Fun with familiars?

[Mr Adventurer]

I'll be playing my first ever Wizard soon, and would like to use Find Familiar. Does anyone have any good tips, tricks, or stories about using a basic familiar? Or links to this sort of thing that's already around?

[Stone-Ears]

Owl is the best if you're a min-maxer that likes to get every advantage possible from the mechanics.

I personally like the mundane ones like rats or lizards that would be a very common sight in some settings because they're less likely to get un-alived while I'm scouting ahead for my party.

The familiar is great for information gathering and scouting if you have a patient party.

Otherwise I'm sure somebody will chime in with a bunch of shenanigans you can do with your familiars.

[tieren]

Not basic, but I played a chain pact warlock in a long running campaign because I thought it was very in character for him (he was a fey patron warlock so they sent him a sprite to help i his adventures).

I assumed when I took it I was getting a sub-optimal choice compared to cantrips and rituals, etc..., but it was a ton of fun.

Sure some of it was the invisible stuff and sprite specific (heart sight? Having the only actual alignment detector was real helpful), but there were many things any familiar could do I didn't appreciate.

It was refreshing to say have an extra pair of eyes, literally watching my back (I had him sit backwards on my shoulder when he wasn't scouting or flying). I liked having him go perch on a rooftop when we entered an inn or cottage to keep an eye out for our enemies or whatever.

The fliers can out pace nearly anything without flying so tracking enemies that tried to flee was a snap, even if they got out of sight of the party.

I recommend getting the bat and using its blindsight in magical darkness (look closely at the other extra senses and abilities).

[Rukelnikov]

Fun with familiars?

Get a cat familiar, you know how lots of girls like cats? You see how often they would pick them up and hold them against their chest? Well, guess what, you can change your senses to those of your familiar...

[Mr Adventurer]

Owl is the best if you're a min-maxer that likes to get every advantage possible from the mechanics.

Oh? Why's that?


I personally like the mundane ones like rats or lizards that would be a very common sight in some settings because they're less likely to get un-alived while I'm scouting ahead for my party.

This is a great point. Does it outweigh the extra utility of flight, though? And in outdoor settings, a bird in the sky is also not unusual, I suppose.


The familiar is great for information gathering and scouting if you have a patient party.

Yeah, that's what I was thinking. Although there is a big limitation I can see: it only has the same Intelligence as the basic creature, so it's ability to interpret what it sees is also going to be pretty limited. You can share it's senses of course, but only while within 100 feet.


Not basic, but I played a chain pact warlock in a long running campaign because I thought it was very in character for him (he was a fey patron warlock so they sent him a sprite to help i his adventures).

I assumed when I took it I was getting a sub-optimal choice compared to cantrips and rituals, etc..., but it was a ton of fun.

Sure some of it was the invisible stuff and sprite specific (heart sight? Having the only actual alignment detector was real helpful), but there were many things any familiar could do I didn't appreciate.

It was refreshing to say have an extra pair of eyes, literally watching my back (I had him sit backwards on my shoulder when he wasn't scouting or flying). I liked having him go perch on a rooftop when we entered an inn or cottage to keep an eye out for our enemies or whatever.

The fliers can out pace nearly anything without flying so tracking enemies that tried to flee was a snap, even if they got out of sight of the party.

I recommend getting the bat and using its blindsight in magical darkness (look closely at the other extra senses and abilities).

Great stuff. Obviously better with an intelligent familiar who can make better judgements about what a threat is.

I ran a game for a Chain Warlock, his pseudodragon was excellent; the highlight was feeding it a Potion of Dragon Breath!


Fun with familiars?

Get a cat familiar, you know how lots of girls like cats? You see how often they would pick them up and hold them against their chest? Well, guess what, you can change your senses to those of your familiar...

Super not cool.

[Lunali]

Oh? Why's that?

Owl is utterly unbalanced in its benefits, 120' darkvision, advantage on sight and hearing perception, proficient in perception and stealth, 60' flight speed, and, most importantly, no opportunity attacks.

[Gignere]

Bat is awesome too. Blindsight means illusions, darkness, fog is not cover and your familiar will auto detect enemies trying to use those things to hide. Remember you can recast find familiar to change the form of your familiar for different purposes or take advantage of different traits.

