When casting a spell with a range of touch, your familiar can deliver the spell as if it had cast the spell. Your familiar must be within 100 feet of you and use its reaction to deliver the spell when you cast it. The familiar attempts to deliver the spell using a touch attack using the caster’s attack modifier. This touch attack is the only one that uses the familiar’s reaction.
It takes 1 hour to cast and conjures a familiar that lasts until permanently dismissed or killed. If lost, you can re-summon it, and if you cast a touch spell, you can spend your familiar’s reaction to have them cast it with. In practice, there aren’t many spells with range touch that you’d even want a familiar to use. To help line up the best options for your sheet, here are the top ten range touch spells.
A familiar can only deliver touch spells, not necessarily spells that you need to make a melee spell attack for. For example, Cure Wounds is a touch spell. A: Cast a touch spell through your familiar standing next to an enemy. Familiar uses its reaction to do it. OR B: Ready action cast a spell with a.
In 5e, it says that familiars can deliver any touch spell the user knows. When you use a familiar to deliver a touch spell, it says that “If the spell requires an attack roll, you use your attack modifier for the roll”.
When you cast a spell with a range of touch, your familiar can deliver the spell as if it had cast the spell. Your familiar must be within 100 feet of you. The 3rd-level familiar ability to touch allows the wizard to cast the spell and the familiar to deliver it. A Bard with Cure Wounds and Find Familiar can use the familiar to heal his/her allies at range without Healing Word. A familiar can deliver touch spells for him. If the master and the familiar are in contact at the time the master casts a touch spell, he can designate his familiar as the “toucher”.
📹 FIND FAMILIAR | Give Touch Spells 100ft Range! – Spell A Day D&D 5E +1
Alrighty day 133! Today is Find Familiar. Oh, boy let’s see what we’ve got here. Ah, a wall of spell text. We’ve got a lot to get into.
How do touch spells work?
To use touch spells in combat, you cast the spell and touch the subject. You can take your move before, after, or between touching the target. The rules for touch spells in combat are found in Pathfinder and D and D Third Edition. Touch attacks are considered armed and do not provoke attacks of opportunity. They come in melee and ranged types, and critical hits can be scored as long as the spell deals damage. Your opponent’s AC against a touch attack does not include any armor, shield, or natural armor bonus.
Holding the charge allows you to hold the charge indefinitely and continue making touch attacks round after round. If you touch anything or anyone while holding a charge, the spell discharges. If you cast another spell, the touch spell dissipates. You can touch one friend as a standard action or up to six friends as a full-round action. Alternatively, you can make a normal unarmed attack or attack with a natural weapon while holding a charge, and you are not considered armed and provoke attacks of opportunity as normal. If the attack hits, you deal normal damage for your unarmed attack or natural weapon, and the spell discharges. If the attack misses, you are still holding the charge.
How does touch work step by step?
The brain is responsible for recognizing the shape, texture, and temperature of an object, such as a plate. When a hot plate is grasped, the hand muscles will immediately place it in accordance with the information received by the brain.
Can you cast spells through your familiar?
The Inflict Wounds spell is a powerful tool for dealing damage but has a range of touch. To cast Inflict Wounds on an enemy, a hawk familiar can be sent to land on them and cast the spell. In D and D 5e, creatures can take various actions based on their class, but the “help” action is universal. This action allows a creature to help another creature during high-stakes skill checks, giving them an advantage.
For instance, in an investigation check, a familiar can assist in searching for documents in an enemy’s lair. Having an advantage means rolling your dice twice on a skill check, attack, or saving throw, increasing your chances of success.
Can you twin a spell through a familiar?
The argument against Twin Spell is invalid, as it does not function through familiars. It would be more prudent to concentrate on discerning one’s own veracity, selecting adversaries judiciously, and eschewing any interaction with dragons. “Canon” represents the factual basis for D&D lore. JavaScript may be disabled or blocked by extensions or browsers that do not support cookies.
Can familiars cast burning hands?
Wearing armor without proficiency is not a cardinal sin, especially for familiars. It gives disadvantages on ability checks, saving throws, and attack rolls involving Strength or Dexterity, and removes the ability to cast spells. This restriction can be problematic for certain magical items, so be mindful of the tradeoffs. Equipping a familiar with armor they aren’t proficient in becomes worse if you are a Pact of the Chain Warlock with Investment of the Chain Master, as your familiar can attack.
