We recently discovered the following line in the Find Familar spell:
"As an action while it is temporarily dismissed, you can cause it to reappear in any unoccupied space within 30 feet of you."
It does not say anything about being in view/sight.
So we are now summoning Familiars behind closed doors and inside safes. If the familiar does not have darkvision, we cast light, which is a touch spell, via the familiar.
I think this is borderline behavior. Is there some rule we are overlooking, or is this a valid use of the Familiar.
nope you are using it right, you can make it appear in any unoccupied space within 30 feet of you. another idea is make it appear on the other side of a bared or locked door and then see through it's eyes and misty step to the other side of the door and then you can open it for the party :D
nope you are using it right, you can make it appear in any unoccupied space within 30 feet of you. another idea is make it appear on the other side of a bared or locked door and then see through it's eyes and misty step to the other side of the door and then you can open it for the party :D
depends on what's baring it, most don't have no opposable thumbs so lifting a bar from a door would be hard there is also the strength of the familiar to think about too. and if the door is locked it could unlock it if the lock is on that side (IMO dungeon doors use a key and it's used on both sides of the door, but that's just me)
This is 100% a valid use of Familiars. I've regularly been faced with a door that we cant get past, so have made my familiar appear on the other side, looked through it's eyes and then used Misty Step to move to the other side and then simply opened the door from that side.
It's RAW and it's RAI. I even asked Jeremy Crawford this during a dragon talk stream and he answered the same way people here are talking. As a dungeon designer, it certainly throws a new challenge to me. A locked door has always been a (perhaps lazy?) fallback for me to say, "You can't go through here right now. Go somewhere else then come back when you have the key." Very video game-esque.
A world with familiars that work this way would have countermeasures against them. A guard dog is enough to make short work of a typical familiar, or maybe something a bit more exotic for invisible familiars. You'd have traps and alarms and all kinds of things. It should work, but it shouldn't be a free pass every time.
Personally I like dimensional traps that shunt any kind of teleportation or arrival from other planes to a predetermined area, whether it's a cage or a snake pit or just back outside the room.
We recently discovered the following line in the Find Familar spell:
"As an action while it is temporarily dismissed, you can cause it to reappear in any unoccupied space within 30 feet of you."
It does not say anything about being in view/sight.
So we are now summoning Familiars behind closed doors and inside safes. If the familiar does not have darkvision, we cast light, which is a touch spell, via the familiar.
I think this is borderline behavior. Is there some rule we are overlooking, or is this a valid use of the Familiar.
nope you are using it right, you can make it appear in any unoccupied space within 30 feet of you. another idea is make it appear on the other side of a bared or locked door and then see through it's eyes and misty step to the other side of the door and then you can open it for the party :D
Can't the Familiar just open the door?
depends on what's baring it, most don't have no opposable thumbs so lifting a bar from a door would be hard there is also the strength of the familiar to think about too. and if the door is locked it could unlock it if the lock is on that side (IMO dungeon doors use a key and it's used on both sides of the door, but that's just me)
This is 100% a valid use of Familiars. I've regularly been faced with a door that we cant get past, so have made my familiar appear on the other side, looked through it's eyes and then used Misty Step to move to the other side and then simply opened the door from that side.
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It's RAW and it's RAI. I even asked Jeremy Crawford this during a dragon talk stream and he answered the same way people here are talking. As a dungeon designer, it certainly throws a new challenge to me. A locked door has always been a (perhaps lazy?) fallback for me to say, "You can't go through here right now. Go somewhere else then come back when you have the key." Very video game-esque.
"Not all those who wander are lost"
A world with familiars that work this way would have countermeasures against them. A guard dog is enough to make short work of a typical familiar, or maybe something a bit more exotic for invisible familiars. You'd have traps and alarms and all kinds of things. It should work, but it shouldn't be a free pass every time.
Personally I like dimensional traps that shunt any kind of teleportation or arrival from other planes to a predetermined area, whether it's a cage or a snake pit or just back outside the room.
My homebrew subclasses (full list here)
(Artificer) Swordmage | Glasswright | (Barbarian) Path of the Savage Embrace
(Bard) College of Dance | (Fighter) Warlord | Cannoneer
(Monk) Way of the Elements | (Ranger) Blade Dancer
(Rogue) DaggerMaster | Inquisitor | (Sorcerer) Riftwalker | Spellfist
(Warlock) The Swarm