Top 10 Best Familiars in DnD 5E
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- čas přidán 23. 07. 2024
- Find Familiar is a first level spell which allows you to summon a familiar animal to help you out, which last basically until it dies. And having a familiar is such great utility, that it's easily one of the best first level spells in the game, and in this list we'll be going over which are the best familiars to pick from the Find Familiar spell.
Video edited by Selty
-The List-
Intro: (0:00)
10- Octopus: (0:17)
9- Spider: (1:26)
8- Bat: (2:11)
7- Raven: (2:54)
6- Owl: (3:45)
5- Imp: (5:17)
4- Tressym: (6:24)
3- Gelatinous Ice Cube: (8:12)
2- Arctic stink Squirrel : (9:14)
1- Flying Monkey: (10:53)
-Social Media-
/ hirumared
- #DnD #5e #DungeonsAndDragons
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I think we were all amazed when Caleb used his octopus familiar as night vision goggles
All nice until you get in combat without light, it takes an action every turn to maintain the vision and wizards aren't known for their bonus actions
@@The_Yukki you switch to senses of familiar or back using 1 action, after switch you remain with the senses you chose until you make a switch again
It’s not something that needs your action every turn :)
@@temacore1057 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.
The spell specifies the shared sense lasts until the start if your next turn.
@@marcosachaval3534 goddamn, thanks, missed that completely. Was sure it could be used like I mentioned, and played like that in my group (nobody corrected me either)
@@temacore1057 someone posted it already, but yea action to get senses till the start of your next turn :p
Fun fact: If you want all of the raven fun with none of the raven edge, the raven stats work perfect for a parrot.
So a pirate edge instead?
I’m making a mastermind rogue/enchanter wizard for an upcoming campaign that’s basically Jafar, and I’m doing this for his familiar
or magpie!
Or just don't make the raven an edgy raven. Corvids can be quite playful.
Pact of the Chain Fathomless Warlock, anyone?
Huh, never knew an ooze familiar was even an option in this game. Neat.
It’s part of the icewind dale campaign. Also should be limited to PotC Warlocks, imo.
@@MM-lv7iy alternatively a druid that has the far far range as a biome
@@MM-lv7iy Not a fan of limitations myself tbh, while I get why PotC should be able to have better familiars
I think it should get that through buffing the familiars rather than just have access to the ones other than the owl that don't suck
Like, sure, many familiars have uses outside of combat, but during combat the best one (listed in the spell) is the owl and you can't even attack with it, unlike PotC
At this point I honestly wish they reworked some classes and subclasses, including the Warlock's pacts
Cuz I have thought many times of playing a Tome warlock instead of a Blade one, but Chain doesn't really catch my attention
@@HankJ666 That's the problem. Especially some older classes are so unflexable that NEED a rework or homebrew.
Or are out of balance. Looking at you Ranger or Sorcerer.
@@Rub-A-Duck agreed tho I like sorcerer as it is but it does have a a lot of unused potential
My DM allowed a Hare (IDRotF) to be my familliar. It has a burrowing speed and the hability take the Dash, Disengage or Hide actions as a bônus action. Wich means he can Take the Help action, disengage, then burrow to safety
His name is Lápis and i love him :3
I honestly make all my characters allergic to rabbits. Because I am. I hate rabbits. But this... This is a good idea.
So? Which of the three wishes did you take?👑🍬
@@Dracxina “oh no-“
One thing about the raven is that if you are playing an illusionist you can cast silent image and then send your raven behind the illusion to use the mimicry trait to give it sound.
The flying snake is on the ddb list of familiars.
This would be very fitting for certain rogue characters.
Or just people who like snakes.
I'm both in my next game, already asked my DM if I can have one as a pet in our first round neste week. hope he says yes😆
You might have undersold the imp a little: they have permanent invisibility as long as they don’t attack or cast a spell, so they can administer health potions unseen for ever
Furthermore, they grant the play magic resistance, which is akin as a legendary trait (unless you are a satyr for some reason)
"the flying monkey have opposable thumbs"
Imp: am i a joke to you?
