Families in the United States often keep small animals as Familiar spirits. These spirits are often helpful and protectors, and can take on different forms to suit the needs of the family.
Familiars are animals that have been trained to help magic users, like wizards and witches. Familiars can be helpful in a variety of ways, such as providing transportation, helping with spells, and even acting as bodyguards. ..
Find Familiar Spell
Familiar is a spell that conjures a spirit Familiar of the type Fey, Fiend or Celestial. Your choice of spirit type doesn’t usually matter much aside from influencing the familiar’s personality and alignment, although your choice of animal form is important.
The animal forms include bats, cats, crab, frogs, lizards, snakes, spiders, and weasels.
Even when the familiar is in an animal shape, it technically remains fey, field or celestial. It cannot be killed, although it vanishes if it drops to 0 HP until the find familiar spell is recast.
Casting Find Familiar requires 10 gp worth of material components, which can be found either through looting or by purchasing them from a spell caster. If cast as a ritual, the casting time will be 70 minutes.
The Familiar is not particularly powerful – it can’t even attack – but it is capable of doing a number of useful things for the caster such as scouting for danger, casting touch spells, using the help action, picking up or dropping objects, and several other actions. ..
The caster can communicate with the familiar and see through its eyes, hear through its ears, and use other special senses.
A caster can dismiss its familiar into a pocket dimension if desired. If this is done, the familiar can be re-summoned without having to re-cast the spell.
Find Familiar is a spell that many players consider to be one of the most useful in 5e. It has a lot of versatility, as well as being fun for role-playing reasons.
Access to Find Familiar
Since Find Familiar is a ritual spell with indefinite duration, any player can easily get a familiar using either the feat Ritual Caster or Magic Initiate.
The other characters can also gain access to a familiar if they have the right key.
The Pact of the Chain Warlock gains access to a more powerful version of Find Familiar that lets its spirit alternatively take the form of an Imp, Pseudodragon, Quasit, or Sprite, all of which have special powers such as flight, invisibility, and/or shapeshifting.
Chain Pact warlocks have access to several invocations that can make their familiar even more powerful and useful. These invocations include the ability to summon a powerful demon, increase the power of their spells, and even gain control over other creatures. ..
The pact of the Tome warlocks can gain Find Familiar if they take the Book of Ancient Secrets invocations.
Druids can use their wild shape to conjure a familiar using the Optional Class Features from Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything, although that familiar only lasts for a number of hours equal to half of the druid’s level. ..
Flock of Familiars Spell
The Flock of Familiars spell is available to wizards and warlocks. It allows you to summon up to three familiars for one hour.
This can be fun, but oftentimes having three familiars isn’t much more useful than having one.
Best & Worst Familiars
There is often no big difference in the usefulness of different familiars, especially if they are used sparingly.
Choosing a familiar for role-playing reasons is usually a better choice than choosing one for mechanical optimization reasons. ..
The first is called a “split-screen” and it allows you to see two different parts of a document at the same time. This is especially useful if you want to read one part of a document while working on another part, or if you want to compare and contrast two different versions of the same document. The second form is called a “tabbed browsing” and it allows you to quickly move between pages in a document by using the tabs at the top or bottom of the screen. This is especially useful if you want to quickly get around in a document, or if you want to compare and contrast different sections of a document.
The Owl is a fast, agile creature that has the flyby trait. This means that it doesn’t provoke opportunity attacks when it flies out of an enemy’s reach.
The Owl is the best standard familiar for helping you or your allies in combat without taking an OA. ..
If you’re looking for a familiar that can handle all the challenges of a Pact of the Chain warlock, look no further than Imp. This creature has the ability to see through magical darkness, become invisible, shapechange and fly - making it incredibly versatile when it comes to combat. Additionally, Imp is also immune to many magical effects, giving you an extra layer of safety when fighting on the front lines. Finally, Imp deals bonus poison damage on top of its regular damage output, ensuring that even your most powerful foes will suffer from your wrath. ..
Since your familiar is a spirit, its alignment doesn’t need to be evil.
The worst familiars are those that are difficult to shake and that can cause you harm. Some of the most common familiars are snakes, spiders, and other dangerous creatures.
The Sea Horse is definitely not worth avoiding, as it will quickly die if it leaves the water.
