with wings and can detect poison) from Storm Kings Thunder, or a Gibbon of sorts from Tomb of Annihilation. They give a similar vibe to what you're looking for.

When you say you want this to give the player an upgrade of sorts, what do you mean? Do you want it to be viable in combat, give the player buffs etc?
I may be wrong in this, but I believe most familiars have a similar ability to use magic items so long as they have the appendages to use them.
Maybe giving the Feystag a single attunement slot?
The Pseudodragon in the Monster Manual can give its owner magical resistance of sorts within 5/10 feet of it but normally isn't available through the spell. You could give that as a benefit? It is a rather strong effect.

What about the Feystag's abilities do you want to keep/ what do you want it to be able to do?

Thanks for the suggestions, I didn't realize familiars could use magic items, though it makes sense now that you say it. I do like the idea of some number of attunement slots, and the pseudodragon ability seems to fit the basic flavor of control over magic.

You are probably right that I should just reflavor an existing familiar and add features on top. The party is starting at level 1 so I have a few weeks before I have to figure out exactly how to stat this, I'll keep an eye on how the player uses their character and try to pick features that synergize.

[Clone]

Thanks for the suggestions, I didn't realize familiars could use magic items, though it makes sense now that you say it. I do like the idea of some number of attunement slots, and the pseudodragon ability seems to fit the basic flavor of control over magic.

You are probably right that I should just reflavor an existing familiar and add features on top. The party is starting at level 1 so I have a few weeks before I have to figure out exactly how to stat this, I'll keep an eye on how the player uses their character and try to pick features that synergize.

Normally they can use anything which their form allows, so something with thumbs can use a non-attunement wand as an example. I'm unsure about the RAW of the attunement for familiars but I know that the animal companions Rangers can acquire get three attunement slots like a player. Regardless you can just say that their patron gives them a super special familiar which is a tad stronger than normal.

The normal Chain familiars are rather good, with
Pseudodragons: magic resistance, telepathy and a poison sting which can paralyze enemies
Quasits: invisibility, shapechanging, a fear effect, magic resistance and a claw attack that poisons
Imps: the same as quasits but instead of a fear effect they can see through magical darkness
Sprites, my personal favourite: invisibility, being adorable and a heart sensor which tells you people's emotions (lie detector, how to tell if someone is nervous etc) which can tell you alignments

The others from modules for normal familiars are:
Tressym: Poison detection and sensing invisible foes
Flying monkey: its just a flying monkey, thats cool
Almiraj: unicorn rabbit from Chult, not too fancy but its a darn unicorn rabbit!


Other suggestions you could do:
-Increase the health of the familiar so it doesn't die in 1 hit, maybe it gains some health per level after the Warlock summons it?
-Allow an easier/ cheaper way to change the form of the familiar while its still alive
-The resistance idea would work for combat and is strong, but it'd make the Chain option much more tempting