Pseudodragon: Oh, you have opposable thumbs. How cute
He literally mentions the Imp in the flying monkey section.
I also think the difference is Monkey is "Small" so can carry most items, where the Imp is "Tiny" and limited in his carrying capacity
Great! Now I have the image of an imp with Joe Pesci's voice doing the whole 'am I clown to you' scene! Thanks!
@@nickpossum3607 that's not an imp, its an 18 inch Joe.
Kinda surprised the gazer isnt in this list, mainly bc it can actually "attack" with its beams. It isnt amazing but is a really cool flavor summon
It also has a hover speed, the mimicry trait and can exert fine control over objects which were all major selling points for other familiars
@@milesbrewis2375 wait, how can it control objects well?
It has a telekinetic ray which lets it pick things up and use items
@@milesbrewis2375 yep, I decided to go ahead and read it’s entry on the bestiary myself and it seems pretty awesome. Requires a level 3 caster tho so not gonna fit my level 1 character that just got a free common magic item from the this is your life tables in Xanathar’s and chose the spellwrought tattoo for find familiar lol
also he should've mentioned the anvilwrought raptor for how BEEFY is it for a familiar
18 hp and like a 15 AC
Find Familiar spell users: Best i can do is flying monke
Me with a pseudodragon looking at my companion who also has one:Look what they need to mimic a fraction of our power
Quick add-on: you can actually get a Gazer (sort of a mini-beholder) as a familiar, so long as you are at least a third level spell-caster. A great option if you're looking for an aberration-type familiar.
I thought i clicked on the wrong video, I had no idea you made DnD content. Glad I found this.
I find it funny, since almost a year ago, we started a campaign where I was a gnome, who had a flying monkey as a familiar. The monkey named spud, died due to poison
To many upvotes for the tragic death of spud, the flying monkey. This is a sad story, but it is cool that this story was able to happen, so I'm leaving a like too.
And then you recast find familiar and Spud was fine...
Don't dare underestimate the cool factor of having an octopus on your head!
Hello, fellow mind flayers! As you can see, I am also a mind flayer.
You can actually use the owl to deliver touch spells without getting any attacks of opportunities, and make Ranged attacks have disadvantage
I kind of wish that the familiars list would scale with character level or something, similar to old animal companions lists. These creatures are cute and incredibly useful, but beyond a certain point they fail to perform their tasks without significant risk to themselves. I just like the thought of a high level spell caster being able to craft more substantial forms for their familiar like a blink dog or an elemental servant if for nothing else but flavor.
I’m surprised that the Gazer wasn’t mentioned at all! Certainly one of the best options for combat cause of its eye rays, and not mention having a decent AC of 13. Plus, it also has mimicry, like the raven, and having a high stealth bonus of +5 and darkvision, I’d say it’s probably THE best familiar.
Hello, I've searched the Rime of the Frostmaiden book and didn't find anything about the Gelatinous Ice Cube as familiar option, and searching on the internet I didn't find this information either. The only thing I found was about it being revealed in the D&D Celebration event and not in an actual book. I just wanted to make sure it wasn't a mistake or anything. Great content btw.
Me too.
Yeah its just in the Celebration event that came out right before the book
you forgot one important familiar, the venomous snake, you can milk his venom to give it to you party, a way to add 2d4 of poison damage or half in a succesful save, still, is at least 1 extra damage for free or a way to obtain some gold when you need it, cause a vial of that poison is better than a basic poison so it would cost more than 100gp
Love your videos they always give me so many ideas that I can use not only to DM to my players that inspire them. However I’d be remised if I didn’t mention that you missed one familiar. The gaezer is a phenomenal option given that it has eye rays that it can utilize a fly Speed and dark vision in addition to some spectacular role-play elements built-in.
Just wanted to say I am loving all of these top 10s, they are so great!
Very cool breakdown and options!
That time when I befriended a Gazer with my wizard...
Thx to zee bashew video, my favorite use of find familiar is dragons breath on it, and, you have a flamethrower drone.
