"You can summon a nature spirit that assumes an animal form to aid you. As a Magic action, you can expend a spell slot or a use of Wild Shape to cast the Find Familiar spell without Material components.
When you cast the spell in this way, the familiar is Fey and disappears when you finish a Long Rest."
Does this mean that for a druid, this is the only way to cast Find Familiar (unless you also have it through another instance such as magic initiate (wizard)), or could I also cast it as a regular/ritual spell (expending a spell slot (regular) or 10 minutes (ritual), alongside the component cost) if I only have it from this feature? And if so, does that mean the restriction of it needing to be fey disappears when I cast it with material components?
I have the impression the way it is worded is that although the Wild Companion feature acts mostly like Find Familiar, it is not exactly like Find Familiar and you do not actually have the Find Familiar spell prepared. Compare the wording with that used for Speak with Animals gained from the Druidic Language feature, which says you always have the spell prepared.
Because it lacks language saying you have Find Familiar prepared, that spell is not prepared, therefore you cannot cast Find Familiar as a Ritual unless you have it from another source. However, I think that if you have Find Familiar from another source, it would follow the normal rules (can be cast as a ritual if you have it prepared, will cost the 10 GP to replace the familiar if it died, can be fey, fiend or celestial and not just fey, will not disappear after a long rest if it hadn't actually been killed).
I have the impression the way it is worded is that although the Wild Companion feature acts mostly like Find Familiar, it is not exactly like Find Familiar and you do not actually have the Find Familiar spell prepared. Compare the wording with that used for Speak with Animals gained from the Druidic Language feature, which says you always have the spell prepared.
Because it lacks language saying you have Find Familiar prepared, that spell is not prepared, therefore you cannot cast Find Familiar as a Ritual unless you have it from another source. However, I think that if you have Find Familiar from another source, it would follow the normal rules (can be cast as a ritual if you have it prepared, will cost the 10 GP to replace the familiar if it died, can be fey, fiend or celestial and not just fey, will not disappear after a long rest if it hadn't actually been killed).
But that's just how I see it.
That's exactly correct.
You can't cast leveled spells using your Spellcasting feature (i.e., using spell slots) unless you have them prepared. The rules on ritual casting also say that to cast a spell as a ritual, you have to have it prepared. The Wild Companion feature does not say that you have Find Familiar prepared; it just gives you an alternative way to cast it.
I have the impression the way it is worded is that although the Wild Companion feature acts mostly like Find Familiar, it is not exactly like Find Familiar and you do not actually have the Find Familiar spell prepared. Compare the wording with that used for Speak with Animals gained from the Druidic Language feature, which says you always have the spell prepared.
Because it lacks language saying you have Find Familiar prepared, that spell is not prepared, therefore you cannot cast Find Familiar as a Ritual unless you have it from another source. However, I think that if you have Find Familiar from another source, it would follow the normal rules (can be cast as a ritual if you have it prepared, will cost the 10 GP to replace the familiar if it died, can be fey, fiend or celestial and not just fey, will not disappear after a long rest if it hadn't actually been killed).
But that's just how I see it.
That's exactly correct.
You can't cast leveled spells using your Spellcasting feature (i.e., using spell slots) unless you have them prepared. The rules on ritual casting also say that to cast a spell as a ritual, you have to have it prepared. The Wild Companion feature does not say that you have Find Familiar prepared; it just gives you an alternative way to cast it.
Thanks for the clarification from both of you
It being listed in the DnD beyond online character sheet as a prepared spell made me unsure, but I'm guessing they just don't have a good way to implement this (yet) in there.
Although, I do wonder why they didn't just rewrite the spell with the changes (no material cost; only fey) as a class feature itself, rather than making the class feature refer to the spell along with changes/restrictions, when you only have access to the spell via the class feature anyway, would it be to ensure that someone can't have 2 familiars (1 from the class feature, and 1 from the spell if they take something like Magic Initiate (Wizard))? Other than that, I can't think of any reason to do it in this more convoluted way.