The rules for barding may not work for creatures not mounts, as some familiars can technically increase their AC, but the doubling of weight is cumbersome for creatures without increased carrying capacity. Talk to your DM about obtaining normal armor for your familiar and its weight.
Find familiar is a versatile spell that increases your action economy, offers various ways to use it, such as with magic items, and provides a standby Help action. It is highly recommended to use this spell on any character where available, as it increases your action economy and offers numerous unique uses.
Can touch spells be twinned?
Twin casting is not a viable option, as it necessitates the utilization of a spell that targets a singular creature. Moreover, the creation of spiritual weapons is contingent upon the completion of the aforementioned process.
Can a gazer be a familiar?
A gazer is a small, aggressive creature that resembles the beholder who dreamed it into existence. It has a body that is only 8 inches wide and has four eyestalks. Gazers follow their creator like a devoted puppy, patrolling their master’s lair for vermin to kill and lone creatures to harass. They can mimic words and sentences in a high-pitched, mocking manner, and beholders find them amusing. Gazers can only be tamed by their creator, except through magic or bonding with a spellcaster.
Some beholders with wizard minions consider gazers familiar because they can see through their eyes. A wild gazer is territorial, eats bugs and small animals, and is known for playing with its food. A lone gazer avoids fighting with larger creatures, but a pack may take on larger prey. Gazers are eager to serve spellcasters with magical power, especially those who bully and harass others. They tend to attack house pets, farm animals, and children in town unless their master is strict.
What are the rules for familiars in D&D?
A familiar is a powerful creature that acts independently of you but always obeys your commands. It rolls its own initiative and acts on its own turn in combat. It can’t attack but can take other actions as normal. When the familiar drops to 0 hit points, it disappears and reappears after casting a spell. While within 100 feet, you can communicate telepathically with it and gain its special senses. You can temporarily dismiss the familiar, which disappears into a pocket dimension, or permanently dismiss it, causing it to reappear in any unoccupied space within 30 feet of you.
Can familiars use vampiric touch?
The RAW system restricts attacks to the caster only, precluding the possibility of such actions being carried out through pets. Although the description of the “self” target for vampiric touch indicates alternative methods, this is not applicable to vampiric familiars.
How does a familiar deliver a touch spell?
In the event that a spell with a range of touch is cast, the familiar is able to deliver it as if it had cast the spell itself. The familiar must be within 100 feet of the caster and utilize its reaction. In the event that the spell in question necessitates an attack roll, the appropriate modifier should be applied. Please be advised that JavaScript may be disabled or blocked by an extension, and that your browser does not support cookies.
How does vampiric touch work?
Quickening the Vampiric Touch spell allows for two attacks in the first round, but this is not optimal. Brutal Strike can be used instead to increase damage at a 1 PP to 1d6 ratio. Empower, which allows for re-rolling of 1’s, would be more effective. However, other metamagics cannot optimize this spell due to its range of self, cannot be twinned, and long duration. Empower is more efficient, as it allows for more mileage from the spell. Ultimately, Empower is the more optimal choice for optimizing Vampiric Touch.
📹 Find Familiar Guide D&D 5e
Here is the much requested guide for the Find Familiar spell! Find the transcript of this video (Thank you Adurnis) here: …
I play a Celestial warlock / sorcerer multiclass with Pact of the Chain, plus two invocations to make it better; Voice of the Chain Master and Investment of the Chain Master. In combat it often provides the help action, flanking, and healing. Sometimes it’ll deliver a shocking grasp for me to eleminate an enemies reaction. A few weeks he got the killing blow against the enemy with his shocking grasp, which was hilarious to me. It was a critical hit. I just recently picked up the invisibility spell so it can scout even better. For story and flavor reasons, its always a pseudodragon. Occasionally, it can attack with its stinger at my command if I use my bonus action (thanks to Investment of the Chain master) if I want to attempt to poison an enemy. Voice of the chain masters unlimited range has been great for RP stuff too, or long range communication. Tbh, my familiar has become a major part of my character.
On a warlock with devil’s sight, I like having an imp familiar fly around holding a little rock that I cast darkness on. I can reposition the darkness spell every round for free, and by having the familiar fly higher or lower I can change the portion of the sphere that’s interfering with line of sight.
