Intelligent Familiars

[ZenBear]

One of my PCs is playing a Pact of the Raven Queen Warlock (https://media.wizards.com/2017/dnd/downloads/20170213_Wizrd_Wrlck_UAv2_i48nf.pdf), but with a slight twist. His Sentinel Raven is actually his sister; both were polymorphed into ravens to escape slavery by undead pirates, and years later a wandering Druid attempted to polymorph them back but due to some Raven Queen shenanigans the PC was transformed into a Kenku with amnesia and his sister remained in bird form.

The issue this creates is that his raven is no longer only INT 2. Normally, scouting with the raven is limited to 100 ft. since beyond that the Warlock can't see and hear through its eyes/ears and it can't receive telepathic commands. With a smart bird, it can now fly around and scout whatever it wants and then report back intelligently. In order to rein this in, I determined that the bird's intelligence fades beyond 100 ft. and it becomes INT 2 again. My player has been chaffing at this limitation for a while now, and wants to eliminate it at later levels.

I'm curious what others think about this issue. Considering a Pact of the Chain Warlock can have an intelligent familiar with invisibility as early as level 3, would it be a problem to grant the Sentinel Raven of a Raven Queen Tomelock expanded range at level 6? Perhaps make it a mile distance, or even unlimited so long as it's on this plane of existence?

[Nagog]

I feel the issue with this is less of an issue of how it works for scouting and more that the player is essentially playing two characters. While the player may chafe at the suggestion, perhaps make their familiar an NPC of sorts. The player would still give them orders that they would follow, but beyond the basic functions of a familiar, the character is yours to control. If the player takes Pact of the Tome, which would allow for an intelligent familiar, then they could take full control of both of them, as having an intelligent familiar is what makes it an option alongside Tome (The best ritual Casting in the game no questions asked) and Blade (a weapon you can upgrade and customize without DM intervention).

Also should note, by RAW you can still see with their senses beyond that range, but you can no longer give them commands telepathically. So with a regular familiar you could command them to go to a place, linger for ~10 minutes, then come back, and watch through the whole time, but while they're out of that range you could not command them to make further actions, such as investigating something found, avoid line of sight of something, etc. With this change in Int imposed by this character's backstory, I'd recommend imposing the range on the senses as well as it seems you've been doing all along.

[SheVa]

Wait - why would the Sentinel Raven's Intelligence not be 2 any longer?

If they were polymorphed, as per the spell Polymorph, they retain their personality but assume the physical AND mental stats of the new form. Polymorph is not like a Druid's Wild Shape!

[Segev]

You could play it that she only retains her mind within the 100 ft. control radius. The "control" is actually that her brother anchors her intellect and she can act with full mental capacity therein. Outside that, she's a normal-ish raven with memories she can't act more than animal-instinct level on.

[NRSASD]

I don't see anything wrong with giving the familiar human level intelligence. In my Curse of Strahd campaign, one of my PCs had a similar backstory and we just went with it. She frequently consulted the familiar for advice, and only occasionally used it for scouting. This was because her familiar wouldn't be able to respawn as normal, since it wasn't a normal familiar. It could respawn, but there would be a steep physical and mental toll on her familiar. Not necessarily stat loss, but PTSD and insanity.

[ZenBear]

Also should note, by RAW you can still see with their senses beyond that range, but you can no longer give them commands telepathically.
Good to know! Thanks for the tip.

Wait - why would the Sentinel Raven's Intelligence not be 2 any longer?

If they were polymorphed, as per the spell Polymorph, they retain their personality but assume the physical AND mental stats of the new form. Polymorph is not like a Druid's Wild Shape!
Remember that this is a unique circumstance. When they were first polymorphed that was the case, but when the Druid tried to change them back things got weird.

You could play it that she only retains her mind within the 100 ft. control radius. The "control" is actually that her brother anchors her intellect and she can act with full mental capacity therein. Outside that, she's a normal-ish raven with memories she can't act more than animal-instinct level on.
That’s the way I’m running it now.

When my player first proposed the character, he had the notion that at 6th level he would be able to swap personalities when he came in-and-our of bird form. They’ve reached level 6 now, so I’m trying to think of an interesting way to introduce this new feature.

[Segev]

When my player first proposed the character, he had the notion that at 6th level he would be able to swap personalities when he came in-and-our of bird form. They’ve reached level 6 now, so I’m trying to think of an interesting way to introduce this new feature.

Could you elaborate on what this is meant to look like? I think I'm missing something.

[ZenBear]

Could you elaborate on what this is meant to look like? I think I'm missing something.

The 6th level feature allows you to merge with the Sentinel Raven in bird form. In character this would then allow either personality, brother or sister, to emerge in Kenku form.

[Segev]

The 6th level feature allows you to merge with the Sentinel Raven in bird form. In character this would then allow either personality, brother or sister, to emerge in Kenku form.

Does the sister retain her memories, unlike the brother? This could be interesting development.

How to introduce that, though...? Well, you're basically allowing two personalities in one character, but it's still just the player's character, not any mechanical "edge."

[ZenBear]

Does the sister retain her memories, unlike the brother? This could be interesting development.

That’s exactly what I’m thinking. Up to this point the PC has been played up as insane and naive, but also lacking any real direction or motivation, which prompted the player to consider rolling a new character. I’ve convinced him to consider instead to give his character more motivation by dialing down the insanity angle, and this development is the perfect opportunity.

His sister is the sane one and she does retain her memories, or perhaps they return now that he’s reached a higher power level. Maybe he’ll receive a vision from the Raven Queen, or his sister will force the change on him now that she has the ability.

[Segev]

That’s exactly what I’m thinking. Up to this point the PC has been played up as insane and naive, but also lacking any real direction or motivation, which prompted the player to consider rolling a new character. I’ve convinced him to consider instead to give his character more motivation by dialing down the insanity angle, and this development is the perfect opportunity.

His sister is the sane one and she does retain her memories, or perhaps they return now that he’s reached a higher power level. Maybe he’ll receive a vision from the Raven Queen, or his sister will force the change on him now that she has the ability.

You could let him try out a backup character while the sister takes over, making him an NPC. But it turns out she's taking over because he's not LISTENING to her and is broken enough to wonder if he's gone totally mad because he's lost control of his body and can't get back...and she's taking him someplace she believes will restore his memories. He can retake the character after that side-story is done, with his memories restored, or he can keep his new backup character if he likes it more, as one or the other heads off on their own and the other or the one joins the party back up.

[Nagog]

Does the sister retain her memories, unlike the brother? This could be interesting development.

How to introduce that, though...? Well, you're basically allowing two personalities in one character, but it's still just the player's character, not any mechanical "edge."

I have a character that is somewhat like this, as far as multiple personalities goes. He was a very social individual who (long story short) was trapped in an Imprison spell for over a thousand years. Upon his escape/release (plot developments allowed him to escape), he's become a sort of pseudo-lich, as his physical body has deteriorated to a bare skeleton. He was also driven insane during his captivity, as being an extremely social individual suddenly trapped alone and left alone for far longer than his expected lifespan caused him to develop alternate personalities and personas to have somebody else to interact with. These personalities were often abrasive and differed greatly in personality, alignment, goals, etc. and they didn't always share the same memories and thought patterns, which can come in handy for lying but can really hit hard when another one would switch in during combat and they'd need to get their bearings and figure out what's going on.

All in all, multiple personalities in a single body isn't all that game breaking as long as it is played out well story-wise. If the player tries to use this duality to gain some kind of advantage, be sure they're aware that this same mechanic may come back to bite them later on in imposing disadvantage elsewhere.