Hello i was wondering how small can you make your spider familiar be? I read somewhere that the upper limit is 2ft does that mean i can make it as small as 1cm?
I don't think there is a definite answer to your question (i.e. ask your DM). The spider familiar follows the game statistics for the creature. It is a tiny creature which means that it controls a 2.5' x 2.5' area in combat. I guess the question you should consider is: if you are wearing armor and wielding large blades, how big does a spider need to be for you to give it such a wide berth? For me the answer to that question is at least 6-8".
Honestly i don't think the spider should be big. As you're not trying to kill someone with it because you can't anyway. You want a creature that can go through cracks and you can't do that with a big sized spider. And as you know there's thousands of kinds of spiders out there.
The smallest creatures I can find in the Monster Manual given the size Tiny are spiders and scorpions. The word is also used to describe tiny insects, tiny birds, etc, as an adjective, not necessarily as a game mechanical size. Any is the smallest creature size, and controls a 2.5 x 2.5 foot space in combat. MostTiny creatures have up to a 5 foot reach! There doesn't seem to be a minimum size for a tiny creature or for a Familiar.
This is a fun question, and it got me thinking. I'm going to come at this mathematically and with a few assumptions:
First I'm going to use Swarm of Spiders as my base creature. Second I'm going to assume that no spider's body overlaps another in the 5ft square that they occupy. Third I'm going to use the maximum HP for the swarm, which would result in the most number of spiders in the swarm. The last assumption also considers 1 HP = 1 spider.
A 5ft square is equal to an area of 3600 inches. A full swarm of spiders = 40 spiders
The average size of a spider would be 90 inches square, or about a 10in diameter.
That being said the average spider, in real life, is 3.5 inches in diameter. The largest spider's leg span (Giant Huntsman Spider) is approximately 12 inches. If we were to use the Giant Hunstman Spider as the real life equivalent then the Swam of Spiders would actually be closer to 300 spiders, making it roughly 7-8 spiders per 1 HP.
All off this is just having fun with math and D&D. In the end, as a DM, I'd be of a mind to say that the familiar is going to be no smaller than a Tarantula. This would mean it would have a body/leg span diameter of 4.5-11 inches.
I used a spider familiar 2 sessions ago to deliver a message to a member of my party, basically it had to jump up and down on his shoulder so he knew that we had found something and he should come find us. The spider stayed on his shoulder which put him close enough to deliver a touch spell in combat. Basically I wouldn't go as small as a common spider you find in your house, but maybe one of them big ****ers you find in the back of the shed. It has to be able to blend in in most areas so if you have a tarantula sized spider then there are only so many places it would make sense to see one!
This is a fun question, and it got me thinking. I'm going to come at this mathematically and with a few assumptions:
First I'm going to use Swarm of Spiders as my base creature. Second I'm going to assume that no spider's body overlaps another in the 5ft square that they occupy. Third I'm going to use the maximum HP for the swarm, which would result in the most number of spiders in the swarm. The last assumption also considers 1 HP = 1 spider.
A 5ft square is equal to an area of 3600 inches. A full swarm of spiders = 40 spiders
The average size of a spider would be 90 inches in diameter.
That being said the average spider, in real life, is 3.5 inches in diameter. The largest spider's leg span (Giant Huntsman Spider) is approximately 12 inches. If we were to use the Giant Hunstman Spider as the real life equivalent then the Swam of Spiders would actually be closer to 300 spiders, making it roughly 7-8 spiders per 1 HP.
All off this is just having fun with math and D&D. In the end, as a DM, I'd be of a mind to say that the familiar is going to be no smaller than a Tarantula. This would mean it would have a body/leg span diameter of 4.5-11 inches.
Ummm ... your math is a bit off?
I think you meant to say that the average AREA per spider is 90 square inches. Using PI R^2 this gives a radius of ~5inch/spider or 10" across which is comparable to the number you came up with at the end.
That said, I would usually leave it up to the caster to decide on what size of spider they want. It isn't a real spider anyway - it is a fey, fiend or celestial spirit that looks like a spider so any sort of tiny size category spider that the caster has seen or can picture is probably fine.
I think you meant to say that the average AREA per spider is 90 square inches. Using PI R^2 this gives a radius of ~5inch/spider or 10" across which is comparable to the number you came up with at the end.
That said, I would usually leave it up to the caster to decide on what size of spider they want. It isn't a real spider anyway - it is a fey, fiend or celestial spirit that looks like a spider so any sort of tiny size category spider that the caster has seen or can picture is probably fine.
Thank you for the correction. A case of not saying what I meant but knowing where I was going...
Honestly i don't think the spider should be big. As you're not trying to kill someone with it because you can't anyway. You want a creature that can go through cracks and you can't do that with a big sized spider. And as you know there's thousands of kinds of spiders out there.
