D&D 5E Familiars: what happens when the summoner dies?

[Laeknir]

So no matter what type of familiar, bat, cat, imp, or pseudodragon a familiar is a spirit that is celestial, fey, or fiendish in origin. You don't ever get a regular imp or quasit even if your warlock chooses to have the origin be fiend, other true imps probably make fun of your imp.

One of the newer 5E adventures has a regular pseudodragon that can potentially bind with a PC. Checking for it now.

Edit: Severin's pseudodragon in the Rise of Tiamat is NE and will try to kill the PCs if you kill Severin, but I think the potential is there for perhaps an evil warlock PC or wizard to win it over. At least, I'd potentially have that as an option for exceptionally clever, good roleplayers.

 

[Jefe Bergenstein]

Would be great to find out what that adventure was - I actually posed this question because I have a similar idea!

Found it, from Dungeon magazine, issue 37 "A Wizard's Fate". The imp orchestrates his master's death after the wizard turns away from evil, and sets up shop in the ruins of the tower.

The issue also has The Mud Sorcerer's Tomb, probably the best adventure published in the pages and easily rivaling the Tomb of Horrors IMO. Serpents of the Sands is quite good (I well remember the Yuan-Ti polymorphing horses into blue dragons and the spiked roller traps) and White Boar of Kilfay which has a nice celt faerie tale vibe going on. Even the Side quest is pretty good, featuring trained leucretta using their mimicry skills. Damn that's a good issue.

 

[Will Doyle]

Found it, from Dungeon magazine, issue 37 "A Wizard's Fate". The imp orchestrates his master's death after the wizard turns away from evil, and sets up shop in the ruins of the tower..

Top work! Many thanks!!

 

[Jefe Bergenstein]

Happy to help. 1st/2nd edition stuff converts insanely easy to 5E. Just watch out for the "plusses" on some of that magic loot if you don't want to mess up bounded accuracy too much.

 

[Paraxis]

One of the newer 5E adventures has a regular pseudodragon that can potentially bind with a PC. Checking for it now.

Edit: Severin's pseudodragon in the Rise of Tiamat is NE and will try to kill the PCs if you kill Severin, but I think the potential is there for perhaps an evil warlock PC or wizard to win it over. At least, I'd potentially have that as an option for exceptionally clever, good roleplayers.

Correct in that the imp, quasit, and pseudodragon all have variants to bond with any spellcaster and become a familiar but this is different than the find familiar spell. A chain pact warlocks pseudodragon is a spirit bound in form, a regular pseudodragon could choose to be the familiar to a druid or eldritch knight if it wanted to.

So if you are going to make an adventure with a creature that was once a familiar it would be best to use one of those three types and the bond they had was of their choice not the spellcasters.

 

[Bupp]

Found it, from Dungeon magazine, issue 37 "A Wizard's Fate". The imp orchestrates his master's death after the wizard turns away from evil, and sets up shop in the ruins of the tower.

The issue also has The Mud Sorcerer's Tomb, probably the best adventure published in the pages and easily rivaling the Tomb of Horrors IMO. Serpents of the Sands is quite good (I well remember the Yuan-Ti polymorphing horses into blue dragons and the spiked roller traps) and White Boar of Kilfay which has a nice celt faerie tale vibe going on. Even the Side quest is pretty good, featuring trained leucretta using their mimicry skills. Damn that's a good issue.

That is a good issue. I ran Mud Sorcerer's Tomb way back when. I might have to dig that issue out.