To answer your last question: there's been a general trend in the 2024 update toward avoiding repetition wherever possible. There are tons of examples of this in all three core books; they have removed a lot of redundant language. I don't think this is always a good idea, but it's clearly part of their design philosophy for this round of updates.
To answer your last question: there's been a general trend in the 2024 update toward avoiding repetition wherever possible. There are tons of examples of this in all three core books; they have removed a lot of redundant language. I don't think this is always a good idea, but it's clearly part of their design philosophy for this round of updates.
These answers are incorrect. DnDBeyond treats Find Familiar for Druids like it treats Speak with Animals for Druids (Note, you can't upcast ritual spells, which is why spells like Detect Magic & Detect Poison and Disease do not appear when you select the Rituals tab of you spells... but Find Familiar and Speak with Animals show you can still upcast them as rituals)... they are always prepared. The wording says "When you cast the spell in this way," meaning you can cast it the other way... if it was limited to only that way, it would say "The Familiar is always a Fey, and disappears when you finish a Long Rest, you can't cast Find Familiar any other way". This would be how you would remove redundant language while conveying that it can only be cast the one way. The reason for not saying "It is always prepared" is because that is unneeded language and then would require more language to clarify the differences between the prepared casting and special variant casting, while the only needed part is to say the variant casting is different in these ways... The whole point is, 2024 Warlock expends no spell slots to quick cast, but needs material components; most people require a ton of time (1 hour) to cast it AND material components ; Druids can cast it fast and without components but need to expend limited spell slots OR even more limited Wild Shapes; Or they can all ritual cast it (but why would a Warlock who can already cast it faster at the same material components), which is still faster for Druids than the majority of People, because Ritual casting is Casting Time +10 Minutes, which means Wizard take 1hour & 10 Minutes to make a Familiar without a Spell Slot, Pact of the Tome Warlock takes 1 hour & 10 minutes to make a Familiar (period, as they tome only gives them access to Ritual Cast version, but therefore it is Always without a Spell Slot), Pact of the Chain Warlock takes 1 Action to make a Familiar without a Spell Slot, and a Druid takes 1 Hour & 1 Action to Make a Familiar without a Spell Slot (The Druid is trading not using their limited resource by using 10 gp of another resource, that everyone else had to have to do it no matter what).
Wording matters, so WHEN a term is used, it has importance. The first rule is that it is meant to be fun, which means NO is a bad word, NO should almost never be said, you should always err on the side of YES... Can the Tavern Brawler Barbarian throw a rock with some rope tied around it as a makeshift Grappling Hook? There is no rule that says either way, then the answer is YES. Rules are meant to be the explicit limits, not the defined capabilities... can an NPC use the disengage action, YES, it isn't on the stat block but it isn't defined as not on their stat block. Can an NPC Cast a spell, generally, if it isn't on the stat block, probably not, but if they can cast spells of a similar level, there is nothing that says every NPC has to have the spells on the stat block to cast them, they just have to have lost access to a different spell. Can a PC walk on their hands? There is no walking on hands feature, there is no hand walking movement speed, so, YES, because there is nothing that says they can't... now, a general dex save DC 10 or a DC 5 Acrobatics Check if they are proficient are valid requests for a DM to make (maybe a DC 10 Performance Check, if it is being done to entertain or distract, rather than be a way to not leave foot prints or move across something that is too narrow for feet but hands would allow you to cross and have a chance to catch on if you did fail and fall).
tldr; DnDBeyond lists it in Rituals, therefore it is Ritual Castable, anyone telling you otherwise doesn't understand how the game works.
I think this big wall of text can be condensed down to two main things:
You believe that Pact of the Chain and Wild Companion cause Find Familiar to be "always prepared", and therefore eligible to be ritual cast. This is incorrect. Spells are only "prepared" if a feature says they're prepared, which these features do not.
