The bottom line is, you can either treat your familiar like a cherished pet, or you can treat it like a disposable asset. Don't complain if the DM responds accordingly.
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Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock) Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric) Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue) Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
A familiar being specifically targeted, not because they're a good target or anything, but because the DM doesn't like the playstyle of it providing the help action once per turn, and because he thinks it's overpowered, IS the mark of an aweful DM.
No, it's the mark of a player who thinks their familiar will never, ever die because they keep sending it into combat, or the mark of a player who doesn't care whether the familiar dies or not.
Either way, the familiar absolutely should be targeted if it makes itself worth targeting. That's not being "an awful DM".
This is a red herring. No one thinks the familiar will "never, ever die" there's a difference between putting something in harms way, and a DM going out of their way to kill it, due to not liking a playstyle. I dont know how to be more clear.
The bottom line is if this is how you Dm your games, you're an aweful dm.
And just because you'll repreate the same arguement that no one here is having, no one expects a familira to "never ever die"
It's not just the mechanics, it's a story-telling and party balance thing as well.
I could argue that my friend's bucket of water and my Shape Water spell can flood my enemy's lungs, followed next turn by my freezing whatever they try to vomit out, resulting in certain death for any breathing creature... well that's arguable, but not reasonable. A cantrip can't be a super weapon because that would be boring, both for the campaign and for the rest of the players.
If you aim to get combat advantage with a familiar, I have to look at the rest of the party.
If everyone is min-maxing and every familiar is an owl, well I sigh a bit because that's boring, but ok: I raise the difficulty of the fights because I am a good DM and I want to keep the fights challenging.
(Which leads to the question: why do people work so hard to min-max...? Isn't it just a zero-sum arms race...? But that's beside the point).
If no-one is min-maxing and your party does stuff like pick a hawk because it's cool, then I set the difficulty of the fights to match: I keep the fights at a point challenging folk to think hard and play well within their resources, because I am a good DM. There is no effective disadvantage to making that choice.
(And if the familiar is generally doing story-related things, then I will be story-related my decisions to target it - because resummoning a familiar after every fight is not remotely cinematic or heroic and doesn't sound like very much fun to me).
The biggest problem is where you're min-maxing to get permanent advantage, when the rest of the party isn't. Because half the party standing back while the other half do all the cool stuff is not likely to be fun for them. In which case yeah, you better believe I will frequently be adding an extra goblin with a bow to the fight, and possibly giving your familiar PTSD from the repeated deaths, because I am a good DM and I want everyone to have fun and be involved.
(Realistically: I'd just be having this conversation when it became apparent what you're building to do, with ample options to change - unless you're keen to have special challenges (and murdered familiars) directed on your more powerful character, because that could be heaps of fun too. But if your idea of fun is "be better than the other players" then I don't reckon you're my kind of player. Which is fine, there are plenty of other tables to play at).
Long story short: D&D is not (IMO) a very good combat simulator. Why play it as one?
It's fine and good and fair to know the "best" options, so you can make sure your character can contribute to the party. I hope your healer knows what Healing Word is. But I'd very much hope you don't take all of the best options (unless your group is way into that).
Because every familiar being a reskinned owl is boring...
No one thinks the familiar will "never, ever die" there's a difference between putting something in harms way, and a DM going out of their way to kill it, due to not liking a playstyle. I dont know how to be more clear.
If you repeatedly send your 1 HP familiar into the thick of combat, you either don't expect the DM to actually kill a poor sweet owl, or you don't care if they do.
There really isn't a third choice -- and again, either way, you also don't get to complain about the logical consequences of your own decisions and whine about the DM crimping your "play style". The DM's motives for imposing those logical consequences are irrelevant.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock) Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric) Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue) Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
No one thinks the familiar will "never, ever die" there's a difference between putting something in harms way, and a DM going out of their way to kill it, due to not liking a playstyle. I dont know how to be more clear.
If you repeatedly send your 1 HP familiar into the thick of combat, you either don't expect the DM to actually kill a poor sweet owl, or you don't care if they do.
There really isn't a third choice -- and again, either way, you also don't get to complain about the logical consequences of your own decisions and whine about the DM crimping your "play style". The DM's motives for imposing those logical consequences are irrelevant.
Damn straight.
I mean, very simply put: imagine tough enemies who had the same: a 1hp critter that could give them combat advantage. Tell me the players wouldn't be prioritising an AOE spell or tasking their own pets / minions / non-advantage-providing familiars, or even their lowest-damage ally, to murder those owls asap.
One action to permanently remove always-on combat advantage from a PC-level threat? Good investment. A bonus offhand weapon attack? Absolute no brainer.
If the players would do it, why wouldn't the NPCs?
I *wouldn't* have them do it if we're playing familiars mostly for OOC advantage or (obviously) if they're pocket-dimensioned. The former being simply because having the familiar around for fluff is fun, and having them re-summoned for 10 minutes after every fight is boring.
But if you as a player want to squeeze every number out of the (flawed) system, then I can only assume you want a challenge (right?) and want me to similarly squeeze every advantage out of the system for the baddies (right?).
Familiars have there own turn though and it has to be within 5 feet of an enemy in order to use help. So in order for this to work, either you have to end your turn within 5 feet of an enemy, or the familiar will have to travel to the enemy and back (more than likely the second one if the enemy moves before the familiar). Thus owl.
