Is using a familiar in combat to grant advantage a common tactic?

[UngeheuerLich]

It does have a literary precedent...

Yes. And I think an auto crit on a hard shot captures it way better than an easy hit for normal damage.
Also inspiration was used to counter the disadvantage.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Yes. And I think an auto crit on a hard shot captures it way better than an easy hit for normal damage.
Also inspiration was used to counter the disadvantage.

Depends if you want to house rule, or use the rules as they is. RAW the help action doesn't have a size limit. As DM, I ask the player to specify exactly how they are helping (applies to familiars, other players or anything else) then adjudicate if it would actually help or not.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

Depends if you want to house rule, or use the rules as they is. RAW the help action doesn't have a size limit. As DM, I ask the player to specify exactly how they are helping (applies to familiars, other players or anything else) then adjudicate if it would actually help or not.

I have no problems ruling that way. And I might allow it on occasion. Not every dragon has a missing scale.
I might even allow the familiar to spot such a missing scale from more than 5ft away and then fly there to mark the spot.
That will make the shot easier. Maybe advantage to counteract long range disadvantage. Advantage to counteract bad vision disadvantage.
In melee however when everyone can spot the missing scale it is just a normal attack roll to slip in a good strike. A rogue with advantage might have an easier time.

A familiar could distract the dragon to grant advantage. This might be just a use of the help action. I however can't see how that tactic should work constantly because the big dragon would just ignore the occassional flyby of a tiny familiar.

If the owl however stays close to the dragon dartibg around the eyes that is another matter. It's also different if your familiar is able to attack. When a warlock familiar actually pick on the dragon's eyes or if you use your familiar to deliver a ahocking grasp, you might see the dragon not ignoring the familiar at all.

Imagine following:
If you are fighting and a single fly is circling around you. I guess that is not really helping your foe get a hit in.
If the fly however sits on your nose and even tickles you (with shocking grasp), things are quite different.

 

[Satyrn]

Yes, it's quite common in my experience and that familiar is always an owl (or a reskinned owl).

It's called a bloodwing in my game.


Aside: I keep expecting someone will play a beastmaster with a pet thresher just to piss me off. I hate threshers.

 

[Mistwell]

Yeah. So the familar flies within 5ft on the dreagon and marks the spot of a missing scale. Then flys away. So everyone gets advantage on every sunsequent attack...

That's not what help does. It grants ONE ally advantage on the first attack roll they make against that foe. One person, one attack, that's all.

 

[Scott Graves]

Let me say, I hate pets in gaming. I am extra evil to pets, familiars doubly so. In the beginning game Lost Mine of Phalandvelersingsong I killed one mage's Owl three times. I went out of the way to target it and sure it used up attacks that might have hit a PC I enjoyed killing the owl. Once he sent it to scout a castle and I had a hungry goblin on the roof take a pot shot. It died. Fun times.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

That's not what help does. It grants ONE ally advantage on the first attack roll they make against that foe. One person, one attack, that's all.

Yes. And this is why I think it is inappropriate in this situation.
Maybe I need to explain it better so you can understand me... I have to work on myself...

 

[Autumn Bask]

Let me say, I hate pets in gaming. I am extra evil to pets, familiars doubly so. In the beginning game Lost Mine of Phalandvelersingsong I killed one mage's Owl three times. I went out of the way to target it and sure it used up attacks that might have hit a PC I enjoyed killing the owl. Once he sent it to scout a castle and I had a hungry goblin on the roof take a pot shot. It died. Fun times.

YOU MONSTER!

 

[UngeheuerLich]

Depends if you want to house rule, or use the rules as they is. RAW the help action doesn't have a size limit. As DM, I ask the player to specify exactly how they are helping (applies to familiars, other players or anything else) then adjudicate if it would actually help or not.

I really have a problem how the word "house rule" is used lately.
As far as I know a houserule is a change to an existing rule which is formally introduced to your players.

A situation where some player tries something creatively that does not clearly fall wirhin the standard rules which you as a DM have to adjucate is in my opinion a "ruling". A use of the freedom of the DM which falls under the standard rules of "improvising an action".

It is entirely possible to make a houserule out of a ruling. But to be called a houserule, it needs to be something that occurs on a regular basis and a player can rely on them.

A ruling is something that may be an exception to the standard procedure because in a certain situation it seems more appropriate to handle it differently.

Spotting the weak point in the enemy armor for example is not something a player can take for granted. The most similar rule to make use of a weak spot in armor is the rogue sneak attack feature. This one does not grant advantage, but contrary needs advantage (or an adjacent ally) to actually work.
So in my opinion granting advantage is not the right choice here.
One Idea would grant an auto critical hit, another would be grant some extra d6 damage like sneak attack, another Idea would be making the enemy vulnerable to the attack into the weak spot...
Would i want it to be a general (house) rule: when there is a weak spot in the armor you may take disadvantage on your to hit roll to get an auto crit? Unlikely.
Then everyone not wearing a helmet which is obviously a weak spot without someone pointing at it would be vulnerable to an attack targetting the head.
And if I wanted it to be a houserule I'd rather have the option of taking disadvantage to the attack to deal double damage instead of every attack just be made with advantage...

 

[smbakeresq]

Your Wizard will have the highest intelligence in the group, so you should RP like it in most cases. A way to do that in combat is when you familiar goes and uses help action make sure you tell your team that, you are “directing” them to attack a certain individual.

Help action isn’t an attack, so it doesn’t break spells such as Compelled Duel. In that case your Paladin is tanking and getting advantage once per round on a Compelled Duel target, which will quickly bring down said target while saving the group from attacks.

The damage of Dragon Breath is low, but a familiar with Dragon Breath cuts off regeneration for many creatures, greatly increasing the value of the spell.

A familiar is a spirit, it’s a patronis from Harry Potter it just doesn’t glow, it looks like a normal creature of its type and has a physical body. A great way to “trick” your DM and his people in good spirits is to combine your familiar with others of its type, if you have a regular owl on your shoulder everyone will think it’s your familiar, allowing your real familiar to escape unnoticed.

If using a tiny familiar like a spider it would certainly enter a creatures space, a spider would crawl onto the victim and maybe into or under its armor. If you describe it that way most DMs would play along and allow it to stay there.

As DM you can do whatever you want, but a lot of DMs will attack a familiar at all costs since it is annoying. That’s wrong IMO, if you familiar was granting advantage to a creature of intelligence they would realize it isn’t that big of deal in most cases. The Frost Giant probably wouldn’t care and certainly would waste it big multi-attacks action on attacking your bird.

Conversely a great way to F with your players as DM is have your bad guys also have familiars. This can explain why your bad guy “knows” so much about the PCs: “I said you heard an owl hooting at night near your camp, what do you think only you have familiars?”

If you do above remember to select an appropriate familiar for a creature type, a frost giant wizard familiar might be a bear, a lich familiar might a set of Animated Armor slaved to an undead spirit. The armor wouldn’t attack of course for damage, but it’s “attacks” would have the effect of the help action.