Interaction i just realized, starting at level 2 a wildfire druid can let the party walk through walls for the cost of 2 wild shapes and 3 actions and no use of spell slots
wild companion feature lets you cast find familiar as an action - familiar is summoned within 10 ft of you but does not require line of sight and future actions let you summon it back within 30 ft of you again not limited by line of sight.
Wildfire spirit can teleport any number of creatures of your choice within 5 ft of it up to 15 ft to a location you can see.
Step 1 summon familiar on other side of wall Step 2 summon wildfire spirit next to self, Step 3 look through familiars eyes, bonus action spirit teleports party across wall Repeat to get back across or through the next wall/door
I think that checks out... I've always treated Find Familiar as requiring Line of Sight to the location it's summoned to, but the spell doesn't actually say that Sight is a necessity. Although I'd imagine some DM's will be picky about targeting a location through a Familiar's Eyes... I think the fact that Find Familiar requires the full Action of the caster turn after turn to maintain sight is meant to prevent players using the Familiar to target attacks in that way, it makes sense when combined with a bonus action ability.
Interaction i just realized, starting at level 2 a wildfire druid can let the party walk through walls for the cost of 2 wild shapes and 3 actions and no use of spell slots
wild companion feature lets you cast find familiar as an action - familiar is summoned within 10 ft of you but does not require line of sight and future actions let you summon it back within 30 ft of you again not limited by line of sight.
Wildfire spirit can teleport any number of creatures of your choice within 5 ft of it up to 15 ft to a location you can see.
Step 1 summon familiar on other side of wall Step 2 summon wildfire spirit next to self, Step 3 look through familiars eyes, bonus action spirit teleports party across wall Repeat to get back across or through the next wall/door
This seems like it would work, but it would use both uses of your Wild Shape until you completed your next short or long rest (you only get two until level 20, and you use two here). If getting to the other side of that wall is important enough for you to use both of your primary class resources, that's fine, but in most situations I don't think it would be worth it.
To work without injuring anyone, you would have to coordinate summoning the spirit, then moving the party in range for the teleport (otherwise they would take damage from the spirit's summoning), and you would need the appropriate amount of unoccupied spaces on the far side of the wall, otherwise someone gets left behind (and takes damage from the spirits effect).
Otherwise, this works similarly to the find familiar/misty step combo
It should also be noted that wild companion is an optional feature. To pull this plan off, you need your dm to grant you this feature, so not every level two wildfire druid can do this,
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I will protect those I hate. Even ... even if the one I hate most ... is ... myself.
The spell states that the familiar has to appear in unoccupied space within range. Since you cannot know what is beyond the wall, you cannot choose it as an unoccupied space: this becomes evident when there is a creature beyond the wall that you don't know about and you try to summon your familiar inside it. The only argument against this would be that the DM is the one who chooses whether it's occupied or not, and in that case, the DM has sole control of where it would appear.
If you could see through a wall (e.g. it was made of a thin sheet of ice) or otherwise was not opaque then this would technically work.
It does use both resources, but both effects stay in play for up to an hour at level 2, so could still be used many times for the use and the spirit is still available in combat as well due to the hour duration.
The spell states that the familiar has to appear in unoccupied space within range. Since you cannot know what is beyond the wall, you cannot choose it as an unoccupied space: this becomes evident when there is a creature beyond the wall that you don't know about and you try to summon your familiar inside it. The only argument against this would be that the DM is the one who chooses whether it's occupied or not, and in that case, the DM has sole control of where it would appear.
If you could see through a wall (e.g. it was made of a thin sheet of ice) or otherwise was not opaque then this would technically work.
Sight is not required to direct the familiars reappearance, and the rule says “any” unoccupied space in range, so there is not a RAW limitation there. Either the familiar just doesn’t rematerialize and you have to choose another location, or it just appears in the closest unoccupied spot to where you designate (and remember, familiars are tiny, so they can occupy much smaller spaces than small or medium creatures).
I don't think this actually works, but I don't mind being proven wrong here either. By default, you must be able to see the target of your spell (not behind total cover), so you cannot cast Find Familiar on a location that you can't see. Trying to cast the spell on an area behind a wall (total cover) means the familiar will pop into existence on your side of the wall.