I probably wouldn't argue that the imp is the best pact of the chain. Sure it has the most health does the most damage and has the best senses and stealth of the options that have dark vision, but the others have their own benefits. The psuedo dragon and sprite can knock unconscious on a fail of 5 or more and the investiture of the chain master can increase that dc to your spell save DC. The sprite even has a ranged attack which is the only familiar that gets it, very useful if you don't want your familiar dying but still want them useful with investiture of the chain master, they also get heartsight which can read emotions and even alignment! Their stealth is higher at a plus 8 too. The psuedodragon has the best senses of any familiar, and limited telepathy, and the quasit's scare 1/d is probably the best thing a familiar can do with their action that a warlock doesn't need to command them to do with their action. It can frighten a creature! With disadvantage on repeat saves if the quasit isn't invisible, and did I mention that you can increase that DC to your spell save DC? Poisoned conditions and frightens and reading alignment benefit from that DC increase way more than the other half of 3d6 damage. Oh and you know what the imp lacks that the psuedodragon and sprite have? PERCEPTION PROFICIENCY.
The imp is all rounder and probably the best for scouting in hostile environments THAT ARE DARK (the sprite is better if dark vision is unnecessary because it's perception and stealth bonus are both higher), but the quasit sprite and psuedodragon beat it in combat due to poisons that inflict the poison or unconscious condition (and before you say "but monsters have good con saves and the sprite does half damage on a success" a quasit does the same damage as an imp if you assume the save succeeds, but the attack is better overall if the save fails so the quasit still wins there), and the quasits ability to frighten or the added utility of reading emotions, or limited telepathy which easily beats the imps polymorphia in utility, which is only really used to not look like you have a devil since your familiar could always just have been any of the option the imp can turn into if you really need a raven. The Imp isn’t a better version of these other familiars as such they should at least be included in this list. Especially when everything after the Imp has the downside that most dms can say no even in a RAW or RAI game and would probably act as a reward a dm gives or found in a scroll of find familiar and not a new option for the spell at level 1 (or 3)
I think you missed the perks of the imp being a battlefield medic and that the poision feature gets the invocation perks as well. And devils sight makes it very useful in the darkness spell.
@@nickm9102 it does sure, but the other half of a save or half of poison damage is not as significant as the poisoned condition at later levels.
And note: it takes an action to see through your imps eyes for a turn so you can’t circumnavigate darkness via imp, you can with your own devil sight invocation and just have it so your familiar can circumnavigate darkness but the same can be said about a pseudo dragon no?
Literally all of them have hands so they can all attempt to stabilize and deliver potions.
I don’t see that as an imp specific perk
@@Mr_Maiq_The_Liar for the poisioned condition to work it is a CON save (same for the imp) and what do creatures in the Monster Manual have in common... A good CON save. So i can have a small chance of the poisoned condition or I can just plan for 3d6÷2 damage and if they fail yaah. With the devil's sight I was not refering to you working with it (though I have done this for out of combat) I was referring to the combat advantage of fighting in darkness and yes the pseudodragon has blindsight which in many cases is a better ability it is also a very limited range for the ability. The frightened condition is not very useful if the target has a ranged attack. And other than heart sense and a few magic items when has allignment done anything other than take up space on a character sheet? Is the imp the best at everything No but where it isn't the best it is high on the list.
@@nickm9102 sensing alignment can give you a good idea of the NPC you are dealing with, how far one can trust them, etc.
@@nickm9102 Frightened condition isn't just a restriction to movement, it and poisoned condition, are both disadvantage for attacks even if they are ranged attacks, not all targets do have ranged attacks and a lot of monsters have ranged attacks that are inferior to their melee attack options, you can also frighten an archer from the side to prevent them from split moving cover which makes them significantly more vulnerable, and you can frighten or poison a target that the barbarian plans to grapple so he has advantage vs a target with disadvantage and basically succeeds. It's hardly insignificant if a target has a good ranged attack, and even then a frightened target ranged attacking at disadvantage is way less threatening than a target with straight rolls using the most effective tactic available to him.
