The owl familiar is quite a popular selection for many reasons, here is one more:
Keen Hearing and Sight. The owl has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on hearing or sight.
This means the owl can make 2 perception checks... 1 for what it sees... and 1 for what it hears. And because it has advantage on both rolls, not much escapes it's attention.
Now if you're a warlock and take pact of the chain to get the special familiars. Take a look at the pseudodragon again:
Keen Senses. The pseudodragon has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight, hearing, or smell.
What's that you say? Does the pseudodragon have advantage on their rolls for 3 senses, sight, hearing, or smell. Why, yes it does. That's 3 chances at advantage to notice someone or something.
(Am I missing something here?)
This make it nigh impossible for things to sneak up on the pseudodragon.
"A rightful place awaits you in the Realms Above, in the Land of the Great Light. Come in peace, and live beneath the sun again, where trees and flowers grow."
— The message of Eilistraee to all decent drow.
"Run thy sword across my chains, Silver Lady, that I may join your dance.”
I don't think these creatures gain additional perception checks. I have certainly never played or run with that being the case. Instead, the familiar gets one perception check. It has advantage on that roll as long as the target of that role is not masked from the senses named in the description. Thus, if you want to deny the owl its advantage the target can be neither heard nor seen-- that would occur if a foe that was both silent and invisible were trying to sneak up on the owl.
The owl familiar is quite a popular selection for many reasons, here is one more:
Keen Hearing and Sight. The owl has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on hearing or sight.
This means the owl can make 2 perception checks... 1 for what it sees... and 1 for what it hears. And because it has advantage on both rolls, not much escapes it's attention.
No if you're a warlock and take pact of the chain to get the special familiars. Take a look at the pseudodragon again:
Keen Senses. The pseudodragon has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight, hearing, or smell.
What's that you say? Does the pseudodragon have advantage on their rolls for 3 senses, sight, hearing, or smell. Why, yes it does. That's 3 chances at advantage to notice someone or something.
(Am I missing something here?)
This make it nigh impossible for things to sneak up on the pseudodragon.
The downside to the owl. Is even beasts with an INT lower than 4 know owls are nocturnal creatures. So literally anything not afflicted by feeble mind would be skeptical of an owl awake during daylight hours. Going “Druid, familiar, or polymorph”
additionally, owls are lower on the food chain by more dayturnal creatures of flight such as hawks and eagles. Which you typically see in areas where the use of the owl is most beneficial.
As to the 2 rolls vs 3 rolls.
it’s still just 1 roll. It’s just advantage if it uses either of those 2 senses. Or 3 for pseudo dragon.
It’s a good familiar. But it’s nowhere near as omnipotent as a lot of people make them out to be.
The owl familiar is quite a popular selection for many reasons, here is one more:
Keen Hearing and Sight. The owl has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on hearing or sight.
This means the owl can make 2 perception checks... 1 for what it sees... and 1 for what it hears. And because it has advantage on both rolls, not much escapes it's attention.
No if you're a warlock and take pact of the chain to get the special familiars. Take a look at the pseudodragon again:
Keen Senses. The pseudodragon has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight, hearing, or smell.
What's that you say? Does the pseudodragon have advantage on their rolls for 3 senses, sight, hearing, or smell. Why, yes it does. That's 3 chances at advantage to notice someone or something.
(Am I missing something here?)
This make it nigh impossible for things to sneak up on the pseudodragon.
The downside to the owl. Is even beasts with an INT lower than 4 know owls are nocturnal creatures. So literally anything not afflicted by feeble mind would be skeptical of an owl awake during daylight hours. Going “Druid, familiar, or polymorph”
additionally, owls are lower on the food chain by more dayturnal creatures of flight such as hawks and eagles. Which you typically see in areas where the use of the owl is most beneficial.
As to the 2 rolls vs 3 rolls.
it’s still just 1 roll. It’s just advantage if it uses either of those 2 senses. Or 3 for pseudo dragon.
It’s a good familiar. But it’s nowhere near as omnipotent as a lot of people make them out to be.
Actually, many species of owls are diurnal or crepuscular.
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Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
The issue could be if someone was, for example, flying, silenced and invisible approaching the party (yes, they’re all concentration spells, let’s just say 3 casters were involved, or a magic item or two or something. It wouldn’t be easy, but it could happen.). The owl would not get advantage on those checks. But since the sneaky approaching person did not take pains to cover their scent, the pseudodragon still could.
The list of senses is just explaining which bases are covered, and which are not.