Spells do not have to say that they can't be cast where you cannot see, for that is already the general rule. A spell does have to explicitly state that it can be cast where you cannot see, like Clairvoyance. Unfortunately, Clairvoyance is not available to the Wildfire Druid. There might be another spell/feature which would make this work for you, but Find Familiar definitely does not.
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You don't know what fear is until you've witnessed a drunk bird divebombing you while carrying a screaming Kobold throwing fire anywhere and everywhere.
I think the idea is that you cast find familiar the normal way, and then you dismiss and later re-summon the familiar to the location on the far side of the wall. You are not casting the spell when you re-summon it.
I don't think this actually works, but I don't mind being proven wrong here either. By default, you must be able to see the target of your spell (not behind total cover), so you cannot cast Find Familiar on a location that you can't see. Trying to cast the spell on an area behind a wall (total cover) means the familiar will pop into existence on your side of the wall.
Spells do not have to say that they can't be cast where you cannot see, for that is already the general rule. A spell does have to explicitly state that it can be cast where you cannot see, like Clairvoyance. Unfortunately, Clairvoyance is not available to the Wildfire Druid. There might be another spell/feature which would make this work for you, but Find Familiar definitely does not.
I agree on the casting of the spell, but the ability being proposed is an option granted by the spell effect, not the casting of the spell, and equates to teleportation/plane shifting which does not have to be constrained (in most instances) by line of sight. The only restrictions given are that of an unoccupied space within range, with no mention of sight required:
As an action, you can temporarily dismiss your familiar. It disappears into a pocket dimension where it awaits your summons. Alternatively, you can dismiss it forever. As an action while it is temporarily dismissed, you can cause it to reappear in any unoccupied space within 30 feet of you.
That is not a function provided by the spell, regardless of whether you are recasting it or not. The familiar does not, at any time, have the capability of being summoned to a location that is not visible to the PC.
You gain the service of a familiar, a spirit that takes an animal form you choose: bat, cat, crab, frog (toad), hawk, lizard, octopus, owl, poisonous snake, fish (quipper), rat, raven, sea horse, spider, or weasel. Appearing in an unoccupied space within range, the familiar has the statistics of the chosen form, though it is a celestial, fey, or fiend (your choice) instead of a beast.
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.
When the familiar drops to 0 hit points, it disappears, leaving behind no physical form. It reappears after you cast this spell again.
While your familiar is within 100 feet of you, you can communicate with it telepathically. Additionally, as an action, you can see through your familiar's eyes and hear what it hears until the start of your next turn, gaining the benefits of any special senses that the familiar has. During this time, you are deaf and blind with regard to your own senses.
As an action, you can temporarily dismiss your familiar. It disappears into a pocket dimension where it awaits your summons. Alternatively, you can dismiss it forever. As an action while it is temporarily dismissed, you can cause it to reappear in any unoccupied space within 30 feet of you.
You can't have more than one familiar at a time. If you cast this spell while you already have a familiar, you instead cause it to adopt a new form. Choose one of the forms from the above list. Your familiar transforms into the chosen creature.
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.
* - (10 gp worth of charcoal, incense, and herbs that must be consumed by fire in a brass brazier)
Line of sight still applies. This would also be an example of not letting a low-level spell/feature accomplish something it does not explicitly allow when there is a higher-level spell/feature that explicitly does. Clairvoyance explicitly does have the function of summoning something in an area the caster cannot see, which can be used to expand the caster's senses. Find Familiardoes not have that function.
You don't know what fear is until you've witnessed a drunk bird divebombing you while carrying a screaming Kobold throwing fire anywhere and everywhere.
That is not a function provided by the spell, regardless of whether you are recasting it or not. The familiar does not, at any time, have the capability of being summoned to a location that is not visible to the PC.
You gain the service of a familiar, a spirit that takes an animal form you choose: bat, cat, crab, frog (toad), hawk, lizard, octopus, owl, poisonous snake, fish (quipper), rat, raven, sea horse, spider, or weasel. Appearing in an unoccupied space within range, the familiar has the statistics of the chosen form, though it is a celestial, fey, or fiend (your choice) instead of a beast.
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.