3d6/2 plus 1d4+4 on an attack roll isn't even the best way to do damage with a bonus action with an evocation. There is no save or attack roll on maddening hex. But the poisoned condition, as rare as it is, fulfills a different purpose than damage, and even though it's unlikely it has no repeat saving throws on the sprite and psuedodragon, and comes on top of decent damage on a quasit, so with the right invocation, it can be repeated, multiple times, at spell save dc, as a bonus action and a creature will be debilitated for an entire fight, even if it takes 2 turns with a bit of luck to do it, in a 4 turn target targeting the second guy you will focus on, that's not bad. That creature isn't a significant threat. That's a huge boon to get as a bonus action, and if you're using your action at least it has some niche that eldritch blast doesn't fulfill, because eldritch blast is going to better than ordering an imp to attack with YOUR action.
Warlocks already have an easier way to do 5ish damage with a bonus action and an invocation such as maddening hex, so having a way to poison as a bonus action is a niche worth investing into, because if I wanted to do damage as an action or bonus action the imp isn't even the best way to do it, but if I want to poison as a bonus action, the other 3 options are the only way to do it.
In combat:
a quasit will run with a 40 foot speed to a place a enemy wants to move to, and frighten that enemy at spell save dc, ending it's invisibility, forcing it to move in an ineffective way, and giving it disadvantage on attack rolls, ON THE TURN YOU USE BOTH HEX AND ELDRITCH BLAST it doesn't take up ANY action economy for you to command a fear. IT'S FREE. And after that it will attack with claws that do 10.5 damage average. REMEMBER the imp does 11 on a successful save. The quasit does really similar damage if you assume the saving throw is successful. but if the save fails. an imp does an extra 5.5 damage (YAWN that's not much), and a quasit Poisons with a repeat save (USEFUL)
The psuedodragon trades that 3d6 damage for a poison that poisons for the whole fight, no repeat save, knocks unconscious on low rolls, it will stab someone until they're poisoned then move to the next and hopefully one person will drop unconscious. It does the same piercing damage, on the same to hit with the same AC if you plan to use it against something poison immune, or if you think 3d6 is comparable to the condition which it is, they trade 3 health to be 20 feet faster if your dm rules that a raven can't bite. They play very similarly but offer a debilitating poison instead of damage.
The Sprite, although it has so little health that you can't even save it with your investiture of the chain master reaction, can split move to move in and out of 40 feet from an enemy and stay 60 feet up out of the range of op attacks thrown weapons hand crossbows and, uses RANGED ATTACKS to poison enemies of choice until they fail saves and are debilitated for the rest of the fight. They have a 1 higher to hit bonus than the imp, and will start every combat invisible making them the most consistent hitters. An easy to use advantage also usually being out of aoes and a decent ac can be worth that small amount of damage.
Out of combat: the psuedodragon can detect traps with great ease with a passive perception of 18 due to keen senses, combined with blind sense and has telepathy which is handy. The sprite can detect emotions and alignment, while alignment may not do anything mechanically, knowing the alignment of an NPC is still incredibly useful information for interactions with that character, and the ability to detect both, one for free one on a save is way better than your imp having a +3 to insight, also it gets to know if a target is Celestials, fiends, and undead automatically. And, to boot. THE IMP LACKS PERCEPTION PROFICIENCY. which means, when disguised, invisible, flying high in the air, scouting a non-dangerous area for potential threats. The sprite and psuedodragon got it beat. The imp beats the quasit in all out of combat uses, but don't forget the imp has no perception. And the sprite beats it in scouting overall because it's perception is a +3 it can also turn invisible AND IT'S STEALTH IS HIGHER at a plus 8. EIGHT. The only thing the sprite lacks, is dark vision. Which yes, is a much bigger boon to the imp in terms of scouting dark locations, but not every location you do scout, is dark.
I don't deny that the imp is good, because its the stealthiest of the options that have dark vision and second most socially useful, it can speak common, can polymorph, does the most damage and has the most health. But is it so much better than the other 3 options? Is not picking them some non-optimal choice you do for flavor? Does it outshine the other options to the extent that you need not include the sprite as being better than an owl because anyone who can get a sprite can get an imp? Definitely not.
