The latest UA included 2 Invocations that (among other things) allow your familiar to attack using your bonus action and use your spell save DC. In my case my Imp could attack with my bonus action and use my spell save DC for poison affects.
2 invocations is a pretty hefty price. What do you guys think? Would you take these? Are they worth it?
At first glance, I'd say no. Generally, I am not looking to attack with my familiar regardless. It might depend on what else you planned on using your bonus actions for.
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Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
Good point. The extra 3d6 damage for the imp is definitely not worth it considering the imp will probably be killed in the next round. The Sprite on the other hand has a ranged attack that can poison a target. Dropping invisibility would not be quite so detrimental in that case. Something to think about at least.
Depending on initiative order (or how your DM treats your familiar's initiative), you can use your familiar's action on its turn to turn back invisible after it attacks with your bonus action. I'm pretty tempted to invest in both when/if I hit level 9 - my bonus action pretty much goes wasted every round unless I need to bail with misty step or move/cast hex.
Pact of the Chain, man. One of three core class abilities you gain at level 3.
But yeah. I'm on the other end of this - Investment of the Chain Master, especially, is insanely good. Then again, my Chainlocks are almost always Feylocks who use the sprite familiar, which I would argue has the strongest attack option once you give it a DC worth actually thinking about. Forty-foot range with the ability to poison for one minute with NO recurring save to break it, and the actually-there-now possibility of unconsciousness temporarily removing a target from the fight. Good for sneakery and skullduggery as well as combat, which is also something my favorite feylock gets up to a lot of.
If you're one of those Chainlock players who goes gaga over the imp and considers all the other critters to be wastes of time, I'd concur that both Investment and Fury are probably not ideal for you. But man, for people who use the sprite? You can get some serious mileage out of giving them an opportunity to attack freely and doubling their save DC. A sprite could ladle the Poisoned condition around liberally, seriously debuffing anything without (sadly common) Poisoned condition immunity.
I agree with you about the imp. However, I’d give a slight edge to the Quasit (i.e. the abyssal green imp) over the Sprite. The Age of the Quasit has begun!
Sadly, I think the beloved, nasty Imp falls from the top of the list of familiars for Chainlocks below the Quasit and Sprite. The ranged poison attack of the Sprite definitely makes it an attractive option for combat. However, it’s measly 2 HP and lack of resistances like the Imp and Quasit give me pause. The Sprite's lack of Darkvision makes it a subpar scout to the Quasit in dungeons. The Quasit has Darkvision and Blindsight in Bat form…almost as good as the Imp’s Devil’s Sight. The Quasit also has the ability to use its Scare once per day which requires a Wisdom save at a range of 20’. Finally, the Quasit gains a flying speed of 40’ through this invocation.
I agree with you about the imp. However, I’d give a slight edge to the Quasit (i.e. the abyssal green imp) over the Sprite. The Age of the Quasit has begun!
Edit: I just noticed the Sprite’s poison can also cause unconscious if the saving throw fails by 5 or less. This is powerful! I’m not sure if this tips the scale over the utility of the flying-Quasit but they are both definitely top choices!
The Sprite's poisoned shortbow is by far the best attack of the lot, once a proper DC is accounted for. It deals basically zero damage, true, but that can be said of all the various familiar's attack options once you get much beyond level 5 or so. The sprite's shortbow has an extended reach, while all the others are limited to melee strikes. The shortbow's one-minute poison does not have a recurring save, the way the quasit's does - once a target fails that save, they're poisoned until they do something about it. And the shortbow's unconsciousness condition has no usage limit, unlike once-a-day Scare - which also has a recurring save. The pseudodragon's sting also renders foes unconscious and has a much better duration, but the melee range sharply limits the poor pseudodragon's ability to use it, while a sprite can ladle poison around to multiple targets from the safety of aerial range freely.