You believe that because D&D Beyond lists the spell as a ritual on its online character sheet, that this means the rules allow it to be ritual cast. This is also incorrect. D&D Beyond's character builder and character sheet are not the rules; they are an implementation of the rules, and an imperfect one. There are a variety of areas where DDB's implementation doesn't match the actual rules, such as: it doesn't allow you to take the Eldritch Invocation "Agonizing Blast" for multiple cantrips, when the rules say you can; it doesn't allow casting spells granted by feats like Magic Initiate using spell slots, which the rules say you can; it doesn't list the Oath spells for 2014-style Paladin subclasses as always prepared, when the rules say they are; and so on and so on. The fact that DDB allows you to do something doesn't mean the rules allow it.
In practice, it doesn't really matter much. Pact of the Chain Warlocks gain no benefit from ritual casting the spell, and Druids can already cast it using a Wild Shape usage, which they get one of back on a short rest (which takes about the same amount of time as ritual casting would). I don't think it would be a huge deal to allow Druids to ritual cast it as a house rule, but all these semantic games to try to coerce the actual rules into saying something they don't are a bit silly.
Read it again... Druids can cast it with a Spell Slot... that means it counts as prepared. Warlocks must use components when casting it... that means it IS prepared. At Will is not Prepared... there are things they can do At Will, you don't prepare cantrips, they are at will, you don't prepare spells granted by invocations At Will... neither of the features say At Will, they just say you can do so as a Magic Action (change of the time needed to cast) and they allow you to bypass specific resources. Proof that DnD Beyond adjust spells for special conditions when those special conditions completely bypass the rules... Moon Druid Spell Lists Spells have an added line of text (colored so you see it no less) that says they can be cast while in a wild shape at level 3 (meaning way earlier than other druids get the ability to cast spells while wild shaped), Druid and Chain Pact Warlock's Find Familiar Spells don't say 1 hour, they say 1 action, but they still register as Ritual spells in the Ritual Spell tab. The system does its job, they CAN be cast as rituals... now, why a Chainlock would cast it as a Ritual is a different matter, but they can... possibly because it means they can create a scroll of base Find Familiar because they can ritual cast it (remember, the Chain Lock Options are Added Options granted explicitly by their feature, they can access them, meanwhile a scroll of find familiar could potentially be cast by anyone with the ability to cast a spell, but they would only get the familiar the scroll was designed to summon).
Read it again... Druids can cast it with a Spell Slot... that means it counts as prepared. Warlocks must use components when casting it... that means it IS prepared.
Again, none of that is true, because the rules do not actually say any of that. Spells only count as "prepared" if a feature says they're prepared.
The system does its job, they CAN be cast as rituals...
Again, the fact that D&D Beyond puts the word "ritual" on a button next to the spell has no bearing on what the rules actually say. As I mentioned in my previous post, there are many examples of places where D&D Beyond's behavior is incorrect per the actual rules.
now, why a Chainlock would cast it as a Ritual is a different matter, but they can... possibly because it means they can create a scroll of base Find Familiar because they can ritual cast it (remember, the Chain Lock Options are Added Options granted explicitly by their feature, they can access them, meanwhile a scroll of find familiar could potentially be cast by anyone with the ability to cast a spell, but they would only get the familiar the scroll was designed to summon).
Crafting a spell scroll under the 2024 rules requires that you have the spell prepared for the whole time it takes to craft the scroll. Since Pact of the Chain doesn't say the spell is prepared, you would not be able to craft a Find Familiar scroll that way. Warlocks can get access to actually prepare Find Familiar via Pact of the Tome (which does say that the spells it grants are prepared) though it wouldn't have the special additional options or decreased casting time that Pact of the Chain offers. Per the crafting rules they would also need to have proficiency with Arcana or Calligrapher's Supplies.
Also, worth pointing out that a scroll of Find Familiar could not be used by "anyone with the ability to cast a spell"; it could only be used by a Wizard, since that's the only class spell list the spell is on.
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"You can summon a nature spirit that assumes an animal form to aid you. As a Magic action, you can expend a spell slot or a use of Wild Shape to cast the Find Familiar spell without Material components.
When you cast the spell in this way, the familiar is Fey and disappears when you finish a Long Rest."