Another wizard in the party already has an owl, so I'm looking for alternatives. This was very helpful.
Wearing the octopus on your head is so cool. Well done.
all your videos are very helpful thank you!
Having a Flying Monkey on a Level 11 Artificer can get hilarious. Your Artificer can pretty much wale up every morning, hand their flying monkey a stick and then say monster you run across will have to deal with bullshit like Vortex Warp and Heat Metal until the feature runs out for the day (which will likely be after 10 uses).
Wow, that's an impressive looking helm! Never seen anything like it! Look at that incredible blue sheen!
Absolutely! It even helps me in combat, and lets me have truesight!
Whoa. Where'd you find such a magic item?
Oh, it's not a magic item. It's just semitransparent and has an ooze familiar sloshing around inside.
Excellent video!!!
A non-Chain-Pact Pseudodragon is great, too, since it gives its master magic resistance
The gazer is also an option from Volvo's guide which has the mimicry trait and can exert fine control over objects and items as if it had opposable thumbs
This is interesting. Although I still kind of prefer the look and feel of a Crow or Owl, but the gazer definitely has a place for physically aggressive spell casters.
I had no idea you also had a DnD channel! Pretty neat.
I honestly didn’t know you liked D&D I randomly found this channel. Your style works for it though!
Flying monke be like: FLUFFERNUTTER!!
I was just about to see if you made a video about familiars and this was the third video in my recommended 🤣
the Arctic stink Squirrel is amazing for necromancers
The owl is one of my favorite familiars to have. My favorite class is pact of the tome, Hexblade human, or great old one dwarf or dark elf warlock. Find Familiar is a ritual spell, so it is usually one that I choose with the book of ancient secrets. Plus access to three cantrips from any list, and all ritual spells on any list provides a tremendous boon to character versatility. Hexblade patron is just when I want to play a character that uses weapons, armor, and shields, but do not get them from racial selection, because it is really cool to find and use magic versions of armor, weapons, and shields.
Although I have also done similar things with clerics, bards, and druids. The warlock spell sword will always be one of my favorite architypes, just because of how many ways they can deal with situations both in and out of combat, and the awesome flavoring.
Re: the Tressym and "if you want it to sit on your head or shoulders": It's a flying elven cat -- it's going to be sitting on your head or shoulders whether you want it to or not. Because cat. And flying.
I have a spider, when I look through it’s vision, I RP that I’m seeing through eight eyes instead of my goliaths two. It’s made some good content for RP and even my character development!
BAT!!! Keep the bat in your wizard beard (all wizards should have big beards) you have blindsight anytime you want and it's from the perspective of the wizard's head so targeting works normally. Also, give your bat a piece of string, cast darkness on it and you have a giant mobile ball of darkness you can move wherever you want. Very effective in temporarily taking an area of creatures out of the fight until you're ready. The bat can see fine in that darkness and will have no trouble following your instructions.
Worth Noting: The Tressym technically has a language of its own. So someone using Comprehend Languages could hold a conversation with a Tressym. I had a pet Tressym in Storm King's Thunder, and our cleric had the Helm of Comprehend Languages on. When a fiend we were fighting went invisible, my Tressym was telling the cleric where they were.
Could we get a "Top Fey Touched and Shadow Touched Spells" list? Love this channel btw
Pretty much Bless or Hex would be on top, depending on who is taking it. Even Warlock can take Hex as the first level spell and keep its main spell slots for the spells that scale better. (Hex just goes up in duration and it lasts 1 hour base time). It works amazingly well with eldritch blast because it gains more beams. Which each get the 1d6 extra since they count as discreet spell attacks that require their own rolls.
Though, any class that does a lot of smaller attacks in a turn can benefit from hex. Fighter specifically could drop hex on a big monster and just stack that extra 1d6 necrotic for each time it slaps the enemy.
For other spellcasters, it depends. You can pretty much use the spell you pick with your regular slots. So it comes down to if you see something you want a devoted lvl 1 slot for or want to basically add to your known list, since you can cast these with normal spellcaster slots.