[PhantomSoul]

Owl is utterly unbalanced in its benefits, 120' darkvision, advantage on sight and hearing perception, proficient in perception and stealth, 60' flight speed, and, most importantly, no opportunity attacks.

Depending on where you play, worth checking if the Familiar will be eligible for the Help Action, though, particularly in combat. There seems to be reasonable variation across tables, and the PHB's restrictions on the Help Action give reasonable support.

Another Familiar to keep in mind is the Bat -- you can benefit from its Blindsight when using its senses! In the water, the Octopus can be good fun too.

EDIT:

Bat is awesome too. Blindsight means illusions, darkness, fog is not cover and your familiar will auto detect enemies trying to use those things to hide. Remember you can recast find familiar to change the form of your familiar for different purposes or take advantage of different traits.

I didn't have Blindsight to see this post ninjaing in!

[firelistener]

I've used a wizard with a spider familiar. My favorite part was casting spells through it. They have ro be Touch spells, but for the spider that works great. I could cast Web and the spider moves through with zero problems, then I could go to town with shocking grasp, which was fluffed as a spider bite rather a "grasp". Also excellent for keeping hidden, since it's so small.

[Millstone85]

Depending on where you play, worth checking if the Familiar will be eligible for the Help Action, though, particularly in combat. There seems to be reasonable variation across tables, and the PHB's restrictions on the Help Action give reasonable support.I assume that you are referring to a familiar's inability to attack, and the restriction that you can only help with a task that you could attempt alone.

The latter is specific to ability checks. Helping with an attack roll only requires that you be able to distract the target.

[Stone-Ears]

I assume that you are referring to a familiar's inability to attack, and the restriction that you can only help with a task that you could attempt alone.

The latter is specific to ability checks. Helping with an attack roll only requires that you be able to distract the target.

Which I daresay a screeching owl flying by your head while you're trying to whack somebody would be ample distraction.

[Greywander]

I'm going to recommend a raven. Being able to mimic human (or otherwise) voices can be a useful trick. You can use it as a distraction, or have it accurately play back conversations it has overheard (without needing to share its senses at the time). Plus ravens, like rats, are super ubiquitous, so most people won't think twice about seeing one around.

I posted a thread a while back looking specifically at an imp familiar, so some of it won't apply to a regular familiar. However, there's a lot that still works or kinda works with a regular familiar. Take a look. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?571635-The-many-uses-of-an-imp-familiar) It might at least get your creative juices flowing.

[SKW05]

You can use the Dragon's Breath spell on your familiar - on its go, fly it down 14ft and have it breathe on your foe, then fly it safely away again.

I keep thinking this is too awesome to not be broken! You basically end up with two attacks - and one is a very strong AOE each round.

Even stacks with casting a cantrip on the initial round (Frostbite & Mind Sliver, to nerf the enemies save!) as Dragon's Breath is a bonus action cast. Crazy stuff?

[noob]

You can use the Dragon's Breath spell on your familiar - on its go, fly it down 14ft and have it breathe on your foe, then fly it safely away again.

I keep thinking this is too awesome to not be broken! You basically end up with two attacks - and one is a very strong AOE each round.

Even stacks with casting a cantrip on the initial round (Frostbite & Mind Sliver, to nerf the enemies save!) as Dragon's Breath is a bonus action cast. Crazy stuff?
are not familiars supposed to be unable to attack thus preventing them from using dragon breath?

[Greywander]

are not familiars supposed to be unable to attack thus preventing them from using dragon breath?
Does Dragon Breath require an attack roll? If not, then it isn't an attack. IIRC, it uses a saving throw, so it should be fine.

Works for mounts, too. Or random pets. But familiars are easier to replace if they die.

[da newt]

It can act as an intercom for the party scout - rogue takes off to rogue ahead with the familiar spider on his shoulder and the rogue can show the wizard everything they see and talk (one way) to the party in the rear.

Also the familiar can HELP anyone - not just his daddy.

[noob]

Does Dragon Breath require an attack roll? If not, then it isn't an attack. IIRC, it uses a saving throw, so it should be fine.

Works for mounts, too. Or random pets. But familiars are easier to replace if they die.

I am quite sure it is an attack according to English and does the familiar rule says "disregard English entirely then consider you never knew English and that it is in fact a very long mathematical formulae"
Is there is a rule saying "if a word start by a capital suddenly ignore English"?

