I am playing a multiclass Undead Warlock/Bladesinger Wizard and trying to figure the best familiar to get. Mosty the character is going to be a melee oriented Gish. Having both bladesong and form of dread at PB times per day means she will almost always have one of these up. I don't have much experience playing Warlocks and have never played a chain pact.
The characters patron is Kiaransalee the insane Banshee. None of the Pact of Chain familiars seem very thematic for this patron.
With that said looking at the choices, the Imp seems the best in terms of combat utility, but the sprite can stay back and use her bow, which means she will probably be more survivable especially later in tier 2. One of these seem to be the best but I can't decide which one. Any other considerations I should consider?
Poisioned is also probably better than the damage, but most enemies will pass the save. I might be able to stack it with mindsliver to make it more reliable.
I feel the imp is better if you take magic stone as one of your cantrips. My 5th lvl warlock spends his whole first turn setting up. He summons a shadow spawn, then uses his bonus action for magic stone, and his item interaction to give said stones to the imp.
After that, every turn after is cast EB, bonus action make the imp throw a stone, and the summon attacks afterwards. It's a lot of DPR, and if you're in need of battlefield control, the shadow spawn can fear things.
Thanks. That makes the Quasit and Sprite a lot better!
One other thing I did not think of though is my character is a Drow and the Imp has Devil's sight which is pretty useful to combine with the Drow Darkness spell.
I feel the imp is better if you take magic stone as one of your cantrips. My 5th lvl warlock spends his whole first turn setting up. He summons a shadow spawn, then uses his bonus action for magic stone, and his item interaction to give said stones to the imp.
After that, every turn after is cast EB, bonus action make the imp throw a stone, and the summon attacks afterwards. It's a lot of DPR, and if you're in need of battlefield control, the shadow spawn can fear things.
Would be a two turn setup. But other than that, this would be ok. Only negative with a two turn setup is so many fights are only a few turns, to begin with.
I know cgarciao and we talked about it. If you cast a bonus action spell (even a cantrip like magic stone), then you can only cast a cantrip with your action. I think what throws everybody off is that there are so few bonus action cantrips. I think Magic Stone and Shillelagh are the only two.
I feel the imp is better if you take magic stone as one of your cantrips. My 5th lvl warlock spends his whole first turn setting up. He summons a shadow spawn, then uses his bonus action for magic stone, and his item interaction to give said stones to the imp.
After that, every turn after is cast EB, bonus action make the imp throw a stone, and the summon attacks afterwards. It's a lot of DPR, and if you're in need of battlefield control, the shadow spawn can fear things.
Would be a two turn setup. But other than that, this would be ok. Only negative with a two turn setup is so many fights are only a few turns, to begin with.
I know cgarciao and we talked about it. If you cast a bonus action spell (even a cantrip like magic stone), then you can only cast a cantrip with your action. I think what throws everybody off is that there are so few bonus action cantrips. I think Magic Stone and Shillelagh are the only two.
Even with the set up, you're still doing more with your turn than if you had cast hex and used EB right off the bat. Even if the fight ends early, the only resource spent was a spell slot, which is easily worth it on a warlock.
It largely depends on what you're looking for out of your Familiar. Covering the 4 new options you get by taking the Pact of the Chain, each can bring something different to the table and it's worth looking as each in-depth. It's also worth considering each depending on whether or not you're taking the Investment of the Chain Master invocation, since it makes a big impact on how your familiar works.
The Imp is unquestionably the best option for a scout. It is the most durable with 10hp and advantage against magical effects, Flies and has human-like hands for the likes of interacting with containers and doorways, can change its shape to a more mundane form (such as a raven) and, more importantly, can turn itself invisible at will. These abilities combined together outmatches any other option for a scouting familiar.
With a little work, it also can replace the need for the Devil's Sight Invocation in many circumstances, as the Imp has Darkvision out to 120ft and can see through magical darkness, which you can then make use of by looking through it's senses via the rules of Find Familiar.
It is the least impacted Familiar when using Investment of the Chain Master, however, as it only raises the CON save to resist the extra 3d6 Poison damage, and does not have any useful debuffs to apply. Most of the other features of the Invocation are not particularly helpful, though you can give your Imp a swim speed if that matters. The Imp is perhaps the one familiar I would recommend not taking Investment of the Chain Master on as a result, as it does a great job without it and gains the least out of all the options.
