D&D 5E Investment of the Chain Master: Sprite is the new Imp?

[Dausuul]

Thanks, I overlooked the little symbol so it probably changes sme of what I wrote & makes the summon x spells a lot less nicer. The change definitely bumps the value of quasit with 1/day fear & shoves the really powerful gazer familiar variant (volos126) up to completely absurd

Spoiler: gazer

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The sad thing is that if not for EB it might be ok having familiars at that power level for chain pact.

The gazer certainly gets a big boost. On the other hand, a gazer familiar is basically a magic item. You can't just announce that you're taking a gazer as your familiar; you have to go out and find one, and then you have to get it to agree, both of which require the DM's active participation.

 

[tetrasodium]

The gazer certainly gets a big boost. On the other hand, a gazer familiar is basically a magic item. You can't just announce that you're taking a gazer as your familiar; you have to go out and find one, and then you have to get it to agree, both of which require the DM's active participation.

yea but chain pact can take a

Spoiler: quasit

I also don't have a lot of hope that wotc won't give warlocks an invocation to take the gazer at some point. I have a higher expectation that it will come with an aspect of the moon almost bt not quite coffeelock so fight with your gm technicality if they did.

 

[Dausuul]

The quasit's pretty reasonable, though. Scare is basically cause fear (a 1st-level spell) with disadvantage on the ongoing save. That's a solid ability, but the 1/day limitation means you have to really pick your moment to use it.

Likewise, the poison claw gets an ongoing save to end the effect. Even with the increased save DC, most opponents will shake it off in a couple rounds. The sprite's poison has no ongoing save: Once it gets you, you're got. (Pseudodragon sting is even nastier, with a 1-hour duration instead of 1 minute, but the pseudodragon has to enter melee to use it.)

 

[J-H]

Taking the Attack Action is not the same as using Scare or Eye Rays, unless the DM says it is. The Gazer doesn't benefit from this at all, and the Quasit has to be in melee to use its poison.

 

[BacchusNL]

Taking the Attack Action is not the same as using Scare or Eye Rays, unless the DM says it is. The Gazer doesn't benefit from this at all, and the Quasit has to be in melee to use its poison.

I'm not 100% sure how it's worded but I think that when you get the attack option with a stat-block monster you just get to choose one of the options listed, following rules like "Multi-attack: 2x claw, 1 bite, 1 tail attack" or "once per short rest" ofcoarse. If a monster has 2 options listed under it's attack you get to choose one per attack round. Otherwise Scare and Eye Rays might aswell be flavour text.

 

[Dausuul]

I'm not 100% sure how it's worded but I think that when you get the attack option with a stat-block monster you just get to choose one of the options listed, following rules like "Multi-attack: 2x claw, 1 bite, 1 tail attack" or "once per short rest" ofcoarse. If a monster has 2 options listed under it's attack you get to choose one per attack round. Otherwise Scare and Eye Rays might aswell be flavour text.

By the book, Scare and Eye Rays are not attacks (no attack roll = not an attack); but that actually makes them easier to use.

Normal familiars can't attack at all. Chain Pact warlocks can only lift that restriction by sacrificing one of their own attacks or (with Investment of the Chain Master) using a bonus action. But a familiar can take non-attack actions without restriction. So if you're going strict RAW, a gazer familiar can blast away happily without the warlock having to do anything at all.

Personally, I would be inclined to treat Eye Rays as an attack for a gazer familiar. Perhaps not Scare, since it's only 1/day.

 

[BacchusNL]

By the book, Scare and Eye Rays are not attacks (no attack roll = not an attack).

Yeah my bad, I thought the new invocation said "familiars get an action", but it's "attack".

 

[Chaosmancer]

So, as long as you can keep your sprite alive, you now get a bonus-action attack each round: +6 to hit, and on a hit, the target takes 1 damage and has to make a Con save against your spell save DC. If it fails, it's poisoned... for the rest of the fight, with no chance to shake it off. If it fails by 5, it's also knocked unconscious! It can be woken up by damage or being shaken, but otherwise it's out for the full minute.

Correction. If the save result is 5 or less, the target is knocked unconscious. They have a strange wording.

The bonus action poison condition is still fairly strong, but increasing the DC does not make it more likely for the to fall unconscious, and a since it is the result, a creature with a +3 save only does so when they role a 1 or a 2, which is very very unlikely.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

Thanks, I overlooked the little symbol so it probably changes sme of what I wrote & makes the summon x spells a lot less nicer. The change definitely bumps the value of quasit with 1/day fear & shoves the really powerful gazer familiar variant (volos126) up to completely absurd

Spoiler: gazer

View attachment 128767

The sad thing is that if not for EB it might be ok having familiars at that power level for chain pact.

The familiar variants from the MM and Volo are not the same as a familiar from a find familiar spell. A Gazer familiar does act independently and has its free will. It is not a spirit bound by you which takes the form of a creature.

 

[Weiley31]

If you think the Sprite is crazy now, just wait until you add a Sidekick class to it for your Chain Pact Warlock to summon!