D&D 5E Intelligent Familiars

ZenBear · Jul 12, 2019

One of my PCs is playing a Pact of the Raven Queen Warlock, but with a slight twist. His Sentinel Raven is actually his sister; both were polymorphed into ravens to escape slavery by undead pirates, and years later a wandering Druid attempted to polymorph them back but due to some Raven Queen shenanigans the PC was transformed into a Kenku with amnesia and his sister remained in bird form.

The issue this creates is that his raven is no longer only INT 2. Normally, scouting with the raven is limited to 100 ft. since beyond that the Warlock can't see and hear through its eyes/ears and it can't receive telepathic commands. With a smart bird, it can now fly around and scout whatever it wants and then report back intelligently. In order to rein this in, I determined that the bird's intelligence fades beyond 100 ft. and it becomes INT 2 again. My player has been chaffing at this limitation for a while now, and wants to eliminate it at later levels.

I'm curious what others think about this issue. Considering a Pact of the Chain Warlock can have an intelligent familiar with invisibility as early as level 3, would it be a problem to grant the Sentinel Raven of a Raven Queen Tomelock expanded range at level 6? Perhaps make it a mile distance, or even unlimited so long as it's on this plane of existence?

Phazonfish · Jul 12, 2019

Personally I think the Sentinel Raven being intelligent is enough of a free buff, and the sister's intelligence being tied to the brother makes for more interesting story possibilities, but that's just my opinion. In terms of balance the extended range probably won't break your game on its own.

Kobold Stew · Jul 12, 2019

I would just let the Familiar have an intelligence of 11 and be done with it (cf. the Int for an Imp).

The idea of a Kenku with a Raven familiar is awesome, and because of the family relationship, the player will (should) be reluctant to just use the familiar for target practice -- the opportunity to create the dynamic would make for interesting stories.

BlivetWidget · Jul 12, 2019

ZenBear said:
With a smart bird...

Birds are already smart. Have you seen the shenanigans a raven can get up to? Go watch some youtube videos of ravens solving puzzles and stuff. A recent study at Lund University (Sweden) determined that ravens have a higher IQ than chimpanzees. I've read articles in National Geographic describing them as smarter than human children as well (anecdotally described, but in fitting with the Lund findings). Now, we could argue over the meaning of IQ, but the takeaway point here is that corvids are not dumb. In fact, I'd argue that most animals are far far more intelligent than most people give them credit for. The only reason people think animals are dumb is because we can't communicate with them. And you know, we haven't found a way to speak their language either, despite our significant advantage of written language (more on that in a moment).

Point the second... everyone who constantly claims familiars have to be dumb because of their low INT score is forgetting that in 5E, what we colloquially refer to as "intelligence" is not bound up entirely in INT: it is split between INT and WIS. INT is the "book smarts" side of intelligence, and the way it's handled by the rules it should have perhaps been called KNO(wledge). This is where humans excel, because we developed social systems that allow us to build on the knowledge of those who came before us. The other aspect of intelligence is WIS, and a number of beasts in the familiar category have WIS higher than the average human. Right on, I say.

Cap'n Kobold · Jul 12, 2019

ZenBear said:
I'm curious what others think about this issue. Considering a Pact of the Chain Warlock can have an intelligent familiar with invisibility as early as level 3, would it be a problem to grant the Sentinel Raven of a Raven Queen Tomelock expanded range at level 6? Perhaps make it a mile distance, or even unlimited so long as it's on this plane of existence?

Does the character still get to resurrect his sister by spending 10 GP and an hour any time that she dies?

ZenBear · Jul 12, 2019

Cap'n Kobold said:
Does the character still get to resurrect his sister by spending 10 GP and an hour any time that she dies?

The Sentinel Raven just pops back at the end of a short or long rest, no ritual or gp required.

Swarmkeeper · Jul 12, 2019

ZenBear said:
One of my PCs is playing a Pact of the Raven Queen Warlock, but with a slight twist. His Sentinel Raven is actually his sister; both were polymorphed into ravens to escape slavery by undead pirates, and years later a wandering Druid attempted to polymorph them back but due to some Raven Queen shenanigans the PC was transformed into a Kenku with amnesia and his sister remained in bird form.

The issue this creates is that his raven is no longer only INT 2. Normally, scouting with the raven is limited to 100 ft. since beyond that the Warlock can't see and hear through its eyes/ears and it can't receive telepathic commands. With a smart bird, it can now fly around and scout whatever it wants and then report back intelligently. In order to rein this in, I determined that the bird's intelligence fades beyond 100 ft. and it becomes INT 2 again. My player has been chaffing at this limitation for a while now, and wants to eliminate it at later levels.

I'm curious what others think about this issue. Considering a Pact of the Chain Warlock can have an intelligent familiar with invisibility as early as level 3, would it be a problem to grant the Sentinel Raven of a Raven Queen Tomelock expanded range at level 6? Perhaps make it a mile distance, or even unlimited so long as it's on this plane of existence?

Cool concept!

So, more accurately, the Raven Queen is the Patron not the Pact. That said, what Pact did the player select? Blade, Chain, or Tome? If they are not yet 3rd Level to select a Pact, maybe you can tweak the Pact of the Chain to accommodate those wishes on the Sentinel Raven, rather than them being able to summon another familiar. Maybe consider implementing a limitation on the amount of times the Sentinel Raven can go beyond 100ft as a compromise - like a # of times per day equal to the PC's CHA modifier or 2x per short rest or something similar. Maybe the invisibility action can be used similarly (as if they chose imp or sprite as their familiar). Anyway, just some food for thought...

ZenBear · Jul 12, 2019

@DM Dave1: He picked Tome and grabbed the Chronicle of the Raven Queen invocation. He really likes divination style abilities, and I’m trying to lean into that. Sort of merging the Raven Queen and Odin themes.