And rolling two dice is not fool proof. My halfling recently rolled a 1, got their racial re-roll and then rolled another 1. Not technically advantage, but basically the same in terms of rolling two d20s.
While your familiar is within 100 feet of you, you can communicate with it telepathically. Additionally, as an action, you can see through your familiar’s eyes and hear what it hears until the start of your next turn, gaining the benefits of any special senses that the familiar has. During this time, you are deaf and blind with regard to your own senses.
Since you can use it's senses can't you make a Perception check using one of it's senses... and then shortly after make another one using a different sense.
Can 2 different wizards with an eagle and a cat for familiars each make a Perception check to see what the eagle sees or the cat smells.
Why not use an owl or pseudodragon to it's full advantage?
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"A rightful place awaits you in the Realms Above, in the Land of the Great Light. Come in peace, and live beneath the sun again, where trees and flowers grow."
— The message of Eilistraee to all decent drow.
"Run thy sword across my chains, Silver Lady, that I may join your dance.”
While your familiar is within 100 feet of you, you can communicate with it telepathically. Additionally, as an action, you can see through your familiar’s eyes and hear what it hears until the start of your next turn, gaining the benefits of any special senses that the familiar has. During this time, you are deaf and blind with regard to your own senses.
Since you can use it's senses can't you make a Perception check using one of it's senses... and then shortly after make another one using a different sense.
Can 2 different wizards with an eagle and a cat for familiars each make a Perception check to see what the eagle sees or the cat smells.
Why not use an owl or pseudodragon to it's full advantage?
(1) The player should not be "making checks" unprompted. The player ought to describe what they wish to attempt and the DM will determine whether a dice roll is necessary or appropriate.
(2) A "Perception Check" is not based on a singular sense, it is all senses simultaneously. If you are deaf, you automatically fail perception checks that rely on hearing. With respect to "Keen Hearing and Sight", the advantage is inclusive. If either hearing or sight is important to the perception check, you make the perception check (which utilizes all senses simultaneously) with advantage.
(3) Multiple wizards using multiple familiars can make one perception check each, as though they were standing in the location that their familiar currently occupies. The player does not specify "see" or smell", they perceive what the familiar perceives as a combination of all senses simultaneously.
(4) If multiple wizards had a means of sharing the Psuedo-dragon's senses, either concurrently or sequentially, then yes, they could presumably each be asked to make a perception check using the Psuedo-dragon's senses. However, it is not necessarily advantageous to do so. Having different vantage points can be infinitely more valuable than having advantage on the check.
(5) Usually, there will be a player with a high Wis score who has optimized perception, and it's generally more advantageous to use the "Help" action to give that person advantage, unless a special sense is specifically required. Most parties of 4~6 players already break perception checks due to rolling too many dice.
The owl familiar is quite a popular selection for many reasons, here is one more:
Keen Hearing and Sight. The owl has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on hearing or sight.
This means the owl can make 2 perception checks... 1 for what it sees... and 1 for what it hears. And because it has advantage on both rolls, not much escapes it's attention.
No if you're a warlock and take pact of the chain to get the special familiars. Take a look at the pseudodragon again:
Keen Senses. The pseudodragon has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight, hearing, or smell.
What's that you say? Does the pseudodragon have advantage on their rolls for 3 senses, sight, hearing, or smell. Why, yes it does. That's 3 chances at advantage to notice someone or something.
(Am I missing something here?)
This make it nigh impossible for things to sneak up on the pseudodragon.
The downside to the owl. Is even beasts with an INT lower than 4 know owls are nocturnal creatures. So literally anything not afflicted by feeble mind would be skeptical of an owl awake during daylight hours. Going “Druid, familiar, or polymorph”
additionally, owls are lower on the food chain by more dayturnal creatures of flight such as hawks and eagles. Which you typically see in areas where the use of the owl is most beneficial.
As to the 2 rolls vs 3 rolls.
it’s still just 1 roll. It’s just advantage if it uses either of those 2 senses. Or 3 for pseudo dragon.
It’s a good familiar. But it’s nowhere near as omnipotent as a lot of people make them out to be.
Actually, many species of owls are diurnal or crepuscular.
Valid, for the limited breeds compared to the majority of owls, that are diurnal. Valid in the sense that it’s not a 100/0 scenario. But still minuscule and limiting, and again, the majority of beasts, and anything capable of thought, would find it odd. —— ways for them to not find it odd? You just so happen to have diurnal owls in that area to begin with. I’d allow some nature checks. Have a dc based on the region. And let their roll vs that determine a fair percentile dice roll they can roll to have the diurnal owls be in that area.
