First of all, great choice with fiendlock. Second, I think Pseudodragon is a pretty good choice if your using it as a companion or a spy. It can fly, but it also has darkvision, and has ample stats if you want to use it in battle.
All the pact choices are good. AND you can change them when you want as well.
Imp is the best in my view because it gives his master Darkvision 120'. It has hands and can pick things up. Invisible at will. in towns where things are more public and can shapechange on its own into a raven.
Imp is mechanically the best, they have okay hit points, are immune to fire/poison, they can fly, are invisible and have a decent stealth skill, they can also shape change into ordinary creatures if invisibility wont help with infiltration(a spider being small enough to also just get places a imp can't). They are all solid though, so go with what fits your character.
Last time I played a Warlock and used a being from the D&D universe, it was Tiamat, so that's probably where I got my liking of the Pseudodragon.
This is Circe' my imp familiar. Her spirit is Fey and she chaffed at the idea of looking like a fiend. So she looks like a winged Tiefling girl. anyone with a DC 10 arcana roll will know this is an imp familiar. but Circe' is happy and that is all that matters.
Circe' is forbidden to accompany the master when he courts the ladies. It is because she keeps singing, "Kiss the girl" from a planar entertainment they say once. So she sits pouting in her extra dimensional space.
a Psuedo dragon is there for a reason. Have a blast with it.
Also, check out the new feats for chain, especially Investment of the Chain Master. I am playing a Chainlock and it really boosts the efficacy of your familiar as a focus of your character. A familiar can be a major asset to an adventuring group in a ton of ways. Just do a quick search and you can find a ton of people offering loads of interesting ways to get a ton of juice out of a major class feature. I have used my familiar as an Arcane Eye, forward scout, gaining ADV on perception checks for scent or other sense, tracking from above, checking behind walls and closed off sections by releasing them from their pocket dimension up to 30' on the other side, all sorts of distractions, using the Dragon's Breath spell then moving out of range or behind cover, taking advantage of the tiny size, etc... Having an intelligent extension of yourself which can act autonomously in your best interests is a very powerful class feature. Let's not forget delivering potions and helping to delivering a downed party member a healing potion to get them back up and into action.
I used to always promote going Tome because of the access to so many rituals, but after using a chainlock, I think that they make play more exciting and are way more fun. I only wish it was cheaper and easier to change the familiars form when desired, like the demons from the His Dark Materials book series.
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IMHO, Earthdawn is still the best fantasy realm, Shadowrun is the best Sci-Fi realm, and Dark Sun is the best D&D realm.
For me investment in the chainmaster is underwhelming. Your familiar gets a fly speed and a swim speed. well, can't all warlock familiars fly anyway, and how often would you need it to swim?
Familiars can now attack on the warlocks bonus action, which I guess is nice if you're dealing with CR .5 creatures, but the last thing you want is for your familiar to be within melee range of anything that can one shot it. (which is just about everything) and being able to grant it resistance, really won't help much.
Using you spell DC is nice, but you'll likely only be able to use it once before the familiar gets whacked.
It's fine at lower levels (say up to 3rd), but after that, there are much better invocations.
For me investment in the chainmaster is underwhelming. Your familiar gets a fly speed and a swim speed. well, can't all warlock familiars fly anyway, and how often would you need it to swim?
Familiars can now attack on the warlocks bonus action, which I guess is nice if you're dealing with CR .5 creatures, but the last thing you want is for your familiar to be within melee range of anything that can one shot it. (which is just about everything) and being able to grant it resistance, really won't help much.
Using you spell DC is nice, but you'll likely only be able to use it once before the familiar gets whacked.
It's fine at lower levels (say up to 3rd), but after that, there are much better invocations.
I mostly agree though depending on how the DM interprets the save DC change for the sprite it may be really good situationally. Not in a big fight, but to drop the odd one off guard or something. Basically the pseduo dragons poison says its DC to KO them is 5 minus the DC, the sprite gives a set DC to KO them. They have 3 options, keep the set DC of 5, assume its like the pseudo dragons and -5 as the math is the same, or give it the full save DC. A one minute knock out shot at your save DC is pretty solid. Not amazing, but maybe worth the investment.
Now voice of the chainmaster is dope, and gift of the ever living ones may be depending on the healing situation in your group.
Not all familiars you can summon have a fly speed and if you are sticking to a single familiar, probably an imp for...reasons, then you are also missing opportunities other familiars can provide. Sprite allows a BA poison/incapacitated at your DC and attack every round at a range of 40/160 in addition to anything else you may be casting and it can come from a hidden position, behind cover, or any other creative options you may think of. It being considered magical is also a neat ribbon, which paid off in one encounter where my familiar landed a 1 damage attack against the big bad in a desperate moment and dealt the killing blow. Non of us were expecting it, so I would never say rely on it, but it has its moments.