Silverly barbs, bless, gift of alacraty, hex
I think its worth mentioning that Looking through your familiars senses requires your action and only lasts until the start of your next turn.
Additionally There's no range on this feature of your familiar. So you could leave your familiar somewhere and check in on a scene everyone and a while.
Very informative!
Silly D&DLogs, my character is an orphan, he doesn't have family to rank in a top 10!
Here faster than the owl familiar.
the monkey can also cary a lamp and such to help a non dark vision party scout or even some other adventuring gear(eg a rope up a mountain wrap it around something and then get it down again and you can go up most walls)
Tasha's Invocation options completely flipped the warlock meta on its head. Investments of the Chain Master allow familiars to use your character's spell save DC, plus you can have your familiar attack as a bonus action, instead of only an attack action.
Suddenly the Sprite becomes amazing; It can already turn invisible and fly, but now it can attack as both a reaction AND as its main action, and with a shortbow(reduced range) it's easy to find targets to go after while staying out of the line of fire.
But more than that is the save DC; before, the Sprite's abilities were so weak it was practically useless even at low levels, it doesn't take long before enemies regularly CAN'T even fail the saves. Once you practically double its DC from 10 up to 19-24+ you can see some consistent returns on its Heart Sight, and the poison it uses can drop enemies unconscious if they fail their save by more than 5. Even with its tame hit bonus, it can give itself advantage by going invisible first, and if you stick to just attack reactions it can use its action every turn to go back to being invisible.
Since you can change its shape you can shift between parrot, octopus, mouse, and flying monkey based on the situation.
The goggle thing is cool.
For Pact of the Chain Warlocks, if you choose the Eldritch Invocation "Investment of the Chain Master" I think the Pseudodragon becomes the best option because of their poison.
Or, if the DM goes for it, the gazer. Four distinct rays, all with your spell save DC? Hell yeah.
One thing you can do with any familiar is cast Dragons Breath on it. Then the familiar can cast breathe fire (or one of the other options) every round. This does not require an attack roll so it is allowed but the RAM. I especially like it on the Owl because it is fairly safe with it's fly through ability.
“Wear your familiar as a night-vision hat” is not a strategy I anticipated.
The inspiring leader feat goes great with familiars. Buffing up their HP
I love your content. keep it coming.
More to come!
my favorite familiar is the faerie dragon. I got it as a boon from my patron and it really was awesome.
I would like to humbly ask to add the Gazer to the list:
1: It’s got an insane passive perception.
2: It has pretty good health and AC for a familiar.
And most importantly, 3: It’s eye rays don’t count as attacks, meaning you can deal attack-like effects like damage or shoving from range even if you aren’t a PotC Warlock.
I personally love the Gazer. Ton of fun to use
playing a Doctor and running a Tressym.
it is nice that it can sense poisons, and using it as a taste tester. :D
A bit of correction with the Owl.
Rules as written, the Owl has to be within 5ft of the target you are using the help action for.
"Alternatively, you can aid a friendly creature in attacking a creature within 5 feet of you. You feint, distract the target, or in some other way team up to make your ally's attack more effective. If your ally attacks the target before your next turn, the first attack roll is made with advantage."
So you can't really use Flyby as a fly in, use help action and fly out.
However, you can fly past melee oriented mobs, to example an archer, or mage, and use a spell through the familiar to hit the archer or mage or similar.
Like Shocking Grasp.
Also a note about Passive Perception.
It is 10 + any modifier.
So the +5 for the Tressym, is calculated into the passive perception, making it 15. Also they forgot to add the 1 Wisdom, which makes the Passive perception 16.
My go to familiar is a bat because guano and sulfur are the spell components for fireball and it’s just good fun at the table to describe my familiar just dropping a fat deuce into my palm on my turn in combat lol
I believe in Tasha's Cauldron there was an optional rule that let a player have *any* creature as a familiar if it was tiny sized and the DM allowed it. Meaning the best familiar......is a demilich!
Tasha's Cauldron may in fact be illegal to use in any official Dnd campaign settings. lol. A Demilich familiar seems a bit like cheese.