Still lower on food chain than hawks, eagles, and most other airborne predators in the D&D world, so does nothing to improve survivability on their own from being eaten in scenarios where there are say blood hawks nearby.
Some monsters don’t move and are either camouflaged or near invisible (gelatinous cube, mimic, a slime hiding under rocks). I would give the pseudo advantage, because it can still smell them. The owl wouldn’t get advantage against those foes.
It is not as powerful as I originally thought but still quite op in a way.
Having multiple senses that you have advantage in... and both the owl and pseudodragon have a +3 to their Perception.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"A rightful place awaits you in the Realms Above, in the Land of the Great Light. Come in peace, and live beneath the sun again, where trees and flowers grow."
— The message of Eilistraee to all decent drow.
"Run thy sword across my chains, Silver Lady, that I may join your dance.”
(2) A "Perception Check" is not based on a singular sense, it is all senses simultaneously. If you are deaf, you automatically fail perception checks that rely on hearing. With respect to "Keen Hearing and Sight", the advantage is inclusive. If either hearing or sight is important to the perception check, you make the perception check (which utilizes all senses simultaneously) with advantage.
...
I agree that the player should not be make rolls without prompting, but when making a perception check, you can definitely call out which sense you are focusing on:
I look for people that are wearing red hats (DM calls for a perception roll, using sight)
I put my ear to the door, and listen for the guards, are they awake? are they moving? (DM calls for a perception roll, using hearing)
I tell my pseudodragon familiar to track the beast's trail (DM calls for perception roll, using the familiars' stats, and granting advantage due to keen senses)
In this scenario, you are providing context and direction for your perception checks, but are not suddenly oblivious to your other senses.
If you are listening at a door, the DM may also tell you that you see guards opening a different door further down the hallway. You never explicitly stated that you were looking for anything, but at that moment, you were being actively tuned in to your environment.
Most information in the game world is irrelevant, so specifying your intent tells the DM what matters to you, and that allows them to proceed under the assumption that the character isn't stupid.
(2) A "Perception Check" is not based on a singular sense, it is all senses simultaneously. If you are deaf, you automatically fail perception checks that rely on hearing. With respect to "Keen Hearing and Sight", the advantage is inclusive. If either hearing or sight is important to the perception check, you make the perception check (which utilizes all senses simultaneously) with advantage.
...
I agree that the player should not be make rolls without prompting, but when making a perception check, you can definitely call out which sense you are focusing on:
I look for people that are wearing red hats (DM calls for a perception roll, using sight)
I put my ear to the door, and listen for the guards, are they awake? are they moving? (DM calls for a perception roll, using hearing)
I tell my pseudodragon familiar to track the beast's trail (DM calls for perception roll, using the familiars' stats, and granting advantage due to keen senses)
In this scenario, you are providing context and direction for your perception checks, but are not suddenly oblivious to your other senses.
If you are listening at a door, the DM may also tell you that you see guards opening a different door further down the hallway. You never explicitly stated that you were looking for anything, but at that moment, you were being actively tuned in to your environment.
Most information in the game world is irrelevant, so specifying your intent tells the DM what matters to you, and that allows them to proceed under the assumption that the character isn't stupid.
Have you ever stared at something so intently that you didn't notice the person next to you calling your name? I have, plenty of times.
Ever listened so closely to someone speaking that you forgot what colour shirt they were wearing as soon as you turned around?
Sure, the DM may say that whilst listening to the door you notice the guards approaching form somewhere else, but that is where you would use the passive perception. The player rolls to see how well they make out any noises on the other side of the door, and the DM compares the stealth roll of the guards sneaking up on you against your passive perception.
Very few people are able to actively focus on more than one sense at a time. You might be able to quickly switch between them when you notice new inputs - you're scanning the room for someone in particular (active visual perception check), when you hear the clanking of the guards' armour (passive auditory perception); this clanking distracts you from your visual check, and you start reacting to your passive input, by listening out actively for the sound of the guards.
Did you mean Observant? Keen mind doesn't help you with hyper-focusing issues, or being distracted from your current task. I agree that it would help in the case of remembering the colour of someone's shirt moments after listening to them, but only in the case that you actually noticed in the first place.
No sir. I absolutely mean keen mind.