When the familiar drops to 0 hit points, it disappears, leaving behind no physical form. It reappears after you cast this spell again.
While your familiar is within 100 feet of you, you can communicate with it telepathically. Additionally, as an action, you can see through your familiar's eyes and hear what it hears until the start of your next turn, gaining the benefits of any special senses that the familiar has. During this time, you are deaf and blind with regard to your own senses.
As an action, you can temporarily dismiss your familiar. It disappears into a pocket dimension where it awaits your summons. Alternatively, you can dismiss it forever. As an action while it is temporarily dismissed, you can cause it to reappear in any unoccupied space within 30 feet of you.
You can't have more than one familiar at a time. If you cast this spell while you already have a familiar, you instead cause it to adopt a new form. Choose one of the forms from the above list. Your familiar transforms into the chosen creature.
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.
* - (10 gp worth of charcoal, incense, and herbs that must be consumed by fire in a brass brazier)
Line of sight still applies. This would also be an example of not letting a low-level spell/feature accomplish something it does not explicitly allow when there is a higher-level spell/feature that explicitly does. Clairvoyance explicitly does have the function of summoning something in an area the caster cannot see, which can be used to expand the caster's senses. Find Familiardoes not have that function.
1) Nowhere in the spell does this say line of sight is required, and I do not automatically assume that the original appearance of the familiar from it's casting is the same as the spell effect granting the dismissal/recall ability. Most DMs I have interacted with would allow the familiar to be recalled (but not summoned in its casting) to a point out of sight of the caster, so long as the actual RAW requirements (unoccupied space and within range) are met.
2) Other effects granted to the caster by the familiar do not require line of sight to initiate or manage in any way. Using the familiars senses does not, communicating with the familiar does not, casting a spell through the familiar does not, and dismissing the familiar does not. If recalling the familiar did require line of sight to the point of recall, it should say so, as the default for every other option listed does not.
Also, Clairvoyance is unattackable (the familiar is), has a range of 1 mile (vs 100 feet for the familiar), uses concentration instead of your action every turn to maintain the perception ability, and you don't lose your own perception while it is active (these last two alleviate a huge drain on action economy, and a potentially dangerous situation compared to Find Familiar, and by itself warrants the 2 additional levels IMO).
You guys are asking what Find Familiar targets. Some relevant spells, and how they work:
Misty Step targets the caster, and teleports them to anywhere they can see. As a result, you can teleport through your familiar's eyes - i.e. it does not matter if where you teleport to has total cover relative to you (e.g. a wall).
Dimension Door targets the space the caster teleports to, and teleports them to the target space. You can tell from the change in range - Misty Step is range self, but Dimension Door is range 500 feet. The range of a spell is by definition the range to the target (PHB p202). As a result, Dimension Door cannot teleport you to any space that has total cover relative to you, as spells cannot target anything with total cover relative to them (PHB p196).
Note that here, as always in 5E, we have to assume the total cover is opaque for the RAW to be well-defined - the RAW breaks down if the cover is transparent, such as a glass window, and you have to have your DM rule. So for this entire post, assume all total cover is opaque, and how it extends to transparent cover is up to your DM.
Find Familiar has a range of 10 feet, which means, by definition, whatever its target is must be within 10 feet. Since that can't be the familiar itself (it's not within range when you cast the spell), it must be the space the familiar appears in. In other words, when you cast the spell, you must target the space the familiar appears in, which means you can't summon a familiar into a space with total cover relative to you - e.g. a wall. Note that this is about total cover, not visibility - you can cast the spell while blinded just fine. The spell does not require the caster to see the target, just as Dimension Door does not.
However, this rule is specific to casting a spell, not any other action (it applies to attacks, too, but this isn't an attack). You can 100% dismiss your familiar as an action, per the spell, and then as an action cause it to reappear in any unoccupied space within 30 feet of you. As you are not casting a spell, no rule in the game cares if you have total cover to this space or not, so you can attempt it blind and through total cover. If you try to make the familiar appear in an occupied space, you automatically fail, so you could declare spaces and then check telepathically over and over until the familiar showed up.
