Familiars

• PHB Chapter 3: Classes
  • p. 96 “Rogue”, Sneak Attack (SRD p. 29)
  • p. 107 “Warlock”, Pact of the Chain
• PHB Chapter 7: Using Ability Scores
  • p. 175 “Working Together” (SRD p. 62)
• PHB Chapter 9: Combat
  • p. 192 “Help” (SRD p. 75)
• PHB Chapter 10: Spellcasting
  • p. 240 “Find Familiar”
• MM Appendix A: Miscellaneous Creatures
  • p. 317

If you don’t want to have the book open while reading this article, here is a quick summary of the key qualities of a Find Familiar spell (PHB p. 240) important to this discussion.

• Is of type Celestial, Fey, or Fiend (player’s choice)
• Has no free will, it is completely obedient
• It acts independently in combat on it’s own initiative
• It can act normally in combat except that it cannot attack
• You can communicate with it telepathically if it is within 100 ft of you
• A familiar can deliver a touch attack cast by it’s master so long as it’s within 100 ft of it’s master

In my estimation, there are two main ways to obtain a familiar in D&D 5E. The first is to summon a spirit manifesting in an animal form using the Find Familiar spell. This method is the subject of my discussion here.

The second method to obtain a familiar (the “familiar variants” in the Monster Manual) is to convince or negotiate with an intelligent tiny creature to follow and support you as a familiar. This discussion won’t be addressing the second method further because a familiar obtained this way would simply function like an independent creature, and doesn’t have the boundaries imposed by the Find Familiar spell outlined above. This effectively makes them pets if they’re dumb critters, or servants if they have intelligence.

Now to our discussion on the Find Familiar spell…

Modifying the Spell

I want more creature options than the spell gives me
Changing core material can be tricky because it’s easy to transform the thing you’re changing into something more powerful, and that can overshadow higher level options.

According to the spell, the companion may take a form from a selection of tiny beasts (or a small beast in the case of the octopus) from the Monster Manual Appendix A (MM p. 317). A basic examination of these choices suggest that their special abilities and advantages do not exceed simple sensory or movement advantages such as blindsight or a fly or swim speed. Should a DM be asked to consider alternative forms for a familiar summoned via this spell, it would seem reasonable to use other options from the MM Appendix A that adhere to these constraints. A creature that normally has pack tactics, for example, would not be a reasonable alternative choice, but a badger with no additional special abilities might be. What is appropriate is ultimately up to the DM, but sticking to tiny creatures that fit within this criteria keeps the choices balanced.

I want to change the constraints of the spell
As you will see when we start discussing combat, the Find Familiar spell is not intended as a spell with combat in mind. We need to remember that this is a level 1 spell. The main constraints in the spell: the limited animal options, cannot attack, and the 100 ft range limitation of some features; all of these keep the spell within that level 1 power envelope. Any improvement or removal of these constraints would raise the power level of the spell.

Casting at a higher level slot may seem to be a reasonable trade off for removing constraints, but the challenge here is that the spell is not one with a temporary effect. The constraint-free familiar remains indefinitely, while loss of a higher spell slot would only be an inconvenience for a day. Following a long rest, the spell slot would be available again. Requiring a character to cast the spell at a higher level would only impose a level prerequisite on the caster to get stronger familiars with less constraints, especially since the 1 hour casting time means the spell is most likely going to be cast during downtime or non-adventuring days. Removing constraints and adding more powerful creature options also starts to overlap with the 3rd level Conjure Animals spell, which is detrimental to the usefulness of the Conjure Animals spell.

To me, it’s quite clear why this is a level 1 spell and therefore why the constraints are written the way they are. I’d personally recommend against altering the constraints of the spell. If you want to have stronger familiars, it would be less work to simply consider using the familiar variant method rather than modifying the spell.

But Warlocks get some changes
Pact of the Chain Warlocks (PHB p. 107) obtain the Find Familiar spell at 3rd level and it affords some additional perks worth mentioning. In addition to the normal animal forms, the Warlock may instead choose an imp, pseudodragon, quasit, or sprite. Also, as a kind of extension for the ability to deliver a touch attack through the familiar, a Warlock can forgo one of their attacks to permit the familiar to attack as a reaction on the Warlock’s turn.

The new familiar options are clearly more powerful than the basic options but it’s important to know that they are there to provide the Warlock class with more options and power as part of the features they gain when leveling up. It’s also important to note that even though the Warlock enjoys a few extra perks with the spell, all of the original constraints are unchanged. Their familiars still can’t perform the attack action on their own turn.

Familiars in Combat

The quick answer to what a familiar can do to directly assist in combat is: very little. Let’s explore what they can and cannot do in combat.

The attack action and dealing damage
As the spell explicitly states, the familiar cannot attack. What this means is that, on the familiars turn, it cannot take the attack action, it cannot perform an attack of any kind. If a player wishes the familiar to contribute to the damage output in combat in any way, they should first make sure they’re on the same page with their DM before any combat happens. A tiny creature could, for example, tip a heavy object off of a high shelf onto an enemy below causing damage. Whether that is considered an item interaction or an attack is up for debate. Talk to your DM about being creative with dealing damage while not using the attack action. As for using the attack action, your familiar is out of luck.

The other actions in combat
Without attack as an option, we are essentially left with the remaining combat actions of: cast a spell, dash, disengage, dodge, help, hide, ready, search, and use an object. Casting a spell simply does not apply since none of the familiar choices have innate casting; including the Warlock’s special familiar options. The quasit comes close with it’s scare ability, but that is not characterized as a spell in the stat block per se. If you are considering house variants for familiar companions where spellcasting familiars are available via the Find Familiar spell, DMs and players should discuss the following: is any negative spell cast against a character considered an attack? Fear effects included. It would be far fetched to cast a spell on a character which will have them run away in terror, and not consider that an assault. Simply because a spell does not cause physical harm, or is not identified by the key word “attack”, doesn’t mean it’s not an attack. Again, talk to your DM and make sure you’re on the same page.

