I have a fighter in my group who took magic initiate and learned Find Familiar.
The problem is, that he doesn't enjoy using it but feels he has to (he's a bit of a min-maxer). Primarily in dungeons, the issue is that he will let the familiar (an owl) scout ahead, but only far enough that he can still see through its eyes. So we are not getting into "reveal the whole dungeon" territory, but more like "I send my Familiar in the next room, what do I see? Ok, I enter the room. I send the familiar in the next hallway and look through its eyes, what do I see? Ok, I follow it into the hallway. I send my familiar down the left hallway and look through its eyes. Oh, it's too long? I send it as far as it is still in range, look through its eyes, then let it come back, then I send it in the right hallway as far as it is still in range and look through its eyes. Then I move up and send it ahead. I look through its eyes. What do I see? Closed door? Is there a keyhole? Ok, I look through the keyhole and let the familiar appear on the other side. I look through its eyes. What do I see?"
When searching online, all I can find is people suggesting "Just kill it, dungeons are dangerous and something will kill it". Yes, the familiar will trigger encounters or traps and will occasionally die, but even death can often be avoided by disappearing the familiar. Since the fighter always stays in 100ft range, If the familiar runs into enemies, we roll intiative, and if the fighter (who has rather high Dex) has higher initiative than the enemies, he just disappears the Familiar to save it.
I'm also afraid making it "dumber" and harder to control will just result in the player wording his commands even more carefully and making even smaller moves and bogging the game down even further.
It is becoming very monotonous and the player itself doesn't enjoy doing it, but feels he'd be tying a hand behind his back if he didn't.
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Hi!
I have a fighter in my group who took magic initiate and learned Find Familiar.
The problem is, that he doesn't enjoy using it but feels he has to (he's a bit of a min-maxer). Primarily in dungeons, the issue is that he will let the familiar (an owl) scout ahead, but only far enough that he can still see through its eyes. So we are not getting into "reveal the whole dungeon" territory, but more like "I send my Familiar in the next room, what do I see? Ok, I enter the room. I send the familiar in the next hallway and look through its eyes, what do I see? Ok, I follow it into the hallway. I send my familiar down the left hallway and look through its eyes. Oh, it's too long? I send it as far as it is still in range, look through its eyes, then let it come back, then I send it in the right hallway as far as it is still in range and look through its eyes. Then I move up and send it ahead. I look through its eyes. What do I see? Closed door? Is there a keyhole? Ok, I look through the keyhole and let the familiar appear on the other side. I look through its eyes. What do I see?"
When searching online, all I can find is people suggesting "Just kill it, dungeons are dangerous and something will kill it". Yes, the familiar will trigger encounters or traps and will occasionally die, but even death can often be avoided by disappearing the familiar. Since the fighter always stays in 100ft range, If the familiar runs into enemies, we roll intiative, and if the fighter (who has rather high Dex) has higher initiative than the enemies, he just disappears the Familiar to save it.
I'm also afraid making it "dumber" and harder to control will just result in the player wording his commands even more carefully and making even smaller moves and bogging the game down even further.
It is becoming very monotonous and the player itself doesn't enjoy doing it, but feels he'd be tying a hand behind his back if he didn't.