Was in a game with a DM and he informed me that all familiars can only use the text in red, so all the familiars loose their special abilities. He also demands that he controls the familiar rather than the player. I walked out on him after he de-summoned my pact of the chain imp familiar and then told me that I can’t have a imp familiar with the special abilities. Basically destroying the unique ability of my character.
11:25 If you’re a pact of the chain warlock, you can take the investment of the chain master eldritch invocation and with that you can use your spell save dc when your familiar forces an enemy to make a saving throw. That means that the save for the sleep arrow can be as good as you are as a spellcaster
I apologize if already mentioned, but my favorite trick with find familiar is pulling it out of it’s pocket dimension on the other side of a door or wall, then use my next action to see through its eyes and use Misty step to teleport my self there as well. Who needs a rouge to pick locks for you? Not me…unless it is a treasure chest. Lol
BTW, about the Owl familiar being able to administer a health potion, they can. bird talons are as dexterous or even more dexterous than human hands. The problem is they can only use one at a time while standing. Granted they can uncork a healing potion with their beak as well, but two handed actions for an owl or other bird familiar would need the bird to be flying or sitting.
I will also use mine to give my human character dark vision when using the owl familiar. I will perch him on my shoulder and simply use my action to see with it’s eyes while I move slowly through a dungeon or cave. I don’t see anything saying I can’t do this but I’ve never seen it mentioned anywhere and my dm allows it. Seems like a good way to get around having to carry a torch or when trying to stealth but still not normally having dark vision.
Reason why I allow familiars to help every turn or things like familiars getting buffed by dragons breath has to do with investment costs; familiar are 10gp a pop, readying and holding a spell takes up concentration while burning up actions for the pc and familiar, and other characters spells or class features can do a lot more with less.
24:19 so long as you have the hour casting time and slots between forms. Edit: also you seemed to miss that familiars can only communicate telepathically with you within 100′ but they can still take actions and are loyal to you when they’re outside that range. I send flying familiars to track enemies and report on where they set up camp. Have used familiars to deliver messages to people (sort of an old school use), and regularly use them to search for things more quickly. It has to be w/in 100′ to tell me what it’s seen, but a bird that can scout and report back can let you know what’s going on across a while city (of things your spirit knows to search for).
The Dragon’s Breath Spell from Xanathar’s Guide is amazing. It is a touch spell that uses a bonus action and concentration. For the duration, the affected creature obtains a breath weapon of varying elements to choose from. It was ruled in a tweet that any familiar can use a breath weapon, not just pact of the chain. It is very possible to reliably have an attack drone with Find Familiar and Dragon’s Breath. A familiar like an owl is reliable for hit and run tactics.
Ritual Caster has a prerequisite of “Wisdom 13 or Intelligence 13”, and it doesn’t change based on your class selection. So even a 8 INT character can take it, if it has WIS 13, which is more common than INT 13, because of Perception and the huge amount of classes with Wisdom as a primary or secondary ability score.
Try having the homunculus familiar, give it a magical item that allows it to increase it’s size, and leave it at your base/house/whatever to do everything that your character would normally be doing in your downtime. Need to make a history check? Research some vital clue to whatever? Let me just check my private library…in my house…over 30 miles away…without leaving this dungeon… Need a batch of potions mixed by the time you get back from your current quest? Use the homunculus for all your in-game multitasking needs. ✌✌
The issue with concentrating on a readied spell to deliver through your familiar as a readied action can be negated if you use it as your primary method, but to best effect as either a warlock or wizard with a bat familiar and darkness. Imp Familiar for superior hp, resistances to physical damage, and invisibility. Minor Illusion, make a rock/crate/bush to hide in. Shocking Grasp(Magic Initiate or Wizard 1) to negate AoO. Use its action to become invisible, and finish movement since the game allows split movement. It’s probably not optimal, but definitely a viable strategy.
In my group due to simplifying combat, the familiar acts on my turn. It also usually doesn’t get a token and as long as it’s perched on my or an allies shoulder is immune to aoe spells (ie treated as an item worn or carried). I also don’t use it too much though as I don’t have too many touch spells on that character.