One Note on Dimension Door. The spell specifically allows you to teleport to places you can see, visualize, or describe using distance and direction. While typically, total cover would block a line of effect as you say, I would argue the additional ways to name a target space clearly imply you can teleport to places without line of effect to your starting location (otherwise, those other options for targeting would be practically moot and not worth mentioning).
It's mostly unrelated to the topic at hand though, so I will say I agree with your interpretation of Find Familiar as it would be applied to the OP's situation.
Interaction i just realized, starting at level 2 a wildfire druid can let the party walk through walls for the cost of 2 wild shapes and 3 actions and no use of spell slots
wild companion feature lets you cast find familiar as an action - familiar is summoned within 10 ft of you but does not require line of sight and future actions let you summon it back within 30 ft of you again not limited by line of sight.
Wildfire spirit can teleport any number of creatures of your choice within 5 ft of it up to 15 ft to a location you can see.
Step 1 summon familiar on other side of wall
Step 2 summon wildfire spirit next to self,
Step 3 look through familiars eyes, bonus action spirit teleports party across wall
Repeat to get back across or through the next wall/door
I think that checks out... I've always treated Find Familiar as requiring Line of Sight to the location it's summoned to, but the spell doesn't actually say that Sight is a necessity. Although I'd imagine some DM's will be picky about targeting a location through a Familiar's Eyes... I think the fact that Find Familiar requires the full Action of the caster turn after turn to maintain sight is meant to prevent players using the Familiar to target attacks in that way, it makes sense when combined with a bonus action ability.
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This seems like it would work, but it would use both uses of your Wild Shape until you completed your next short or long rest (you only get two until level 20, and you use two here). If getting to the other side of that wall is important enough for you to use both of your primary class resources, that's fine, but in most situations I don't think it would be worth it.
To work without injuring anyone, you would have to coordinate summoning the spirit, then moving the party in range for the teleport (otherwise they would take damage from the spirit's summoning), and you would need the appropriate amount of unoccupied spaces on the far side of the wall, otherwise someone gets left behind (and takes damage from the spirits effect).
Otherwise, this works similarly to the find familiar/misty step combo
It should also be noted that wild companion is an optional feature. To pull this plan off, you need your dm to grant you this feature, so not every level two wildfire druid can do this,
I will protect those I hate. Even ... even if the one I hate most ... is ... myself.
The spell states that the familiar has to appear in unoccupied space within range. Since you cannot know what is beyond the wall, you cannot choose it as an unoccupied space: this becomes evident when there is a creature beyond the wall that you don't know about and you try to summon your familiar inside it. The only argument against this would be that the DM is the one who chooses whether it's occupied or not, and in that case, the DM has sole control of where it would appear.
If you could see through a wall (e.g. it was made of a thin sheet of ice) or otherwise was not opaque then this would technically work.
It does use both resources, but both effects stay in play for up to an hour at level 2, so could still be used many times for the use and the spirit is still available in combat as well due to the hour duration.
Sight is not required to direct the familiars reappearance, and the rule says “any” unoccupied space in range, so there is not a RAW limitation there. Either the familiar just doesn’t rematerialize and you have to choose another location, or it just appears in the closest unoccupied spot to where you designate (and remember, familiars are tiny, so they can occupy much smaller spaces than small or medium creatures).
I don't think this actually works, but I don't mind being proven wrong here either. By default, you must be able to see the target of your spell (not behind total cover), so you cannot cast Find Familiar on a location that you can't see. Trying to cast the spell on an area behind a wall (total cover) means the familiar will pop into existence on your side of the wall.
Spells do not have to say that they can't be cast where you cannot see, for that is already the general rule. A spell does have to explicitly state that it can be cast where you cannot see, like Clairvoyance. Unfortunately, Clairvoyance is not available to the Wildfire Druid. There might be another spell/feature which would make this work for you, but Find Familiar definitely does not.
You don't know what fear is until you've witnessed a drunk bird divebombing you while carrying a screaming Kobold throwing fire anywhere and everywhere.
I think the idea is that you cast find familiar the normal way, and then you dismiss and later re-summon the familiar to the location on the far side of the wall. You are not casting the spell when you re-summon it.