It's not about trying to kill someone with it nor is it about what you want or don't want. It is about the familiar taking on the game statistics for a spider as found in the PHB. How big do the game statistics say a spider is? They don't except to say it is tiny. We can infer from that a reasonable approximation of spider size by considering things like how much area a tiny creature controls in combat.
Even looking at the Tiny creature in the MM and PHB there is a range of sizes. There is something amusing in the idea of a teeny-tiny spider controlling a 2 1/2 foot square space and having a five foot reach in combat. That must be some spider. Although I could easily rationalize it as the spider jumping and leaping about.
Tiny creatures get at least as large as a cat or a skull. They get as small as a scorpion or spider. Scorpions and spiders themselves have quite a range of sizes. Its not as tightly defined as 1e, with gave measurements for each size class, it also had more sizes in the range. I am not sure that improved game play significantly, if at all though.
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Hello i was wondering how small can you make your spider familiar be? I read somewhere that the upper limit is 2ft does that mean i can make it as small as 1cm?
I don't think there is a definite answer to your question (i.e. ask your DM). The spider familiar follows the game statistics for the creature. It is a tiny creature which means that it controls a 2.5' x 2.5' area in combat. I guess the question you should consider is: if you are wearing armor and wielding large blades, how big does a spider need to be for you to give it such a wide berth? For me the answer to that question is at least 6-8".
Honestly i don't think the spider should be big. As you're not trying to kill someone with it because you can't anyway. You want a creature that can go through cracks and you can't do that with a big sized spider. And as you know there's thousands of kinds of spiders out there.
The smallest creatures I can find in the Monster Manual given the size Tiny are spiders and scorpions. The word is also used to describe tiny insects, tiny birds, etc, as an adjective, not necessarily as a game mechanical size. Any is the smallest creature size, and controls a 2.5 x 2.5 foot space in combat. MostTiny creatures have up to a 5 foot reach! There doesn't seem to be a minimum size for a tiny creature or for a Familiar.
So would it make sense to adjust the spider to its size so if it's really tiny it doesn't have a 5ft reach. Lets say "touch" reach?
This is a fun question, and it got me thinking. I'm going to come at this mathematically and with a few assumptions:
First I'm going to use Swarm of Spiders as my base creature. Second I'm going to assume that no spider's body overlaps another in the 5ft square that they occupy. Third I'm going to use the maximum HP for the swarm, which would result in the most number of spiders in the swarm. The last assumption also considers 1 HP = 1 spider.
A 5ft square is equal to an area of 3600 inches.
A full swarm of spiders = 40 spiders
The average size of a spider would be 90 inches square, or about a 10in diameter.
That being said the average spider, in real life, is 3.5 inches in diameter. The largest spider's leg span (Giant Huntsman Spider) is approximately 12 inches.
If we were to use the Giant Hunstman Spider as the real life equivalent then the Swam of Spiders would actually be closer to 300 spiders, making it roughly 7-8 spiders per 1 HP.
All off this is just having fun with math and D&D. In the end, as a DM, I'd be of a mind to say that the familiar is going to be no smaller than a Tarantula. This would mean it would have a body/leg span diameter of 4.5-11 inches.
I used a spider familiar 2 sessions ago to deliver a message to a member of my party, basically it had to jump up and down on his shoulder so he knew that we had found something and he should come find us. The spider stayed on his shoulder which put him close enough to deliver a touch spell in combat. Basically I wouldn't go as small as a common spider you find in your house, but maybe one of them big ****ers you find in the back of the shed. It has to be able to blend in in most areas so if you have a tarantula sized spider then there are only so many places it would make sense to see one!
From Within Chaos Comes Order!
Ummm ... your math is a bit off?
I think you meant to say that the average AREA per spider is 90 square inches. Using PI R^2 this gives a radius of ~5inch/spider or 10" across which is comparable to the number you came up with at the end.
That said, I would usually leave it up to the caster to decide on what size of spider they want. It isn't a real spider anyway - it is a fey, fiend or celestial spirit that looks like a spider so any sort of tiny size category spider that the caster has seen or can picture is probably fine.
Thank you for the correction. A case of not saying what I meant but knowing where I was going...
(p.s. never math before coffee...)
It's not about trying to kill someone with it nor is it about what you want or don't want. It is about the familiar taking on the game statistics for a spider as found in the PHB. How big do the game statistics say a spider is? They don't except to say it is tiny. We can infer from that a reasonable approximation of spider size by considering things like how much area a tiny creature controls in combat.
Even looking at the Tiny creature in the MM and PHB there is a range of sizes. There is something amusing in the idea of a teeny-tiny spider controlling a 2 1/2 foot square space and having a five foot reach in combat. That must be some spider. Although I could easily rationalize it as the spider jumping and leaping about.
Tiny creatures get at least as large as a cat or a skull. They get as small as a scorpion or spider. Scorpions and spiders themselves have quite a range of sizes. Its not as tightly defined as 1e, with gave measurements for each size class, it also had more sizes in the range. I am not sure that improved game play significantly, if at all though.