Accurately recall things seen or heard. Butterfly passed through peripheral, okay what? Do you remember color or pattern? No. Observant feat, plus 5 to it sure but no. Keen mind, yes they do. Even though they weren’t even focused on it they will accurately recall all that detail.
Same thing for conversations and background chatter and noise within the timeframe of the past in game month.
Is it always useful. No. But it can uniquely come up. And the degree to which it can be used is why it’s a feat, and not something you really see any skills replicate like so.
That is an atypical and overly generous interpretation of the feat. Even someone with a "photographic" memory still needs to be vaguely aware of what they wish to recall later.
Peripheral vision, in particular, lacks true color resolution, and visuals that are out of focus never provide the brain with enough information to resolve the image. However brief, later recollection requires active engagement. Much of our memories are actually illusory "educated guesses".
One would recall the content of a book they read, but not one they simply flipped through.
Yeah, Keen Mind lets you remember that you've seen that exact tiger a month ago when you were six hundred miles away from your current location. It does not let you remember that you saw that exact tiger a tenth of a second ago as it was beginning to pounce on you, making you immune to being surprised.
If you tried to insist on the latter, you're likely to find that your character vividly remembers the way that it degloved your face.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
It is not as powerful as I originally thought but still quite op in a way.
It's not as overpowered as you might think, because the familiar has to sleep as well.
What makes you say that? I’ve never thought they need sleep owing to how they are celestials, fey, or fiends. I never thought of angels, etc. needing sleep.
The owl familiar is quite a popular selection for many reasons, here is one more:
Keen Hearing and Sight. The owl has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on hearing or sight.
This means the owl can make 2 perception checks... 1 for what it sees... and 1 for what it hears. And because it has advantage on both rolls, not much escapes it's attention.
Now if you're a warlock and take pact of the chain to get the special familiars. Take a look at the pseudodragon again:
Keen Senses. The pseudodragon has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight, hearing, or smell.
What's that you say? Does the pseudodragon have advantage on their rolls for 3 senses, sight, hearing, or smell. Why, yes it does. That's 3 chances at advantage to notice someone or something.
(Am I missing something here?)
This make it nigh impossible for things to sneak up on the pseudodragon.
I don't think these creatures gain additional perception checks. I have certainly never played or run with that being the case.
Instead, the familiar gets one perception check. It has advantage on that roll as long as the target of that role is not masked from the senses named in the description. Thus, if you want to deny the owl its advantage the target can be neither heard nor seen-- that would occur if a foe that was both silent and invisible were trying to sneak up on the owl.
The downside to the owl. Is even beasts with an INT lower than 4 know owls are nocturnal creatures. So literally anything not afflicted by feeble mind would be skeptical of an owl awake during daylight hours. Going “Druid, familiar, or polymorph”
additionally, owls are lower on the food chain by more dayturnal creatures of flight such as hawks and eagles. Which you typically see in areas where the use of the owl is most beneficial.
As to the 2 rolls vs 3 rolls.
it’s still just 1 roll. It’s just advantage if it uses either of those 2 senses. Or 3 for pseudo dragon.
It’s a good familiar. But it’s nowhere near as omnipotent as a lot of people make them out to be.
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Actually, many species of owls are diurnal or crepuscular.
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
I agree with the others, it’s just one check.
The issue could be if someone was, for example, flying, silenced and invisible approaching the party (yes, they’re all concentration spells, let’s just say 3 casters were involved, or a magic item or two or something. It wouldn’t be easy, but it could happen.). The owl would not get advantage on those checks. But since the sneaky approaching person did not take pains to cover their scent, the pseudodragon still could.
The list of senses is just explaining which bases are covered, and which are not.
And rolling two dice is not fool proof. My halfling recently rolled a 1, got their racial re-roll and then rolled another 1. Not technically advantage, but basically the same in terms of rolling two d20s.
While your familiar is within 100 feet of you, you can communicate with it telepathically. Additionally, as an action, you can see through your familiar’s eyes and hear what it hears until the start of your next turn, gaining the benefits of any special senses that the familiar has. During this time, you are deaf and blind with regard to your own senses.
Since you can use it's senses can't you make a Perception check using one of it's senses... and then shortly after make another one using a different sense.
Can 2 different wizards with an eagle and a cat for familiars each make a Perception check to see what the eagle sees or the cat smells.
Why not use an owl or pseudodragon to it's full advantage?
(1) The player should not be "making checks" unprompted. The player ought to describe what they wish to attempt and the DM will determine whether a dice roll is necessary or appropriate.
