Cool Arcane Trickster familiar reskin ideas

[Navmaxlp]

In a campaign that started recently, there is already someone with an owl familiar. In the interest of keeping things unique, I talked with the DM and told him I had been planning to take the owl due to flyby ability and it's use in combat. I asked if I could reskin the familiar and he said he was fine with it. He mentioned a raccoon which I thought was a great idea but that made me think about what else might be out there that would serve thematically as a cool familiar if abilities were not taken into account. I thought about it a bit and the only two others I could come up with were a fox and a monkey. So I put it to you all. What are some cool arcane trickster/rogue like animals that would serve well as a familiar?

[Keravath]

If you are reskinning but want to use the stats of an owl to have flyby then you could look at a Tressym from Storm King's Thunder. (Or just use the Tressym stats if you want something cool and the DM agrees - but a Tressym doesn't have flyby).

A Tressym is a small housecat with wings. In Adventurer's League there was a certificate that could be acquired allowing characters to summon a Tressym with the find familiar spell so at least in that context it was considered flavorful rather than unbalanced.

The link below matches the stats of the Tressym in SKT.

https://chisaipete.github.io/bestiary/creature/tressym

The unusual ability of the Tressym is the detect invisibility 60'.

[nickl_2000]

ToA does have a flying monkey, but it is small and not eligible to be a familiar.

I've got a Elven AT in my mind that has a Squirrel familiar. A simple re-skin of the cat works perfectly for that. Bonus points if you call the familiar Monkey Joe or Tippy-Toe.
Lemur - would be fun as well (reskinning a cat again).
Chameleon - take the Lizard stat block and add a bonus to hide when standing still.
Duck - take Eagle, lower flight speed, remove keen sight, give a swim speed
Hedgehog - Start with Badger, remove keen spell, add "anytime anyone grapples with it or hits it with a melee attack they take one damage"
Rabbit - start with rat, remove darkvision and keen smell. Increase speed to 40ft and give keen hear (advantage on perception checks based on hearing).
Skunk - start with rat, remove keen smell, add stink spray (1 per day, does something)
Prairie Dog - Straight re-skin of the badger
Otter - Start with frog, remove leap and amphibious, give hold breath 20 minutes, increase land and swim speed to 30.



There you go, a couple more things that could be fun.

[Nagog]

Well if you're looking to reskin an owl, you should probably do something that can fly. Perhaps something like a Pixie of fairie, however one that's appropriately underpowered to not step on the toes of Chainlocks? Perhaps a Lantern Archon (as seen in the Pathfinder Beastiary).

[8wGremlin]

ToA does have a flying monkey, but it is small and not eligible to be a familiar.

Actually it states that you can have them as familiars. and they are small, and have a decent strength so can carry small casters!

[Zetakya]

Well if you're looking to reskin an owl, you should probably do something that can fly. Perhaps something like a Pixie of fairie, however one that's appropriately underpowered to not step on the toes of Chainlocks? Perhaps a Lantern Archon (as seen in the Pathfinder Beastiary).

A Magpie would be flavourful for a Rogue.

[Navmaxlp]

Wow, these are some great ideas. I've got a lot to sift through