If you want a familiar that can swim, you should go with a crab, octopus, frog, or snake.
D&D Familiars Are Fragile
Many low-power devices, such as smartphones and laptops, require careful handling during combat. ..
Your familiar can be used during combat as long as you don’t trigger any opportunity attacks.
If you’re going to have a party, make sure to keep your familiar away from it. Any sort of area spell will kill your familiar. ..
If your familiar dies, you can resummon it with an hour’s time and 10 gold pieces of materials. ..
A pact of the chain warlock’s familiar is not very tough, but it is still better than the average familiar. You should be careful with your familiar, as it may be too weak to take on most challenges.
Your familiar choices make you safer in combat by providing you with abilities that keep you safe.
Changing Your Familiar’s Shape
If you want to change your familiar’s shape, you need to re-cast your find familiar spell.
This isn’t a big deal. ..
Casting spells can be expensive, especially if you’re casting them frequently. ..
There are times when it can be very useful to change shape, but it’s just good to know you can choose to do this.
Casting Touch Spells
There aren’t many touch attack spells in 5e, so it’s not all that useful to use your familiar to deliver an offensive strike. Also, using a familiar to deliver a touch attack is dangerous and likely to get your familiar killed. ..
The owl is a symbol of wisdom and caution. It is often used as a symbol of protection, because it can fly quickly and stay hidden.
Delivering a touch buff spell to an ally can be useful, as there are several good touch spells that you might want to use on your allies. ..
Scouting With Familiars
They are able to see things that others can’t, and they have a great sense of smell. This is why they are so valuable in scouting out new areas.
Unfortunately, most family members are surprisingly not all that good at stealth.
Rats in 5e are not stealthy.
However, keep in mind that rats can hide almost anywhere, and most people in D&D aren’t all that worried about rats. So if your familiar is spotted, you might want to remind your DM that most folks wouldn’t worry much about a rat, stray cat, or spider. ..
Your familiar can gain an advantage on stealth checks if it is able to track its target.
Help Action
In combat, providing the Help action can be quite useful. For example, if you have someone who really needs it, they can distract an enemy so that someone else can get an advantage on their next attack.
BBEG: Barbarian grappling with the berserker.
A familiar needs to be within 5 feet of a creature on an ability check, or within 5 feet of an enemy on an attack roll against that creature in order to provide help.
According to Chapter 7 of the Player’s Handbook, a character can only provide help for a task that they could do by themselves. Since familiars cannot pick locks, they could not use the Help action to assist in picking locks. However, it could easily be argued that some familiars (ex, snake or octopus) are good at grappling enemies and could help the barbarian grappler. Since a spider is unlikely to be effective at grappling most creatures, a spider probably shouldn’t be allowed to help in a grappling attempt.
If you’re helping during combat, be careful. Your familiar could easily get in harm’s way. ..
The flyby ability of the owl is very helpful for any player who wants to use it a lot.
Teleportation
If you have a familiar, you can teleport it to any location within 30 feet of you that’s visible. ..
This is not very useful most of the time.
Teleporting your familiar through the window can be useful in certain situations. ..
Range With Familiars
A caster needs to be within 100 feet of their familiar to communicate telepathically with it, to access its sight and senses, or to use it to deliver a touch spell.
However, there is a risk that a familiar will venture far beyond its boundaries.
Chain Pact warlocks can take an invocation that allows them to communicate with their familiar anywhere on the same plane of existence. This allows them to share information and advice, even if they are not on the same plane of existence.
Casting Spells on Familiars
There are a lot of spells that you could cast on a familiar, but chances are those spells would be much more effective if cast on another PC.
Your familiar could probably be killed instantly by most enemies. But there are times when you might want to cast a spell on your familiar. ..
Concentration spells with a radius might have some utility if cast on a familiar, such as light or darkness… or better yet, cast the spell on a rock and have the familiar carry around the rock. ..
If you want to turn your familiar into a weapon, you can cast Dragon’s Breath on it, so it can breathe fire (etc.) like a dragon. However, if an enemy comes in range, they may be able to take advantage of the weapon’s weaknesses and hit it with an attack.
Magic Items
The Familiar can use magic items and attune to those magic items.
Most familiar items, such as magic swords or magic shields, require activation to use.
