My familiar is Fluffernut the unimaginable horror. It is formless until seen then it takes the shape of what the observer fears most. They are gentle creatures and the transformation is defensive.
There are two more methods that can be used to get a familiar. The first method is the all-powerful wish spell, which is available to both sorcerers and wizards. So a very-high-level sorcerer (or wizard) can get a familiar by quickly casting a 9th-level spell - which would be a good thing to do right before a long rest. The second method is using a spell scroll as a Thief with "Use magic device". It also should be noted that Bards can take spells from other class's spell lists, so they can get Find Familiar as a bard spell.
You could also have an artificer create a spellwrought tattoo to give someone a one-time use of Find Familiar. Since the artificer can create new spellwrought tattoo needles every day, and the Find Familiar spell (ideally) one requires one casting (which DOESN'T require a ritual,) a party of 5 could all have familiars in a single week.
Mind you that the artificer can now get access to find familiar, through the replicate magic item infusion, selecting the spellwrought tattoo (1st level SWT are considered a common magic item), in the description of the replicate magic item infusion it says you can't replicate scrolls or potions but luckily the spellwrought tattoo is not a spell scroll or potion so it's a valid option (DnD beyond lets you do it)
Remember even as a warlock you are still casting Find Familiar which says '...the familiar has the Statistics of the chosen form, though it is a Celestial, fey, or fiend (your choice) instead of a beast.'
in a homebrew campaign my character had a familiar and the DM allowed the familiar to attune to magic items. and when attuned, they disappeared into the extra-dimensional plane WITH it, as they were attuned. if he was just carrying a wand then it wouldn't necessarily poof with him, but since he was attuned to something it stayed with him. he had a ring of invisibility, ring of evasion, and bracers of defense, making his AC 17 and if he got hit by fireball or an AOE and fail, can choose to succeed instead and invisible when they focus, but i explained i taught him how to focus on them to use them. my best thief companion
Being a Genie Patron Warlock, I took the Imp as my familiar, but my DM let me reskin it as a small Genie with the imp stat block. Great for RP and a very practical familiar.
If you desperately want to have an imp or a quasit in a party full of Lawful Goods making a stink about it, by RAW when you cast Find Familiar, you can choose the creature type of the familiar. So even if it "looked" like an imp, for example, it could actually be a Fae or even a Celestial instead.
Useful info, thanks! I'm old school so there is alot of adjusting for me to my 5E Champaign. I only have to deal with one familiar right now ( so I only shared your video with one other, sorry) but it has already made a big difference in game play. I don't know if you ever played 1st or 2nd edition but 5e your a fricken superhero by 3rd level...comparatively speaking.
I want the snake up my sleeve on my weapon to add the snake bite to sneak attack damage on enemies or strap the snake to your sling or arrow to cause diversion
Going back to your comment about issues with an imp or quasit fiend familiar around good players, remember- the familiar is a spirit that takes on the form of one of these creatures, it’s not actually that creature. Since you pick what type of spirit your familiar is, it’s perfectly legal to have an imp or quasit familiar that’s a celestial (or fey,) it doesn’t have to be a fiend. A good aligned paladin shouldn’t have an issue with a celestial spirit helping the party regardless of what form it takes. Consequently, the spirit choice can also affect where a familiar can go, such as your celestial imp can still enter a church that’s warded (Hallow) against fiends and undead. Just my 2 cents.
The familiar is a celestial, fey, or fiend, so for flavor sake they would have the outward characteristics of your choice. Also why not a primordial familiar like an air gensai cat?
There’s actually some precedent to familiars being something other than celestial, fey or fiend- in the optional rules for Curse of Strahd, familiars summoned are automatically undead regardless of what you were attempting to summon. (CoS, Cosmetic Spell Modifications pg. 24)
It matters for the purpose of friendly fire of abilities, for example, the oath of ancients paladin's chanal divinity turns fey and fiends so if there is one in your party you should pick celestial, the BBEG might also try to scry on you since spells like commune with nature, detect evil and good, etc reveal the presence of your familiar.
