Find Familiar

You uplift a specific creature and gain its service as a magical familiar. You must carefully choose which creature to make your familiar. Recommended creatures are bats, cats, crabs, frogs (toads), hawks, lizards, owls, poisonous snakes, rats, ravens, large sea horses, large spiders (not a good choice but doable), or weasels. Essentially any small semi-intelligent animal. The animal must be tameable (taught more than a few commands.) The familiar will have the general statistics it started with. However, its intelligence will be raised to a point just at the sentience line. The familiar will become self-aware and be generally loyal to the wizard. The familiar gains a basic understanding of one language from the spell caster. The familiar does not automatically gain the ability to speak unless it already could speak or its species has the ability to form humanoid sounds. Your familiar acts independently of you, but it is compelled to always obey your commands. In combat, it rolls its own initiative and acts on its own turn. A familiar can attack the same as the type of creature it is as well as take other actions as normal. If the familiar takes damage the spell caster it serves takes 1 hit point. When the familiar drops to 0 hit points, it becomes unconscious and/or may die. If the familiar dies dramatically (from combat or being killed by force), the spell caster it serves will take 1/2 of the creature's full hit points in mental backlash. If it dies peacefully (gentle blood draining, old age, or because the caster is gently euthanizing it with drugs or similar) the caster will take the least of either 1/4 of the creature's full hit points or dropping to 1 hit point. When the familiar dies, the bonding headpiece releases from the creature. If the creature did not have serious head wounds, the bonding headpiece may be cleansed, repaired, and reset for another similar creature for 1/4 of its original creation costs plus a one-hour ritual with cleansing herbs to remove the prior spell's residual imprint. 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 familiar and spell caster can sense the direction and general distance of each other. Distances are not precise. For example: close if within a quarter-mile, near if within less than a couple of miles, far if within 20 miles. If more than 20 miles separate the familiar and caster they cannot sense each other and feel the loss. You can’t have more than one familiar at a time. If you cast this spell while you already have a familiar, you instead break the bond with the prior creature and create a bond with a new creature. In this case, the wizard and prior familiar experience a painful mental backlash as with a peaceful death, except the prior familiar is damaged (possible killed) by taking the same damage the spell caster takes. There is no damage to the new familiar or headpieces in doing this. The prior familiar's headpiece lifts out of the creature's head leaving behind a bloody wound that will scar. That prior familiar can never again be uplifted. Finally, when you cast a spell with a range of touch, your familiar can deliver the spell as if it had cast the spell. Your familiar must be within 100 feet of you, and it must use its reaction to deliver the spell when you cast it. If the spell requires an attack roll, you use the creature's attack modifier for the roll.

Backstage Pass Content

GM's Notes

Effect

Creates a sentient helpful follower for the spell caster.

Side/Secondary Effects

Some damage bleeds through to the spell caster from the familiar (1 HP per successful hit of 2 hit points or more). This creates a magical artifact that may be captured/stolen.

