allowing a 10 hp owl familiar to do the help action on the first attacl before the druid goes is so underwhelming that ive never seen a DM enforce raw on this that says the owl goes after their spellcasters turn
allowing a 10 hp owl familiar to do the help action on the first attacl before the druid goes is so underwhelming that ive never seen a DM enforce raw on this that says the owl goes after their spellcasters turn
Combat. The familiar is an ally to you and your allies. It rolls its own Initiative and acts on its own turn. A familiar can’t attack, but it can take other actions as normal.
There are two things at play here:
The familiar (owl in the case) acts on its own initiative which may be before or after the Druid.
The Druid uses the Ready Action on their turn and uses a Reaction to trigger it later in the Combat Round based on a specified trigger. (I think in this case, it is probably, "the owl distracts the enemy")
This particular combination requires that the familiar go after the druid in initiative.
[...] If your wildshapped and use that to multiattack, then RAW, there may be some issued
IMO, it's not possible to Ready Multiattack, since using it requires the creature to take the Attack action. The SAC also suggests Multiattack isn't intended to be used off-turn for situations like Opportunity Attacks (a Reaction):
What actions can monsters use to make Opportunity Attack? Are Multiattack and breath weapon actions allowed?
When making an Opportunity Attack, a monster can make any single melee attack listed in its stat block. A monster also has the option to make an Unarmed Strike as an Opportunity Attack, following the normal rules of an Unarmed Strike.
An action, such as a breath weapon effect, that doesn’t include a melee attack roll isn’t eligible to be chosen for an Opportunity Attack. Additionally, a monster can’t use its Multiattack when making an Opportunity Attack, because the use of Multiattack specifically predicates on taking the Attack action, and an Opportunity Attack takes a Reaction.
The Opportunity Attack is separate from Readying an action. I was looking at the Drider 2025 entry for Multiattack and unlike Extra Attack, it does not mention the extra attacks/abilities can only be used on its turn. It looks like, if a creature has Multiattack, they cannot use that as part of an Opportunity Attack, but they can use it as part of a readied Attack action.
Yeah, I know my ruling isn't very well supported, and I didn't provide solid proof. Probably something I carried over from 2014.
Yeah, I know my ruling isn't very well supported, and I didn't provide solid proof. Probably something I carried over from 2014.
It is strange that they didn't use the same wording as Extra Attack to restrict it to the creature's turn. I think it's a fair ruling with Extra Attack as a precedence. I don't want to get surprised by the hiding dragon with a readied Bite and 2 Claw as I turn the corner ...
It would be interesting to see how common this is in another thread.
allowing a 10 hp owl familiar to do the help action on the first attacl before the druid goes is so underwhelming that ive never seen a DM enforce raw on this that says the owl goes after their spellcasters turn
That is because that is not RAW.
Find Familiar
There are two things at play here:
This particular combination requires that the familiar go after the druid in initiative.
How to add Tooltips.
My houserulings.
Yeah, I know my ruling isn't very well supported, and I didn't provide solid proof. Probably something I carried over from 2014.
It is strange that they didn't use the same wording as Extra Attack to restrict it to the creature's turn. I think it's a fair ruling with Extra Attack as a precedence. I don't want to get surprised by the hiding dragon with a readied Bite and 2 Claw as I turn the corner ...
It would be interesting to see how common this is in another thread.
How to add Tooltips.
My houserulings.