I just wanted to bring up a pretty helpful combo for the rogues that have a hard time gaining advantage on their attacks. If you go Arcane Trickster, you can get the spell find familiar. The familiar can take the help action each of it's turns which allows it to give any player you chose advantage on their next attack. Essentially it is a "Screw you i want advantage anyway". Does anyone have any fun stories about how they used their familiars in fun ways in/out of combat?
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Hell yeah I am going to Polymorph the boss into a Rabbit. I have always wanted a being a pure evil stuffed into a ball of fluff.
If you consider going melee then it might work,though familliar is easy to be hit that way. I am not so sure,but doesnt the help action work only for 5ft distant oponent? There is one thing that increases that range by up to 30ft, cannot recall at this very moment. And again, if not in melee, your familiar can reveal your position since it can only assist on its turn,and therefore cannot hide. That leads us to using more of spells to create something that can actually serve as a cover ( minor illusion,silent image,major image,etc..). Thank you for posting this, it made me reconsider my options about going arcane trickster, such fun can come from it :)
If you consider going melee then it might work,though familliar is easy to be hit that way. I am not so sure,but doesnt the help action work only for 5ft distant oponent? There is one thing that increases that range by up to 30ft, cannot recall at this very moment. And again, if not in melee, your familiar can reveal your position since it can only assist on its turn,and therefore cannot hide. That leads us to using more of spells to create something that can actually serve as a cover ( minor illusion,silent image,major image,etc..). Thank you for posting this, it made me reconsider my options about going arcane trickster, such fun can come from it :)
Yeah, as much the idea sounds cool it let a lot of openings. The DM can easily use it against the player and the group.
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" Tawnos's blueprints were critical to the creation of my armor. As he once sealed himself in steel, I sealed myself in a walking crypt. "
The owl familiar has a 60 ft fly speed and the 'flyby' feature, which let's it leave an enemy's threatened space without provoking opportunity attacks. Also has darkvision and advantage on perception checks that rely on sight or hearing, which can be useful for scouting while using your familiar's senses. The mastermind rogue Archetype has an ability to use help action as a bonus action at 30 foot range, I believe.
The owl familiar has a 60 ft fly speed and the 'flyby' feature, which let's it leave an enemy's threatened space without provoking opportunity attacks. Also has darkvision and advantage on perception checks that rely on sight or hearing, which can be useful for scouting while using your familiar's senses. The mastermind rogue Archetype has an ability to use help action as a bonus action at 30 foot range, I believe.
Yeah, the owl can bu fun and helpful in many situations, though there are some options like Poisonous snake which someone had mentioned in another thread. You can use your snake to extract(milk) poison and add it onto arrows :) thought is should be limited on how many arrows per day,but still, adding 2d4 dmg on con saving throw (or half as much as that if fail) could be quite a boost. Oh ye, its an Achetype, Master of Tactics. Thank you.
While Arcane Trickster is the most obvious choice for the Find Familiar spell, any rogue--any class really--can get it via the Magic Initiate or Ritual Caster Feats. That's what I ended up doing for my variant human rogue until I was able to take the Arcane Trickster archetype (fortunately I could do a rebuild up until level 5 in the Adventurers League to fix that later on). Having a familiar from level one also fit the character's story better. Montresor D'Or had inherited his dead mother's tressym, Kokin. Unfortunately, not being able to summon her true form (as tressym wasn't even in 5E yet), he was forced to put Kokin into the form of an owl, the closest approximation he could muster. Mechanically, with its flyby feature, it's still the stronger choice, and was best to help Montresor gain advantage and thus sneak attack.
I also had a halfling arcane trickster who adopted bat from a stirge-filled cave as his pet (re-flavoured & retold from the urchin's background feature, the pet mouse), and eventually converted his spirit into a familiar. Since I was able to hide easily behind any medium and larger creatures with the halfling, I didn't want/need/use a familiar until level 15. Squeak did come in quite handy in dark dungeons and caves, though, and for scouting ahead.
The person taking the help action has to be within 5 feet of the target. The one getting advantage doesn't. You can have your owl fly up to a creature, use help, fly away with no AoO, and your rogue can then attack with advantage. More likely to hit and you get SA damage.
Thanks for the tips! I'm planning on using an owl for the flyby feature to help me land my Sneak Attacks while I'm alone scouting ahead or murdering the innocent.
But if they have to be within 5ft during the attack, how can they move away? I understand that rules state movement can be broken up, but realistically, how can the owl still be helping once it moves away?
But if they have to be within 5ft during the attack, how can they move away? I understand that rules state movement can be broken up, but realistically, how can the owl still be helping once it moves away?