Depending on which familiar you might have, granting it damage resistance to any damage could be a life saver. Adding the swim speed might not seem like much, but it has aided my character quite a few times. I consider it a ribbon, but very useful if you shift your familiar into a shape that does not have a fly speed.
Also, there have been many expansions of accessible familiars if the GM allows them. The core rules were published and written with what was officially available at the time. Conservative players and GMs have a tendency to consider the written rules as gospel and AL rulings are the only amendments allowed sometimes. In your own home game, talk to your GM about other options which may be more consistent with your character's style. Reskinning an existing stat block is the usual interpretation, but there are other options. The gazer, red faerie dragon, flying monkey, almiraj, etc.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
IMHO, Earthdawn is still the best fantasy realm, Shadowrun is the best Sci-Fi realm, and Dark Sun is the best D&D realm.
There are other familiars to choose besides the advanced familiars you have the capacity to summon like rat. I do wish that Investment of the Chainmaster had the feature to swap forms as an action instead of having to cast the ritual for an hour and use up 10g in components. Having the ability to mold forms more fluidly would open up a few more tactical options and allow for better utility. I would honestly trade that for all three ribbon abilities: fly/swim speed, magical attacks, and reaction to gain resistance. The meat of this invocation is the BA attack and the DC adjustment. I think investing in an entire subclass and invocation should make you a master of maximizing your familiar spirit's capabilities and changing into any available form when you need it.
If you are not AL, ask your GM to look at other options that were printed after the fact following some very basic guidelines.
Basic Familiar - tiny beast, CR 1/4 or less (flying monkey, almiraj, and octopus are all small, so there is wiggle room with size)
Advanced Familiar - tiny non-humanoid, CR 1 or less (with strong caveats and controls for certain choices with spellcasting and again with the possibility of a small size).
At the high end (CR 1) of familiars there is the choker, imp, quasit, quickling, vargouille, and yellow faerie dragon. It opens up a much larger variety of critters to shape your warlock around.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
IMHO, Earthdawn is still the best fantasy realm, Shadowrun is the best Sci-Fi realm, and Dark Sun is the best D&D realm.
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So i got sum questions about pact of the chain
first one what is a good familiar
and two what are sum good ways to use your familiar
(btw you have the invocation voice of the chain master and you are a fiendlock)
First of all, great choice with fiendlock. Second, I think Pseudodragon is a pretty good choice if your using it as a companion or a spy. It can fly, but it also has darkvision, and has ample stats if you want to use it in battle.
Orange Juice!
All the pact choices are good. AND you can change them when you want as well.
Imp is the best in my view because it gives his master Darkvision 120'. It has hands and can pick things up. Invisible at will. in towns where things are more public and can shapechange on its own into a raven.
Good Point. I'd be cool if they had something that could do both of those.
Orange Juice!
Imp is mechanically the best, they have okay hit points, are immune to fire/poison, they can fly, are invisible and have a decent stealth skill, they can also shape change into ordinary creatures if invisibility wont help with infiltration(a spider being small enough to also just get places a imp can't). They are all solid though, so go with what fits your character.
Last time I played a Warlock and used a being from the D&D universe, it was Tiamat, so that's probably where I got my liking of the Pseudodragon.
Orange Juice!
you will certainly impress the ladies at the tavern. AND give the bard a run for his money.
This is Circe' my imp familiar. Her spirit is Fey and she chaffed at the idea of looking like a fiend. So she looks like a winged Tiefling girl. anyone with a DC 10 arcana roll will know this is an imp familiar. but Circe' is happy and that is all that matters.
Circe' is forbidden to accompany the master when he courts the ladies. It is because she keeps singing, "Kiss the girl" from a planar entertainment they say once. So she sits pouting in her extra dimensional space.
a Psuedo dragon is there for a reason. Have a blast with it.
Also, check out the new feats for chain, especially Investment of the Chain Master. I am playing a Chainlock and it really boosts the efficacy of your familiar as a focus of your character. A familiar can be a major asset to an adventuring group in a ton of ways. Just do a quick search and you can find a ton of people offering loads of interesting ways to get a ton of juice out of a major class feature. I have used my familiar as an Arcane Eye, forward scout, gaining ADV on perception checks for scent or other sense, tracking from above, checking behind walls and closed off sections by releasing them from their pocket dimension up to 30' on the other side, all sorts of distractions, using the Dragon's Breath spell then moving out of range or behind cover, taking advantage of the tiny size, etc... Having an intelligent extension of yourself which can act autonomously in your best interests is a very powerful class feature. Let's not forget delivering potions and helping to delivering a downed party member a healing potion to get them back up and into action.
