Monstrous Compendium Vol. 1: Spelljammer Creatures
Frozen Sick
D&D Beyond Basic Rules
Basic Rules (2014)
Sign in to view your library & saved favorites.
Sign in- Marketplace
Monstrous Compendium Vol. 1: Spelljammer CreaturesFrozen SickD&D Beyond Basic RulesBasic Rules (2014)Sign in to view your library & saved favorites.
Sign in
"I think some (many?) DMs would let you flavor a Bat familiar as a Flying Mechanical Wonder (since it has an established Stat Block and some similar features and is a CR-0 creature). This would let you share senses with the Flying Wonder as a Bonus Action."
Familiars ftom the Find Familiar spell for wizards can never attack. For warlocks, they can
Familiars require a wizards bonus action to tell them to do something, often Help. Warlocks can swap on of their attacks to let the familiar attack.
An artificer homunculus servant has a force weapon that works in melee and to a 30ft range, and can fire without any action from the artificer.
Flying Wonders are magic items/constructs, so they dont have the restrictions that a familiar would (no attack)
So not sure a dm would quite so easily allow a player to reflavor one for the other. They are quite different and as a dm i might get confused about what the player is doing.
Yes. I misread it. That makes it even less useful for having it carry you (unless you are small and even then, you may have to be barely equipped).
I originally read it as increasing the carrying capacity. If it's carry only, does that mean that it can carry 100 pounds and Lift/Drag/Push 30 pounds?
How to add Tooltips.
My houserulings.
"Flavoring" would mean it is in all mechanical senses a bat familiar, but I will describe it as a flying wonder. What it sounds like you are describing is taking a flying wonder as a familiar which is completely different.
How to add Tooltips.
My houserulings.
I agree.
That's a good question... I'd rule it can Lift/Drag/Push 100 pounds as well, but certainly that's not what the trait says.
I was actually talking about taking a Flying Wonder instead of the normal familiars on the list since it is a Cr-0 creature so would be allowable. I also don't think it is excessively OP and is not that much better than a Bat (other than the dramatically increased carry limit). However, if a DM would not let me just take the Flying Wonder I would Flavor a Bat as one and use the Bat stat block.
The Wonder is a Construct and thus not allowed.
that's why you use it like a suicide drone, or a drive by shooting, and get it back out off range in to cover
which is why you get it from repplicate magic feature, same as what you do with your 1st domestic wonder disposable body you throw at an enemy.
Most DMs in my experience allow Artificers to have construct familiars. I know it is not RAW but it just makes so much sense from a game-play standpoint given what the Artificer is and does.
Artificers get a Homunculus which is a Construct and similar to a familiar. Battle Smiths and Artificers get constructs which are less like familiars. Are you thinking of those? If so, these are RAW.
How to add Tooltips.
My houserulings.
No.
For many Artificers it makes sense to take Sage/Magic Initiate as Background/Origin Feat. You don't get the HS till 5th level but a familiar is a huge help at earlier levels (and the Shield Spell is a huge help any time - not to mention the need to have Magic Missile prepared if you want to craft a wand of Magic Missiles and it's nice to get 2x as many Cantrips as Artificers get through Level 9). Also given that the Meta for artificers is to maximize your action economy by using weaponized constructs it definitely makes sense to have another construct that you can telepathically communicate with.
Flavor is free so you can just make a Bat into a mechanical creature (with the same beast stat block if you are hung up on thing being RAW). However, in my experience most DM's are fine with a player choosing a CR-0 construct since that makes more sense for the Artificer. Two good options include the Flying Mechanical Wonder (more or less like a Bat since it's main feature is 60' Blindsight, although it has much more carrying capacity) or the Clockwork Observer (more or less like an Owl since its key feature is Flyby).
Both the constructs might have slightly better stats (and Flying Wonder has 100lb carrying capacity while Clockwork Observer has hover which are both nice) so might be a bit better than their beast counterparts (although Owl is faster). So, like I said, if your DM is stuck on RAW and does not really believe in the "rule of cool" then just make them clockwork / mechanical as flavor.
Final point, make sure your familiars can hold wands - people argue that the owl can hold a wand but I think it makes more sense for a construct with hands to hold a wand.
I've never encountered a GM allowing a construct as a familiar or allowing "reflavoring" to include changing any mechanical aspects of the base creature, such as a creature type. I suppose it's all anecdotal.
How to add Tooltips.
My houserulings.