Does this mean that for a druid, this is the only way to cast Find Familiar (unless you also have it through another instance such as magic initiate (wizard)), or could I also cast it as a regular/ritual spell (expending a spell slot (regular) or 10 minutes (ritual), alongside the component cost) if I only have it from this feature? And if so, does that mean the restriction of it needing to be fey disappears when I cast it with material components?
I have the impression the way it is worded is that although the Wild Companion feature acts mostly like Find Familiar, it is not exactly like Find Familiar and you do not actually have the Find Familiar spell prepared. Compare the wording with that used for Speak with Animals gained from the Druidic Language feature, which says you always have the spell prepared.
Because it lacks language saying you have Find Familiar prepared, that spell is not prepared, therefore you cannot cast Find Familiar as a Ritual unless you have it from another source. However, I think that if you have Find Familiar from another source, it would follow the normal rules (can be cast as a ritual if you have it prepared, will cost the 10 GP to replace the familiar if it died, can be fey, fiend or celestial and not just fey, will not disappear after a long rest if it hadn't actually been killed).
But that's just how I see it.
That's exactly correct.
You can't cast leveled spells using your Spellcasting feature (i.e., using spell slots) unless you have them prepared. The rules on ritual casting also say that to cast a spell as a ritual, you have to have it prepared. The Wild Companion feature does not say that you have Find Familiar prepared; it just gives you an alternative way to cast it.
pronouns: he/she/they
Thanks for the clarification from both of you
It being listed in the DnD beyond online character sheet as a prepared spell made me unsure, but I'm guessing they just don't have a good way to implement this (yet) in there.
Although, I do wonder why they didn't just rewrite the spell with the changes (no material cost; only fey) as a class feature itself, rather than making the class feature refer to the spell along with changes/restrictions, when you only have access to the spell via the class feature anyway, would it be to ensure that someone can't have 2 familiars (1 from the class feature, and 1 from the spell if they take something like Magic Initiate (Wizard))? Other than that, I can't think of any reason to do it in this more convoluted way.
To answer your last question: there's been a general trend in the 2024 update toward avoiding repetition wherever possible. There are tons of examples of this in all three core books; they have removed a lot of redundant language. I don't think this is always a good idea, but it's clearly part of their design philosophy for this round of updates.
pronouns: he/she/they
fair enough
These answers are incorrect. DnDBeyond treats Find Familiar for Druids like it treats Speak with Animals for Druids (Note, you can't upcast ritual spells, which is why spells like Detect Magic & Detect Poison and Disease do not appear when you select the Rituals tab of you spells... but Find Familiar and Speak with Animals show you can still upcast them as rituals)... they are always prepared. The wording says "When you cast the spell in this way," meaning you can cast it the other way... if it was limited to only that way, it would say "The Familiar is always a Fey, and disappears when you finish a Long Rest, you can't cast Find Familiar any other way". This would be how you would remove redundant language while conveying that it can only be cast the one way. The reason for not saying "It is always prepared" is because that is unneeded language and then would require more language to clarify the differences between the prepared casting and special variant casting, while the only needed part is to say the variant casting is different in these ways... The whole point is, 2024 Warlock expends no spell slots to quick cast, but needs material components; most people require a ton of time (1 hour) to cast it AND material components ; Druids can cast it fast and without components but need to expend limited spell slots OR even more limited Wild Shapes; Or they can all ritual cast it (but why would a Warlock who can already cast it faster at the same material components), which is still faster for Druids than the majority of People, because Ritual casting is Casting Time +10 Minutes, which means Wizard take 1hour & 10 Minutes to make a Familiar without a Spell Slot, Pact of the Tome Warlock takes 1 hour & 10 minutes to make a Familiar (period, as they tome only gives them access to Ritual Cast version, but therefore it is Always without a Spell Slot), Pact of the Chain Warlock takes 1 Action to make a Familiar without a Spell Slot, and a Druid takes 1 Hour & 1 Action to Make a Familiar without a Spell Slot (The Druid is trading not using their limited resource by using 10 gp of another resource, that everyone else had to have to do it no matter what).