@@matthewdancz9152 I mean obviously, and that was never the intent, to give a player that. I just think it's funny that they glossed over the fact that was possible now when they made the rule
Ask for the demi-lich and settle for the flame skull.
My Ghostwise Halfling Rifleman (homebrew of Matt Mercers homebrew gunslinger) has a DireWeasel named Wesley. I've never had more fun role-playing than I do with Wesley's Scooby-Doo vibe.
18 seconds in and the content starts. Respect
Gazer from "Volo" for the Old One warlock. tiny beholder with mage hand and fear rays, 360 degree vision, flight, and limited speech
My Wizard had a flying Monkey and had it hold an umbrella when ever it rained. And it rained a lot in Chult
I'm using tressym as familiar for current compain and by far he is very helpful little guy, basically became best scout for our group
Can you do a list on ritual spells, if making a warlock with pact of the tome and am getting the invocation that allows me to pick any ritual spells (with some limitations for balance) and I don't know what to pick.
FYI artificers can "create" A machine familiar in the shape of your choice. Flying monkey be best.
But if you're DM allows it "like mine" A mimic familiar works great with a changeling PC
I had a snake familiar and our druid would shift into a snake and they would be stealth snake buddies. (I named him Sass.)
One of the biggest advantage of the humble cat over the tressym is that a cat is inconspicuous . Seeing a winged cat staring at your shady deal in a back alley is pretty suspect, but a cat is just a cat.
These familiars are cool but I'm happy with my hermit crab, Crabbo, he's perfect the way he is 💖
In my very first game, I played a gnome wizard and the dm let me have a possum familiar. My gnome was a tinker gnome and I wanted a possum as a helper. She held tools in her natural pocket and was incredibly useful, not just opening doors and scoping out rooms, but possums have an exceptional nose. 3rd in the Animal Kingdom right after the rat. The elephant is number one. Of course this is an unorthodox familiar. But it should be included. Dnd has so many monsters and so few animals. We used cat and rat stats for my possum.
realy nice Video, but sadly there are some Wrong infos (as far as i know) the "Gelatinous Ice Cube" and the "Arctic stink Squirrel" are NOT from the Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frost Maiden book, they are Legacy Awards and allowed in the Adventurers League but at the moment NOT official, hope they come in the next books ^^
Familiars: You always act like your better then me!
Flying Monkeys, Imps and Spirits: Oh bud, that’s the least fancy thing I’ve ever heard.
Imp: well if you don't mind signing some documents, I've got some friends who could help you with that.
I know there’s a rule book but I enjoy when it comes to animals to have a little creativity. Like a flying cat or a ghost dog etc.
i mean. all of the pact of the chain warlock familiars also have thumbs. the imp is just a flying monkey but invisible and can attack.
About the Owl flyby help action, the rules are a little ambiguous, but it makes sense and is ruled in our games that you must be within 5 feet of the enemy to make use of that help action. In other words, if you simply flyby then you're no longer helping.
you really gotta do my boy the gazer dirty like that huh.
If your DM allows it, pseudodragons are OP as familiars because they have dark vision, a fly speed and the fact they share magic resistance with you while near you. They get even more OP if your DM goes the step further and allow you to have your familiar attack, though they’re already plenty good without.
Bat blindsight is actually better than the Tress' detect invis because it too foils magic invisibility, but also works against regular concealment (and the few sources of non-magical invis).
Also literally every single pact of the chain familiar has regular hands (Pseudodragon can be debated, but they did have thumbs in 3.5) and unlike the monkey wont, fuck up actually using items because except for the quasit, they dont have a -3 int mod.
Would always rule bat and poison nope rope as best on hard RAW. Sure owl is 1 attack distraction and advantage (so a first level spell and cantrip), but bat scout (so 3rd-4th level spell/essentially arcane eye) and infinite basic (or if dm is nice, double damage) poison vials every 3~minutes that refund the cost of the cast and more AND being a 1 attack distraction with a blindsense info ping is so much more applicable.
One thing I liked doing with my owl familiar is casting Dragon Breath on it and having it do fly-by elemental blasts on enemies. It’s made my DM mad, and he tried to kill it multiple times. Tried.