This doesn’t change what you’ve said but casting a spell that requires an attack roll is a Cast a Spell Action and not an Attack Action. The whole thing about whether Dragon’s Breath is allowed or not based on whether it’s an Attack Action or not is starting a needless discussion (in case anyone was thinking of starting a debate with their DM based on that point) Having said my annoying, pedantic comment, I also love the spell. It is extremely versatile; although I avoid using my Wizard’s familiar in combat when I get to mid levels; it dies very easily. Keep it safely away and call it in action during those dramatic moments as TM said
When it comes to the initiative I as a DM just hate having to many things to keep track of so I use the rules that goes for mounted combat. The Familiar rolls initiative but as long as the player is actively directing it with their free action they move at the same time as the player. Also. About using familiars as a offensive platform. If the player ready a Shocking Grasp so that when their familiar gets within touch range it will use the cantrip and when its the familiars turn the Wizard uses its reaction to use Shocking Grasp. It isn’t something invalid to do. Sure, it does remove the ability to use reactions for shield, but when you use your familiar to use touch spells as a spellcaster you kind of are doing it for a reason. It is a very valid way to rush in a cure wounds on a downed allied without actually putting yourself at risk.
Hey Chris, love your articles! Great coverage of the details. Can you do a article about the Arcane Trickster rogue? I know you have already covered parts of this with your Minor Illusion and Find Familiar articles, but I’d love to hear your take on this class, which spells to take, how to play it in combat, how to roleplay it in social settings and even different uses of the Mage Hand Legerdemain. Thanks and keep it up!
I could be wrong but can’t you ready shocking grasp as a ready action with the trigger being when you familiar is in range of an enemy, then have your familiar move into range, readied action triggers using the familiars reaction, then it still has its own action to do something with. My table usually house rules familiars go on players turn to help keep combat moving, I personally ask that players be consistent so if your familiar takes its actions at the start of your turn, then it must do everything before you get a turn. This is a pretty common house rule along with inspiration (not bard) having the option of giving a reroll rather than just advantage before making the actual roll.
Your familiar doesn’t need to be in place before you cast the touch spell it will deliver. On your turn you can ready a spell to cast with the condition being when the familiar gets to the target. Then on the familiar’s turn it moves into position and you use your Reaction to cast the spell, and the familiar uses its Reaction to deliver the spell. You need to keep concentration on the readied spell until it is actually delivered, and it uses up both your familiar’s and your Reactions, but it can be done. And since the spell uses the familiar’s Reaction, it can still use its Action to Disengage, moving away without provoking an attack of opportunity,
Looking at this wording “as if your familiar cast the spell” for casting of touch spells, it looks like you could deliver touch spells while maintaining Invisibility if you cast through your familiar. Cool for people who don’t want to be seen but still want cast Cure Wounds, Magic Weapon, or other touch range buffs.
Nowhere in RAW does it say you need to have line of sight to the location you summon your familiar to so you could summon it to the far side of a door or wall. Then on the next round you could use your action to look through its eyes and use your bonus action to Misty Step yourself right past that closed/locked/trapped door. We have an agreement at our table that this is off limits.
Love this article! On the topic of giving magic items to familiars to use: How do you rule on what happens to items they are wearing/holding when you dismiss them? Do the object go into the pocket dimension too? Im thinking that is way OP so probably not. So now youre running the risk of your 1 HP familiar being “killed” (i.e. involuntarily dismissed) and dropping your magic on the floor? What’s your take?
I had an idea for a build that was similar to the ideas present in this article, and was wondering if you could make it work. The idea is that you use a something else’s senses to cast spells using those senses. For example, using arcane eye to cast sacred flame on creatures inside a dungeon, while you are outside the dungeon. Do you know of a way to make this work with the beast sense spell, the find familiar spell, or a similar feature that grants additional senses?
You described how the familiar can activate magic items & potions, but familiars can also use more mundane items available at low levels. Oil : A familiar can pour a flask of oil to cover a 5-foot-square with inflammable oil Torch : The familiar can set something on fire – either to create a diversion or to inflict damage Balls of Bearing : The familiar can spill them on 10-foot-squares to create hazards on the battlefield Caltrops : Like Balls of Bearing, with less area but higher DC Clockwork Toy : The familiar can create distractions by activating this Rock Gnome device Bag of Flour : The familiar can spread flour on the ground as a good defense against invisible enemies All of which can also be used in combat by the familiar.