I think it is likely that the designers did not want familiars to kill people but that they forgot about the rules they made.(the kind of error that happens in half of dnd editions)

[Millstone85]

I am quite sure it is an attack according to EnglishThis again? Yes, there is such a thing as 5e game lingo, and "an attack" or "to attack" is a process that involves an attack roll. There are, as always, exceptions, like a grapple, that are explicitly called out as special attacks.

It is also not to be confused with the "the Attack action", with this precise capitalization, which involves one or more attacks but is also its own thing.

[BW022]

I think someone made a familiar guide online, so you can go look at that for a long guide. My thoughts...

Most games familiars aren't that useful -- even if you make common-sense and practical use of them. Main issue is that most DMs and parties and DMs will not allow too much table time on a familiar. Even though there is no reason a raven couldn't scout a keep or a rat a dungeon... most groups won't allow fifteen minutes of table time roleplaying that familiar doing this. In many cases, DMs will simply kill the creatures to avoid this. With this in mind...

1. Familiars are much more useful in solo or small group campaigns. DMs will often give you a bit more time to use them.

2. When using them cases which might take table time... try to present the action in a way which works but limits table time. If you sent a raven scouting the keep... don't ask what is in every window, where every guard is, how many floors it has, etc. Just ask if the raven sees anything interesting. Only ask for details if it is utterly critical.

3. Remember you can recast find familiar and get a new form and casting is a 1 hour and 10 minute ritual. Thus, don't worry about specific forms and do consider switching when you switch environments. When travelling, a hawk is a good choice. When in a city, a rat or raven might be better. Dungeons might need a bat.

4. Common uses are:
* Scouting. Flying ahead along the road, enter a dungeon ahead of you, check out a building in a city, etc.
* Spying. Sit outside a window and listen to someone. Possibly following them.
* Certain actions. Carrying a message, chewing through ropes, maybe stealing a small object (say a key), etc.
* Combat. I rarely use familiars in this role as they can't attack and so are limited to delivering touch spells and are easily killed. Owls have flyby, but even that is pretty iffy. The only exception I would say to this is non-attack spells (defensive, healing, etc.) Sit your familiar on the rogue and cast invisibility through him or a healing spell on the fighter you can't get to (if multiclassed).
* Guard duty. This is an obvious one and each night you should say "And my familiar does guard duty" until it becomes a defacto assumption.
* Spot and listen checks. It is often annoying to say "Does my familiar see/hear anything" over-and-over, but I tend only use this when actively looking. Hopefully your DM will include your familiar in any passive checks and/or ask them to also roll. However, if not... I tend not to push the issue.

5. I've seen a few odd-ball things such as polymorphing your familiar or such. I tend not to do this as it uses a lot of table time. However, remember there are some spells you can cast on a familiar could be useful -- silence, invisibility, etc.

My final advice is to give your familiar some personality, quirks, o

[Mr Adventurer]

Owl is utterly unbalanced in its benefits, 120' darkvision, advantage on sight and hearing perception, proficient in perception and stealth, 60' flight speed, and, most importantly, no opportunity attacks.

Those are all great - enough to make me think that even though I'd wanted an Owl familiar for my Forest Gnome, maybe I should be more careful about that choice - except that bit about the no opportunity attacks.

The familiar acts on its own initiative and uses its reaction to deliver a touch spell that you cast on your turn. So it can't use flyby attack with your touch spells, only its own attacks.


Bat is awesome too. Blindsight means illusions, darkness, fog is not cover and your familiar will auto detect enemies trying to use those things to hide. Remember you can recast find familiar to change the form of your familiar for different purposes or take advantage of different traits.

Those things will not fool the familiar in general or you when you are sharing its senses, which is great. But you can't take advantage of that yourself, since you're blind etc. when sharing senses.

Great point about being able to change the familiar's form depending on the circumstance. As a ritual, the 70 minute casting time means it's probably only for when your adventuring environment changes for a while, but still a great opportunity.


Depending on where you play, worth checking if the Familiar will be eligible for the Help Action, though, particularly in combat. There seems to be reasonable variation across tables, and the PHB's restrictions on the Help Action give reasonable support.

Ah, yeah, I can see people ruling either way. I'll check.


I've used a wizard with a spider familiar. My favorite part was casting spells through it. They have ro be Touch spells, but for the spider that works great. I could cast Web and the spider moves through with zero problems, then I could go to town with shocking grasp, which was fluffed as a spider bite rather a "grasp". Also excellent for keeping hidden, since it's so small.