The Quasit is somewhat similar to the Imp, sharing many traits with it. It can turn invisible, has magic resistance, human-like hands, a decent 7hp and can change into some different, albeit more creepy, forms. However, at base, it falls short compared to the imp due to lacking an innate flying speed and the inability to see through magical darkness. It does have its Scare ability once per day, but DC 10 is still low and falls off quickly. It's claws are more useful than the imp's sting as a failed save applies the Poisoned Condition, but the damage is slightly lower and the save is still terrible.
Quasits benefit greatly from Investment of the Chain Master, which they gain a lot of benefit from and in many situations becomes better than the Imp. It gains the same fly speed of 40ft, and the DC of both its claws AND its scare is improved, which is a big deal, especially since the Quasit is capable of applying both Frightened and Poisoned conditions, which can be very potent in ideal circumstances (although the target can save each turn to clear the effect). It does slightly less damage than the Imp, but the ability to apply two different status effects greatly offset this, and generally makes it the better option with the Invocation compared to the Imp.
The Sprite is personally my least favourite, but definitely brings its own benefits. It has the highest AC at 15, but the lowest HP at 2. Human-like hands and invisibility makes it a good option for a scout, only falling slightly behind the Imp due to the lack of HP, no Darkvision and no magic resistance.
It's biggest benefit is in being the only familiar with a ranged attack, with a 40/160 range Shortbow. It only does 1 damage on hit, but it carries the Poisoned condition identical to the Quasit except it doesn't allow for additional saves. It also has a chance to knock a target unconscious if the result of the save is 5 or less, which is a nice occasional bonus. The save still sucks, but a ranged poison that sticks
However, it does also have a unique benefit to it outside of combat scenarios that can make it tempting to take. Heart Sight isverysituational, but for a more social game it can give some insight to the story of your campaign, especially if the NPC that your party trusts so much is revealed to be Chaotic Evil from the ability, but even the ability to gain insight into the emotional state of the target can be useful depending on your DM. It is incredibly niche, but could reveal a twist that may not be expected, and so is at least worth a mention.
It does benefit a bit from Investment of the Chain Master, though some benefits are virtually irrelevant due to how little health it has. The big draw is to raise the DC for the Poisoned condition, as you could have your Sprite spend the combat tagging foes and gradually applying Poisoned across the battlefield, though you're still unlikely to knock an opponent unconscious due to wording of the attack. Honestly though, the ability to apply the Poisoned condition in relative safety to both you and your familiar may be a good enough reason to take it.
The Psuedodragon is my personal favourite, and still has some handy uses, but typically falls slightly behind many of the other options. It is a decent option for a scout, having a faster flying speed than other options and Keen Senses giving advantage on its Perception. It also has 7hp, magic resistance and benefits from 10ft of Blindsight. It is the only option out of the four incapable of speaking a language, but can still communicate its ideas through Limited Telepathy.
The biggest draw to the Psuedodragon outside of its superior speed is in its sting. It is weak for damage, at 1d4+2, but failing the DC11 CON save results in the Poisoned condition for an entire hour. Ontop of that, failing the save by 5 or more knocks the target unconscious, which is quite strong if you get lucky.
The sting of the Psuedodragon becomes very powerful when you take Investment of the Chain Master, however is somewhat dependant on luck. Applying the Poisoned condition for an hour is strong, and increasing the DC makes it much easier to hit, but unlike the Sprite, The chance to knock the target unconscious also increases, which can change an entire combat encounter.
Story time. Around a year ago, my party of 5 players had just reached level 3 and were put against a small group of goblins to help the local town. Normally an easy enough task, the GM had an Owlbear, seeing the party weakened a bit, attack the camp when we were having a short rest. We wasn't prepared, and most of the party spent the first round scrambling for their weapons.
I had gotten my Psuedodragon familiar and the Investment of the Chain Master invocation after the previous session, and decided to try and poison the owlbear using my familiar so that it wouldn't potentially kill a party member. My DC was 13 at the time, but I wasn't expecting to actually get the poison to stick for a couple of rounds. The GM rolled a 7 for the Owlbear's CON save, and promptly had it fall unconscious for an hour. By the time it awoke, we were back in town safely and without any extra damage.
Don't underestimate the Psuedodragon's sting, it can save someone's life.