I houserule Familiars to go at the end of the summoners turn. In addition if I have a wizard do the shocking grasp. I would allow them to move the familar into range and trigger the effect on the familiars turn. If something is able to stop it or it cant get close it just means the wizard wasted a turn.
Give a family a bag have it fly over you and cast light by touch. Flying glowing bag no hands needed lights alot of dark spaces. Carry rope across a cavern or repair a rope bridge on other side. Fire Breathing familiar flying down from the sky or spider to breath attack so to cause distraction. Also a fire Breathing owl or spider that can be from over 100 feet away? You make the guards look crazy or make it look like there is a attack or fire on other side. If yoy can give familiar a ring like invisible makes it a scarry scout or retrieve fallen weapons. Give a owl a decant of endless water and fly over to spray endless water from above for forest fire or carry bag of holding for transport items.
yeah but nobody follows the whole “it has its own initiative” part. any dm out there, including the greats like matt mercer or chris perkins have always just had familiars act on their caster’s turn. tht may be considered a house rule, but it seems to be EVERYBODY’s house rule. though i can see why a DM may want to use the wording as its written. there are some pretty op uses for familiars that this would mess with. a for using the help action every turn, its in the rules. its written that you can do that. for somone like a rogue who needs advantage to gain sneak attack, if you arent a swashbuckler, its vital to doing the most damage possible. so an owl familiar who can help and then quickly get away using flyby in order to not provoke attack of opportunity, its great! its not an exploit, its meant to be used like that. im tired of other people being sore losers about using something the way it was designed to be used.
Typically when I use my familiar in combat, it ends up getting targeted. Most of the time I agree with my DM when he makes the call as well. Whenever I have Mr. Owl fly at an enemy to Help someone, it is reasonable that the baddie would angrily lash out at the nuisance. However, as far as I’m concerned providing advantage on an attack and wasting one of the enemy’s is worth 10gp. There are a lot of spells that do less for more materials. Backfired in my current campaign however, because we’ve been without a chance to resupply for a while now and I’m out of incense.
I love love love the flock of familiars spell, when it is allowed it is good fun. I have a story where my wizard was able to clear out a room of guards by casting the flock of familiar spell at the 7th level and scaring the guards away with a small rat army, also my DM loves the dragon breath familiar combo it is super cost effective too sense casting dragon’s breath is only a bonus action!
Flock of Familiars is on the Warlock’s spell list, Since, Tasha’s came out, Druids can now cast Find Familiar by expending a use of their Wild Shape. Find Familiar is my favorite spell, and these two new options to obtain it are fantastic. My favorite trick is to send a familiar into a pocket dimension, make it reappear within 30 feet but on the other side of a barrier that cannot be seen through, use an action to see through the familiar’s sense (bat’s are great for this purpose), make sure it is safe in that location, then Misty Step to that location still using the Familiar’s senses. This is all totally legal, and super useful!
A few questions. 1.- Do you tell the players, if, for example a spider familiar spies on them? Because i already know the reaction: “A spider climbs on the wall near yo… – I KILL IT! It’s someone’s familiar, i’m sure of it!” or “A raven squeeks on the tree near – FIREBALL!” Just because i’m their eyes and ears, if i don’t tell them something it didn’t happen, but because of this, i should tell every fuckin’ ant they see? 2.- Gazer familiar for great old one warlock? 3.- We start a new campaign (Sword Coast this time, not Titan. You know, the Fighting Fantasy books), the players are lvl8 at the start, and my gf, as a drow bard took the find familiar for her Additional Magical Secrets (her other choice was Misty Step). The question is. Is this worth it? Or the bard should choose a Counterspell instead?
Delivering touch spells can be used offensively with readied actions. You just ready your action, and sacrifice your reaction to cast the spell when the familiar is in position. Its not ideal, but it does work. But otherwise a great guide, and basically how I’ve used the familiar – scouting, and other such non-combat uses mostly.
on your turn you can ready an action to cast shocking grasp with the trigger being when your familiar is within melee range of an enemy, then when your familiar has it’s turn it can move into range, cast the spell as a reaction, and then use it’s action to disengage and use the rest of its movement to get away
I know this is a very late comment, but couldn’t you use the familiar for offensive touch spells by readying your own spell, under the condition that ‘my owl is in position to website my shocking grasp against that goblin’, and then have the owl move over there, and have both familiar and wizard spend their reactions?