I feel it was near enough criminal to not include the gazer, very cool recommended option from VGTM, they are extremely powerful, I would argue they rival the arctic stink squirrel, it has a fear and charm effect, a respectable amount of cold damage (if chain lock) and the ability to essentially operate as mage hand legerdemain “ If the target is a creature that is Medium or smaller, it must succeed on a DC 12 Strength saving throw or be moved up to 30 feet directly away from the gazer. If the target is a Tiny object that isn't being worn or carried, the gazer moves it up to 30 feet in any direction. The gazer can also exert fine control on objects with this ray, such as manipulating a simple tool or opening a container.” Meaning they provide tons of utilities, while also having the random insane elements of a beholderkin that anybody choosing the familiar for RP reasons would eat up
question, the owl flies in and does the help action then flies away, doesnt that cancel the help action since it has to be within 5ft of the target when the person you helped attacks, otherwise its not helping at the time of the attack rather before the attack could happen then flees? am i getting this wrong? what am i missing?
Ahh. Yess...... one of high perception you are..... *ahem* sorry. Yes you are correct. The understanding from what I can tell and from the way I play it is it swoops through as you make your action. I also run Familiars in my games as moving on/immediately after the owners turn so it keeps it a little more clean.
All said, the whole "familiar help action" is very ...sticky. Be willing to communicate with your DM especially if it is a flying creature, and don't be surprised if he swats it out of the air costing you that 10 gold.
Yeah, I was wondering about that. Guess you could ready a booming blade on characters that don't get multi attacks (few, admittedly) and trigger your attack on the flyby.
The comment about the ooze made me laugh. 1/4 CR? When I wanted to make the pact of the chain better, I basically allowed anything supernatural of CR 1 or less, so things like maw demons, ambush drakes, ice toads, fire snakes, scarecrows. Honestly, I thought the most questionable choice was the vargouille for how much you could screw with it on tier 1, but I had completely forgotten about the sense sharing aspects of the spell, so I think what I definitely need to take off that list are modrons. Did you know even the most pathetic of them have 120 ft of Truesight? Truesight! I hadn't noticed until yesterday.
Okay. Now do top 10 metamagics (8 from the PHB and 2 from Tasha's)
My only thought after hearing about the gelatinous ice cube: Can it cool my drinks?
Best Familiar is one you can cast True Polymorph on and concentrate for the full hour so the effect is permanent at least until you want to cast True Polymorph again or something else happens
2:08 Though in that case it's more of a hat than a mask, who semantics
Was thinking if a Druid had the magic initiative feat could get Find Familiar spell and at later levels get the Giant Insect spell and boom. You have a Giant Spider you can summon for battle or even ride if you are small enough.
I’d like to propose: Gazer. I’ve been told they are a variant familar. They can’t attack so they loose a lot of their strength but there is no better choice for a Great Old One pact warlock or an Aberrant Mind sorcerer
Pseudodragon for it's Magic Resistance and telepathy, every time.
Playing decent into the Avernus I choose to summon a familiar to scout a house, it literally saved the session
Everytime I hear your voice I think back to playing wow
And here's why it's the imp lol. Over come the weight limits of the imp with a bag of holding. The imp can carry up to 45lbs. More than enough for a creative player with a haversack or bag of holding to unleash havoc. Even without one the imp could still be outfitted with a bag of various tricks and contingencies.
I have used the Tressym as a familiar. Until the DM realized that Rary’s Telepathic Bond giving the Telepathy an range limit of on the same plain in place of the 100 feet but you can not link senses. Also it could talk to anyone in the Bond
My D&D game involves a wizard whose got a weasel familiar. But our DM is weirdly lenient (he's new) so somehow this weasel has turned into a "void weasel" that lets the weasel pop in and out of dimensions (taking things with it briefly) and also let the wizard cast Fire Bolts and Fireballs out of its mouth.
D&D is a weird game when you make up the rules.
Construct familiar: swarm of mechanical spiders
Cat footage in background during tressym part was best part of entire video, just use cats for background from now on.