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TL:DR; Each familiar is useful in different ways and depending on if you're willing to take the Investment of the Chain Master invocation. My recommendations would be as such:
Imp for if you don't want to take the invocation, it's the best option without it for sure. Quasit for if you do take the invocation and want a useful scout that can apply status effects. Sprite for if you want the ability to apply the poisoned condition safely from range. Psuedodragon for if you like to gamble and have a decent chance of knocking a target unconscious with its sting.
A familiar is a familiar. Based on the situation, you choose whichever form the familiar takes when you cast the ritual. It is the exact same spirit and you have the exact same relationship with that spirit regardless of the form you have assigned.
I find the imp is best for rp and is the superior swiss army knife, but the pseudodragon might be best for a given situation on another day.
Unless your DM has some rule that they wont be attacking your familiar ever if you bring it into a fight its going to die, every fight. I get ignoring it if its just hiding and not engaging, but if its stabbing people with poison its getting ganked. Remember they are invisible not improved invisible, so they are visible after the attack and everyone knows where they are as attacking reveals your location. The imp may survive a hit, but that's about it. You might change that with the leader feat or whatever, but 10 HP, 1 Hp its dead.So its poison or whatever with investment of the chain master or not is largely irrelevant. But for a very narrow range of levels its potent enough and enemies may be weak enough it may be worth chewing through 10gp frequently.
Outside of a fight imp is the best, hands, shape change, flight, devil sight, magic resist and immune to fire(so the odd fireball its immune to)its solid. Sprite is close but the lack of darkvision hurts.
Personally I'd talk with your DM and see if you can reflavor them a bit. Like use the imp and call it a poltergeist and describe its native form a bit differently.
If any DM wants to have their monsters waste an attack on a familiar then have at it.
I'll just ritual cast another into being, holding up the entire game as I do so.
Assuming you are lugging around a braizer and enough incense to do this over and over and the familiar is still out for the battle. That is not free nor even easy if you are playing an 8 strength Wizard using encumberence.
As a player I have played with DMs who will take out familiars and others who ignore them. Personally as a DM, I go after a familiar the first time it is attackable after it takes an offensive action in combat. If the familiar stands around doing nothing I let it go. If it helps or worse starts doing things like breathing Dragon Breath I target it immediately. In terms of action economy it is a no-brainer. Familiars typically go down the first time they are targeted, which reduces the number of actions a party can take by 1 immediately. This is generally much better than wailing on the Barbarian for the next 10 turns until he dies ...... or swinging at the bladesinger for the next 10 turns without hitting.
Also keep in mind a Sprite familiar slinging arrows is going to poison a lot of enemies and flat put 1 in 4 that he hits to sleep. You can't let that guy rain down arrows turn after turn when he only has 2 hps.
I could have the sprite attack as a reaction on my turn and then on it's turn use it's invisibility.
Make it a little harder for you and maybe waste 2 turns going after it, giving everyone else in the party the equivalent of 2 surprise rounds to wail on your monsters.
You know as a DM you're not supposed to DM hack or cheat and give your knowledge as DM to the monsters. How do they know the familiar has 2hp?
And the familiars attacks are paltry compared to the parties. Any monster, stupid beast or intelligent NPC, is going to waste time on a familiar and straight up get murder hoboed by the party.
Oh god, please let Christmas come early and put me in a game with you. lmao
You don't need to give up your action for it to attack. With Investment of the chain master you can have it attack on its own turn using a bonus action. You still use your own action for EB or whatever crowd pleasing spell you want to cast. I would agree that giving up an attack for it to attack is generally not a price you want to pay. A bonus action though, not so much, especially when he is using your spell DC for the save. Poisoning 1 enemy a turn with 25% of them falling unconscious as a bonus action, that is nothing to sneeze at.
You can actually have it attack twice in a round. Give up your action for it to attack as a reaction on your turn and then use your bonus action for it to attack a second time on its own turn. You can do this while hidden or invisible or even in the next room as long as you are less than 100 feet away. Like I said though that is not something it is going to do often or in most situations.
In terms of action economy for the DM with your reaction-invisibility tactic a couple things to consider - first the PC is using his action for that, so I am trading my attack going after the Sprite for your attack to protect him. That is hardly a bad trade, and I am who has the choice and versatility here here. You need to use your action to get him to attack, and if he is invisible I can choose to attack someone else instead while your attack is already spent.
Second, in terms of action economy, the only time it is "2 surprise rounds" is if I could actually down a PC in 2 rounds. If I can't do that there is no difference in the amount of actions the rest of the party gets. For example, if the party is a Barbarian, a Rogue, the Warlock and the Sprite.