Ok, so I am needing an example scenario on why using touch spells w/your familiar on an NPC is so bad (or not optimal), especially at lower levels (levels 1 to 4, or tier 1 league play) when your choices are so limited already. Initiative: A) NPC, Player, Familiar B) Familiar, NPC, Player C) Player, Familiar, NPC Most Concentration Spells I have a short supply of in early levels. So unless I am maintaining one of those few spells I do have, using a normal (spell) attack (d20) or Ranged Cantrip (Save DC 13) is no worse than having to make a possible Concentration Check if the NPC decides “I look tasty.” At 5th level and higher I see why you wouldn’t want to employ this strategy. Heck, you wouldn’t want to employ this strategy in every combat round, especially near the beginning where you definitely will be using your concentration on one of your few level 1 (or 2) spells. Using the familiars “Help Action”, allowing your familiar to “Observe” for reinforcements, or casting “Touch Spells” on ally’s would be much better use of their actions in earlier combat rounds. But back to the basic question, using an example, why is using your familiar not optimal for touch attacks in early levels? (Hopefully I phrased it in a sense that is understandable and sorry this is so long winded)
Would a player who gained a pseudo dragon familiar through the spell gain the magic resistance effects? Would you allow an adept fighter to create a fighting style that substituted the fighter’s scenes with those of the familiar? If said fighter was in a globe of darkness, would could his imp inform him of his surrounding to remove the disadvantage during battle?
Note About Attacking with Shocking Grasp, also pointed out by Elias Luna. Ready Shocking Grasp, familiar uses turn action whatever to get into position, procs your held spell/action, familiar uses reaction, uses action/move whatever is left to disengage/flyby, etc. Action Economy works both ways, don’t get hung up on familiar waits for me, you can hold for familiar also. It works better as an ambush tactic (spider from ceiling, walls, etc.) or if you have a opponent locked down and you want your cat Mr. Scratch Bunny to use its Help action to somehow distract for your melee people and can still deliver your shocking grasp. This later works great, if you have some with inspiring leader to help kitty cat with a bump in HP, just incase.
Easily one of my top 5 favorite spells if not my favorite in the whole game. My ONLY gripe with it is that I wish that all the familiar’s forms were on a more even playing field. If you’re going more for flavor, it sort of feels like the Owl, Octopus (if in an aquatic setting), and the Imp for Warlocks are just outright better than all the rest by light years. Almost feels like you’re doing yourself a disservice if you DON’T choose one of those if given the option. But by and by, I put this spell on every single character I make period. So much fun and so much utility
If you give an owl familiar a vest with like 2 or 3 viles of health potions, and then dismiss it… Does the vest just plop to the ground? Or do you effectively get a very small bag of holding? Now… What if you make a small pouch into a small bag of holding, and strap it to your familiar? Again, does it just plop to the ground, or does the familiar keep it with itself? Does that mean, I could get an Arcane Trickster, and if I get caught, just hand my bag to my familiar and have him poof away until after they´ve searched me? The possibilities…
Another good trick is to remember is that familiars can delivery beneficial touch spells to allies. This can effectively make a lot of spells have range. If you have access to healing, you can deliver cure wounds at range vs. using healing word. Besides healing you have spells like invisibility, improved invisibility, defensive spells (protection from evil, shield of faith, etc.), spider climb, fly, gaseous form, etc.) If you can’t reach your rogue, let your owl deliver an improved invisibility while you are safely back.
In combat I usually use Find Familiar as a healing potion/spell delivery system, or in specific situations a scout (bats blindsight can be invaluable). Sometimes however if it’s a big or opportune moment, I will use it to attack Using Shocking Grasp to shut down a potential counterspell at a crucial time in a fight, or if I get the jump on the enemy, deliver Contagion to the boss (yea it’s unreliable, but if it does succeed, you win).
One thing, and I don’t think it’s cruel if a DM did this, just realistic. If a familiar is carrying/wearing an item, magical or otherwise, that is fragile, potions come to mind, and the familiar is killed, there is going to be a risk of damage/spilling/destruction of said items. If the familiar is in flight the chance would ramp up significantly. And even if the item is okay, or isn’t going to break, say a metal ring, 100% if you do not state that you are retreaving it, you are leaving it behind, and I see no reason for a DM to be ‘mother’ and remind you. You give a familiar a maigcal item, your responsible for what happens, for good or ill.
