5e Familiar Customization

[carrdrivesyou]

I am looking for new and exciting ways to come up with a familiar that isn't one of the ones listed in the spell description, as my DM is fairly lenient. Still want to stay under the chain pact warlock familiar power scale though.

Given that info, what would be some good choices? A friend suggested a baby elemental, so I'm also considering Homebrew items.

[Dreadfull]

I would start by looking at the D&D 3.5 familiar list. There were so many of them with all the splatbooks and dragon magazines.
All of them have stat blocks alot of them have special feats that translate pretty well with a little effort, and you can always reflavor them or make it another creature entirely. there are pretty decent guidelines for converting monsters in the DMG.
Would save a lot of work and ensure some sort of balance if you keep them in line with currently available familiars.

[da newt]

The 'safest' way to do this would be to pick the stat block from one of the allowed familiars, but then reskin / fluff as whatever you want it to be thematically - this will ensure there is no undue advantage.

The more fun option would be to use the variant familiar rule pg 347 Monster Manual and grab any "Tiny Monster" - flame skull, quickling, faerie dragon, gazer, velociraptor, vargouille, demilich, intellect devourer, pixie, sprite, stirge, will-o-wisp, flying snake, ... Some of those are quite impressive.

[nickl_2000]

Both the Creature Codex and the Tome of Beasts (by Kobold Press) have some pretty decent options.

If you are looking for help with homebrew, it would help us a lot to have an understanding of the kinds of things you are looking for. What are you looking for out of a familiar?

[sleepyhead]

I made some homebrew familiars
Unfamiliar Familiars (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?580839-Unfamiliar-Familiars)
̶I̶ ̶t̶h̶i̶n̶k̶ ̶a̶d̶d̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶s̶o̶m̶e̶ ̶b̶a̶b̶y̶ ̶e̶l̶e̶m̶e̶n̶t̶a̶l̶s̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶t̶h̶i̶s̶ ̶w̶o̶u̶l̶d̶ ̶b̶e̶ ̶p̶r̶e̶t̶t̶y̶ ̶c̶o̶o̶l̶. W̶o̶u̶l̶d̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶ ̶p̶r̶e̶f̶e̶r̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶m̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶b̶e̶ ̶w̶i̶z̶a̶r̶d̶ ̶o̶r̶ ̶w̶a̶r̶l̶o̶c̶k̶ ̶f̶a̶m̶i̶l̶i̶a̶r̶s̶?̶

I added them balance may be a bit iffy.

[da newt]

There should be a dog familiar - like a Border Collie. Maybe use the Jackal stat box but bump up Int, or bump down the Mastiff for size ...

[sleepyhead]

There should be a dog familiar - like a Border Collie. Maybe use the Jackal stat box but bump up Int, or bump down the Mastiff for size ...

Would it be like a little chihuahua?

[FilthyLucre]

I am looking for new and exciting ways to come up with a familiar that isn't one of the ones listed in the spell description, as my DM is fairly lenient. Still want to stay under the chain pact warlock familiar power scale though.

Given that info, what would be some good choices? A friend suggested a baby elemental, so I'm also considering Homebrew items.

Flumph familliar

[sleepyhead]

Flumph familliar

That would have to be a straight up wizard familiar. Way to weak for a pact of the chain familiar.

[No brains]

You could reasonably convince a DM to allow a Tiny Challenge 0 beast. A baboon (monkey) familiar wouldn't be too unusual. I think a hyena is the first thing that's too 'strong' to be easily admitted in the familiar club.

[Spectrulus]

...What would be some good choices? A friend suggested a baby elemental, so I'm also considering Homebrew items.

The Gazer is an interesting choice on the same power level.

Depending on the character, a Vargouille is interesting, though likely with its ability to make new Vargoille's removed.

[carrdrivesyou]

Both the Creature Codex and the Tome of Beasts (by Kobold Press) have some pretty decent options.

If you are looking for help with homebrew, it would help us a lot to have an understanding of the kinds of things you are looking for. What are you looking for out of a familiar?

I've got a celestial pact warlock, going the grumpy old war mage route.

Ideally I would like to see a functional creature with a divine sort of ability. Something along to mixing an owl with a lantern archon

[Evaar]

I've had some ideas on this, as I'm pretty disappointed with the seeming lack of thought given to familiar animals. There's almost no reason to select anything but Owl (unless your DM is crazy enough to approve you getting a Tressym or a Psuedodragon).

I tried to think of small utilities that would be helpful to have but not overpowering. Each familiar should be able to do one cool thing, but not a ton of cool things.

Examples:
Firefly - Homebrew, has the ability to toggle light within a 10 foot radius
Raccoon - Homebrew, has thumbs, can work simple mechanisms like doors or even turn a key, or feed a potion to an ally
Rabbit - Homebrew, has a burrow speed
Bat - Already an option, has blindsight, could alert PCs to invisible threats
Spider - Already an option, can use websense to create an alarm perimeter around the PC's camp
Poisonous Snake - Already an option, can harvest venom
Owl - Already an option, flyby
Raven - Already an option, has mimicry

But then you have options like the lizard and frog which don't really do anything. Maybe the lizard should be able to recover from being killed, saving the caster the trouble of resummoning and 10g of components. Maybe the frog should have a hallucinogenic venom. Something. Anything.