1. If I ignore the Sprite and I attack the Barbairan for 2 turns then the party gets 6 actions (2 Barbarian, 2 Rogue, 2 Warlock) and the Sprite gets 2 attacks (assuming the warlock uses his bonus to let him attack). The only way that is not true is if I can put the Barbarian down before his 2nd turn.
2. If I attack the Sprite instead for those 2 turns and you play defense like you mentioned, then party only gets 4 actions and 2 Sprite attacks from an invisible Sprite. So if you play defense like this, attacking the Sprite actually takes attacks away from the party for those 2 rounds.
If you want to compare it to surprise it is actually like the warlock is surprised for 2 rounds since he is the one losing his action!
The imp is a powerful option if you plan on doing some Darkness/Hunger of Hadar-Devil's Sight trolling, as your magical darkness won't hinder your familiar. In addition, it gets invisibility, and 120 ft. darkvision, both are helpful for scouting. If you take IoTCM, the imp can boost your overall damage output, though it doesn't gain as much from IoTCM as the quasit or pseudodragon.
The quasit gains more from IoTCM, because it can poison or frighten targets. It doesn't gain Devil's Sight, so be careful with how you use your magical darkness spells. Otherwise, the package is pretty similar to the imp, just slightly less hit points (which doesn't really matter as a familiar).
The pseudodragon can knock creatures unconscious, though this is highly unlikely, as it targets CON, and requires creatures to save by 5 or more. Still, with IoTCM, the save DC for the Sting would get pretty high. Keen Senses are good for scouting, though its Stealth bonus isn't as high as a quasit and it doesn't get invisibility.
The sprite also has the ability to knock targets out, and gets invisibility unlike the pseudodragon. Unfortunately, it does not get darkvision, meaning it would be blinded in total darkness, and would have trouble scouting in dim light. Notably, the sprite also doesn't get Magic Resistance, which means you won't get such benefits.
Either the imp or quasit would be my go-to. The main advantage of the imp is that it has Devil's Sight, but the quasit can poison or frighten enemies. Otherwise, they are pretty similar, so either one will serve you just fine.
If any DM wants to have their monsters waste an attack on a familiar then have at it.
I'll just ritual cast another into being, holding up the entire game as I do so.
Assuming you are lugging around a braizer and enough incense to do this over and over and the familiar is still out for the battle. That is not free nor even easy if you are playing an 8 strength Wizard using encumberence.
As a player I have played with DMs who will take out familiars and others who ignore them. Personally as a DM, I go after a familiar the first time it is attackable after it takes an offensive action in combat. If the familiar stands around doing nothing I let it go. If it helps or worse starts doing things like breathing Dragon Breath I target it immediately. In terms of action economy it is a no-brainer. Familiars typically go down the first time they are targeted, which reduces the number of actions a party can take by 1 immediately. This is generally much better than wailing on the Barbarian for the next 10 turns until he dies ...... or swinging at the bladesinger for the next 10 turns without hitting.
Also keep in mind a Sprite familiar slinging arrows is going to poison a lot of enemies and flat put 1 in 4 that he hits to sleep. You can't let that guy rain down arrows turn after turn when he only has 2 hps.
As a DM, I try to avoid targeting the familiar, especially since they don't seem as threatening as the player characters. I always try to play as true to a monster's nature, so less intelligent but more monstrous creatures always attack the creature closest to them. If the monster is a gremishka, then I would target the familiar, because that what gremishkas do.
I am playing a multiclass Undead Warlock/Bladesinger Wizard and trying to figure the best familiar to get. Mosty the character is going to be a melee oriented Gish. Having both bladesong and form of dread at PB times per day means she will almost always have one of these up. I don't have much experience playing Warlocks and have never played a chain pact.
The characters patron is Kiaransalee the insane Banshee. None of the Pact of Chain familiars seem very thematic for this patron.
With that said looking at the choices, the Imp seems the best in terms of combat utility, but the sprite can stay back and use her bow, which means she will probably be more survivable especially later in tier 2. One of these seem to be the best but I can't decide which one. Any other considerations I should consider?
Poisioned is also probably better than the damage, but most enemies will pass the save. I might be able to stack it with mindsliver to make it more reliable.
I feel the imp is better if you take magic stone as one of your cantrips. My 5th lvl warlock spends his whole first turn setting up. He summons a shadow spawn, then uses his bonus action for magic stone, and his item interaction to give said stones to the imp.