Interesting - I think some of the listed familiar forms don't have stats? So was this just like a normal spider?

Good combo with Web in any case.


You can use the Dragon's Breath spell on your familiar - on its go, fly it down 14ft and have it breathe on your foe, then fly it safely away again.

I keep thinking this is too awesome to not be broken! You basically end up with two attacks - and one is a very strong AOE each round.

Even stacks with casting a cantrip on the initial round (Frostbite & Mind Sliver, to nerf the enemies save!) as Dragon's Breath is a bonus action cast. Crazy stuff?

As some of the discussion here has indicated, I don't think this will fly at my table.

I also think that having your familiar active in combat at all is a good way to get it killed, as they all only have 1 hit point. This isn't super bad, but it does mean you can't rely on having it for the rest of the adventure, since you might not be able to take the time to resummon it.


I think someone made a familiar guide online, so you can go look at that for a long guide. My thoughts...

Most games familiars aren't that useful -- even if you make common-sense and practical use of them. Main issue is that most DMs and parties and DMs will not allow too much table time on a familiar. Even though there is no reason a raven couldn't scout a keep or a rat a dungeon... most groups won't allow fifteen minutes of table time roleplaying that familiar doing this. In many cases, DMs will simply kill the creatures to avoid this. With this in mind...

1. Familiars are much more useful in solo or small group campaigns. DMs will often give you a bit more time to use them.

2. When using them cases which might take table time... try to present the action in a way which works but limits table time. If you sent a raven scouting the keep... don't ask what is in every window, where every guard is, how many floors it has, etc. Just ask if the raven sees anything interesting. Only ask for details if it is utterly critical.

3. Remember you can recast find familiar and get a new form and casting is a 1 hour and 10 minute ritual. Thus, don't worry about specific forms and do consider switching when you switch environments. When travelling, a hawk is a good choice. When in a city, a rat or raven might be better. Dungeons might need a bat.

4. Common uses are:
* Scouting. Flying ahead along the road, enter a dungeon ahead of you, check out a building in a city, etc.
* Spying. Sit outside a window and listen to someone. Possibly following them.
* Certain actions. Carrying a message, chewing through ropes, maybe stealing a small object (say a key), etc.
* Combat. I rarely use familiars in this role as they can't attack and so are limited to delivering touch spells and are easily killed. Owls have flyby, but even that is pretty iffy. The only exception I would say to this is non-attack spells (defensive, healing, etc.) Sit your familiar on the rogue and cast invisibility through him or a healing spell on the fighter you can't get to (if multiclassed).
* Guard duty. This is an obvious one and each night you should say "And my familiar does guard duty" until it becomes a defacto assumption.
* Spot and listen checks. It is often annoying to say "Does my familiar see/hear anything" over-and-over, but I tend only use this when actively looking. Hopefully your DM will include your familiar in any passive checks and/or ask them to also roll. However, if not... I tend not to push the issue.

5. I've seen a few odd-ball things such as polymorphing your familiar or such. I tend not to do this as it uses a lot of table time. However, remember there are some spells you can cast on a familiar could be useful -- silence, invisibility, etc.

This is some good advice about table time, thanks. We're only a three person party so this is relevant and some great tips about how to actually handle it.

[SKW05]

I also think that having your familiar active in combat at all is a good way to get it killed, as they all only have 1 hit point.

If you have a Hawk or Weasel and cast Mage Armour on it, then it's AC is 16. Not so bad at starting levels!

Naturally, I'd only worry about doing that if you are planning to use your familiar in any combat-type scenario.

[Bobthewizard]

Owl is utterly unbalanced in its benefits, 120' darkvision, advantage on sight and hearing perception, proficient in perception and stealth, 60' flight speed, and, most importantly, no opportunity attacks.

I'm not sure that the owl's flyby works well in combat for a familiar. Movement is on the owl's turn. So flyby only works then. The help action requires the target to be within 5' of the owl on the attacker's turn. Casting touch spells occurs on your turn so the owl would need to be next to the target at the end of their turn. Maybe I'm reading this wrong.

My wizard uses a hawk familiar and it has provided rides for our wild shaped druid. So that's another use.

