Monstrous Compendium Vol. 1: Spelljammer Creatures
Frozen Sick
D&D Beyond Basic Rules
Basic Rules (2014)
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Monstrous Compendium Vol. 1: Spelljammer CreaturesFrozen SickD&D Beyond Basic RulesBasic Rules (2014)Sign in to view your library & saved favorites.
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Ok, so I'll caveat this right now and acknowledge the correct answer is whatever the DM allows, but I'm curious to see RAW how this stands.
So I was looking at the CR 0 creatures to summon as my Druid's familiar and saw the Awakened Rat in the new monster manual. It's a CR 0 Beast, which as far as I can tell is the only official requirement for the find familiar spell. Even if the spell only summons a spirit using the beast's stats, I would think using the Awakened Rat means it would keep the higher intelligence and ability to speak common, which are part of its stat block.
This seems broken as having a familiar with human level intelligence and can actually speak would be insane and just as, if not more useful than even the owl!
What are your thoughts on this and if playing RAW, does this work?
Awakened Rat isn't in either version of the Monster Manual. Additionally, it isn't a separate stat block in any official book, nor is it in any third-party book published currently on D&D Beyond. The only place they appear (not as an individual stat block, but rather as a mention in a module) is in Waterdeep: Dragon Heist. The snippet mentions the higher Int and language, but the block isn't an individual one, it's just the Rat with modifiers from a spell.
And since familiars are not actually beasts, they are fey, fiends, or celestials in the form of beasts, they are not valid targets for awaken.
Warlock imp familiar has
Int=11
Wis=12
Cha=14
Its got better overall mental stats than a lot of player characters i see.
https://www.dndbeyond.com/monsters/4775825-imp
“Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd.” — Voltaire
This thread is about CR 0 familiars that are summoned by a Druid, not about available options for a Warlock.
Awaken is a Spell in the PHB 24 , not a creature so they ARE valid in all 5 and 5.5 E. When you say Awakened Rat, we are referring to a normal rat that has the Awakened spell cast on it. It can be dispelled.
The fact that only certain books mention them is irrelevant, they are RAW in all games.
However you can not awaken a familiar as it is not a beast.
You've misunderstood the question. The OP saw (likely on another site) a stat block that was put together for an Awakened Rat for the adventure module and thought it was a standalone block, and they were asking about that.
Also Awaken can't be dispelled. The duration is Instantaneous.