After that, every turn after is cast EB, bonus action make the imp throw a stone, and the summon attacks afterwards. It's a lot of DPR, and if you're in need of battlefield control, the shadow spawn can fear things.
Thanks. That makes the Quasit and Sprite a lot better!
One other thing I did not think of though is my character is a Drow and the Imp has Devil's sight which is pretty useful to combine with the Drow Darkness spell.
Would be a two turn setup. But other than that, this would be ok. Only negative with a two turn setup is so many fights are only a few turns, to begin with.
I know cgarciao and we talked about it. If you cast a bonus action spell (even a cantrip like magic stone), then you can only cast a cantrip with your action. I think what throws everybody off is that there are so few bonus action cantrips. I think Magic Stone and Shillelagh are the only two.
Even with the set up, you're still doing more with your turn than if you had cast hex and used EB right off the bat. Even if the fight ends early, the only resource spent was a spell slot, which is easily worth it on a warlock.
The Imp.
It largely depends on what you're looking for out of your Familiar. Covering the 4 new options you get by taking the Pact of the Chain, each can bring something different to the table and it's worth looking as each in-depth. It's also worth considering each depending on whether or not you're taking the Investment of the Chain Master invocation, since it makes a big impact on how your familiar works.
The Imp is unquestionably the best option for a scout. It is the most durable with 10hp and advantage against magical effects, Flies and has human-like hands for the likes of interacting with containers and doorways, can change its shape to a more mundane form (such as a raven) and, more importantly, can turn itself invisible at will. These abilities combined together outmatches any other option for a scouting familiar.
With a little work, it also can replace the need for the Devil's Sight Invocation in many circumstances, as the Imp has Darkvision out to 120ft and can see through magical darkness, which you can then make use of by looking through it's senses via the rules of Find Familiar.
It is the least impacted Familiar when using Investment of the Chain Master, however, as it only raises the CON save to resist the extra 3d6 Poison damage, and does not have any useful debuffs to apply. Most of the other features of the Invocation are not particularly helpful, though you can give your Imp a swim speed if that matters. The Imp is perhaps the one familiar I would recommend not taking Investment of the Chain Master on as a result, as it does a great job without it and gains the least out of all the options.
The Quasit is somewhat similar to the Imp, sharing many traits with it. It can turn invisible, has magic resistance, human-like hands, a decent 7hp and can change into some different, albeit more creepy, forms. However, at base, it falls short compared to the imp due to lacking an innate flying speed and the inability to see through magical darkness. It does have its Scare ability once per day, but DC 10 is still low and falls off quickly. It's claws are more useful than the imp's sting as a failed save applies the Poisoned Condition, but the damage is slightly lower and the save is still terrible.
Quasits benefit greatly from Investment of the Chain Master, which they gain a lot of benefit from and in many situations becomes better than the Imp. It gains the same fly speed of 40ft, and the DC of both its claws AND its scare is improved, which is a big deal, especially since the Quasit is capable of applying both Frightened and Poisoned conditions, which can be very potent in ideal circumstances (although the target can save each turn to clear the effect). It does slightly less damage than the Imp, but the ability to apply two different status effects greatly offset this, and generally makes it the better option with the Invocation compared to the Imp.
The Sprite is personally my least favourite, but definitely brings its own benefits. It has the highest AC at 15, but the lowest HP at 2. Human-like hands and invisibility makes it a good option for a scout, only falling slightly behind the Imp due to the lack of HP, no Darkvision and no magic resistance.
It's biggest benefit is in being the only familiar with a ranged attack, with a 40/160 range Shortbow. It only does 1 damage on hit, but it carries the Poisoned condition identical to the Quasit except it doesn't allow for additional saves. It also has a chance to knock a target unconscious if the result of the save is 5 or less, which is a nice occasional bonus. The save still sucks, but a ranged poison that sticks
However, it does also have a unique benefit to it outside of combat scenarios that can make it tempting to take. Heart Sight is very situational, but for a more social game it can give some insight to the story of your campaign, especially if the NPC that your party trusts so much is revealed to be Chaotic Evil from the ability, but even the ability to gain insight into the emotional state of the target can be useful depending on your DM. It is incredibly niche, but could reveal a twist that may not be expected, and so is at least worth a mention.
