Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 Ravenmancer Aug 21, 2014 22:32:15	Looking at the stats in the back of the book, Warlock Familiars are clearly superior to any other familiar.  They each get fancy attacks that do nice things.  And unlike Wizard's familiars, a Warlock can spend his action to command his to use those fancy attacks.   But they don't seem to scale in any way.   As far as other combat pets go:  Beast Master Rangers get to add their proficency bonus to their pet's AC, Attack, Damage, and proficent Skills & Saves.  And they get to increase their pet's HP as they level. Necromancer Wizards get to add their proficency to their minions' damage and also get a minor bump to health (In addition to getting to command multiple minions).   I'm hoping I'm missing something?  When using a familiar to make an attack, am I supposed to use my spell attack in place of the listed roll?  Should it use my spell dc's instead of the listed dc?   Otherwise they're nice when you first get them, but become quickly unreliable against any kind of real threat.  I might just be better off making a Book Warlock and learning Find Familiar as a ritual.
#2 TheLyons Aug 21, 2014 22:42:05	The one thing you are missing that I am aware of is that the warlock familiar dying is way less of a big deal than the hunter. You have to go through a whole new process with an animal, but with the warlock feature, it's a familiar so it never really dies and is very easy to get back. And the abilities that you can use a familiar for are more powerful with one of these familiars. Just think of how powerful your pixie is at level 3.
#3 Ravenmancer Aug 21, 2014 22:59:15	TheLyons wrote:
#4 Veleria Aug 22, 2014 0:36:38	Looks like it becomes a Skill/RP tool after a few levels. Combat seems right out.
#5 Kalani Aug 22, 2014 0:42:56	You aren't thinking outside the box... For one thing, even a wizards familiar is capable of using the Help action, which can be used to grant advantage on an attack roll (either for yourself, or an ally). Then there is the fact that a pixie makes an excellent scout. Sure, having your familiar make an attack action is not an optimal choice with increasing level, but there are so many more utility and combat uses for your familiar other than that one action.   The benefit of an invisible familiar cannot be understated.
#6 MonsterEnvy Aug 22, 2014 1:44:11	Plus a Beast master ranger has to spend his action to control his beast. While a Chain pact Warlock can do the same the familer acts on it's own turn as well,.
#7 Thoughts_My_Aim Aug 22, 2014 9:12:16	I'm not *entirely* sure what the complaint is here.   Warlocks devote one, starting-level class feature to getting a Familiar. This familiar is better than the familiars that Wizards can get merely by casting a commonly available spell once and worse than the companions that Rangers can get if they take the subclass devoted *entirely* to the effective use of a companion.   They devote more resources to their familiars than wizards, and less resources than rangers, and so their familiars are more powerful than those of wizards and less powerful than those of rangers. That seems pretty much correct to me.
(Reply to #7) Ashrym	Thoughts_My_Aim wrote:
#9 Dastion Aug 22, 2014 9:29:49	An invisible familiar delivering a touch spell for you can be quite nasty.   All in all the Pact Boon options are nice flavor, you get three Cantrips, a nice familiar, or the ability to wield any weapon.  The latter is probably the most powerful, but it also requires splitting your stats and being in melee range.   Gaining the ability to use a Help/Hinder action each turn is pretty potent. You also get a much more flavorful pet.   My current warlock is a rethemed Fiend pact for the Hoard of the Dragon Queen adventure.  His Pact is with an Ancient Gold Dragon who has no wish to see Tiamat return, his Pact Boon is a Pduedodragon.  Warlocks are easily one of the more customizable classes.
#10 the_move Aug 25, 2014 15:19:20	Is the Imp any good? Or are Picies and Pseudodragons the clear winners?
#11 thewok Aug 25, 2014 15:57:32	The imp seems pretty good to me.  It can go invisible, hide itself in plain sight as a tiny animal, and do all the stuff familiars can do.  It also offers Darkvision to 120' for when you're using it to scout around, and it can see even through magical darkness.   The pseudodragon also is pretty good.  Pixie is not an option.  The last warlock-specific familiar is the quasit.  It's somewhat similar to the imp, but with Claws and a once-a-day Scare spell (with a pretty low save DC) instead of the Sting.
#12 BW0222 Aug 25, 2014 21:35:49	You aren't getting anything wrong... the familiars do not scale in any way.   However, you aren't thinking about it correctly.   Familiars are not combat machines. There main uses are outside of combat.   * Guarding. You can sleep and rest safely. * Scouting. They can scout ahead to avoid ambushes. * Spying. They can listen outside windows. * Messages. They can carry messages. * Other duties. They can drop items, make distractions to lead foes away, etc.   Yes, the warlock's alternate familiar isn't really that much better in combat -- while abilities and hp might let it last a couple of rounds at 3rd or 4th levels (assuming you waste your actions) -- their main strength is still that they are better at the above actions than normal familiars.   For example, if you want to spy on someone... an invisible raven (imp)  is better than a regular one. If you want to do guard duty, an pseudodragon's senses are much better than a hawk. If you want to deliver a message to inform the pirate lord that you sank his ship an invisible sprite is better than sending your hawk. The warlock's special familiars are also far more likely to survive the round or two against a mid-level oponent in order to flee. A hawk can easily be shoot down with an arrow. An sprite... not so easily.