If you want to get really creative then cast Dragon’s Breath on your Owl familiar. Have it blast elemental damage and fly away while you zippy zappy blasty casty watch-for-the-lightning-it-gets-nasty.
Am I mistaken, or could a Genie patron Sorlock, cast sanctuary on its owl familiar, go into their ring, and cast shocking grasp every round from within the ring. And because of the wording they are not casting a spell, so the familiar is still under sanctuary. So the sorlock flys around in their ring that is in the talons of their owl hitting enemies with shocking grasp, and any enemies that want to attack the familiar need to succeed on a Wis save.
Chainlock + Druid (Wild Companion) = Summon special familiar as an action with no material components. A Wildfire Druid can summon both a Wildfire Spirit and a Wild Companion at the same time. You can send your familiar into a pocket dimension, reappear on the other side of an opaque barrier, see through the familiar’s eyes, and then use Fiery Teleportation to transport the entire party to the other side of the barrier.
So say I'm a warlock with an imp familiar, could i cast darkness on it, plop it in spider form on my head, see through it's senses and run around right, but do i have to constantly use my main action to see through it's eyes with devil sight or is it a one and done until you use an action to undo it?
I think you have to keep using your action. This is fine out of combat but in combat I don't think you can attack if you used your action to look thru familiar. You could probably still tell it to ring a bell over where the enemy is so you know their location if in magical darkness. You would have disadvantage if the other creature can see you but you can't see it. Straight attack roll otherwise if neither can see each other. The devil's sight on the pet just makes it so it can't Hide from you. So if they don't take the Hide action, then the pet's devil sight does nothing since you still know location until they take the hide action.
Also, technichally you can cast darkness on an object but not a creature. However it's easy enough to cast Darkness on a pebble or something and have your familiar carry it around as a mobile darkness.
About to start a campaign with a spider familiar Already discussed this with the GM and they approved Spiders have web sense, right? And the 2nd level spell WEB makes webs, right? Well web lightly obscures the AOE but using my familiar's spider-senses I can ignore that obscurement for my actions Plus they can spin a web (it's just a regular spider web so it wouldn't be able to restrain much more than a fly) in a doorway and let me know if an invisible thing is coming our way Another interesting thing is that they're small enough to sneak under doors and spy on conversations that birds would have trouble with. Last point Spider night vision goggles.
@@SkullSplitter I'm playing an entertainer enchantment wizard who is basically a corny stage hypnotist So Raven is tempting for the mimic ability. Definitely like that mischief flavor Though mechanically speaking the owl is the strongest imo so that's also in the running If it was an aquatic campaign I think I'd take the octopus. They're super stealthy bois and ink cloud sounds fun.
Your Familiar breaking in on the video - LOL - classic!
It was taking the HELP action! ;p
My familiar is Fluffernut the unimaginable horror. It is formless until seen then it takes the shape of what the observer fears most. They are gentle creatures and the transformation is defensive.
There are two more methods that can be used to get a familiar. The first method is the all-powerful wish spell, which is available to both sorcerers and wizards. So a very-high-level sorcerer (or wizard) can get a familiar by quickly casting a 9th-level spell - which would be a good thing to do right before a long rest. The second method is using a spell scroll as a Thief with "Use magic device". It also should be noted that Bards can take spells from other class's spell lists, so they can get Find Familiar as a bard spell.
You could also have an artificer create a spellwrought tattoo to give someone a one-time use of Find Familiar. Since the artificer can create new spellwrought tattoo needles every day, and the Find Familiar spell (ideally) one requires one casting (which DOESN'T require a ritual,) a party of 5 could all have familiars in a single week.
Eldritch Knight and the Arcane Trickser can also get a Familiar.