It does benefit a bit from Investment of the Chain Master, though some benefits are virtually irrelevant due to how little health it has. The big draw is to raise the DC for the Poisoned condition, as you could have your Sprite spend the combat tagging foes and gradually applying Poisoned across the battlefield, though you're still unlikely to knock an opponent unconscious due to wording of the attack. Honestly though, the ability to apply the Poisoned condition in relative safety to both you and your familiar may be a good enough reason to take it.
The Psuedodragon is my personal favourite, and still has some handy uses, but typically falls slightly behind many of the other options. It is a decent option for a scout, having a faster flying speed than other options and Keen Senses giving advantage on its Perception. It also has 7hp, magic resistance and benefits from 10ft of Blindsight. It is the only option out of the four incapable of speaking a language, but can still communicate its ideas through Limited Telepathy.
The biggest draw to the Psuedodragon outside of its superior speed is in its sting. It is weak for damage, at 1d4+2, but failing the DC11 CON save results in the Poisoned condition for an entire hour. Ontop of that, failing the save by 5 or more knocks the target unconscious, which is quite strong if you get lucky.
The sting of the Psuedodragon becomes very powerful when you take Investment of the Chain Master, however is somewhat dependant on luck. Applying the Poisoned condition for an hour is strong, and increasing the DC makes it much easier to hit, but unlike the Sprite, The chance to knock the target unconscious also increases, which can change an entire combat encounter.
Story time. Around a year ago, my party of 5 players had just reached level 3 and were put against a small group of goblins to help the local town. Normally an easy enough task, the GM had an Owlbear, seeing the party weakened a bit, attack the camp when we were having a short rest. We wasn't prepared, and most of the party spent the first round scrambling for their weapons.
I had gotten my Psuedodragon familiar and the Investment of the Chain Master invocation after the previous session, and decided to try and poison the owlbear using my familiar so that it wouldn't potentially kill a party member. My DC was 13 at the time, but I wasn't expecting to actually get the poison to stick for a couple of rounds. The GM rolled a 7 for the Owlbear's CON save, and promptly had it fall unconscious for an hour. By the time it awoke, we were back in town safely and without any extra damage.
Don't underestimate the Psuedodragon's sting, it can save someone's life.
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TL:DR; Each familiar is useful in different ways and depending on if you're willing to take the Investment of the Chain Master invocation. My recommendations would be as such:
Imp for if you don't want to take the invocation, it's the best option without it for sure.
Quasit for if you do take the invocation and want a useful scout that can apply status effects.
Sprite for if you want the ability to apply the poisoned condition safely from range.
Psuedodragon for if you like to gamble and have a decent chance of knocking a target unconscious with its sting.
Why are you choosing?
A familiar is a familiar. Based on the situation, you choose whichever form the familiar takes when you cast the ritual. It is the exact same spirit and you have the exact same relationship with that spirit regardless of the form you have assigned.
I find the imp is best for rp and is the superior swiss army knife, but the pseudodragon might be best for a given situation on another day.
Unless your DM has some rule that they wont be attacking your familiar ever if you bring it into a fight its going to die, every fight. I get ignoring it if its just hiding and not engaging, but if its stabbing people with poison its getting ganked. Remember they are invisible not improved invisible, so they are visible after the attack and everyone knows where they are as attacking reveals your location. The imp may survive a hit, but that's about it. You might change that with the leader feat or whatever, but 10 HP, 1 Hp its dead.So its poison or whatever with investment of the chain master or not is largely irrelevant. But for a very narrow range of levels its potent enough and enemies may be weak enough it may be worth chewing through 10gp frequently.
Outside of a fight imp is the best, hands, shape change, flight, devil sight, magic resist and immune to fire(so the odd fireball its immune to)its solid. Sprite is close but the lack of darkvision hurts.
Personally I'd talk with your DM and see if you can reflavor them a bit. Like use the imp and call it a poltergeist and describe its native form a bit differently.
Assuming you are lugging around a braizer and enough incense to do this over and over and the familiar is still out for the battle. That is not free nor even easy if you are playing an 8 strength Wizard using encumberence.
As a player I have played with DMs who will take out familiars and others who ignore them. Personally as a DM, I go after a familiar the first time it is attackable after it takes an offensive action in combat. If the familiar stands around doing nothing I let it go. If it helps or worse starts doing things like breathing Dragon Breath I target it immediately. In terms of action economy it is a no-brainer. Familiars typically go down the first time they are targeted, which reduces the number of actions a party can take by 1 immediately. This is generally much better than wailing on the Barbarian for the next 10 turns until he dies ...... or swinging at the bladesinger for the next 10 turns without hitting.