Everything is more durable than the sprite, of course, but I'd posit that the difference between two HP and seven HP is usually going to be negligible, which in turn reduces the effect of the quasit's bevy of resistances. It does have better senses than the sprite, but I'd also caution against forgetting about Heart Sight, the sprite's special ability. Just last week I played a game with my sprite familiar in which Heart Sight was a key factor in identifying an undead murderer lurking on the ship we were all sailing on. Disguised celestials, fiends, or undead automatically fail their save, which the DM agreed meant that the sprite would know that aspect of their nature in addition to alignment and emotional state.
Investment does equalize the quasit some, giving it the same forty-foot flying speed as the sprite or imp. Heh, I'd point out that this means the sprite or imp (pr pseudodragon, for that matter) can freely gain a swimming speed, instead, which is less impactful - until it isn't. A case can definitely be made for the quasit, especially in more dungeon-heavy campaigns where the lack of darkvision would end up strongly hampering a sprite, but I find it very difficult to forego the sprite's seriously impactful shortbow strike and its stronger Perception and Stealth scores.
That's what's cool about the ability, though. Everybody can value different things and find the perfect familiar to suit their needs. Some people love the imp's deceptiveness and basic peoplemancy with Deception and Persuasion scores. Some people love the pseudodragon because it's a freaking pseudodragon, and it has an excellent poison sting as well as blindsight and telepathic talents that work on everybody, not just you. The imp has been a classic for forever. And the Pact of the Chain lets you have fun with all of them.
All good points. My preference probably comes from my bias against the fey-race race, itself. I’m playing a feral Tiefling Fiendlock (my DM allowed a Tiefling from a Goblin/Devil paring) so I have a hard time conceptualizing anything other than a Fiendish familiar. Although, I am reminded that I recast Find Familiar and change the form of my nasty little Grimspawn whenever I have an hour of downtime for the ritual. I may start to use a Sprite from time-to-time as the attack is hard to pass up.
An abyssal Sprite! I wonder what that would look like?
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The latest UA included 2 Invocations that (among other things) allow your familiar to attack using your bonus action and use your spell save DC. In my case my Imp could attack with my bonus action and use my spell save DC for poison affects.
2 invocations is a pretty hefty price. What do you guys think? Would you take these? Are they worth it?
At first glance, I'd say no. Generally, I am not looking to attack with my familiar regardless. It might depend on what else you planned on using your bonus actions for.
Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
Tasha
Could be really powerful since the sprite and psuedodragon poisons cause unconsciousness.
Good point. The extra 3d6 damage for the imp is definitely not worth it considering the imp will probably be killed in the next round. The Sprite on the other hand has a ranged attack that can poison a target. Dropping invisibility would not be quite so detrimental in that case. Something to think about at least.
Depending on initiative order (or how your DM treats your familiar's initiative), you can use your familiar's action on its turn to turn back invisible after it attacks with your bonus action. I'm pretty tempted to invest in both when/if I hit level 9 - my bonus action pretty much goes wasted every round unless I need to bail with misty step or move/cast hex.
how do you get a familiar
Pact of the Chain, man. One of three core class abilities you gain at level 3.
But yeah. I'm on the other end of this - Investment of the Chain Master, especially, is insanely good. Then again, my Chainlocks are almost always Feylocks who use the sprite familiar, which I would argue has the strongest attack option once you give it a DC worth actually thinking about. Forty-foot range with the ability to poison for one minute with NO recurring save to break it, and the actually-there-now possibility of unconsciousness temporarily removing a target from the fight. Good for sneakery and skullduggery as well as combat, which is also something my favorite feylock gets up to a lot of.
If you're one of those Chainlock players who goes gaga over the imp and considers all the other critters to be wastes of time, I'd concur that both Investment and Fury are probably not ideal for you. But man, for people who use the sprite? You can get some serious mileage out of giving them an opportunity to attack freely and doubling their save DC. A sprite could ladle the Poisoned condition around liberally, seriously debuffing anything without (sadly common) Poisoned condition immunity.