#13 Dastion Aug 26, 2014 1:56:45	Can an Imp/Sprite activate a Wand?
#14 Veleria Aug 26, 2014 3:01:54	I am not clear on magic items in this edition yet but to my understanding wands have class requirements. The familiars do not meet those class requirements in most cases. If I understand correctly a fighter cannot use a wand for the same reason, familiars can manipulate non class specific objects like any other creature however.
#15 Mephi1234 Aug 26, 2014 3:40:09	One shouldn't underestimate the sprite's ability to read emotions.   That's like having a high Insight rating for free, which works really nicely with all the Charisma skills you get.  The bow's chance to put someone to sleep/poison could be good against mooks and minions, saving you a spell of your own.   Pseudodragon gets magic resistance, telepathy, and super keen senses; it works great when combined with your own Telepathy on the GOO pact, or supplement another path with the option of telepathy.   The quasit... is the only one I think is actively worse than another familiar, the imp.   Once a day Scare (DC 10, grant disadvantage if in sight of target) effect in exchange for the loss of free Devil's Sight, which lets the imp (and you, by association if its with you) see through magical darkness, and the loss of fire immunity.    I just don't think Scare as a combat ability really makes up for that loss.
(Reply to #15) 1eejit	Mephi1234 wrote:
#17 the_move Aug 26, 2014 7:55:47	The Imp at least has got magical resistance like the pseudodragon along 2 immunities (fire (so he withstands fireballs and other area fire spells), poison), 60ft speed while being a flying raven (beats the quasit in that case), resistances and more hit points than the other 3. The quasit's lightning resistance is worth less while having only 7 hitpoints, making him take up to 13 lightning damage from a single source without dying, while the imp and has got 10 hp, so he can take up to 19 cold/slashing/piercing/bludgeoning damage from a single source without dying. And how many silvered weapons do you actually encounter? The chances of encountering magic weapons is higher...and both, quasit and imp are not resisting those.   But there is something else about the imp...since he is skilled in Deception, Insight and Persuasion it looks like he is the most communicative of all four. This could maybe lead to dynamics, which provide lots of fun for the DM and the player, if played out. So he's maybe more of a "flavourful" familiar rather than being a skill monkey.
#18 Ravenmancer Aug 26, 2014 10:30:53	I have no doubt that Familiars are good for non-combat purposes*.  It just seems to me that the "Command your Familiar to attack" option seems like a trap.  It's only usefull against weaker threats.   With the lack of scaling and therefore the reluctance to use them in any kind of dangerous environment at higher levels, I'm unconvinced that having an Imp is as good as going Book pact, getting the extra Cantrips that come with that, and getting the Invocation that lets me learn a Find Familiar (and any other ritual in the game)  and then just summoning a fiendish Raven.  The RP will be pretty much the same, but the character will be slightly more effective.       Though I do admit I like the idea of having an Imp trashtalking my character while playing lookout while I'm trying to pick a lock or whatnot.   *Pseudodragon may have better Perception than a Hawk at first, but the Hawk's goes up when the Ranger gets stronger while the Pseudodragon may start to let more stealthy threats sneak by.  Which is a problem with all of the Familiars' skills.  Bounded Accuracy makes this less of a problem, but any skill check made by a Familiar is basically just a second roll for the Warlock at penalty.  Unless there's a consequence for failure; in which case you don't generally want your Familiar to even try.
#19 mellored Aug 26, 2014 10:51:51	Chain warlocks can get hold monster at-will at level 15.     That's pretty potent.
#20 thewok Aug 26, 2014 11:51:03	mellored wrote:
#21 Veleria Aug 26, 2014 11:48:05	Quasit can grant the poisoned condition when it attacks which is very powerful. In addition it can turn into a bat so it gain blindsight 60 which is not far behind the Imp's 120.
#22 the_move Aug 26, 2014 12:26:04	Those monsters, which can be hit reliably by the quasit may also die right away, while tougher ones, where the poisoned condition may come in handy may even get out untouched, and crush the little fellow afterwards.
#23 Veleria Aug 26, 2014 14:22:37	Quasit can ready an action to turn invisible after it attacks if you are worried about it being targeted. after 5th level or so it will rarely hit on an attack like you mentioned so it will be best put to work handlin trinkets/locks/mcguffins while the party deals with threats or to use the help action for the party rogue.