Regarding uncommon familiars

[DwarfDM]

Currently I am hosting a game as DM. Once we are done with this campaign I want to play as a wizard. However I want to get more out of it than just casting.

One of the ideas that I am playing with is trying to get a familiar that is not available with the find familiar spell. Something like a Quasit, Pseudodragon, Fairydragon, Threstym, pixie or Imp. And then binding it to me as my familiar.

To be clear, this is not a powergame move. It is not about invisible familiars, extra spells or anything. It is primarily about the roleplaying.

I would like other points of view about this that I can bring to the next DM.

- How can I get such a familiar? (saving it, buying it)
- What do I need to give up for it? (Attunement slot, my soul)
- What would be fair to the other players? (nerfing the creature if necessary)

[BloodSnake'sCha]

From the way I am seeing it there is no need of balance between character.

I also think you will need to go on a quest to get this familiar bounded (in order to please or find him or even both).

The only thing I think you need to give up is the regular familiar and its ability to come back if it dies unless it can already do it (like an imp that die outside of him plane, you will need to wait for him to come back to its form).

[JackPhoenix]

You need to find the creature and convince it to be your familiar. That's it. Exact details will vary... an imp may want proper contract signed in blood, a pseudodragon may stick around for as long as it wants to, and leave without a word when it gets bored. There's no universal answer, it depends on the individual creature in question.... and, of course, the GM roleplaying it.

[DwarfDM]

So you don't think there will be a balancing issue?

[BloodSnake'sCha]

So you don't think there will be a balancing issue?

No, I don't think there will be one.

It may annoy a chainlock but his familiar is fully obedient. Your is just like giving an intelligent magic item to a player.

[Desteplo]

Bring it up to DM, everyone has different standards.
-I enjoy giving people special bobbles.
-in the case of arguing for it, an upkeep cost? In the case of the pseudo and fairy dragon, they’re essentially cat/dragons. Guild artisan background has a 5g upkeep.
-gold is fairly irrelevant but maybe jewels or special treats. Maybe out of nowhere your fairy dragon wants Fey delights from the winter court. Meet a satyr and a lion along the way

[NorthernPhoenix]

So you don't think there will be a balancing issue?

I personally would. It treads on the Pact of the Chain gimmick.

[DwarfDM]

I personally would. It treads on the Pact of the Chain gimmick.

Other Find Familiar restrictions would still aply. No attack (including combat spells). And I would not be able to change it into a bat or rat if that would be more convenient.

So it would be purly flavor. (Also my party dislikes playing warlocks, so I don't believe people would be displeased)

Do you still think it would be a problem?

[Contrast]

To be clear, this is not a powergame move. It is not about invisible familiars, extra spells or anything. It is primarily about the roleplaying.

What roleplay need are you trying to address exactly?

You don't seem to be looking for a particular ability as you name a number of creatures all with different abilities and you say you're not looking for a mechanical boost generally. Would your need for the familiar to be special be served simply by refluffing its base appearance so that rather than looking like a raven it looked like a mini-phoenix but used the stats for a raven, for example?

[NorthernPhoenix]

Other Find Familiar restrictions would still aply. No attack (including combat spells). And I would not be able to change it into a bat or rat if that would be more convenient.

So it would be purly flavor. (Also my party dislikes playing warlocks, so I don't believe people would be displeased)

Do you still think it would be a problem?

Maybe the strongest ones (Imp, Pixie) but the other ones are fine, in that context.

[DwarfDM]

What roleplay need are you trying to address exactly?

You don't seem to be looking for a particular ability as you name a number of creatures all with different abilities and you say you're not looking for a mechanical boost generally. Would your need for the familiar to be special be served simply by refluffing its base appearance so that rather than looking like a raven it looked like a mini-phoenix but used the stats for a raven, for example?

It is more about giving my character more dept. Every wizard can get a familiar with a spell. I want something that becomes part of my character. Something that I need to work towards during the first parts of the campaign. PC's and NPC's are remembered because of the unique things that they gain. And not because of the generic abilities.

It is also very early in development. I don't think my campaign will end before summer is over. But I want as much different views as possible.