Because even though you take turns in a combat technically everything happens at once. It's not just your turn that takes the 6 seconds, it's the entire round with everyone's turns all within those 6 seconds. So, even though your familiar has moved away, you are actually attacking at the moment it was close in and distracting the enemy.
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I made a High Elf (they have +2 Dex and +1 Int, and get a wizard Cantrip) I just made it to level 3 and I took Arcane Trickster. I took "Shield" as my non Enchantment/Illusion Spell.
Next level I'm going to spent my ASI on a Feat to get Find Familiar and summon a owl, so I can do this as well as other cool tricks that Find Familiar let you have. (check out the Wizard's forum for more info there are a few threads)
There are 3 good options:
1) Ritual Caster. Arcane Tricksters don't have Ritual Caster. I'd recommend taking Find Familiar and Detect Magic (unless someone else already has it in your party). Now you *also* get to add any spell with level equal to half your level (round up). If you filter for Ritual Wizard Spells there are quite a few nice options including Identify, Tiny Hut, Unseen Servant, Comprehend Languages, Water Breathing, Telepathic Bond, etc...
2) Magic Initiate: Wizard. Then pick Find Familiar as your 1st lvl spell and 2 cantrips. I highly recommend Green Flame Blade as it gets better with lvl and Rogues generally only have a single attack. The benefit from this is because Arcane Trickster AND Magic Initiate are both chosen from the same spell list. Instead of only being able to cast Find Familiar once a day it adds a permanent available level 1 spell to your list. Sage Advice Compendium page 3 for specifics
3) Last option is take 1-2 levels of Wizard. It's nice in that you get a spell book and 6 full spells to choose from in addition to 3 cantrips and it adds to your total spell level. If you take 2 levels I personally recommend Diviner for Portent. On the other hand Illusionist gives you another cantrip Minor Illusion and lets your minor illusions have both sound and image with a single casting. Enchanter also fits the idea of Arcane Trickster and lets you get Hypnotic Gaze. Doing this means you give up 2 levels of Rogue which is 2 levels of awesome abilities AND 1d6 Sneak Attack dice.
My group's party has recently come upon the strategy of having the sorcerer cast Dragon's Breath on the rogue's owl familiar. The owl flies in, breathes fire, then flies away. And it does it over and over for up to ten rounds until a ranged NPC deals with it.
Gah. This seems like a fantastic idea to me. Next time I get an additional first level spell (which won't be for a couple levels, but STILL) I'm going to snatch this one up!
My group's party has recently come upon the strategy of having the sorcerer cast Dragon's Breath on the rogue's owl familiar. The owl flies in, breathes fire, then flies away. And it does it over and over for up to ten rounds until a ranged NPC deals with it.
Cool that your DM is ok with that, I wouldn't allow it. Technically the Familiar has no attack.
I am the DM. I agree that it does feel like an attack, but Dragon's Breath is allowed on familiars and my personal feeling is that if I have to "house rule" players out of creative and legal uses of their abilities, then I'm not doing a good enough job as DM.
I am the DM. I agree that it does feel like an attack, but Dragon's Breath is allowed on familiars and my personal feeling is that if I have to "house rule" players out of creative and legal uses of their abilities, then I'm not doing a good enough job as DM.
You learn something new everyday! Now I want to do that...
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I just wanted to bring up a pretty helpful combo for the rogues that have a hard time gaining advantage on their attacks. If you go Arcane Trickster, you can get the spell find familiar. The familiar can take the help action each of it's turns which allows it to give any player you chose advantage on their next attack. Essentially it is a "Screw you i want advantage anyway". Does anyone have any fun stories about how they used their familiars in fun ways in/out of combat?
Hell yeah I am going to Polymorph the boss into a Rabbit. I have always wanted a being a pure evil stuffed into a ball of fluff.
If you consider going melee then it might work,though familliar is easy to be hit that way. I am not so sure,but doesnt the help action work only for 5ft distant oponent? There is one thing that increases that range by up to 30ft, cannot recall at this very moment. And again, if not in melee, your familiar can reveal your position since it can only assist on its turn,and therefore cannot hide. That leads us to using more of spells to create something that can actually serve as a cover ( minor illusion,silent image,major image,etc..). Thank you for posting this, it made me reconsider my options about going arcane trickster, such fun can come from it :)
The owl familiar has a 60 ft fly speed and the 'flyby' feature, which let's it leave an enemy's threatened space without provoking opportunity attacks. Also has darkvision and advantage on perception checks that rely on sight or hearing, which can be useful for scouting while using your familiar's senses. The mastermind rogue Archetype has an ability to use help action as a bonus action at 30 foot range, I believe.