I vote for making monkeys a canon familiar option
Mind you that the artificer can now get access to find familiar, through the replicate magic item infusion, selecting the spellwrought tattoo (1st level SWT are considered a common magic item), in the description of the replicate magic item infusion it says you can't replicate scrolls or potions but luckily the spellwrought tattoo is not a spell scroll or potion so it's a valid option (DnD beyond lets you do it)
Remember even as a warlock you are still casting Find Familiar which says '...the familiar has the Statistics of the chosen form, though it is a Celestial, fey, or fiend (your choice) instead of a beast.'
Correction: this is ONLY true for normal familars.
Varent Familars, like the gazer, are actually that creature
I don't have a familiar yet but I intend for my 3rd level rogue to attain one as soon as he gets one of the magic user types to teach him the spell
in a homebrew campaign my character had a familiar and the DM allowed the familiar to attune to magic items. and when attuned, they disappeared into the extra-dimensional plane WITH it, as they were attuned. if he was just carrying a wand then it wouldn't necessarily poof with him, but since he was attuned to something it stayed with him. he had a ring of invisibility, ring of evasion, and bracers of defense, making his AC 17 and if he got hit by fireball or an AOE and fail, can choose to succeed instead and invisible when they focus, but i explained i taught him how to focus on them to use them. my best thief companion
Being a Genie Patron Warlock, I took the Imp as my familiar, but my DM let me reskin it as a small Genie with the imp stat block. Great for RP and a very practical familiar.
Nothing beats the Gallic Rooster familiar.
I had a DM that allowed me to summon a Flying Snake. They have Flyby, like an owl, but just fit with my character better. 🐍
I plan to play an Eladrin Bladesinger in the next campaign and I want to use the flying snake as well! :D Winged snek is just too cute.
Reaven can also deliver your distress message. All it does is repeat what it heard. Name me a familiar that does that.
If you desperately want to have an imp or a quasit in a party full of Lawful Goods making a stink about it, by RAW when you cast Find Familiar, you can choose the creature type of the familiar. So even if it "looked" like an imp, for example, it could actually be a Fae or even a Celestial instead.
That's a great point! Did you do that?
Useful info, thanks! I'm old school so there is alot of adjusting for me to my 5E Champaign. I only have to deal with one familiar right now ( so I only shared your video with one other, sorry) but it has already made a big difference in game play. I don't know if you ever played 1st or 2nd edition but 5e your a fricken superhero by 3rd level...comparatively speaking.
The main benefit of the poisonous snake over other options is extracting the poison- best in parties with more martial characters.
Thanks. I was thinking about a bit of a homebrew familiar for my rogue thief, an origami rat, your video did help a lot since I'm very new to D&D.
Nice! Like that idea (and the idea of other origami familiars)!
I want the snake up my sleeve on my weapon to add the snake bite to sneak attack damage on enemies or strap the snake to your sling or arrow to cause diversion
Warlocks who go pact of the tome, can also pick up find familiar with the book of ancient secrets invocation
Going back to your comment about issues with an imp or quasit fiend familiar around good players, remember- the familiar is a spirit that takes on the form of one of these creatures, it’s not actually that creature.
Since you pick what type of spirit your familiar is, it’s perfectly legal to have an imp or quasit familiar that’s a celestial (or fey,) it doesn’t have to be a fiend. A good aligned paladin shouldn’t have an issue with a celestial spirit helping the party regardless of what form it takes.
Consequently, the spirit choice can also affect where a familiar can go, such as your celestial imp can still enter a church that’s warded (Hallow) against fiends and undead.
Just my 2 cents.
I have a raven familiar named Jeremy. Totally useful and fun to RP with.
We love the corvids. Why is it named Jeremy?
The familiar is a celestial, fey, or fiend, so for flavor sake they would have the outward characteristics of your choice. Also why not a primordial familiar like an air gensai cat?