Wording matters, so WHEN a term is used, it has importance. The first rule is that it is meant to be fun, which means NO is a bad word, NO should almost never be said, you should always err on the side of YES... Can the Tavern Brawler Barbarian throw a rock with some rope tied around it as a makeshift Grappling Hook? There is no rule that says either way, then the answer is YES. Rules are meant to be the explicit limits, not the defined capabilities... can an NPC use the disengage action, YES, it isn't on the stat block but it isn't defined as not on their stat block. Can an NPC Cast a spell, generally, if it isn't on the stat block, probably not, but if they can cast spells of a similar level, there is nothing that says every NPC has to have the spells on the stat block to cast them, they just have to have lost access to a different spell. Can a PC walk on their hands? There is no walking on hands feature, there is no hand walking movement speed, so, YES, because there is nothing that says they can't... now, a general dex save DC 10 or a DC 5 Acrobatics Check if they are proficient are valid requests for a DM to make (maybe a DC 10 Performance Check, if it is being done to entertain or distract, rather than be a way to not leave foot prints or move across something that is too narrow for feet but hands would allow you to cross and have a chance to catch on if you did fail and fall).
tldr; DnDBeyond lists it in Rituals, therefore it is Ritual Castable, anyone telling you otherwise doesn't understand how the game works.
I think this big wall of text can be condensed down to two main things:
In practice, it doesn't really matter much. Pact of the Chain Warlocks gain no benefit from ritual casting the spell, and Druids can already cast it using a Wild Shape usage, which they get one of back on a short rest (which takes about the same amount of time as ritual casting would). I don't think it would be a huge deal to allow Druids to ritual cast it as a house rule, but all these semantic games to try to coerce the actual rules into saying something they don't are a bit silly.
pronouns: he/she/they
Read it again... Druids can cast it with a Spell Slot... that means it counts as prepared. Warlocks must use components when casting it... that means it IS prepared. At Will is not Prepared... there are things they can do At Will, you don't prepare cantrips, they are at will, you don't prepare spells granted by invocations At Will... neither of the features say At Will, they just say you can do so as a Magic Action (change of the time needed to cast) and they allow you to bypass specific resources. Proof that DnD Beyond adjust spells for special conditions when those special conditions completely bypass the rules... Moon Druid Spell Lists Spells have an added line of text (colored so you see it no less) that says they can be cast while in a wild shape at level 3 (meaning way earlier than other druids get the ability to cast spells while wild shaped), Druid and Chain Pact Warlock's Find Familiar Spells don't say 1 hour, they say 1 action, but they still register as Ritual spells in the Ritual Spell tab. The system does its job, they CAN be cast as rituals... now, why a Chainlock would cast it as a Ritual is a different matter, but they can... possibly because it means they can create a scroll of base Find Familiar because they can ritual cast it (remember, the Chain Lock Options are Added Options granted explicitly by their feature, they can access them, meanwhile a scroll of find familiar could potentially be cast by anyone with the ability to cast a spell, but they would only get the familiar the scroll was designed to summon).
Again, none of that is true, because the rules do not actually say any of that. Spells only count as "prepared" if a feature says they're prepared.
Again, the fact that D&D Beyond puts the word "ritual" on a button next to the spell has no bearing on what the rules actually say. As I mentioned in my previous post, there are many examples of places where D&D Beyond's behavior is incorrect per the actual rules.
Crafting a spell scroll under the 2024 rules requires that you have the spell prepared for the whole time it takes to craft the scroll. Since Pact of the Chain doesn't say the spell is prepared, you would not be able to craft a Find Familiar scroll that way. Warlocks can get access to actually prepare Find Familiar via Pact of the Tome (which does say that the spells it grants are prepared) though it wouldn't have the special additional options or decreased casting time that Pact of the Chain offers. Per the crafting rules they would also need to have proficiency with Arcana or Calligrapher's Supplies.
Also, worth pointing out that a scroll of Find Familiar could not be used by "anyone with the ability to cast a spell"; it could only be used by a Wizard, since that's the only class spell list the spell is on.
pronouns: he/she/they