Source

Player's Handbook, online at DnD 5e Wiki - Spells - Find Familiar

Difference from 5e

Source: Player's Handbook
1st-level conjuration (ritual)
Casting Time: 1 hour
Range: ~~10 feet~~ touch / 100 feet
Components: V, S, M (10 ~~gp worth of charcoal, incense, and herbs that must be consumed by fire in a brass brazier.~~ Specific components must be tailored to match the chosen animal. At a minimum, the spell caster must have: the creature to become the familiar, ~5 gold crowns in high-quality small gems, ~1 gold crown of thin silver/gold/platinum wire or chain, charcoal, incense, and herbs to affect the chosen creature. The headpiece must be crafted ahead of time to fit the creature positioning the gems accordingly to contain the spell.)
Duration: Instantaneous
You gain the service of a familiar, a spirit that takes an animal form you choose: bat, cat, crab, frog (toad), hawk, lizard, octopus, owl, poisonous snake, fish (quipper), rat, raven, sea horse, spider, or weasel. Appearing in an unoccupied space within range, the familiar has the statistics of the chosen form, though it is a celestial, fey, or fiend (your choice) instead of a beast. You uplift a specific creature and gain its service as a magical familiar. You must carefully choose which creature to make your familiar. Recommended creatures are bats, cats, crabs, frogs (toads), hawks, lizards, owls, poisonous snakes, rats, ravens, large sea horses, large spiders (not a good choice but doable), or weasels. Essentially any small semi-intelligent animal. The animal must be tameable (taught more than a few commands.) The familiar will have the general statistics it started with. However, its intelligence will be raised to a point just at the sentience line. The familiar will become self-aware and be generally loyal to the wizard. The familiar gains a basic understanding of one language from the spell caster. The familiar does not automatically gain the ability to speak unless it already could speak or its species has the ability to form humanoid sounds. Your familiar acts independently of you, but it always obeys your commands. In combat, it rolls its own initiative and acts on its own turn. ~~A familiar can’t attack, but it can take other actions as normal.~~ A familiar can attack the same as the type of creature it is as well as take other actions as normal. If the familiar takes damage the spell caster it serves takes 1 hit point. ~~When the familiar drops to 0 hit points, it disappears, leaving behind no physical form. It reappears after you cast this spell again.~~ When the familiar drops to 0 hit points, it becomes unconscious and/or may die. If the familiar dies dramatically (from combat or being killed by force), the spell caster it serves will take 1/2 of the creature's full hit points in mental backlash. If it dies peacefully (gentle blood draining, old age, or because the caster is gently euthanizing it with drugs or similar) the caster will take the least of either 1/4 of the creature's full hit points or dropping to 1 hit point. When the familiar dies, the bonding headpiece releases from the creature. If the creature did not have serious head wounds, the bonding headpiece may be cleansed, repaired, and reset for another similar creature for 1/4 of its original creation costs plus a one-hour ritual with cleansing herbs to remove the prior spell's residual imprint. 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. As an action, you can temporarily dismiss your familiar. It disappears into a pocket dimension where it awaits your summons. Alternatively, you can dismiss it forever. As an action while it is temporarily dismissed, you can cause it to reappear in any unoccupied space within 30 feet of you. The familiar and spell caster can sense the direction and general distance of each other. Distances are not precise. For example: close if within a quarter-mile, near if within less than a couple of miles, far if within 20 miles. If more than 20 miles separate the familiar and caster they cannot sense each other and feel the loss. You can’t have more than one familiar at a time. ~~If you cast this spell while you already have a familiar, you instead cause it to adopt a new form. Choose one of the forms from the above list. Your familiar transforms into the chosen creature.~~ If you cast this spell while you already have a familiar, you instead break the bond with the prior creature and create a bond with a new creature. In this case, the wizard and prior familiar experience a painful mental backlash as with a peaceful death, except the prior familiar is damaged (possible killed) by taking the same damage the spell caster takes. There is no damage to the new familiar or headpieces in doing this. The prior familiar's headpiece lifts out of the creature's head leaving behind a bloody wound that will scar. That prior familiar can never again be uplifted. Finally, when you cast a spell with a range of touch, your familiar can deliver the spell as if it had cast the spell. Your familiar must be within 100 feet of you, and it must use its reaction to deliver the spell when you cast it. If the spell requires an attack roll, you use your attack modifier for the roll.

Login or Create a Free Account to Pick your level:

Create Free Account

Follow this world to unlock hidden bonus content!

Material Components

10 gold crowns in materials are required. Specific components must be tailored to match the chosen animal. At a minimum, the spell caster must have: the creature to become the familiar, ~5 gold crowns in high-quality small gems, ~1 gold crown of thin silver/gold/platinum wire or chain, charcoal, incense, and herbs to affect the chosen creature. The headpiece must be crafted ahead of time to fit the creature positioning the gems accordingly to contain the spell. Components: V, S, M (10 GP worth of charcoal, incense, and herbs that must be consumed by fire in a brass brazier)

Gestures & Ritual

Next to the chosen creature, set up the readied headpiece and component. In a brass brazier light the coal, while channeling the energies hold the headpiece, and burn the herbs and incense in an even manner to cause light smoke to surround the chosen creature and wizard throughout the spell. An assistant may be used to feed the brazier. While enchanting the words place and hold the headpiece on the creature until the spell takes binding the headpiece and creature.

Related Discipline

natural world

Related School

conjuration

Effect Duration

As long as the creature and spell caster lives. If the wizard dies, the creature dies. Warning, the wizard will feel pain and suffer some injuries inflicted on the familiar.

Effect Casting Time

ritual (1 hour)

Range

touch

Level

1st

Applied Restriction

Familiar creatures cannot be sentient (self-aware) nor significantly more powerful than the spell caster. Magical creatures cannot be used as familiars.

Spell Lists
Wizard