Point buy is an interesting concept, but I play with plenty of folks who would see that and just not take a familiar because it looks too complicated.
5e (and 2024) first and foremost are about onboarding new players. Just picking yourself a little critter is fun, and they wanted it to be accessible.
But yeah, owl is the best on paper. Although it's not like it's breaking the game. Anything using the help action to flap in the face of deadly enemies should not live very long unless the DM is being very nice - even with flyby it is not hard to kill an owl. It's honestly more fun to pick something that fits your character and find ways for it to be useful.
Isn't he adorable? He'd also comfortably fit on my thumb nail.
Adorbs. There's also Lucas the Spider. Lucas would be a fantastic familiar. I don't know why 5e removed Fine, Diminutive, and Colossal sizes. My only guess is that it is related to flattening the curve on D&D math in general, similar to how they removed +4 and +5 weapons and armor.
Tiny is cat sized and smaller so the spider is tiny.
Isn't he adorable? He'd also comfortably fit on my thumb nail.
Adorbs. There's also Lucas the Spider. Lucas would be a fantastic familiar. I don't know why 5e removed Fine, Diminutive, and Colossal sizes. My only guess is that it is related to flattening the curve on D&D math in general, similar to how they removed +4 and +5 weapons and armor.
Tiny is cat sized and smaller so the spider is tiny.
Yeah, but this is one place the math really shouldn't be flattened. The relative size difference between the cat and that spider is greater than between the cat and a huge dragon.
Isn't he adorable? He'd also comfortably fit on my thumb nail.
Adorbs. There's also Lucas the Spider. Lucas would be a fantastic familiar. I don't know why 5e removed Fine, Diminutive, and Colossal sizes. My only guess is that it is related to flattening the curve on D&D math in general, similar to how they removed +4 and +5 weapons and armor.
Tiny is cat sized and smaller so the spider is tiny.
Yeah, but this is one place the math really shouldn't be flattened. The relative size difference between the cat and that spider is greater than between the cat and a huge dragon.
The mechanics tend to assume the point of view of a Medium or Small creature with a 65% chance of success. They took away many of the differences between the two. If we were to bring back in Fine and Diminutive creatures, their AC and Stealth bonus would probably be abnormally high and HP abnormally low for a given challenge. It may turn combat encounters into multiple whiffs followed by a one-hit KO. I can see why they would want to avoid that.
Isn't he adorable? He'd also comfortably fit on my thumb nail.
Adorbs. There's also Lucas the Spider. Lucas would be a fantastic familiar. I don't know why 5e removed Fine, Diminutive, and Colossal sizes. My only guess is that it is related to flattening the curve on D&D math in general, similar to how they removed +4 and +5 weapons and armor.
Tiny is cat sized and smaller so the spider is tiny.
Yeah, but this is one place the math really shouldn't be flattened. The relative size difference between the cat and that spider is greater than between the cat and a huge dragon.
The mechanics tend to assume the point of view of a Medium or Small creature with a 65% chance of success. They took away many of the differences between the two. If we were to bring back in Fine and Diminutive creatures, their AC and Stealth bonus would probably be abnormally high and HP abnormally low for a given challenge. It may turn combat encounters into multiple whiffs followed by a one-hit KO. I can see why they would want to avoid that.
A really tiny creature should have incredibly high stealth and be hard to hit. This is a 'the 5e rules aren't doing what I need them to do' thing.
Current rules, you shrink yourself to the size of a door mouse, and you're no better at hiding/sneaking than you were as a medium creature. That's mindbogglingly stupid.
Meanwhile, there's almost no justification for keeping the small/medium distinction - they might as well have reduced all PC races to one size class and been done with it.
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Point buy is an interesting concept, but I play with plenty of folks who would see that and just not take a familiar because it looks too complicated.
5e (and 2024) first and foremost are about onboarding new players. Just picking yourself a little critter is fun, and they wanted it to be accessible.
But yeah, owl is the best on paper. Although it's not like it's breaking the game. Anything using the help action to flap in the face of deadly enemies should not live very long unless the DM is being very nice - even with flyby it is not hard to kill an owl. It's honestly more fun to pick something that fits your character and find ways for it to be useful.
My homebrew subclasses (full list here)
(Artificer) Swordmage | Glasswright | (Barbarian) Path of the Savage Embrace
(Bard) College of Dance | (Fighter) Warlord | Cannoneer
(Monk) Way of the Elements | (Ranger) Blade Dancer
(Rogue) DaggerMaster | Inquisitor | (Sorcerer) Riftwalker | Spellfist
(Warlock) The Swarm
I don't want some Lovecraftian Australian abomination. I want this adorable little guy:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5e/Attulus_distinguendus.jpg
Isn't he adorable? He'd also comfortably fit on my thumb nail.
Adorbs. There's also Lucas the Spider. Lucas would be a fantastic familiar. I don't know why 5e removed Fine, Diminutive, and Colossal sizes. My only guess is that it is related to flattening the curve on D&D math in general, similar to how they removed +4 and +5 weapons and armor.
Tiny is cat sized and smaller so the spider is tiny.
How to add Tooltips.
My houserulings.
Yeah, but this is one place the math really shouldn't be flattened. The relative size difference between the cat and that spider is greater than between the cat and a huge dragon.
The mechanics tend to assume the point of view of a Medium or Small creature with a 65% chance of success. They took away many of the differences between the two. If we were to bring back in Fine and Diminutive creatures, their AC and Stealth bonus would probably be abnormally high and HP abnormally low for a given challenge. It may turn combat encounters into multiple whiffs followed by a one-hit KO. I can see why they would want to avoid that.
How to add Tooltips.
My houserulings.
A really tiny creature should have incredibly high stealth and be hard to hit. This is a 'the 5e rules aren't doing what I need them to do' thing.
Current rules, you shrink yourself to the size of a door mouse, and you're no better at hiding/sneaking than you were as a medium creature. That's mindbogglingly stupid.
Meanwhile, there's almost no justification for keeping the small/medium distinction - they might as well have reduced all PC races to one size class and been done with it.