# Find Familiar (Variant) These rules provide a variant for familiars gained through the Find Familiar spell. Anyone able to cast the spell can benefit, though characters who have not learned the spell require the aid of a spell scroll. Casters who conjure and bind a familiar in this way forego the flexibility and relative lack of mechanical attachment of the standard Find Familiar rules for a fixed form that provides additional benefits and consequences if the familiar dies or is unbound. ### Conjuring To conjure and bind a new familiar, you must prepare for the spell and gather ingredients. During your travels, you must gather a sample of one of each of the following: animal fur, feathers, and scales. To begin the ritual, you must cast the 1st-level spell Find Familiar for its standard duration, providing its material components. Place each of the animal ingredients on the circle, two on the side and one last in the center. The ingredient positioned in the center denotes your favored category, granting you an increased chance to bind a familiar with a similar form. Finally, the blood of the caster, freshly drawn, must be presented to the summoning circle. At the end of the casting, a spirit is drawn to the circle, allowing you to influence its form. ### Form Selection Consult the [Approved Familiar Forms](#p3) lists, which you may amend by removing or adding any number of qualifying beasts, so long as each category retains a minimum of five creatures each. After the conjuring is complete, roll 3d100 and your GM will determine your three options, selecting randomly from your chosen ingredient's list if the roll is 75 and under or from either of the remaining lists if over 75. If you are a Warlock, you will be provided with a fourth option, thematic to your patron. If you’re not keen on randomness, you can just pick a form and you are guaranteed to receive it. \columnbreak ### Binding Presented with the option(s) for your familiar’s form, you must affirm your selection. Once done, you can only use Find Familiar to conjure this familiar form, until you unbind it. If you refuse, the conjuring spell completes unsuccessfully, expending the spell slot used to cast it as well as the material components, and leaving you without a familiar. You must go through the steps again to attempt another conjuring. ### Unbinding You may choose to Unbind your familiar conjured this way at any time; however, as your familiar maintains a close link to your own being, you suffer the following effects for 14 days: * Any attempts to conjure and bind a new familiar fail. The Find Familiar spell can only be cast normally within the confines of the spell’s original abilities. * At the end of a long rest, one first level spell slot is expended automatically. If you do not have any 1st-level spell slots remaining, you suffer psychic damage equal to your familiar’s maximum hit points. If you do not possess 1st-level spell slots, your hit point maximum is decreased by an amount equal to your familiar’s hit point maximum for the duration. After this period, any lingering effects end and you may attempt another conjuring. <div class='footnote'>Part 1 | Conjuring</div> \pagebreakNum # Features ## Familiar Usage While a familiar is bound to you, any further casting of Find Familiar can only conjure the same familiar in the same form. #### Senses 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. #### Combat Actions Your familiar acts independently of you, but it always obeys your commands. In combat, it acts your initiative, and you can choose each turn whether it acts immediately before or after you. A familiar take the Attack or Help action, but can also provoke opportunity attacks. #### Spellcasting Assistant 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. #### Altered Form As an action, when you are within 5ft of your familiar, you can alter your familiar’s form to become that of a tattoo of your choosing on a part of your body. As a free action, you can return your familiar to its normal form. Unlike the standard Find Familiar usage, you cannot temporarily dismiss your familiar with a pocket dimension. If you dismiss your familiar, you must cast Find Familiar again. \columnbreak #### Death and Incapacitation When your familiar drops to 0 hit points, it disappears, leaving behind no physical form. Any excess damage carries over to you. For example, if your familiar takes 10 damage and has only 1 hit point left, you take 9 damage and your maximum hit points are reduced by the same amount. The reduction to your maximum hit points remains until you cast Find Familiar again and cannot be cured by any other means. If you are incapacitated, your familiar acts on its own, focusing on protecting you and itself. Should you die, your companion continues to exist for 24 hours before returning to its home plane. ## Statistics After the ritual is complete, your GM will provide you with the statistics of the form you have chosen for your familiar. Its creature type is Fey and it can understand a language of your choice. If its Intelligence score is below 10, it becomes 10. Its hit points are equal to your character’s largest hit die or the hit points of its normal form, whichever is higher. Its CR is typically between 0 and 1/4. ### Unique Abilities Starting at 3rd level, your familiar gains a unique ability. This can take the form of a passive benefit for the caster or active ability or attack for the familiar. These abilities are thematically associated with the familiar’s form or personality. Your familiar gains an additional ability at 6th, 9th, 12th, 15th, 18th, and 20th level. <div class='footnote'>Part 2 | Features</div> \pagebreakNum # Appendix ### Approved Familiar Forms You may amend each category by removing or adding any number of qualifying beasts, so long as each category retains a minimum of five creatures each. Any additions must qualify as Beasts up to a size of Medium, but generally Small or Tiny. #### Scales Armadillo, Bush Viper, Chameleon, Cobra, Constrictor, Frilled Neck, Frog, Gecko, Goanna, Iguana, Newt, Pangolin, Poisonous Frog, Pseudo Dragon, Scorpion, Toad, Tortoise, Viper ##### Fur Badger, Bat, Beaver, Cat, Chipmunk, Coyote, Dingo, Dog, Donkey, Ferret, Fox, Flying Fox, Goat, Hedgehog, Hopping Mouse, Hyena, Jackal, Koala, Lemur, Lynx, Marmoset, Meerkat, Mouse, Ocelot, Otter, Platypus, Pig, Possum, Rabbit, Raccoon, Ram, Rat, Red Panda, Skunk, Sugar Glider, Thylacine, Warthog, Wild Dog, Wombat ##### Feathers Buzzard, Hawkfox, Cassowary, Chicken, Cockatoo, Crow, Dove, Duck, Eagle, Emu, Falcon, Flamingo, Hawk, Hummingbird, Kingfisher, Kookaburra, Macaw, Magpie, Owl, Peacock, Pelican, Phoenix, Pigeon, Puffin, Raven, Robin, Rooster, Toucan, Vulture \columnbreak ## Credits These variant rules are largely inspired by the vague and evocative musings of Dael Kingsmill, whose video on the subject can be found [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgKVm3q9vcI "Homebrew Wizard's Familiars || D&D with Dael Kingsmill"). <br> ##### Updated Apr 11, 2021 <div class='footnote'>Part 3 | Appendix</div>