so im running a game for a group of friends and one of my players are playing a trickster cleric and as they leveled up they chose to take the magic initiate feat and take find familiar which her intent is to use her touch healing spells while keeping herself safe which i dont mind, but one tactic she uses is keeping her find familiar always on the fighters shoulder during combat and thus travels with the fighter, if no heals are needed she uses it to bite what ever the fighter is currently engaged in. now heres my question, is this allowed? could the familiar ride on the fighter and basically get free movement from said fighter and stay on said fighter during the whole fight, luckly the cleric player is always up for playing fair and is willing to stop this if it is against the rules so i know there is no issue there, im just not 100% on such a rule and wanted advice, should i still let this happen? force the familiar to make its own movement instead of hitching a ride? or maybe everytime the fighter attacks the familiar make a dex save to stay on the fighter? what are your thoughts?
2.). RAW, two creatures cannot occupy the same space at the end of their turn in combat.
3.). If you choose to still allow it, throw AOE at the fighter, and the familiar has to abide by the Fighter’s saving throw since it is “attached” and can’t avoid/move independently. Even with a successful save, it is doubtful the familiar will survive. Build in this a tad more and you can give the familiar a 12% chance (1 on a d8) chance of being struck by any attack that hits the Fighter.
I'd probably allow the familiar to ride with the fighter. Why not? It's not like it's any different from the familiar using its own movement to follow the fighter around, it's not like the familiar has less movement. IMO that doesn't really change much.
More likely instead of using the attack action (which it can't), the familiar should use the Help action to give the fighter advantage on their next attack.
That's in my IRL experience what familiars are best for in-combat - one free advantage per round. Keeping a cleric in touch-range while out of the front lines seems like a great secondary use too... (Out-of-combat they're great for scouting, spying, and of course RP.)
2.). RAW, two creatures cannot occupy the same space at the end of their turn in combat.
3.). If you choose to still allow it, throw AOE at the fighter, and the familiar has to abide by the Fighter’s saving throw since it is “attached” and can’t avoid/move independently. Even with a successful save, it is doubtful the familiar will survive. Build in this a tad more and you can give the familiar a 12% chance (1 on a d8) chance of being struck by any attack that hits the Fighter.
I disagree with #2 and #3. The PHB says you can’t willingly end your movement in another creatures space...a familiar riding on another creature is not willingly moving when the creature it is riding on moves, but also, there is a mechanic for this type of thing which is mounted combat, and is what I would follow if a familiar (which is tiny sized almost universally) rides a PC (which is small or medium, universally)
the rules for mounted combat address how attacks affect a rider and unless the familiar is restrained as part of the ride it would have its own independent AC, saving throws, and movement (with 5 feet used to mount/dismount). You are imposing rules that don’t exist here, which is fine in your game, you just need to recognize that nothing in RAW supports your assertions in #3
Also, in number 1, they can in certain circumstances (warlock Pact of the Chain, possibly others)
I would be tempted to apply the mounted combat rules to a familiar riding on a PC.
I may have abused this idea with a rogue character once, readying my first attack for after my familiar used the help action, to spam advantage. But the DM's solution was pretty simple: just kill the familiar. Even the weakest aoe spell or effect could manage it, if it didn't take a full attack away from hitting me.
So its a nice strategy with the cleric or with several classes, but its only as strong as the DM plays it out to be. Maybe a troll doesn't realize how much the owl flying by their head is distracting them from the fight, but a wiser enemy might recognize the potential danger immediately.
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hey a new DM here
so im running a game for a group of friends and one of my players are playing a trickster cleric and as they leveled up they chose to take the magic initiate feat and take find familiar which her intent is to use her touch healing spells while keeping herself safe which i dont mind, but one tactic she uses is keeping her find familiar always on the fighters shoulder during combat and thus travels with the fighter, if no heals are needed she uses it to bite what ever the fighter is currently engaged in. now heres my question, is this allowed? could the familiar ride on the fighter and basically get free movement from said fighter and stay on said fighter during the whole fight, luckly the cleric player is always up for playing fair and is willing to stop this if it is against the rules so i know there is no issue there, im just not 100% on such a rule and wanted advice, should i still let this happen? force the familiar to make its own movement instead of hitching a ride? or maybe everytime the fighter attacks the familiar make a dex save to stay on the fighter? what are your thoughts?
1). Familiars cannot take the Attack Action.
2.). RAW, two creatures cannot occupy the same space at the end of their turn in combat.
3.). If you choose to still allow it, throw AOE at the fighter, and the familiar has to abide by the Fighter’s saving throw since it is “attached” and can’t avoid/move independently. Even with a successful save, it is doubtful the familiar will survive. Build in this a tad more and you can give the familiar a 12% chance (1 on a d8) chance of being struck by any attack that hits the Fighter.
this helps greatly thank you, seems as though i forgot familiars cannot attack lol thank you very much
I'd probably allow the familiar to ride with the fighter. Why not? It's not like it's any different from the familiar using its own movement to follow the fighter around, it's not like the familiar has less movement. IMO that doesn't really change much.
More likely instead of using the attack action (which it can't), the familiar should use the Help action to give the fighter advantage on their next attack.
That's in my IRL experience what familiars are best for in-combat - one free advantage per round. Keeping a cleric in touch-range while out of the front lines seems like a great secondary use too... (Out-of-combat they're great for scouting, spying, and of course RP.)
I disagree with #2 and #3. The PHB says you can’t willingly end your movement in another creatures space...a familiar riding on another creature is not willingly moving when the creature it is riding on moves, but also, there is a mechanic for this type of thing which is mounted combat, and is what I would follow if a familiar (which is tiny sized almost universally) rides a PC (which is small or medium, universally)
the rules for mounted combat address how attacks affect a rider and unless the familiar is restrained as part of the ride it would have its own independent AC, saving throws, and movement (with 5 feet used to mount/dismount). You are imposing rules that don’t exist here, which is fine in your game, you just need to recognize that nothing in RAW supports your assertions in #3
Also, in number 1, they can in certain circumstances (warlock Pact of the Chain, possibly others)
I would be tempted to apply the mounted combat rules to a familiar riding on a PC.
I may have abused this idea with a rogue character once, readying my first attack for after my familiar used the help action, to spam advantage. But the DM's solution was pretty simple: just kill the familiar. Even the weakest aoe spell or effect could manage it, if it didn't take a full attack away from hitting me.
So its a nice strategy with the cleric or with several classes, but its only as strong as the DM plays it out to be. Maybe a troll doesn't realize how much the owl flying by their head is distracting them from the fight, but a wiser enemy might recognize the potential danger immediately.