Yep. This is basically every round at my table. Owl flies by and uses the help action before flying away. Next round: Rinse and repeat.
definitely a dead owl at my table as well...and I'd follow it up with a "Your familiar is now dead. In order to resummon it, you need to light a brazier, spend somewhere between an hour and an hour and ten minutes casting the spell, and loose 10gp worth of materials you toss into the brazier." ...just because i totally dislike this constant use of the familiar - alls it does it adversely affect the balance of the adventure and make the player comparatively more powerful than everyone else at the table. It's not fun for anyone else. The familiar spell just wasn't designed to give someone permanent advantage and an owl constantly flying in something's face WILL get swatted out of the sky.
Also, I believe the whole 'can a familiar use Ready as an Action' is at DM discretion. At least I'm not aware of anything that says a Familiar (or any of the animals they're based on) can use the Ready action. The whole discussion of Ready is in the section talking about player Action options.
well...unless the familiar is at least as smart as a border collie...but even then I'd make the player use their own Reaction to trigger the familiar's Readied Action.
having said that though, as a DM, I love a party with a familiar in outdoor settings. That way I can just drop the map on the table and say 'ok, your owl sees this'. just makes it way easier.
Couldn't say from one issue that you are an "awful DM". If your players keep turning up then evidence may suggest otherwise.
I'd certainly agree that "an owl constantly flying in something's face WILL get swatted out of the sky" but don't think that this might be "...just because [you] totally dislike this constant use of the familiar".
However you might consider other approaches on issues like familiars.
For instance you might houserule that, in your games, owls don't have flyby or familiars are limited or unable to perform combat help actions. Why not ban them altogether?
I agree that familiars can limit fun at a table. They reduce jeopardy by a supply of a strangely disposable item.
The bottom line is, you can either treat your familiar like a cherished pet, or you can treat it like a disposable asset. Don't complain if the DM responds accordingly.
Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock)
Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric)
Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue)
Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
This is a red herring. No one thinks the familiar will "never, ever die" there's a difference between putting something in harms way, and a DM going out of their way to kill it, due to not liking a playstyle. I dont know how to be more clear.
The bottom line is if this is how you Dm your games, you're an aweful dm.
And just because you'll repreate the same arguement that no one here is having, no one expects a familira to "never ever die"
It's not just the mechanics, it's a story-telling and party balance thing as well.
I could argue that my friend's bucket of water and my Shape Water spell can flood my enemy's lungs, followed next turn by my freezing whatever they try to vomit out, resulting in certain death for any breathing creature... well that's arguable, but not reasonable. A cantrip can't be a super weapon because that would be boring, both for the campaign and for the rest of the players.
If you aim to get combat advantage with a familiar, I have to look at the rest of the party.
(Which leads to the question: why do people work so hard to min-max...? Isn't it just a zero-sum arms race...? But that's beside the point).
(And if the familiar is generally doing story-related things, then I will be story-related my decisions to target it - because resummoning a familiar after every fight is not remotely cinematic or heroic and doesn't sound like very much fun to me).
(Realistically: I'd just be having this conversation when it became apparent what you're building to do, with ample options to change - unless you're keen to have special challenges (and murdered familiars) directed on your more powerful character, because that could be heaps of fun too. But if your idea of fun is "be better than the other players" then I don't reckon you're my kind of player. Which is fine, there are plenty of other tables to play at).
Long story short: D&D is not (IMO) a very good combat simulator. Why play it as one?
It's fine and good and fair to know the "best" options, so you can make sure your character can contribute to the party. I hope your healer knows what Healing Word is. But I'd very much hope you don't take all of the best options (unless your group is way into that).
Because every familiar being a reskinned owl is boring...
If you repeatedly send your 1 HP familiar into the thick of combat, you either don't expect the DM to actually kill a poor sweet owl, or you don't care if they do.
There really isn't a third choice -- and again, either way, you also don't get to complain about the logical consequences of your own decisions and whine about the DM crimping your "play style". The DM's motives for imposing those logical consequences are irrelevant.
Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock)
Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric)
Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue)
Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
Damn straight.
I mean, very simply put: imagine tough enemies who had the same: a 1hp critter that could give them combat advantage. Tell me the players wouldn't be prioritising an AOE spell or tasking their own pets / minions / non-advantage-providing familiars, or even their lowest-damage ally, to murder those owls asap.
One action to permanently remove always-on combat advantage from a PC-level threat? Good investment. A bonus offhand weapon attack? Absolute no brainer.
If the players would do it, why wouldn't the NPCs?
I *wouldn't* have them do it if we're playing familiars mostly for OOC advantage or (obviously) if they're pocket-dimensioned. The former being simply because having the familiar around for fluff is fun, and having them re-summoned for 10 minutes after every fight is boring.
But if you as a player want to squeeze every number out of the (flawed) system, then I can only assume you want a challenge (right?) and want me to similarly squeeze every advantage out of the system for the baddies (right?).
Couldn't say from one issue that you are an "awful DM". If your players keep turning up then evidence may suggest otherwise.
I'd certainly agree that "an owl constantly flying in something's face WILL get swatted out of the sky" but don't think that this might be "...just because [you] totally dislike this constant use of the familiar".
However you might consider other approaches on issues like familiars.
For instance you might houserule that, in your games, owls don't have flyby or familiars are limited or unable to perform combat help actions. Why not ban them altogether?
I agree that familiars can limit fun at a table. They reduce jeopardy by a supply of a strangely disposable item.