As far as delivering attacks go I’m assuming this has been mentioned, but is there a rule against using the Ready action? Use your action to Ready a touch spell like Shocking Grasp with the cast condition being your familiar enters range. Then since your familiar acts immediately after you, have them fly into and out of range on their turn (probably an owl would be best for flyby).
Why do we need Find Familiar variant, when the familiar is NOT actually that creature, but creature of your selection? If we are going to instill a variant, then shouldn’t it be for all creatures that fit a familiar attributes? Like size, CR and such, much like the Ranger’s beast companion table … which by the way is wimpy as hades!
Coming back to an old thread here. The new Investment of the Chain Master invocation coupled with the Genie Warlock Bottle Respite ability let’s the warlock ride along inside something like a ring that the pact of the chain invisible familiar wears, seeing and hearing everything operating the familiar including attacking and granting the familiar resistance to damage. I could definitely see this coupled with something like Inspiring Leader and the Aid spell to wonderful effect.
It’s funny you say that familiar using the help action and familiar spamming dragon breath might be seen as exploitative and I’m running a campaign where our arcane trickster and divination wizard are doing those exact two things lol! They’re going offensive touch spells too with shocking grasp/inflict wounds and I homebrewed to make it easier to run pets. Pets go before or after the owner in initiative, PCs choice. Makes tracking initiative easier and helps with combo setups which I’m cool with, our table loves how the familiars put in work, feels like pokemon
If you give your familiar equipment … say a belt pouch. What happens to the belt pouch if you temporarily dismiss the familiar to its hidey-hole. “As an action, you can temporarily dismiss your familiar. It disappears into a pocket dimension where it awaits your summons.” does the equipment fall off? like a “potion belt?”
My human necromancer uses finding familiar as a way to get dark vision. For mostly RP i have not used it for combat. In darkness my owl familiar would sit on my shoulders and I would see into its vision. Since in this mode you are only deaf and blind. Me and my DM assume I have control over my body so I can move as normal but see through my familiar thus gaining 120ft darkvision.
I’m playing a game where we don’t get the special familiars. Mine is a raven, and they can do mimicry. Last session, we came across some rough looking dudes in the woods, which were actually bandits, but we didn’t know. So I sent my raven to scout, and used its mimicry to talk to the bandits. My raven convinced them that it was a cursed maiden, and it needed help getting magic treasure to lift the curse. I sent the raven off and the greedy guts followed, allowing us to loot their camp.
Reaction is a trigger. So familiar must be near enemy to deliver. And you are the one who makes attack, uses its action, familiar is just antenna and uses its reaction to transmit the spell. Otherwise, if familiar is not withing 5 feet from the target, guess what happens. Also you can lower you initiative to go with or right after familiar, or it can do so, if DM is fine with it.
My familiar, an owl, who somehow always rolls higher than me in initiative, always lands on my allies’ shoulders, they’re used to it, and so is the owl. I often hoot and chirp at the player it’s going to, because it’s become such a known fact my familiar is going to go land elsewhere to deliver my spells to the frontliners.
The way I and most DMs I know have always interpreted touch spells is that you cast the spell, and then the power sits in your hand until you touch something. So if you cast it on your familiar they hold the spell until they can touch and set the spell loose. Casting anything else while the magic is still in your hand dissipates the touch spell on you, but not the familiar. Additionally, if you empower your touch and then don’t use the touch and forget about it and touch something else you can accidentally fry a friend or an object.
To cast a spell through the familiar i do it like this, I’m the one who ready my action, the familiar moves close to the target, I cast the spell and then he uses his reaction, as a flavor before do this i always whisper an order to the familiar to appear tactically planned. Raw i think can be use like this
It is very true that a lot of tables have homerules for the familiar, in our table for example the familiar is allowed to have its turn at the same time that it master, so we kinda let it have the same initiative than the caster. Like that we tend to use the familiar in a very offensive way to deliver touch spells, but as you say RAW it would be very difficult to deliver something like Inflict wounds with a familiar.
