D&D 5E Is Find Familiar essentially "gain Advantage on all skill checks and attacks"?

[Zaruthustran]

The Find Familiar spell gives you a creature that rolls its own initiative. It can't attack* but can take other actions as normal.

One of those actions can be Help. This action gives advantage to the skill check of a creature, or can be used in combat to give Advantage to an attack.

This is the traditional role of the familiar; they're the classic Wizard's helper. 5E's Help rule makes them particularly useful. Especially considering that they can Help the entire party: help the Ranger track. Help the loremasters make knowledge (Arcana, Nature, History, etc.) checks. Help the Rogue search for and remove traps, or land sneak attacks (or attempt them at all; the familiar is an Enemy of the target and so triggers the ability if within 5').

Rogues will particularly enjoy the company of a Chain Pact Warlock's familiar. An imp, sprite, or quasit can turn invisible and sidle up to an enemy, allowing the Rogue to attempt a ranged sneak attack. Even if no arcane casters in the party have this spell (or want to share their familiars), I imagine some single-class Rogues will acquire access to Find Familiar via the Magic Initiate or Ritual Caster feats. Or dip three levels into Warlock. Vlad Taltos, anyone?

So, just thought I'd post this reminder of the Familiar's expanded utility in 5E, for consideration in future Skill-Success-based or Sneak Attack-based builds.

* Chain Pact warlocks can give up their attack to attack with their familiars. And of course any caster can cast touch spells through their own familiar. Beware petting strange cats; it could be the bearer of some Cleric's Inflict Wounds.

 

[green_destiny]

This is why my Warlock (Spy background) shifted from Pact of blade to Pact of chain. The in-game/utility benefits of having a familiar add loads of fun in my game play.

 

[Riley37]

In combat, a familiar can Help one action every round, if your DM is all about RAW.
A stricter DM might apply limits. Particularly regarding what enables sneak attacks, but that's another topic.

Out of combat, sure it can Help the ranger track, but you could do that yourself, without a familiar; does the familiar have abilities which enable it to Help in ways that its owner cannot? - Ah, it might have senses you don't.

The ability to dismiss and re-materialize a familiar seems abusable. For example, you're at a door. Send your familiar to Dimension X, then cause it to re-appear on the other side of the door, and now you can see what's on the other side of the door. Simple fix: only allow re-appearing at an unoccupied spot, within range, *that you can see*.

Can a familiar be dismissed while carrying a (small) item? If so, does the item drop, or go with the familiar? If the latter, then congratulations, you have a nigh undetectable way of smuggling small objects. Even with that, a familiar can steal any item that a rat or raven can reach and carry, so it could be very useful to some Rogues. If you cast Invisibility on the familiar, this widens the options even further; it's almost like Arcane Eye plus Mage Hand. (What other spells might be useful to cast on a familiar?)

Could a sufficiently high-level wizard use Polymorph on their familiar? If so, some forms may have quite useful Actions other than Attack. How about PTP (True Polymorph, made Permanent)?

 

[Zaruthustran]

Out of combat, sure it can Help the ranger track, but you could do that yourself, without a familiar; does the familiar have abilities which enable it to Help in ways that its owner cannot? - Ah, it might have senses you don't.

There's that, but there's also the Familiar's mobility. An Invisible familiar (a native, at-will ability of a Chain Warlock's Quasit, Imp, or Sprite) can accompany the otherwise-solo Rogue or Ranger. Or a flying or climbing character. Or be dismissed, then re-summoned by a Gaseous Formed caster. You're never alone if you have a Familiar, as you point out.

Can a familiar be dismissed while carrying a (small) item? If so, does the item drop, or go with the familiar? If the latter, then congratulations, you have a nigh undetectable way of smuggling small objects. Even with that, a familiar can steal any item that a rat or raven can reach and carry, so it could be very useful to some Rogues. If you cast Invisibility on the familiar, this widens the options even further; it's almost like Arcane Eye plus Mage Hand. (What other spells might be useful to cast on a familiar?)

The Imp and Quasit are humanoid, and much more capable at thievery than ravens and such. And they can snatch something then turn invisible.

 

[guachi]

I believe Help only works for the next attack, not all attacks that turn. It's still good, especially if you only HAVE one attack on your turn.

 

[Yunru]

The invisible familiars are particularly good in ranged parties containing Rogues. Sit it next to the enemy 5ft above its head and you fulfilled the criteria for Sneak Attack.

 

[Minsc]

Wow, I never thought it was that powerful!!

 

[DMCF]

I think a raven would be good at swooping in stealthily on NPCs that can see invis. More likely to convince your DM for adv on it's stealth.

 

[The Crimson Binome]

It's heavily open to DM intervention. The reason that an ally can help you to hit an enemy, or enable a rogue to sneak attack, is because it is able to provide a distraction. If your raven literally cannot attack the enemy, then I would argue that it does not meet the requirement to help you in those situations. Likewise, a raven can't help you with many skill checks, because it would not physically be able to assist you with many tasks (given that it is so small, and lacks hands).

 

[Vymair]

Our group's reading is the you can only aid for the purposes of given a character advantage if you also have the skill as well. So that means it's not blanket advantage for all skills from the familiar, but only the thing the familiar has skills in themself.