D&D 5E How you want familiars to be in your campaign...

[Vaalingrade]

Real creatures imbued with part of the caster's power to elevate them. Cannot permanently die while the master lives. Have an individual personality but are predisposed to be positive toward the master even if they might do so while being a jackhole.

 

[MatthewJHanson]

I run them 5e RAW so energy(spirit) in the form of an animal, easy to kill, no(little) consequence for death, etc.

If was designing the game from the ground up, I might do it differently, but it's not an aspect of the game I care enough about to a redesign.

 

[Burnside]

I like them exactly as they are in 5E.

I will add that they are NOT always easy to re-summon if killed, because "10 gp worth of charcoal, incense, and herbs that must be consumed by fire in a brass brazier" can be a lot harder to come by in some environments than others. especially if players don't plan ahead/familiarize themselves with needed spell components (which I do enforce). Not always so easy to come up with that stuff in the Underdark, Avernus, the middle of a Chultan jungle, or four levels down into Undermountain.

In terms of personality, they are individual creatures (spirits) with distinct personalities. However, only the warlock ones can speak - the others have animal-level intelligence.

 

[steeldragons]

I'm rather "both, and" about this. A lot is up to the player and what they want/story they might come up with or wish to pursue in the game. Or they don't care at all and just want to fill some mechanical things.

I'm totally fine with normal animals. I'm totally fine with the fae/elemental/shadow/small sylvan creature/minor fiend..and/or all of those things AS animals: a fairy cat, a small "fire elemental" falcon, shadow serpent, etc...

Intelligence, across the board, is heightened to be able to communicate with their caster/"owner." I would actually BEGIN this with an empathic/telepathic connection to the caster when together...getting further range as you level up...and a general "in danger" empathy as a kind of constant low-grade connection. Out loud speaking in understood tongues, so as to comment on party members and goings on, I wouldn't introduce (hopefully to the party's amazement and surprise! ;P ) at a later level (at least 5th or so).

Any additional boons or magical powers the familiar might have, I would say, should absolutely increase...not to match the party or caster level, it should trail behind that to a degree...but they should improve incrementally.

I am really NOT into sentient humanoid type familiars (other than imps/quasits which more often than not maintain a standard animal shape to keep themselves secret). Brownies? Elemental humanoids? Other pixie/fairies? Not really my idea for a good/legitimate "familiar." It should be a beloved "pet" companion. Not really a subordinate henchman/NPC. Psuedo-dragons and elfcats? Sure. A ball of pebbles with gemstone eyes (minor earth elemental) or wisp of cloud with a face that runs into a [harmless] tiny whirlwind or darkens to a thundercloud when agitated (air elemental)? Fine. Brownie or Buckawn or Sprite? Small-sized Djinn or a fiendish humanoid/mini-cambion sidekick? No, thank you.

That said, and somewhat contradictory, I do agree the familiar should be -to some degree, and it doesn't have to come into play all of the time- a separate personality that can be disagreeable or sarcastic or slapstick or whatever/however the DM wants to play it... with the player's buy-in, of course! There's no reason for a potential serious antagonistic situation with the PC or player or disruptive to the party for some DMPC roleplaying.

 

[jmartkdr2]

I'm ambivalent on the "hard to kill" bit. If they're hard to get back, they should be hard to kill. They're not supposed to be a sometimes-on thing, they're supposed to be there most if not all the time.

So either easy to replace or hard to kill. But at least one of those.

I'm also not a fan of it being just a spell. They require a commitment of table time form everyone since they are ultimately an extra character regardless of stats; they should require a commitment form the player that this will be a key aspect of their character. A feat seems better than a first-level spell.

 

[J.Quondam]

As nebulous spirits, 5e familiars are fine for what they are, I suppose, and that is suitable for some visions of a spellcaster. But personally i like "familiars" to be more like actual characters than the way they're presented in 5e, and to have a bit more meatiness and consequence attached. With that in mind, I generally prefer a "familiar" to be a real creature that scales a bit. But I'm also cool with different types of pets of varying utility and impact, depending upon the character concept.

 

[bedir than]

Animal companions are a huge part of my world. Every Kin (human, halfling, goliath) has one.
The companion dying requires a wisdom save or the character takes that companion's HP max in psychic damage.
Those without spell or spell-like abilities can take several rests to replace their companion.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

I'm bored by the minor "just a spirit in a shape"-type of familiar, because it falls between two stools. It's neither something cool, like an actual spirit, which might change forms (just as the familiars of legend often did), nor something with a bit more solidity and personality, like the "enhanced animal" familiars of old. I think they're also too easy to kill, which necessitates them not causing problems on death, because it could happen from some blowing on them hard. I also dislike that they're generally personality-free by default.

So I'd like to see something where familiars were, by default, actual creatures given enhanced intelligence, where they were quite a lot harder to permanently kill (maybe easy to force out of combat though), where they had more personality and could be roleplayed, but where their mechanics remained fairly simple.

I suspect an awful lot of people who play today would be EXTREMELY UPSET if dear Doctor Fluffykins could permanently die though and their baseline is the 5E approach, so they likely feel pretty strongly about it.

 

[BookTenTiger]

I'm bored by the minor "just a spirit in a shape"-type of familiar, because it falls between two stools. It's neither something cool, like an actual spirit, which might change forms (just as the familiars of legend often did), nor something with a bit more solidity and personality, like the "enhanced animal" familiars of old. I think they're also too easy to kill, which necessitates them not causing problems on death, because it could happen from some blowing on them hard. I also dislike that they're generally personality-free by default.

So I'd like to see something where familiars were, by default, actual creatures given enhanced intelligence, where they were quite a lot harder to permanently kill (maybe easy to force out of combat though), where they had more personality and could be roleplayed, but where their mechanics remained fairly simple.

I suspect an awful lot of people who play today would be EXTREMELY UPSET if dear Doctor Fluffykins could permanently die though and their baseline is the 5E approach, so they likely feel pretty strongly about it.

I played a wizard with a familiar for years, and I line up pretty well with this assessment.

I feel like adding an Ideals, Bonds, and Flaws chart to the familiar spell would be fun, and also something about familiar attitudes... Maybe dying all the time makes them less friendly?

 

[Burnside]

5E familiars DO change forms. The spellcaster can change their form by re-casting the spell - it's the same spirit, in a new shape.

I think how much or how little personality a familiar should have is wisely left ambiguous by the 5e rules. If it's fun for you and your DM for the familiar to have Ideals, Bonds, and Flaws, there is no reason why it can't. However, I would rather it not be codified in the spell description that they are DEFINITELY fully-fleshed out NPCs, because that would be foisting that requirement on a bunch of players and DMs who probably would prefer not to be role-playing familiars to that degree.