Can you clarify something, The find familiar spell says the familiar can not attack…. yet the Pact of the Chain states that you can forgo one of “your” attacks to allow your familiar to attack with one of its own attack. this appears to be in contrast with what you reported in the article. Wouldnt we use the attack abilities for an Imp familiar based off the information provided in the MM. Can the Imp use its other abilities such as turn invisible. Any help would be appreciated.
I don’t think using familiars to deliver touch spells is as hard as you say. The familiar doesn’t cast spells, the wizard casts spells, so the familiar doesn’t ready spells, the wizard readies the spell. Wizard readies a touch spell with the trigger being the familiar being in range of an enemy. On the familiar’s turn, it approaches an enemy, triggering the wizard’s ready spell, causing the familiar to deliver it as a reaction.
IRL an owl, cat or weasel absolutely have the dexterity to open bottles. I’ve seen it IRL. as long as it’s not a screw top, a cat can open it. a bird can open a screw top bottle because they are SO DEXTROUS. Birds are actually terrifying to me, and anyone that is into ravens and crows IRL can tell you about the wild things that they do, including create and use tools.
Was very excited to see dragon’s breath mentioned here; thanks Treantmonk! It’s one of my favorite low-level combos. It uses your bonus action and your familiar’s action, can be one of any number of different damage types, and has damage every round that’s pretty close to spirit guardians. It also has utility: I gave my familiar cold breath recently to slow a fire that was consuming a house, for example. You can let that pseudodragon familiar feel like a real dragon, and there are some other fun things you can do: imagine a spider familiar for example, that readies its action to use the breath; on your turn, you hold it out, and it spits lightning. Then, you cover it back up and hide it away in your robes (is that not something Lucky the Halfling would do if he could?). Even if your enemies should focus on your familiar and take it out, it’s still doing exactly what it’s supposed to do; drawing attention away from the other party members.
I have this idea for a cute, child like rock gnome warlock who uses her tinkering to make cute dolls to play with. However, during combat, her and her doll are transformed or possessed. She gets long, dark hair, a white dress, and is essentially a creepy Japanese ghost girl. Her doll becomes her familiar, becoming alive and just as creepy. Maybe reminiscent of Chucky, I dunno, lol. I’d say an imp would be perfect for this. Just imagine a creepy doll that can go invisible, fly, etc. Funny enough I see this as a completely good character. It’s just that her patron is a trickster, so just for fun he made her powers manifest incredibly creepy and intimidating. 😄
Ok, you’ve made one very drastic mistake on the use of familiars and touch spells that absolutely crippled the proper effectiveness of using a familiar. The key to properly using a familiar and maximizing its potential is understanding the dnd 5e order of operations rules. It goes like this: Casters round: I move to x location. I use “ready action” to cast a touch spell (shocking grasp) when my familiar is in range of hostile enemy (insert specific monster here). Other pc / creatures turns happen until familiars turn. Familiars turn (owl). My owl flys 30’ to melee range of the monster. Ready action spell engages, familiar uses its reaction to deliver the spell. Owl (with flyby) flys 30’ away without provoking opportunity attack. Owl still has its action, and can Dash action to fly another 60’. In the case of the owl familiar, it can move a total of 120’ in the round, provoke no opportunity attack, and deliver the touch spell. The key component to touch spells is that during the PC round the PC gives up its action spell for the option of readying a touch spell through the familiar with set triggering parameters. This is base raw rules, requiring NO home brew whatsoever. This is how find familiar and touch spells is designed to be used, and it is extremely effective. The drawback is in that the spell is a ready action, therefor there is no casting by the pc during the turn of the pc. It is delayed to the familiars turn, thereby limiting the pc only in that they would not be able to capitalize on any Spell + cantrip single round casting.
Find familiar is overrated for melee builds!!!! When you play on a grid, longstrider is the better choice: – if you are not in range to deliver your attack your familiar won’t help – if your familiar don’t act before you do, you can’t benefit from the help action in the first round (you will often act before it) – if one ally attacks before you do he will benefit from the eventual help action instead of you. – if you don’t have initiative in the first round your familiar is vulnerable to aoe dmg or ranged dmg. – Scouting dungeon is overrated with some familiars, they aren’t that stealthy and monsters won’t ignore them. – if you’re playing a rogue, you are way better at scouting dungeon.