(2) A "Perception Check" is not based on a singular sense, it is all senses simultaneously. If you are deaf, you automatically fail perception checks that rely on hearing. With respect to "Keen Hearing and Sight", the advantage is inclusive. If either hearing or sight is important to the perception check, you make the perception check (which utilizes all senses simultaneously) with advantage.
(3) Multiple wizards using multiple familiars can make one perception check each, as though they were standing in the location that their familiar currently occupies. The player does not specify "see" or smell", they perceive what the familiar perceives as a combination of all senses simultaneously.
(4) If multiple wizards had a means of sharing the Psuedo-dragon's senses, either concurrently or sequentially, then yes, they could presumably each be asked to make a perception check using the Psuedo-dragon's senses. However, it is not necessarily advantageous to do so. Having different vantage points can be infinitely more valuable than having advantage on the check.
(5) Usually, there will be a player with a high Wis score who has optimized perception, and it's generally more advantageous to use the "Help" action to give that person advantage, unless a special sense is specifically required. Most parties of 4~6 players already break perception checks due to rolling too many dice.
Valid, for the limited breeds compared to the majority of owls, that are diurnal. Valid in the sense that it’s not a 100/0 scenario. But still minuscule and limiting, and again, the majority of beasts, and anything capable of thought, would find it odd. —— ways for them to not find it odd? You just so happen to have diurnal owls in that area to begin with. I’d allow some nature checks. Have a dc based on the region. And let their roll vs that determine a fair percentile dice roll they can roll to have the diurnal owls be in that area.
Still lower on food chain than hawks, eagles, and most other airborne predators in the D&D world, so does nothing to improve survivability on their own from being eaten in scenarios where there are say blood hawks nearby.
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If there are blood hawks nearby, even a quasit or imp familiar is in danger.
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
Some monsters don’t move and are either camouflaged or near invisible (gelatinous cube, mimic, a slime hiding under rocks). I would give the pseudo advantage, because it can still smell them. The owl wouldn’t get advantage against those foes.
Attack: [roll]3d20dl2+6[/roll] Damage: [roll](if([roll:-1:critical], =0, 1d8, 2{1d8}.expand()))+4[/roll] Sneakattack: [roll](if([roll:-2:critical], =0, 2d6, 2{2d6}.expand()))[/roll]Yeah, I understand it better now.
It is not as powerful as I originally thought but still quite op in a way.
Having multiple senses that you have advantage in... and both the owl and pseudodragon have a +3 to their Perception.
Exactly.
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In this scenario, you are providing context and direction for your perception checks, but are not suddenly oblivious to your other senses.
If you are listening at a door, the DM may also tell you that you see guards opening a different door further down the hallway. You never explicitly stated that you were looking for anything, but at that moment, you were being actively tuned in to your environment.
Most information in the game world is irrelevant, so specifying your intent tells the DM what matters to you, and that allows them to proceed under the assumption that the character isn't stupid.
^ this is why “keen mind” is a feat.
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No sir. I absolutely mean keen mind.
Accurately recall things seen or heard. Butterfly passed through peripheral, okay what? Do you remember color or pattern? No. Observant feat, plus 5 to it sure but no. Keen mind, yes they do. Even though they weren’t even focused on it they will accurately recall all that detail.
Same thing for conversations and background chatter and noise within the timeframe of the past in game month.
Is it always useful. No. But it can uniquely come up. And the degree to which it can be used is why it’s a feat, and not something you really see any skills replicate like so.
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That is an atypical and overly generous interpretation of the feat. Even someone with a "photographic" memory still needs to be vaguely aware of what they wish to recall later.
Peripheral vision, in particular, lacks true color resolution, and visuals that are out of focus never provide the brain with enough information to resolve the image. However brief, later recollection requires active engagement. Much of our memories are actually illusory "educated guesses".
One would recall the content of a book they read, but not one they simply flipped through.
Yeah, Keen Mind lets you remember that you've seen that exact tiger a month ago when you were six hundred miles away from your current location. It does not let you remember that you saw that exact tiger a tenth of a second ago as it was beginning to pounce on you, making you immune to being surprised.
If you tried to insist on the latter, you're likely to find that your character vividly remembers the way that it degloved your face.
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
It's not as overpowered as you might think, because the familiar has to sleep as well.
What makes you say that? I’ve never thought they need sleep owing to how they are celestials, fey, or fiends. I never thought of angels, etc. needing sleep.
If the familiar didn't need to sleep, it would be noted as having that ability.
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.