Also keep in mind a Sprite familiar slinging arrows is going to poison a lot of enemies and flat put 1 in 4 that he hits to sleep. You can't let that guy rain down arrows turn after turn when he only has 2 hps.
You don't need to give up your action for it to attack. With Investment of the chain master you can have it attack on its own turn using a bonus action. You still use your own action for EB or whatever crowd pleasing spell you want to cast. I would agree that giving up an attack for it to attack is generally not a price you want to pay. A bonus action though, not so much, especially when he is using your spell DC for the save. Poisoning 1 enemy a turn with 25% of them falling unconscious as a bonus action, that is nothing to sneeze at.
You can actually have it attack twice in a round. Give up your action for it to attack as a reaction on your turn and then use your bonus action for it to attack a second time on its own turn. You can do this while hidden or invisible or even in the next room as long as you are less than 100 feet away. Like I said though that is not something it is going to do often or in most situations.
In terms of action economy for the DM with your reaction-invisibility tactic a couple things to consider - first the PC is using his action for that, so I am trading my attack going after the Sprite for your attack to protect him. That is hardly a bad trade, and I am who has the choice and versatility here here. You need to use your action to get him to attack, and if he is invisible I can choose to attack someone else instead while your attack is already spent.
Second, in terms of action economy, the only time it is "2 surprise rounds" is if I could actually down a PC in 2 rounds. If I can't do that there is no difference in the amount of actions the rest of the party gets. For example, if the party is a Barbarian, a Rogue, the Warlock and the Sprite.
1. If I ignore the Sprite and I attack the Barbairan for 2 turns then the party gets 6 actions (2 Barbarian, 2 Rogue, 2 Warlock) and the Sprite gets 2 attacks (assuming the warlock uses his bonus to let him attack). The only way that is not true is if I can put the Barbarian down before his 2nd turn.
2. If I attack the Sprite instead for those 2 turns and you play defense like you mentioned, then party only gets 4 actions and 2 Sprite attacks from an invisible Sprite. So if you play defense like this, attacking the Sprite actually takes attacks away from the party for those 2 rounds.
If you want to compare it to surprise it is actually like the warlock is surprised for 2 rounds since he is the one losing his action!
The imp is a powerful option if you plan on doing some Darkness/Hunger of Hadar-Devil's Sight trolling, as your magical darkness won't hinder your familiar. In addition, it gets invisibility, and 120 ft. darkvision, both are helpful for scouting. If you take IoTCM, the imp can boost your overall damage output, though it doesn't gain as much from IoTCM as the quasit or pseudodragon.
The quasit gains more from IoTCM, because it can poison or frighten targets. It doesn't gain Devil's Sight, so be careful with how you use your magical darkness spells. Otherwise, the package is pretty similar to the imp, just slightly less hit points (which doesn't really matter as a familiar).
The pseudodragon can knock creatures unconscious, though this is highly unlikely, as it targets CON, and requires creatures to save by 5 or more. Still, with IoTCM, the save DC for the Sting would get pretty high. Keen Senses are good for scouting, though its Stealth bonus isn't as high as a quasit and it doesn't get invisibility.
The sprite also has the ability to knock targets out, and gets invisibility unlike the pseudodragon. Unfortunately, it does not get darkvision, meaning it would be blinded in total darkness, and would have trouble scouting in dim light. Notably, the sprite also doesn't get Magic Resistance, which means you won't get such benefits.
Either the imp or quasit would be my go-to. The main advantage of the imp is that it has Devil's Sight, but the quasit can poison or frighten enemies. Otherwise, they are pretty similar, so either one will serve you just fine.
Brains over brawn? Mind over matter? These canny warriors rightly answer, "Why not both?" - Tasha
My Homebrews: Monsters, Magic Items, Spells, Races
Rhulg- Hobgoblin Gunsmith
As a DM, I try to avoid targeting the familiar, especially since they don't seem as threatening as the player characters. I always try to play as true to a monster's nature, so less intelligent but more monstrous creatures always attack the creature closest to them. If the monster is a gremishka, then I would target the familiar, because that what gremishkas do.
Brains over brawn? Mind over matter? These canny warriors rightly answer, "Why not both?" - Tasha
My Homebrews: Monsters, Magic Items, Spells, Races
Rhulg- Hobgoblin Gunsmith