I know the title is a bit of a mouthful but I'm about to play my first Rogue and wanted to check some RAW ruling. I know the final decision is the DM's but wanted to know what is official.
There is 3 situations, and each of them could have a different answer.
Scenario 1 - Arcane Trickster has a Squirrel familiar on his shoulder. He moves in attacks an opponent and then disengage and moves out of range. The Ruling is there is no Attack of opportunity on the Rogue, but can there be one against the Squirrel?
Scenario 2 - Arcane Trickster has a Squirrel familiar on his shoulder. He moves in for a sneak attack. The Squirrel dances around, as there is an ally within 5 feet of the victim. Sneak attack counts, Now the disengage again. does the Squirrel get attacked by attack of opportunity?
Scenario 3 - Arcane Trickster, Squirrel familiar which uses the Aid action by throwing acorns at the victim. Now the Rogue gets sneak attack with advantage. disengages. Can the Squirrel get attacked by attack of Opportunity?
I know the Scenarios are pretty similar, but there is slight difference between, Familiar, being passive, being active and being aggressive. (Also please don't answer with just get an Owl familiar, I'm more interested in the ruling)
The main scenario I have trouble with is scenario three; your DM should absolutely be forcing the squirrel to make some kind of check to see if it can overcome its natural desire to hoard those acorns rather than throw them away 😉
Otherwise for the attacks of opportunity I'd say all three scenarios are essentially the same, and while it's probably a DM ruling, I think Lyxen's interpretation is perfectly reasonable; if an enemy can't take a swing at you it would seem silly for them to be able to take a swing at something on your shoulder or in your pocket.
Former D&D Beyond Customer of six years: With the axing of piecemeal purchasing, lack of meaningful development, and toxic moderation the site isn't worth paying for anymore. I remain a free user only until my groups are done migrating from DDB, and if necessary D&D, after which I'm done. There are better systems owned by better companies out there.
I have unsubscribed from all topics and will not reply to messages. My homebrew is now 100% unsupported.
The scenarios fit mounted combat perfectly, with the rogue as independent mount.
In all three scenarios, the rogue is using movement and any AoO he would provoke could either target the mount or the rider. As the mount disengaged and no longer provokes AoO, both mount and rider cannot be targeted.
On another note, the familiar can also take the ready action to trigger the help action if the rogue makes a melee attack. It can then use its reaction before the rogue attacks, granting advantage. This keeps the rogue mobile while offering advantage for one attack.
I love the idea of a rogue with a familiar on their shoulder distracting an enemy. It really kind of falls into a grey area for RAW and RAI as far as mounted rules go. But there is definitely room for a DM to allow it.
If they don't, just tell them you want to reskin abusing the hell out of having an owl familiar just do the same thing using flyby every round while taking more time to describe.
You just inspired a somewhat homebrew use of this concept for me:
Im playing an arcane trickster with an owl familiar right now. The next time we get into a big dramatic fight, he is going to shout "attack pattern omega!" The owl will move onto his sword arm while he takes out the incense for the find familiar spell in his offhand, clenches them in his fist, and fireballs his own hand to cast the spell, transforming the owl familiar into a poisonous snake familiar to distract enemies with a readied help action by doing the cobra hood thing and hissing like he will bite whenever my rogue goes to stab someone with his shortsword.
You just inspired a somewhat homebrew use of this concept for me:
Im playing an arcane trickster with an owl familiar right now. The next time we get into a big dramatic fight, he is going to shout "attack pattern omega!" The owl will move onto his sword arm while he takes out the incense for the find familiar spell in his offhand, clenches them in his fist, and fireballs his own hand to cast the spell, transforming the owl familiar into a poisonous snake familiar to distract enemies with a readied help action by doing the cobra hood thing and hissing like he will bite whenever my rogue goes to stab someone with his shortsword.
1hr cast time
As for the OP, I don't normally consider a familiar as enough of a threat to be considered an enemy for scenario 2. The dancing around I would consider to be the help action, making it scenario 3 instead.
As for the attacks of opportunity, there are two ways you could reasonably consider the actions, mounted combat or involuntary movement. For the mounted combat, the PC is an independent mount, if the mount uses disengage, neither the mount nor the rider takes attacks of opportunity. If you consider it to be involuntary movement, the familiar won't provoke attacks even if the PC doesn't disengage.
You just inspired a somewhat homebrew use of this concept for me:
[...] while he takes out the incense for the find familiar spell in his offhand, clenches them in his fist, and fireballs his own hand to cast the spell, transforming the owl familiar into a poisonous snake familiar [...]
