My group just converted over to 5e. They are completing KotB. This session was spent mapping the entire temple complex, without stepping foot inside!
Even bypassing closed doors by sending the familiar to a pocket dimension, then, bringing them back on the other side of the door.
Your rat familiar is noticed? Big deal. Run him under the bed then disappear him into the pocket dimension. No one is the wiser. Your spider familiar dies? Who cares! You lose nothing. Summon another one, AT WILL.
Don't get me started on casting Touch range spells through your familiar!
</RANT>
Anyone else share my frustration with this? How have you dealt with it? I hate nerfing spells, but on first blush, Find Familiar is way OP.
First...WOW! I had *no idea* it was that...borked! I've only have one player choose Find Familiar as a spell. I'll have to do a serious read of it...so far when we have encountered something in 5e that was "not to our liking/style", we just 5e'erize the 1e or Hackmaster4e spell/ability/rule. If there is one thing that 5e does well, it's allow rather drastic changes to stuff without the whole system instantly imploding like 3.x/PF/4e.
Some parts of 5E I love, but I personally believe some of it makes you just say "Waaaah". Barbarian class with the bear totem. 1/2 damage on everything (when enraged) except psychic attacks. That's right 1/2 for fire, cold, poison, etc. Have a Barbarian wearing nothing, naked with shield a 20 Armor Class. The rage lasts during the whole combat too. I wonder how many kingdoms it would cost in 3.5 to acquire that perk?
I never knew about the familiar. Needs to be a homebrew rule I would say. Maybe tell the wizard if his familiar dies he looses one 1st level spell until he can recast it (next level). (yes im a mean DM)
There is a 100 foot limit on how far the familar can be from the PC and still have that communication link back.
Temporarily dismissing the familiar to a pocket waiting room is clever, but you can only bring it back out of the pocket dimension to an unoccupied point within 30 feet of the PC.
I'd say for that strategy to work, the PCs would have to follow it along the complex.
My group just converted over to 5e. They are completing KotB. This session was spent mapping the entire temple complex, without stepping foot inside!
OK, they are not stepping foot inside, but they have their tranced mage on a litter within 30 to 100 feet of the familiar? Seems pretty vulnerable to disruption.
Osmium wrote:
Who cares! You lose nothing. Summon another one, AT WILL.
At will? It has a one hour casting time - make some wandering monster rolls, or have the local patrols show up. If the mage stops casting to deal with the encounter, the casting has failed and he has to start again from zero in terms of time and material components.
Actually, in my campaign, the practical limit seems to be the 10gp cost in incense every time you cast it. I adjust all listed 1e treasures down by a factor of ten since PC's do not have training costs. At the old-school equivalent of 100gp per casting, Find Familiar is still a great tool for scouting, but the serious tradeoff of expense makes it not OP, IMO. _________________ My campaigns are multilayered tapestries upon which I texture themes and subject matter which, quite frankly, would simply be too strong for your hobbyist gamer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Mp7Ikko8SI
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