"Not all those who wander are lost"
I agree on the casting of the spell, but the ability being proposed is an option granted by the spell effect, not the casting of the spell, and equates to teleportation/plane shifting which does not have to be constrained (in most instances) by line of sight. The only restrictions given are that of an unoccupied space within range, with no mention of sight required:
That is not a function provided by the spell, regardless of whether you are recasting it or not. The familiar does not, at any time, have the capability of being summoned to a location that is not visible to the PC.
Line of sight still applies. This would also be an example of not letting a low-level spell/feature accomplish something it does not explicitly allow when there is a higher-level spell/feature that explicitly does. Clairvoyance explicitly does have the function of summoning something in an area the caster cannot see, which can be used to expand the caster's senses. Find Familiar does not have that function.
You don't know what fear is until you've witnessed a drunk bird divebombing you while carrying a screaming Kobold throwing fire anywhere and everywhere.
1) Nowhere in the spell does this say line of sight is required, and I do not automatically assume that the original appearance of the familiar from it's casting is the same as the spell effect granting the dismissal/recall ability. Most DMs I have interacted with would allow the familiar to be recalled (but not summoned in its casting) to a point out of sight of the caster, so long as the actual RAW requirements (unoccupied space and within range) are met.
2) Other effects granted to the caster by the familiar do not require line of sight to initiate or manage in any way. Using the familiars senses does not, communicating with the familiar does not, casting a spell through the familiar does not, and dismissing the familiar does not. If recalling the familiar did require line of sight to the point of recall, it should say so, as the default for every other option listed does not.
Also, Clairvoyance is unattackable (the familiar is), has a range of 1 mile (vs 100 feet for the familiar), uses concentration instead of your action every turn to maintain the perception ability, and you don't lose your own perception while it is active (these last two alleviate a huge drain on action economy, and a potentially dangerous situation compared to Find Familiar, and by itself warrants the 2 additional levels IMO).
You guys are asking what Find Familiar targets. Some relevant spells, and how they work:
Misty Step targets the caster, and teleports them to anywhere they can see. As a result, you can teleport through your familiar's eyes - i.e. it does not matter if where you teleport to has total cover relative to you (e.g. a wall).
Dimension Door targets the space the caster teleports to, and teleports them to the target space. You can tell from the change in range - Misty Step is range self, but Dimension Door is range 500 feet. The range of a spell is by definition the range to the target (PHB p202). As a result, Dimension Door cannot teleport you to any space that has total cover relative to you, as spells cannot target anything with total cover relative to them (PHB p196).
Note that here, as always in 5E, we have to assume the total cover is opaque for the RAW to be well-defined - the RAW breaks down if the cover is transparent, such as a glass window, and you have to have your DM rule. So for this entire post, assume all total cover is opaque, and how it extends to transparent cover is up to your DM.
Find Familiar has a range of 10 feet, which means, by definition, whatever its target is must be within 10 feet. Since that can't be the familiar itself (it's not within range when you cast the spell), it must be the space the familiar appears in. In other words, when you cast the spell, you must target the space the familiar appears in, which means you can't summon a familiar into a space with total cover relative to you - e.g. a wall. Note that this is about total cover, not visibility - you can cast the spell while blinded just fine. The spell does not require the caster to see the target, just as Dimension Door does not.
However, this rule is specific to casting a spell, not any other action (it applies to attacks, too, but this isn't an attack). You can 100% dismiss your familiar as an action, per the spell, and then as an action cause it to reappear in any unoccupied space within 30 feet of you. As you are not casting a spell, no rule in the game cares if you have total cover to this space or not, so you can attempt it blind and through total cover. If you try to make the familiar appear in an occupied space, you automatically fail, so you could declare spaces and then check telepathically over and over until the familiar showed up.
One Note on Dimension Door. The spell specifically allows you to teleport to places you can see, visualize, or describe using distance and direction. While typically, total cover would block a line of effect as you say, I would argue the additional ways to name a target space clearly imply you can teleport to places without line of effect to your starting location (otherwise, those other options for targeting would be practically moot and not worth mentioning).
It's mostly unrelated to the topic at hand though, so I will say I agree with your interpretation of Find Familiar as it would be applied to the OP's situation.
Correct. General spellcasting rules still apply. Since there is nothing to override them *specifically* in the find familiar spell.