The action I’m most interested in looking at is the help action (PHB p. 192). There seems to be the most misunderstanding around what can be done using the help action. We should start by looking at the source text:

When you take the Help action, the creature you aid gains advantage on the next ability check it makes to perform the task you are helping with, provided that it makes the check before the start of your next turn.

Alternatively, you can aid a friendly creature in attacking a creature within 5 feet of you. …

Player’s Handbook page 192 “Actions in Combat”, 5th Edition, Wizards of the Coast

The rules as written are very clear in this regard. The help action benefits one designated character for a pre-determined task for a limited window of time. It is performed as an action on the helping creature’s turn. Some sources have assumed that a familiar using the help action assists in attacking a target creature instead of what is actually written and therefore the help will work for whoever attacks the foe next. But this is clearly not the case. The help action assists only the creature you designate, and in the case of an attack, it further describes what targets the help may be effective against. This interpretation of the help action is probably attributable to an overly casual reading of the rule. An important rule that is rarely included in these online discussions is the “Working Together” section (PHB p. 175) which says:

Sometimes two or more characters team up to attempt a task. The character who’s leading the effort — or the one with the highest ability modifier — can make an ability check with advantage, reflecting the help provided by the other characters. In combat, this requires the help action (see chapter 9, “Combat”).

A character can only provide help if the task is one that he or she could attempt alone. …

Player’s Handbook page 175 “Working Together”, 5th Edition, Wizards of the Coast

It would have been very useful if we were reminded of that last sentence on page 192 which discusses the help action in combat. The fact that these rules are almost twenty pages apart in the PHB makes understanding this important limitation of the help action easily missed. Not only can a familiar not attack, it can’t even use the help action to assist an attack simply because it’s incapable of performing the attack action all by itself. This goes even further, because even though the octopus familiar has some special abilities around grapple, they can’t do this to help their master simply because grappling and shoving in combat are performed in combat via the attack action.

Using the help action, a familiar could assist with some useful actions depending on the chosen form of the familiar, however those actions will generally be skill based. An eagle could assist with Wisdom (Perception) checks with respect to spotting something in the environment, for example. So long as the familiar is capable of doing the action themselves, they can assist another with the same kind of action.

So can a familiar help with an attack in combat at all?
Yes.

That touch attack thing (and the Warlock attacking thing for good measure)
The Find Familiar spell permits the caster an interesting ability. In a combat turn, the Wizard or Warlock can cast a touch spell and have the familiar deliver it. The familiar uses it’s reaction and delivers the spell according to the rules.

This may have been obvious from the text, though not explicitly stated: The casting of the touch spell and delivery of the spell to the target happens on the caster’s turn, since it’s the caster’s, and not the familiar’s action. This means that the familiar isn’t making an attack action; they are delivering someone else’s attack.

This is the same case for the Pact of the Chain Warlock’s ability to forgo one of their attacks in an attack action and let their familiar attack a target. On the Warlock’s attack action, the familiar delivers an attack using the familiar’s reaction in the process. Though in this case, it’s the familiar’s attack stat block that’s used for the attack, not the Warlock’s. Interestingly, if the Warlock has multiple attacks in a single attack action, they give up only one of those attacks to their familiar and can use the remainder following the normal rules.

There are three observations that we can make here about the delivery of a touch spell and the Pact of the Chain Warlock’s ability. First, if the familiar used it’s reaction for the round, delivering more than one attack in this way in any given round would not be possible since the familiar must use it’s reaction to deliver the spell or attack. Second, if the turn order was such that the target of the intended attack moved out of range or sight of the familiar before the caster’s turn started, there would be no opportunity for the familiar to move (since the feature is used on the caster’s turn) in order to deliver the spell or complete an attack. Third, in no way do these abilities allow a summoned familiar to make an attack using the familiar’s own action. Therefore this does not remove the general constraint that the familiar cannot attack on its own turn, and consequently it still cannot provide assistance to a friendly creature’s attack via the help action.

Wait, go back to the bit where a familiar can help in combat…
One word… Rogues. Rogues get their sneak attack against a target if they have advantage against said target (which a familiar can’t provide via the help action), or when their target has an enemy within 5 ft. of them. What this means is: as long as the familiar is an enemy of the Rogue’s target, it’s within 5 ft. of the target, the familiar is not incapacitated, and the familiar is not rolling at disadvantage against the target; then the Rogue will get their sneak attack bonus.

That’s it.

Conclusion

The Find Familiar spell clearly does not intend for the familiar to be a major asset in combat. Mechanically speaking, this makes sense since level 1 combat spells don’t generally start long before combat, produce a damaging effect throughout combat, and persist indefinitely after combat concludes. They also don’t effectively give extra attacks in combat. Level one spells also don’t tend to add to the player’s action economy, they tend to take away from it. From my point of view, players should use this spell with the understanding that they aren’t gaining an ally in battle, they’re just gaining an ally. And DMs would be well justified in supporting this point of view.

This is a good example where if Wizards of the Coast added just a little more clarifying text in a key location or two, it would be easier for the players to understand what’s going on. This is not me being a sour critic though. I am pleased to say that rules situations like this are far less frequent than what I encountered in 3rd edition and for that I’m thankful. It’s an interesting exercise to look at a question posed by multiple people and try to find an answer to a question many have asked. Ultimately this exercise makes for stronger DMs, and better (more reasonable maybe?) players.