I used to always promote going Tome because of the access to so many rituals, but after using a chainlock, I think that they make play more exciting and are way more fun. I only wish it was cheaper and easier to change the familiars form when desired, like the demons from the His Dark Materials book series.
IMHO, Earthdawn is still the best fantasy realm, Shadowrun is the best Sci-Fi realm, and Dark Sun is the best D&D realm.
I'm going to have to look into Investment of the Chain Master. It sounds awesome.
Orange Juice!
For me investment in the chainmaster is underwhelming. Your familiar gets a fly speed and a swim speed. well, can't all warlock familiars fly anyway, and how often would you need it to swim?
Familiars can now attack on the warlocks bonus action, which I guess is nice if you're dealing with CR .5 creatures, but the last thing you want is for your familiar to be within melee range of anything that can one shot it. (which is just about everything) and being able to grant it resistance, really won't help much.
Using you spell DC is nice, but you'll likely only be able to use it once before the familiar gets whacked.
It's fine at lower levels (say up to 3rd), but after that, there are much better invocations.
I mostly agree though depending on how the DM interprets the save DC change for the sprite it may be really good situationally. Not in a big fight, but to drop the odd one off guard or something. Basically the pseduo dragons poison says its DC to KO them is 5 minus the DC, the sprite gives a set DC to KO them. They have 3 options, keep the set DC of 5, assume its like the pseudo dragons and -5 as the math is the same, or give it the full save DC. A one minute knock out shot at your save DC is pretty solid. Not amazing, but maybe worth the investment.
Now voice of the chainmaster is dope, and gift of the ever living ones may be depending on the healing situation in your group.
Not all familiars you can summon have a fly speed and if you are sticking to a single familiar, probably an imp for...reasons, then you are also missing opportunities other familiars can provide. Sprite allows a BA poison/incapacitated at your DC and attack every round at a range of 40/160 in addition to anything else you may be casting and it can come from a hidden position, behind cover, or any other creative options you may think of. It being considered magical is also a neat ribbon, which paid off in one encounter where my familiar landed a 1 damage attack against the big bad in a desperate moment and dealt the killing blow. Non of us were expecting it, so I would never say rely on it, but it has its moments.
Depending on which familiar you might have, granting it damage resistance to any damage could be a life saver. Adding the swim speed might not seem like much, but it has aided my character quite a few times. I consider it a ribbon, but very useful if you shift your familiar into a shape that does not have a fly speed.
Also, there have been many expansions of accessible familiars if the GM allows them. The core rules were published and written with what was officially available at the time. Conservative players and GMs have a tendency to consider the written rules as gospel and AL rulings are the only amendments allowed sometimes. In your own home game, talk to your GM about other options which may be more consistent with your character's style. Reskinning an existing stat block is the usual interpretation, but there are other options. The gazer, red faerie dragon, flying monkey, almiraj, etc.
IMHO, Earthdawn is still the best fantasy realm, Shadowrun is the best Sci-Fi realm, and Dark Sun is the best D&D realm.
All pact of the chain familiars (Imp, Pseudodragon, Quasit or Sprite ) have a fly speed, or can polymorph themselves into a creature with a fly speed.
The Quasit can poly into a bat. Wala! Fly speed.
There are other familiars to choose besides the advanced familiars you have the capacity to summon like rat. I do wish that Investment of the Chainmaster had the feature to swap forms as an action instead of having to cast the ritual for an hour and use up 10g in components. Having the ability to mold forms more fluidly would open up a few more tactical options and allow for better utility. I would honestly trade that for all three ribbon abilities: fly/swim speed, magical attacks, and reaction to gain resistance. The meat of this invocation is the BA attack and the DC adjustment. I think investing in an entire subclass and invocation should make you a master of maximizing your familiar spirit's capabilities and changing into any available form when you need it.
If you are not AL, ask your GM to look at other options that were printed after the fact following some very basic guidelines.
Basic Familiar - tiny beast, CR 1/4 or less (flying monkey, almiraj, and octopus are all small, so there is wiggle room with size)
Advanced Familiar - tiny non-humanoid, CR 1 or less (with strong caveats and controls for certain choices with spellcasting and again with the possibility of a small size).
At the high end (CR 1) of familiars there is the choker, imp, quasit, quickling, vargouille, and yellow faerie dragon. It opens up a much larger variety of critters to shape your warlock around.
IMHO, Earthdawn is still the best fantasy realm, Shadowrun is the best Sci-Fi realm, and Dark Sun is the best D&D realm.