I also have no idea about the setting of the next campaign, it could be the sword coast but it could also be theros or ravnica. So this thread is about gathering information that I can take to the DM in due course.

[Contrast]

PC's and NPC's are remembered because of the unique things that they gain. And not because of the generic abilities.

I...don't think that's true at all.

Having an imp as a familiar doesn't give a character more depth in itself than having a raven.

If I asked my group to name interesting things about my bard I doubt any of them would mention the fact that I own a magic harp gifted to me by the spirit of Ollamh. They would talk about him buying impractically size instruments and then abandoning them when they get too heavy, they would talk about the things he's done and experiences shared, not the stuff gained.

If memorability is the concern I would spend less time thinking of how to get an exception on the familiar rules and more time thinking about how to make the familiar exceptional. A name and personality on a familiar go much further towards making it feel a distinct part of the team than looking different and having some additional abilities.

It isn't an either or situation of course. You can totally have depth and an imp familiar but the second does not imbue the first.

[Sparky McDibben]

I'm not sure if anyone's brought this up, but several of those options give the bondee magic resistance if they're in contact with the familiar.

I'd go with re-skinning something like a raven to look like an imp or a fairy.

[da newt]

In order to ensure that there were no power creep issues, I'd recommend sticking w/ the stat block and abilities of one of the find familiar legal creatures, but then go hog wild with it's appearance by reskinning and give it a real personality.

Maybe your familiar is a parrot (raven stats) - it can talk / mimic, and is incredibly vain about it's appearance and reluctant to get it's self dirty when asked to scout or provide HELP in combat - whatever.

Maybe you have a purple Capuchin Monkey who uses the cat stats and ...

Maybe your owl is reskinned as a ruby throated humming bird ...

Maybe your familiar is a tiny old man with wings (raven stats) ...

But I'd stay away from using a creature that exceeds the spell's animal stats/abilities.

Unless your DM is cool with a quest to befriend a creature, and someone is willing to roll play it.

[Keravath]

There are the variant familiar rules in the monster manual.

If your DM goes along you would be able to make a deal or come to an agreement with a familiar offering their service in exchange for something you would work out with your DM acting as the familiar. Variant familiars can offer some enhanced abilities like the imp sharing magic resistance which regular summoned familiars (even the warlock ones) can't do.

However, in the long run, this is likely to be something you might regret. It is fun to role play this at low levels but the familiars from the spell can be resummoned if they are killed. Variant familiars can't. Summoned familiars can be tucked away in a pocket dimension to keep them safe, variant familiars which are an actual creature not a summoned spirit, can't.

Basically, a variant familiar has one life and even the most powerful one only has 10 hit points. The imp is the most powerful familiar, devils sight, shares magic resistance, immune to fire and poison, resistance to non-magical weapon damage. However, by the time you hit tier 2, most area effect spells will kill your familiar instantly. If you ask your familiar to scout, it could easily die and be gone for good. If your familiar performs the help action in combat, even using its invisiblity, it has to be adjacent to the target and as you get to higher levels creatures can see invisible and will swat the familiar with one hit.

As a role playing artifice, it is pretty cool, but the familiar will die if you ever travel with it since sometime the party will be attacked and the familiar won't be able to get out of range and it will die.

Role playing is neat with a variant familiar and it is mechanically balanced because the variant familiar has only one life and unless the DM gives it plot armor (which they should NOT do) .. you will lose it eventually and it won't necessarily be coming back. From this perspective, a variant familiar does less than a summoned familiar can because the summoned familiar has little downside except casting a ritual spell again if the familiar is lost.

[DwarfDM]

I would like to thank everybody for their advise and opinions.

I think that I have enough to talk about with the future DM.

[Evaar]

Also, go with psuedodragon. They're rad, but Warlocks never take them because they're not as mechanically powerful as the other options.

[Aussiehams]

If you want it to use the Find Familiar rules, but the DM is worried about it being OP, maybe offer to use an attunement slot on it to demonstrate it attaching to your soul.
That's a fairly hefty cost so should show you're not just trying to powrgame.