Find Familiar has a casting time of one hour, it's not meant to be cast during combat ;)
You just inspired a somewhat homebrew use of this concept for me:
[...] while he takes out the incense for the find familiar spell in his offhand, clenches them in his fist, and fireballs his own hand to cast the spell, transforming the owl familiar into a poisonous snake familiar [...]
Find Familiar has a casting time of one hour, it's not meant to be cast during combat ;)
Hence “somewhat homebrew.”
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I know the title is a bit of a mouthful but I'm about to play my first Rogue and wanted to check some RAW ruling. I know the final decision is the DM's but wanted to know what is official.
There is 3 situations, and each of them could have a different answer.
Scenario 1 - Arcane Trickster has a Squirrel familiar on his shoulder. He moves in attacks an opponent and then disengage and moves out of range. The Ruling is there is no Attack of opportunity on the Rogue, but can there be one against the Squirrel?
Scenario 2 - Arcane Trickster has a Squirrel familiar on his shoulder. He moves in for a sneak attack. The Squirrel dances around, as there is an ally within 5 feet of the victim. Sneak attack counts, Now the disengage again. does the Squirrel get attacked by attack of opportunity?
Scenario 3 - Arcane Trickster, Squirrel familiar which uses the Aid action by throwing acorns at the victim. Now the Rogue gets sneak attack with advantage. disengages. Can the Squirrel get attacked by attack of Opportunity?
I know the Scenarios are pretty similar, but there is slight difference between, Familiar, being passive, being active and being aggressive. (Also please don't answer with just get an Owl familiar, I'm more interested in the ruling)
The main scenario I have trouble with is scenario three; your DM should absolutely be forcing the squirrel to make some kind of check to see if it can overcome its natural desire to hoard those acorns rather than throw them away 😉
Otherwise for the attacks of opportunity I'd say all three scenarios are essentially the same, and while it's probably a DM ruling, I think Lyxen's interpretation is perfectly reasonable; if an enemy can't take a swing at you it would seem silly for them to be able to take a swing at something on your shoulder or in your pocket.
Former D&D Beyond Customer of six years: With the axing of piecemeal purchasing, lack of meaningful development, and toxic moderation the site isn't worth paying for anymore. I remain a free user only until my groups are done migrating from DDB, and if necessary D&D, after which I'm done. There are better systems owned by better companies out there.
I have unsubscribed from all topics and will not reply to messages. My homebrew is now 100% unsupported.
The scenarios fit mounted combat perfectly, with the rogue as independent mount.
In all three scenarios, the rogue is using movement and any AoO he would provoke could either target the mount or the rider. As the mount disengaged and no longer provokes AoO, both mount and rider cannot be targeted.
On another note, the familiar can also take the ready action to trigger the help action if the rogue makes a melee attack. It can then use its reaction before the rogue attacks, granting advantage. This keeps the rogue mobile while offering advantage for one attack.
More Interesting Lock Picking Rules
I love the idea of a rogue with a familiar on their shoulder distracting an enemy. It really kind of falls into a grey area for RAW and RAI as far as mounted rules go. But there is definitely room for a DM to allow it.
If they don't, just tell them you want to reskin abusing the hell out of having an owl familiar just do the same thing using flyby every round while taking more time to describe.
You just inspired a somewhat homebrew use of this concept for me:
Im playing an arcane trickster with an owl familiar right now. The next time we get into a big dramatic fight, he is going to shout "attack pattern omega!" The owl will move onto his sword arm while he takes out the incense for the find familiar spell in his offhand, clenches them in his fist, and fireballs his own hand to cast the spell, transforming the owl familiar into a poisonous snake familiar to distract enemies with a readied help action by doing the cobra hood thing and hissing like he will bite whenever my rogue goes to stab someone with his shortsword.
1hr cast time
As for the OP, I don't normally consider a familiar as enough of a threat to be considered an enemy for scenario 2. The dancing around I would consider to be the help action, making it scenario 3 instead.
As for the attacks of opportunity, there are two ways you could reasonably consider the actions, mounted combat or involuntary movement. For the mounted combat, the PC is an independent mount, if the mount uses disengage, neither the mount nor the rider takes attacks of opportunity. If you consider it to be involuntary movement, the familiar won't provoke attacks even if the PC doesn't disengage.
Find Familiar has a casting time of one hour, it's not meant to be cast during combat ;)
More Interesting Lock Picking Rules
Hence “somewhat homebrew.”