Hey, so I know that you generally don't want to put your familiar directly in harm's way, but how much damage do familiars do with melee attacks? The familiar entry mentions that they CAN attack, but I don't see anything about their natural attacks or whatever.
Hey, so I know that you generally don't want to put your familiar directly in harm's way, but how much damage do familiars do with melee attacks? The familiar entry mentions that they CAN attack, but I don't see anything about their natural attacks or whatever.
The only viable way I can see to deal any damage with a familiar in melee combat is to pick up your familiar and use it as an improvised weapon. As far as I can tell, the melee attack is only for things like grapple checks as the familiar has no way to deal any damage.
Note a familiar with Manual Dexterity could technically wield a weapon but with no str or stats for tiny weapon this is all in houserule territory.
Hey, so I know that you generally don't want to put your familiar directly in harm's way, but how much damage do familiars do with melee attacks? The familiar entry mentions that they CAN attack, but I don't see anything about their natural attacks or whatever.The only viable way I can see to deal any damage with a familiar in melee combat is to pick up your familiar and use it as an improvised weapon.
Gives new meaning to the phrase "bird club"...
Familiar attacks are currently undefined.
I suspect that even if one day they are defined, a familiar's combat ability will be very, very limited. Just look at animal companions.
I just find it odd that they would bother mentioning that they can attack and then never mention damage or anything else. It's not a big deal, but I guess I'll just add this to the long list of mistakes and puzzling bits in the 2e Rulebook.
First, that's an amazing thread title. Second, I asked this myself a while ago.
Sadly, it doesn't seem familiars can combat in P2E. Wizards are finally safe from the feral street cat gangs. As are the mice swarms that will, inevitably, be the ones to eat everyone's eyes.
First, that's an amazing thread title. Second, I asked this myself a while ago.
Sadly, it doesn't seem familiars can combat in P2E. Wizards are finally safe from the feral street cat gangs. As are the mice swarms that will, inevitably, be the ones to eat everyone's eyes.
Thanks! It's from an episode of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia where a bird eats a lawyer's eye.
And that's a bummer, man. One of my players wants an octopus familiar and I was looking forward to him tossing it into people's surprised faces.
Thanks! It's from an episode of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia where a bird eats a lawyer's eye.First, that's an amazing thread title. Second, I asked this myself a while ago.
Sadly, it doesn't seem familiars can combat in P2E. Wizards are finally safe from the feral street cat gangs. As are the mice swarms that will, inevitably, be the ones to eat everyone's eyes.
You could also give your familiar one of these: Bestial Mutagen.
But to graystone's point...stats? proficiency?
And that's a bummer, man. One of my players wants an octopus familiar and I was looking forward to him tossing it into people's surprised faces.
I'm fairly certain your player's PC could still do that. XD
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And that's a bummer, man. One of my players wants an octopus familiar and I was looking forward to him tossing it into people's surprised faces.I'm fairly certain your player's PC could still do that. XD
It can do a lot of damage if you strap some bombs to it first...
Player: So, I throw my octopus familiar into Bad Bob's face.
DM: Er... Alright, I think this will count as an improvised weapon. Make a ranged attack roll at -2.
Player (after rolling dice): I hit! What happens?
DM: The octopus grabs Bad Bob's face and he's... erm... distracted. Count him as being flat-footed until he can get it off. Let's see... on his turn, he tries to break the grapple. He makes an escape attempt with an unarmed attack against... your athletics DC.
DM (rolls dice): Oh, he failed his escape attempt! It's just one action, so he can try again at -4, and again at -8... Oh, two more failures! Your familiar is really keeping him occupied.
Working within the rules for throwing things, grapples and escaping from grapples, I think this works! The only doubt I have is whether, when the octopus hits, it has to make a grapple attempt. If so, it could be the master's Athletics check against the target's Fort DC.
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your athletics DC
That's be your level ONLY, not your athletics.
"Its Perception, Acrobatics, and Stealth modifiers are equal to your level plus your spellcasting ability modifier (Charisma if you don’t have one, unless otherwise specified). If it attempts an attack roll or other skill check, it uses your level as its modifier. It doesn’t have or use its own ability modifiers and can never benefit from item bonuses."
THough that does bring up the question. (does familiars have ability scores? if so..)
No, it has no stats.
"It doesn’t have or use its own ability modifiers and can never benefit from item bonuses."