Devious serpent folk devoid of compassion, yuan-ti manipulate other creatures by arousing their doubts, evoking their fears, and elevating and crushing their hopes. From remote temples in jungles, swamps, and deserts, the yuan-ti plot to supplant and dominate all other races and to make themselves gods.
Oh, that flyby is pretty sweet. Anybody have any interesting stories of clever familiar uses? The help on a spell attack or perception check sounds pretty awesome. I’m wondering how much people use familiars for delivering touch spells etc
I went with a snake. Not for any particular reason beyond the fact that people found it creepy to have a grown woman fuss over a pet like that and cuddle her. Ah, fun moments with Lady Boop (named for the giving of nose boops).
I went with a snake. Not for any particular reason beyond the fact that people found it creepy to have a grown woman fuss over a pet like that and cuddle her. Ah, fun moments with Lady Boop (named for the giving of nose boops).
I can never tell my girlfriend that story... she'll get a snake an name her that.
That said, the problem I have with familiars is color vs usefulness. In 3.5 Toad was one of the best because it gave you Toughness feat and if it was on you Alertness.
For mechanical reasons the 3 best things familiar and provide is "Help" Action (both in and out of combat), Scouting, and sensory override (taking over its senses).
Bat: Fly 30' Blindsense 60', Keen Hearing, No Skills.
Flavor Wise any of them is a great choice. The Raven is particularly strong with Mimicry, although the ability only has a 45% 60%* chance of success. (DC: 10, Wis +1, no training in insight)
Flying Monkey has thumbs! This makes it a really nice flavorful familiar that can do a lot! (who doesn't want a flying Abu?!?!!)
Climb and Flight really impove the usefulness of Scouting.
Mechanics wise the Owl wins hands down. It can give the Help Action in combat to allow your combat spells to have Adv, it is trained in Perception so it can "help" you out of combat to give your Passive Perception Adv (telepathic bond). It has Darkvision of 120', so if you use it's senses instead of your own you can see VERY well in the dark.
IF a DM allows you to "milk" the snake to have a vial of poison like 1/long rest... make it so you can't mass produce it, but it allows an Arcane Trickster to always have a single dose, that's a pretty cool thing. It's not exactly "broken" as the character has to spend an Action to apply to poison to 3 bit of ammunition and it's only good for a minute, so it requires a lot of setup.
As for good stories... I once had a bat familiar, and I used my Shadow Monk's ability to generate Darkness combined with the bat's ability to have Blindsight to navigate a place a night. No one could find me because I literally had mobile cover and I could "see" everyone else within 30'.
Side Rant. I just want to mention Because I checked it twice. Cats don't have Darkvision. CATS!?!?
The animal that is used in colloquial English to describe being able to see in the dark!
I did actually use the ability to change familiars once. We there was a portal, I tossed "Mr Bats" in, turned out it was underwater. Mr. Bats wasn't happy with me. So I resummoned "Mr. Bats" as an Octopus and tossed him back in.
Haha, I'm loving these familiar names. I had initially overlooked the owl when I setup my backstory and chose a Raven named "Edgar" ;)
I'm going to try and play with Mimicry and see what I can get away with in terms of distracting mobs or setting up ambushes.
I once played in a campaign (3.5e) where we were all drowning in flooding chamber trap and to buy an extra round the ranger tried to "suck the air from his owl familiar". Hilariously messed up.
In Out of the Abyss, I used a rat familiar as I didn't think an owl would blend in really well in the Underdark, and I wasn't sure if a bat was something my dwarf would be using. Delg was very..... traditional, and bats are often associated with villains even if they are no more good or evil than any other animal.
..****y has a 45% chance of success. (DC: 10, Wis +1, no training in insight)
That's actually a 60% chance of success, since the die roll only fails on a roll of 1-8. Unless the typo is actually the Wisdom modifier being -1.
That aside, I mostly agree with your assessment of flavor vs. mechanics. I'd step up and do something about it with house-rules, if any player except the one in my group that gives zero attention to mechanics were to ever express desire to have a familiar (she has a cat because she insisted that it be rolled randomly on the old chart in the AD&D 2nd edition Complete Guide to Wizards because she didn't feel like choosing).