I will be turning into an Forrest Gnome Arcane Trickster this Friday. I will post any cool things I find as I go.
While Arcane Trickster is the most obvious choice for the Find Familiar spell, any rogue--any class really--can get it via the Magic Initiate or Ritual Caster Feats. That's what I ended up doing for my variant human rogue until I was able to take the Arcane Trickster archetype (fortunately I could do a rebuild up until level 5 in the Adventurers League to fix that later on). Having a familiar from level one also fit the character's story better. Montresor D'Or had inherited his dead mother's tressym, Kokin. Unfortunately, not being able to summon her true form (as tressym wasn't even in 5E yet), he was forced to put Kokin into the form of an owl, the closest approximation he could muster. Mechanically, with its flyby feature, it's still the stronger choice, and was best to help Montresor gain advantage and thus sneak attack.
I also had a halfling arcane trickster who adopted bat from a stirge-filled cave as his pet (re-flavoured & retold from the urchin's background feature, the pet mouse), and eventually converted his spirit into a familiar. Since I was able to hide easily behind any medium and larger creatures with the halfling, I didn't want/need/use a familiar until level 15. Squeak did come in quite handy in dark dungeons and caves, though, and for scouting ahead.
The person taking the help action has to be within 5 feet of the target. The one getting advantage doesn't. You can have your owl fly up to a creature, use help, fly away with no AoO, and your rogue can then attack with advantage. More likely to hit and you get SA damage.
Thanks for the tips! I'm planning on using an owl for the flyby feature to help me land my Sneak Attacks while I'm alone scouting ahead or murdering the innocent.
But if they have to be within 5ft during the attack, how can they move away? I understand that rules state movement can be broken up, but realistically, how can the owl still be helping once it moves away?
Click ✨ HERE ✨ For My Youtube Videos featuring Guides, Tips & Tricks for using D&D Beyond.
Need help with Homebrew? Check out ✨ this FAQ/Guide thread ✨ by IamSposta.
I have a similar build.
I made a High Elf (they have +2 Dex and +1 Int, and get a wizard Cantrip)
I just made it to level 3 and I took Arcane Trickster. I took "Shield" as my non Enchantment/Illusion Spell.
Next level I'm going to spent my ASI on a Feat to get Find Familiar and summon a owl, so I can do this as well as other cool tricks that Find Familiar let you have. (check out the Wizard's forum for more info there are a few threads)
There are 3 good options:
1) Ritual Caster. Arcane Tricksters don't have Ritual Caster. I'd recommend taking Find Familiar and Detect Magic (unless someone else already has it in your party). Now you *also* get to add any spell with level equal to half your level (round up). If you filter for Ritual Wizard Spells there are quite a few nice options including Identify, Tiny Hut, Unseen Servant, Comprehend Languages, Water Breathing, Telepathic Bond, etc...
2) Magic Initiate: Wizard. Then pick Find Familiar as your 1st lvl spell and 2 cantrips. I highly recommend Green Flame Blade as it gets better with lvl and Rogues generally only have a single attack. The benefit from this is because Arcane Trickster AND Magic Initiate are both chosen from the same spell list. Instead of only being able to cast Find Familiar once a day it adds a permanent available level 1 spell to your list. Sage Advice Compendium page 3 for specifics
3) Last option is take 1-2 levels of Wizard. It's nice in that you get a spell book and 6 full spells to choose from in addition to 3 cantrips and it adds to your total spell level. If you take 2 levels I personally recommend Diviner for Portent. On the other hand Illusionist gives you another cantrip Minor Illusion and lets your minor illusions have both sound and image with a single casting. Enchanter also fits the idea of Arcane Trickster and lets you get Hypnotic Gaze. Doing this means you give up 2 levels of Rogue which is 2 levels of awesome abilities AND 1d6 Sneak Attack dice.
My group's party has recently come upon the strategy of having the sorcerer cast Dragon's Breath on the rogue's owl familiar. The owl flies in, breathes fire, then flies away. And it does it over and over for up to ten rounds until a ranged NPC deals with it.
"Not all those who wander are lost"
Gah. This seems like a fantastic idea to me. Next time I get an additional first level spell (which won't be for a couple levels, but STILL) I'm going to snatch this one up!
Zevrana - Moon Elf/Rogue - Arcane Trickster/L5
I am the DM. I agree that it does feel like an attack, but Dragon's Breath is allowed on familiars and my personal feeling is that if I have to "house rule" players out of creative and legal uses of their abilities, then I'm not doing a good enough job as DM.
"Not all those who wander are lost"