Bonus Actions
Most summoned creatures have a bonus action, but it takes a specific action to command them to take an action.
That’s not true with Find familiar.
A familiar should not require a character to use its bonus action. So keep this in mind while playing!
Perception and Senses
- Familiarity is key.
- Make sure you know your surroundings and what’s around you.
- Be prepared to act on instinct and intuition.
- Be aware of your emotions and how they might affect your decisions.
These rules are confusing because they are different for men and women.
I use my perception skill to see through the lies of the familiars.
Do you roll twice, once for you and once for your familiar to perceive the situation? ..
- No one can be the only one who knows the truth.
- The truth is always accessible to those who are willing to look for it.
- The truth is not a secret, and anyone can find out the truth if they are willing to search for it.
If you’re seeing through your familiar’s eyes, you can use your perception skill to make the perception checks yourself. ..
Perception is a key ability for any adventurer, as it allows them to see and hear things that others can’t. Animals with special senses, such as smell or hearing, can also use their bonuses to their Perception checks to gain an advantage over other creatures. ..
If you’re using an owl familiar, you get advantage on perception checks involving sight or hearing, but not on smell.
Since you are unable to perceive your own actions while perceiving through a familiar, this creates a lot of limitations. ..
If you knew you were fighting a medusa, you could protect yourself from the medusa’s petrifying gaze by using your action to look through the familiar’s eyes.
You can’t take any actions each turn. ..
On the minus side, you would be limited to casting spells that used a bonus action or reaction since your action was already used.
You can use your sense of smell to track down the source of a scent in an area.
Acting in Combat (And Other Info For DMs)
Familiars are a powerful tool for players and DM’s alike. They can provide a sense of familiarity and security in an unfamiliar setting, and can be used to add excitement and tension to your games. Here are some final thoughts on how to use familiars effectively in your games:
Use Familiar Faces as Assets One of the most important things you can do with familiars is to use them as assets. This means that when you create a familiar face for your character, make sure it is unique and interesting. You could choose to have the familiar have a personality or backstory that is different from the other characters in your game, or you could even create a unique relationship between them. Whatever you choose, make sure it is interesting and adds something new to the familiar equation.
Use Familiar Voices Another important thing you can do with familiars is use their voices as assets. When creating a familiar voice, think about what type of voice would be best suited for that particular character type and roleplaying style. For example, if you want your familiar to sound like an old friend or family member, consider using a voiced conversation option instead of written dialogue options.
Use Familiar Gestures Finally, don’t forget about their gestures! When creating familiar faces or voices, think about how best to communicate their actions and movements without having them say anything specific. For example, if you want your familiar to wave at players during combat, consider using hand gestures instead of words (or even just making them look at players with eyes wide open).
What is the DM’s role in the game?
How do players and DMs communicate?
What are the expectations of players and DMs?
What are the consequences for breaking expectations? ..
2: The familiar can only act on its caster’s initiative if it is friendly. If the familiar is hostile, it can’t do anything. 3: The familiar can only attack on its caster’s turn, and cannot defend itself.
Who controls the familiar?
Many DMs let players control their familiars. This allows players to have more control over their pets, and gives them a greater sense of ownership over them.
A DM can choose to have a familiar always obey the player, or allow the player to issue commands to the familiar on their turn.
The DM has the final say on how well the creature understands its commands. ..
A familiar is a powerful magical creature that helps its owner. Familiars can do things like talk, cast spells, and fight. ..
Players use familiar abilities to gain an advantage on many ability checks.
This DM seems to want to keep the familiar from having any impact on the game.
The question is which way is it?
I think the answer lies somewhere in the middle.
If you want a familiar to help with something, be sure to have a reasonable narrative explanation for how it’s going to help.
The more risks a spirit takes, the more likely it is to be targeted by attacks. However, it’s not a bad thing for a spirit to get attacked because it is a spirit and not an actual animal. This makes it easy to re-summon.
An attack on a familiar is an attack that is not targeting PCs, who are much harder to revive.
Playing with a familiar requires a sense of fun and a sense of balance.
As long as everyone is having fun with the familiar, it’s probably fine.
The DM and the caster are frustrated with the familiar. They want to have fun, but the familiar is making their life difficult. They need to talk through their frustrations so everyone can have a good time!
