Do familiars get darkvision/lowlight vision

[Thanee]

I don't remember if this was true or false, so do familiars (being magical beasts, who as per the MM get both darkvision and lowlight vision unless otherwise noted) get these vision enhancements?

Bye
Thanee

 

[Furn_Darkside]

Salutations,

I do not think they do- lowlight vision is listed as a special ability of the owl familiar. It would not be so special if they all could do it.

FD

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

Not all templates grant all of the abilities of the new type. Familiars don't gain the magical beast's base attack bonus, for instance.

 

[Umbran]

(being magical beasts, who as per the MM get both darkvision and lowlight vision unless otherwise noted)

Familiars aren't magical beasts as per the MM.

They are magical beasts for purposes of what spells might affect them, but not for purposes of their own powers or advancement. Those are only what'sdetailed in the PHB. Same with Paladin Warhorses.

 

[Thanee]

Not all templates grant all of the abilities of the new type. Familiars don't gain the magical beast's base attack bonus, for instance.

How can you say, they do not gain the base attack bonus... They are only have 1 HD (except for some effects, when they count as having as many HD as their master), so +0 BAB is the same as a magical beast's BAB!

Bye
Thanee

 

[Kibo]

I tend to rule 0 a lot of the stuff like this I consider deffecient. I would give animals the vision benefits of what I consider their real world equivalents to have. All predator species that hunt at night get low light vision. All prey species would probably get a bonus to their spot checks against people sneaking into their area, but a minus for anything that might require a sharp eye. Most snakes would suffer pretty nasty penalties to spot checks, but if something is hidden, or invisible near them, they might have a slight advantage.

 

[DevoutlyApathetic]

All animals have Low-Light Vision. (MM description of types)

I think without a doubt that familiars are either Animals or Magical beasts. So they'd definately have low-light and possibly Darkvision as well.

 

[Thanee]

Hmm... the only weird part is, that the owl has low-light vision specifically listed as a benefit.

OTOH, noone can tell me, that a cat should not have low-light vision (and a lot better skills (especially listen, but also climb and/or jump) as listed in the MM as well)!

Bye
Thanee

 

[DevoutlyApathetic]

Remember that the PHB was written/printed printed before the MM.

The type descriptions also show some signs of having been edited late in the creative process.

 

[AGGEMAM]

Remember that a familiar is not a real magical beast, it only counts as one for as long as it remains a familiar.

Also note that the MM says all magical beasts have darkvision and low-light vision, it does not explicitly say that anything that becomes a magical beast gain those qualities.

The same is true for an awakened animal.