Rules help: Familiars

[Guest 6801328]

Ahh ok. Well maybe then I would just add a comparison between an owl familiar helping every round (and flying away safely), and the bless spell.

advantage gives approx. +5 to hit, bless gives +2.5 to hit on average
bless targets 3, familiar can only help one
bless also benefits saving throws, familiar can help a skill check (but not at the same time as helping an attack)
bless gives its bonus on all attacks, familiar on just the first attack
familiar lasts indefinitely, bless you must cast each fight
familiar can be killed with one ranged attack with easy AC, bless requires a concentration save (caster only) and could be re-cast again in same fight
if familiar does die there may not be time (hour) to cast again, bless casting requires one action
if there is time to cast familiar it is done outside of combat, bless is probably cast as first action of fight unless party has a moment to prepare beforehand


...I guess this seems like a wash to me.

You left out:
- Find Familiar is a ritual so it doesn't use a spell slot.
- The Owl has many other uses, such as scouting
- The Owl grants Advantage on out-of-combat Perception checks; comparable to a Feat
- For many, Find Familiar was considered a must-have spell before they even knew they could use it to get Advantage every round.

 

[nswanson27]

- Find Familiar is a ritual so it doesn't use a spell slot.

True, but again that's balanced by having the ability (time) to be able to cast a 1hr 10 min spell. Also, 1st level spells slots aren't are a rare commodity, especially at higher levels.

- The Owl has many other uses, such as scouting.

Yes indeed. But if it runs into any trouble, it's probably dead.

- The Owl grants Advantage on out-of-combat Perception checks; comparable to a Feat.

- So you could put the out-of-combat skill checks against the saving throws of bless in combat. Both are very good.

You left out:
- For many, Find Familiar was considered a must-have spell before they even knew they could use it to get Advantage every round.

Maybe the same could be said for bless. I don't know.
You made a couple of good observations, but they both seem in the same ballpark power-wise to me.

 

[Greenstone.Walker]

I think find familiar shines because it is something that helps in all three pillars of the game. There aren't many things that do that.