Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 destati May 22, 2015 8:07:25	I am a new DM to 5e. One of my Players wants to use his wizard Familiar, an Owl, to use the help action to give combat advantage to himself and the other players. By using the owls "flyby" ability the owl could fly in, use the help action, then fly out in one turn. he sent me a couple threads talking about this. in the players handbook page (175) states "In combat, This requires the Help action (see chapler 9)." The next paragraph continues to say  "A character can only provide help if the task is one that he or she could attempt alone." The spell Find Familiar page (240) says that   "A familiar can't attack, but it can take other actions as normal." I think because the Familiar cannot attack it could not help someone in combat. The player's argument is that   "I don't like that ruling for other reasons so a barbarian can't distract someone if a wizard is casting a spell on them?" Any help on this issue would be much appreciated
#2 mellored May 22, 2015 8:17:52	The barbarian can distract someone to give advantage on 1 attack (not disvatange on a save).  Any creature that has an action can.   But the barbarian is usully be much more effective by swinging his weapon. Owls on the other hand, don't do much damage when they attack, so they get much more benifit from helping a larger creature.   Same stradegy is true for enemies.  A kobold can distract you so the dragon has advantage on his attack.     That said, owls are also very squishy and cost money to resummon if they die.  So it's a risky option.  As well as the fact that it's only 1 attack and most people have multiple attacks.  It's helpful, but not nearly as potent as it sounds.
#3 destati May 22, 2015 8:29:09	Thanks for your response. Yeah any familiar will die in one hit. But no melee enemies will be able to hit it unless it readies an action. Also my player is convinced that attacking the owl would be very dumb for the enemies to do and that they should always be attacking players, which might be true in most cases. So if i kill his familiar he will take it as me punishing him for using it.
#4 mellored May 22, 2015 8:37:48	destati wrote:
#5 jaelis May 22, 2015 9:07:13	destati wrote:
#6 BoldItalic May 22, 2015 9:37:48	destati wrote:
#7 durntaur May 22, 2015 9:42:35	Yeah, the owl can attack on its own, the limitation on a player using it to attack mitigates the player receiving an extra attack just for having a familiar.   As for the ready an action to attack, you don't have to do it every time, but it would make sense. Be aware of the cost of summoning a familiar, but also remember that the player is getting something for his/her cost, advantage on an attack each round and, in the instance of an enemy readied attack, battlefield control through marginalizing an enemy action.
#8 destati May 22, 2015 10:12:40	Thanks for all the responses. It has been very helpful.