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I agree with you about the imp. However, I’d give a slight edge to the Quasit (i.e. the abyssal green imp) over the Sprite. The Age of the Quasit has begun!
Sadly, I think the beloved, nasty Imp falls from the top of the list of familiars for Chainlocks below the Quasit and Sprite. The ranged poison attack of the Sprite definitely makes it an attractive option for combat. However, it’s measly 2 HP and lack of resistances like the Imp and Quasit give me pause. The Sprite's lack of Darkvision makes it a subpar scout to the Quasit in dungeons. The Quasit has Darkvision and Blindsight in Bat form…almost as good as the Imp’s Devil’s Sight. The Quasit also has the ability to use its Scare once per day which requires a Wisdom save at a range of 20’. Finally, the Quasit gains a flying speed of 40’ through this invocation.
Plus, the Quasit can turn into a toad. Awesome.
Edit: I just noticed the Sprite’s poison can also cause unconscious if the saving throw fails by 5 or less. This is powerful! I’m not sure if this tips the scale over the utility of the flying-Quasit but they are both definitely top choices!
The Sprite's poisoned shortbow is by far the best attack of the lot, once a proper DC is accounted for. It deals basically zero damage, true, but that can be said of all the various familiar's attack options once you get much beyond level 5 or so. The sprite's shortbow has an extended reach, while all the others are limited to melee strikes. The shortbow's one-minute poison does not have a recurring save, the way the quasit's does - once a target fails that save, they're poisoned until they do something about it. And the shortbow's unconsciousness condition has no usage limit, unlike once-a-day Scare - which also has a recurring save. The pseudodragon's sting also renders foes unconscious and has a much better duration, but the melee range sharply limits the poor pseudodragon's ability to use it, while a sprite can ladle poison around to multiple targets from the safety of aerial range freely.
Everything is more durable than the sprite, of course, but I'd posit that the difference between two HP and seven HP is usually going to be negligible, which in turn reduces the effect of the quasit's bevy of resistances. It does have better senses than the sprite, but I'd also caution against forgetting about Heart Sight, the sprite's special ability. Just last week I played a game with my sprite familiar in which Heart Sight was a key factor in identifying an undead murderer lurking on the ship we were all sailing on. Disguised celestials, fiends, or undead automatically fail their save, which the DM agreed meant that the sprite would know that aspect of their nature in addition to alignment and emotional state.
Investment does equalize the quasit some, giving it the same forty-foot flying speed as the sprite or imp. Heh, I'd point out that this means the sprite or imp (pr pseudodragon, for that matter) can freely gain a swimming speed, instead, which is less impactful - until it isn't. A case can definitely be made for the quasit, especially in more dungeon-heavy campaigns where the lack of darkvision would end up strongly hampering a sprite, but I find it very difficult to forego the sprite's seriously impactful shortbow strike and its stronger Perception and Stealth scores.
That's what's cool about the ability, though. Everybody can value different things and find the perfect familiar to suit their needs. Some people love the imp's deceptiveness and basic peoplemancy with Deception and Persuasion scores. Some people love the pseudodragon because it's a freaking pseudodragon, and it has an excellent poison sting as well as blindsight and telepathic talents that work on everybody, not just you. The imp has been a classic for forever. And the Pact of the Chain lets you have fun with all of them.
Please do not contact or message me.
All good points. My preference probably comes from my bias against the fey-race race, itself. I’m playing a feral Tiefling Fiendlock (my DM allowed a Tiefling from a Goblin/Devil paring) so I have a hard time conceptualizing anything other than a Fiendish familiar. Although, I am reminded that I recast Find Familiar and change the form of my nasty little Grimspawn whenever I have an hour of downtime for the ritual. I may start to use a Sprite from time-to-time as the attack is hard to pass up.
An abyssal Sprite! I wonder what that would look like?