There’s actually some precedent to familiars being something other than celestial, fey or fiend- in the optional rules for Curse of Strahd, familiars summoned are automatically undead regardless of what you were attempting to summon. (CoS, Cosmetic Spell Modifications pg. 24)
It matters for the purpose of friendly fire of abilities, for example, the oath of ancients paladin's chanal divinity turns fey and fiends so if there is one in your party you should pick celestial, the BBEG might also try to scry on you since spells like commune with nature, detect evil and good, etc reveal the presence of your familiar.
If you want to get really creative then cast Dragon’s Breath on your Owl familiar. Have it blast elemental damage and fly away while you zippy zappy blasty casty watch-for-the-lightning-it-gets-nasty.
We call this the AC1Birdy in our campaign (currently playing an invoker too =)
Just reskinned an imp with a demon cat with wings lol. Nice conclusion section.
Nice! What's their name?
Do this for the new familiars in Strixhaven
What stats would be best for a jellyfish? :D
i prefer the 1e version whare your penalized when you get tour familiar killed
I wish I’d have cast my find familiar before the chardalyn dragon appeared
Am I mistaken, or could a Genie patron Sorlock, cast sanctuary on its owl familiar, go into their ring, and cast shocking grasp every round from within the ring. And because of the wording they are not casting a spell, so the familiar is still under sanctuary. So the sorlock flys around in their ring that is in the talons of their owl hitting enemies with shocking grasp, and any enemies that want to attack the familiar need to succeed on a Wis save.
I just reread that, I meant to say the familiar isn’t casting a spell technically.
Can you do more races please!
Which ones would you like to see?
Chainlock + Druid (Wild Companion) = Summon special familiar as an action with no material components.
A Wildfire Druid can summon both a Wildfire Spirit and a Wild Companion at the same time. You can send your familiar into a pocket dimension, reappear on the other side of an opaque barrier, see through the familiar’s eyes, and then use Fiery Teleportation to transport the entire party to the other side of the barrier.
You can't use 2 wildshapes at the same time. To do what you are talking about needs magic initiate's find familiar or multiclass.
Could a mage or sorcerer cast a engourgement spell on a spider to make it more 😨
So say I'm a warlock with an imp familiar, could i cast darkness on it, plop it in spider form on my head, see through it's senses and run around right, but do i have to constantly use my main action to see through it's eyes with devil sight or is it a one and done until you use an action to undo it?
I think you have to keep using your action. This is fine out of combat but in combat I don't think you can attack if you used your action to look thru familiar.
You could probably still tell it to ring a bell over where the enemy is so you know their location if in magical darkness. You would have disadvantage if the other creature can see you but you can't see it. Straight attack roll otherwise if neither can see each other. The devil's sight on the pet just makes it so it can't Hide from you. So if they don't take the Hide action, then the pet's devil sight does nothing since you still know location until they take the hide action.
Also, technichally you can cast darkness on an object but not a creature. However it's easy enough to cast Darkness on a pebble or something and have your familiar carry it around as a mobile darkness.
Can you choose familiars that aren't on the list? I immediately think of a dog or a monkey. If you can have a cat, why not a dog or monkey?
About to start a campaign with a spider familiar
Already discussed this with the GM and they approved
Spiders have web sense, right?
And the 2nd level spell WEB makes webs, right?
Well web lightly obscures the AOE but using my familiar's spider-senses I can ignore that obscurement for my actions
Plus they can spin a web (it's just a regular spider web so it wouldn't be able to restrain much more than a fly) in a doorway and let me know if an invisible thing is coming our way
Another interesting thing is that they're small enough to sneak under doors and spy on conversations that birds would have trouble with.
Last point
Spider night vision goggles.
Love it. The NVGs are cool, but the web sense on a door way! What would you get if a spider wasn’t an option?
@@SkullSplitter I'm playing an entertainer enchantment wizard who is basically a corny stage hypnotist
So Raven is tempting for the mimic ability. Definitely like that mischief flavor
Though mechanically speaking the owl is the strongest imo so that's also in the running
If it was an aquatic campaign I think I'd take the octopus. They're super stealthy bois and ink cloud sounds fun.
Love the raven vibe!