"The relevant equation is: Knowledge = power = energy = matter = mass; a good bookshop is just a genteel Black Hole that knows how to read." - Terry Pratchett
Oh, that flyby is pretty sweet. Anybody have any interesting stories of clever familiar uses? The help on a spell attack or perception check sounds pretty awesome. I’m wondering how much people use familiars for delivering touch spells etc
I have a Human Varient Life Cleric that took Magic Initiate Wizard, Character has a 16 Int so why not. Cantrips Shocking Grasp, and Booming Blade with Find Familiar as my 1st level spell Olm the Wise Owl is my touch for Cure Wounds, shocking Grasp an cleric cantrip Spare the dying. works good having my little flying buddy.
I've been thinking about this more and I don't think RAW it's actually really that great of an option to use your familiar to deliver touch attacks. Also I'm not entirely convinced it can use the Dragon's Breath.
Looking up Find Familiar
Your familiar acts independently of you, but it always obeys your commands. In combat, it rolls its own initiative and acts on its own turn. A familiar can't attack, but it can take other actions as normal.
The familiar rolls it's own Initiative, so it acts *somewhere* in the turn order. I've already had this be troublesome as if my Familiar is too far from me in init, the action I give her is no longer useful as the battlefield changes. This could make it difficult to manage. Also it can't "attack" so I'm not sure if it RAW (although I think RAI supports it) the familiar can USE Dragon's Breath because it would be a Spell Attack.
Touch Spells
Finally, when you cast a spell with a range of touch, your familiar can deliver the spell as if it had cast the spell. Your familiar must be within 100 feet of you, and it must use its reaction to deliver the spell when you cast it. If the spell requires an attack roll, you use your attack modifier for the roll.
The familiar can only deliver them as a ReAction when YOU Cast the spell. This means that the familiar would have to already be in Touch range of the target... the spell doesn't wait for the familiar's initiative. While this is possible, it's not necessarily great to have a low AC with 1 HP creature within melee range of the monster delivering dangerous Touch attacks... that's going to be a lot of aggro. The Owl's Flyby won't even be that useful as the owl has to be in Touch range during your turn.
Overall this is reminding me about why Mounted Combat is pretty awful in this edition, because you can't change your Init or share Inits.
I think you are mistaken about how they are planning to use dragon's breath. I would give my flying familiar dragon's breath, creating the equivalent of a small flying nuisance for 10 rounds.
"The relevant equation is: Knowledge = power = energy = matter = mass; a good bookshop is just a genteel Black Hole that knows how to read." - Terry Pratchett
I think you are mistaken about how they are planning to use dragon's breath. I would give my flying familiar dragon's breath, creating the equivalent of a small flying nuisance for 10 rounds.
Might not last that long... dragon's breath might be enough incentive for a monster to attack the familiar, and one hit puts the familiar out of commission until another casting of find familiar.
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What are you guys and gals choosing for a familiar? and why? I'm thinking anything with a good passive perception would be exceptionally useful.
I have a necromancer wizard who has a raven for a familiar.
I have a Great Old One warlock with a pseudodragon familiar.
Devious serpent folk devoid of compassion, yuan-ti manipulate other creatures by arousing their doubts, evoking their fears, and elevating and crushing their hopes. From remote temples in jungles, swamps, and deserts, the yuan-ti plot to supplant and dominate all other races and to make themselves gods.
For combat usefulness, Owl seems to be the best one, for the extra Help action free from attacks of opportunity (due to Flyby).
Oh, that flyby is pretty sweet. Anybody have any interesting stories of clever familiar uses? The help on a spell attack or perception check sounds pretty awesome. I’m wondering how much people use familiars for delivering touch spells etc
I went with a snake. Not for any particular reason beyond the fact that people found it creepy to have a grown woman fuss over a pet like that and cuddle her. Ah, fun moments with Lady Boop (named for the giving of nose boops).
That said, the problem I have with familiars is color vs usefulness. In 3.5 Toad was one of the best because it gave you Toughness feat and if it was on you Alertness.
Flavor Wise any of them is a great choice. The Raven is particularly strong with Mimicry, although the ability only has a
45%60%* chance of success. (DC: 10, Wis +1, no training in insight)As for good stories... I once had a bat familiar, and I used my Shadow Monk's ability to generate Darkness combined with the bat's ability to have Blindsight to navigate a place a night. No one could find me because I literally had mobile cover and I could "see" everyone else within 30'.