[Lunali]

I'm not sure that the owl's flyby works well in combat for a familiar. Movement is on the owl's turn. So flyby only works then. The help action requires the target to be within 5' of the owl on the attacker's turn. Casting touch spells occurs on your turn so the owl would need to be next to the target at the end of their turn. Maybe I'm reading this wrong.

My wizard uses a hawk familiar and it has provided rides for our wild shaped druid. So that's another use.

Help action requires the target to be within 5' of the owl on the owl's turn, not the attacker's.

[Gignere]

I'm not sure that the owl's flyby works well in combat for a familiar. Movement is on the owl's turn. So flyby only works then. The help action requires the target to be within 5' of the owl on the attacker's turn. Casting touch spells occurs on your turn so the owl would need to be next to the target at the end of their turn. Maybe I'm reading this wrong.

My wizard uses a hawk familiar and it has provided rides for our wild shaped druid. So that's another use.

I don’t think so nothing in the help action requires you to stick next to the target. You can help and move and the next attack on the target has advantage.

Edit: I am AFB though.

[Millstone85]

Casting touch spells occurs on your turn so the owl would need to be next to the target at the end of their turn.You can Ready your spell with "familiar touches the target" as the trigger.


I don’t think so nothing in the help action requires you to stick next to the target. You can help and move and the next attack on the target has advantage.This is supported by the SAC.


If you use the Help action to distract a foe, do you have to stay within 5 feet of it for the action to work? No, you can take the action and then move away. The action itself is what grants advantage to your ally, not your staying next to the foe.

[Bobthewizard]

I don’t think so nothing in the help action requires you to stick next to the target. You can help and move and the next attack on the target has advantage.

Edit: I am AFB though.

You're right. "Alternatively, you can aid a friendly creature in attacking a creature within 5 feet of you. You feint, distract the target, or in some other way team up to make your ally’s Attack more effective. If your ally attacks the target before your next turn, the first Attack roll is made with advantage."

So use the help action when the target is within 5' of you and then fly away.


You can Ready your spell with "familiar touches the target" as the trigger.

This is supported by the SAC.

That works. You'll need to use your reaction and will have to watch your concentration in between turns. But that's the same for any familiar and the other ones don't get flyby.

So the owl is the best choice for combat.

Thanks to you both for clearing that up for me.

[Mercurias]

My wizard has an owl familiar who was originally named Orly for the O Rly? meme of yesteryear.

My DM got annoyed that I snuck a meme by him, so I changed it to Daddy due both to a hilarious roll20 icon he found and because the entire table seems to enjoy it. Eventually the joke will wear off and I plan to change the familiar into a different owl with a different name (I really love the imagery of my Fire Genasi with an owl perched on his shoulder. Sue me).

I've used the familiar as a scout in cities and forests thanks to its crazy movement speed and high perception. I also use it in combat to give help out to my party's melee fighters by buzzing the enemy and flying away. I plan on Daddy also being a delivery bird who hands off important items or passes off written messages.

As time goes by, I really want to ass a Homunculus to my group and keep it located at the group's home base to be a maintenance NPC and assist my wizard by carrying on research while the Wizard is out adventuring.

[Crgaston]

The way we do owl flyby Help action at my table is that the owl does the flyby on its initiative count, then the next attack against the creature gets Advantage. This way it is more often helping a party member rather than just always helping the caster, but the caster still gets to make a tactical contribution by deciding which enemy to select, essentially designating a priority target or providing assistance to a struggling party member. This keeps it from feeling cheesy or OP, and everybody likes it when the owl buzzes their target just before they attack.

As to recon, primarily we use familiars to provide a sort of drone overwatch when travelling by road. Flying 5 min ahead and 2 behind keeps us aware of other travelers on the road. We don't typically use flying familiars indoors, but we will use the walking/climbing ones to scout a room ahead, at most, to prevent "screen time" stealing mentioned above. They are also handy for exploring areas where there may be unseen environmental hazards, of which our DM is quite fond.

[lperkins2]

For a neat trick, note that activating magic items is a non-attack action, which means that a familiar can do that in combat. My favourite is the wand of magic missile, but other things work too. Do need to pick a familiar which can hold things, my goto is usually an octopus, but the crab, spider, and weasel also might be able to hold a wand.

Another tip is to invest in barding for your companion, leather armour gives them a +1 AC, since they'll insta pop if they get hit by much of anything, that +1 AC is well worth the cost.