* Edited as per AaronOfBarbaria's correction.
At least it's not a permanent choice in 5e... you can always re-cast the spell to have your familiar change form. :)
Side Rant. I just want to mention Because I checked it twice. Cats don't have Darkvision. CATS!?!?
The animal that is used in colloquial English to describe being able to see in the dark!
I did actually use the ability to change familiars once. We there was a portal, I tossed "Mr Bats" in, turned out it was underwater. Mr. Bats wasn't happy with me. So I resummoned "Mr. Bats" as an Octopus and tossed him back in.
Haha, I'm loving these familiar names. I had initially overlooked the owl when I setup my backstory and chose a Raven named "Edgar" ;)
I'm going to try and play with Mimicry and see what I can get away with in terms of distracting mobs or setting up ambushes.
I once played in a campaign (3.5e) where we were all drowning in flooding chamber trap and to buy an extra round the ranger tried to "suck the air from his owl familiar". Hilariously messed up.
In Out of the Abyss, I used a rat familiar as I didn't think an owl would blend in really well in the Underdark, and I wasn't sure if a bat was something my dwarf would be using. Delg was very..... traditional, and bats are often associated with villains even if they are no more good or evil than any other animal.
Side note. I'm slightly disappointed the thread wasn't named "A Familiar Choice" ;P
That's actually a 60% chance of success, since the die roll only fails on a roll of 1-8. Unless the typo is actually the Wisdom modifier being -1.
That aside, I mostly agree with your assessment of flavor vs. mechanics. I'd step up and do something about it with house-rules, if any player except the one in my group that gives zero attention to mechanics were to ever express desire to have a familiar (she has a cat because she insisted that it be rolled randomly on the old chart in the AD&D 2nd edition Complete Guide to Wizards because she didn't feel like choosing).
I love the Tressym as a familiar. With flight, darkvision, and detect invisibility, they're the best.
Tooltips | Snippet Code | How to Homebrew on D&D Beyond | Subclass Guide | Feature Roadmap
Astromancer's Homebrew Assembly
"The relevant equation is: Knowledge = power = energy = matter = mass; a good bookshop is just a genteel Black Hole that knows how to read." - Terry Pratchett
Haha! Awesome! I need a lightning toad!
I have a Human Varient Life Cleric that took Magic Initiate Wizard, Character has a 16 Int so why not. Cantrips Shocking Grasp, and Booming Blade with Find Familiar as my 1st level spell Olm the Wise Owl is my touch for Cure Wounds, shocking Grasp an cleric cantrip Spare the dying. works good having my little flying buddy.
I've been thinking about this more and I don't think RAW it's actually really that great of an option to use your familiar to deliver touch attacks.
Also I'm not entirely convinced it can use the Dragon's Breath.
Looking up Find Familiar
The familiar rolls it's own Initiative, so it acts *somewhere* in the turn order. I've already had this be troublesome as if my Familiar is too far from me in init, the action I give her is no longer useful as the battlefield changes. This could make it difficult to manage. Also it can't "attack" so I'm not sure if it RAW (although I think RAI supports it) the familiar can USE Dragon's Breath because it would be a Spell Attack.
Touch Spells
The familiar can only deliver them as a ReAction when YOU Cast the spell. This means that the familiar would have to already be in Touch range of the target... the spell doesn't wait for the familiar's initiative. While this is possible, it's not necessarily great to have a low AC with 1 HP creature within melee range of the monster delivering dangerous Touch attacks... that's going to be a lot of aggro. The Owl's Flyby won't even be that useful as the owl has to be in Touch range during your turn.
Overall this is reminding me about why Mounted Combat is pretty awful in this edition, because you can't change your Init or share Inits.
I think you are mistaken about how they are planning to use dragon's breath. I would give my flying familiar dragon's breath, creating the equivalent of a small flying nuisance for 10 rounds.
Tooltips | Snippet Code | How to Homebrew on D&D Beyond | Subclass Guide | Feature Roadmap
Astromancer's Homebrew Assembly
"The relevant equation is: Knowledge = power = energy = matter = mass; a good bookshop is just a genteel Black Hole that knows how to read." - Terry Pratchett