D&D 5E Treantmonk's Guide to Wizards 5e

[FormerlyHemlock]

Have to look it up. Can you flyby when using the help action? And still it is not completely without danger. The owl is only 15 ft away with 1 hp and low AC.

If the target is 5' tall, the owl could be 40' up instead of just 15'. (5' tall, 5' reach on Help, 60' movement on the owl so can swoop 30' down and 30' back up.)

And yeah, it's not completely without danger, and the target can simply move out of range, or shoot the owl. I'm not saying it's overpowered--the only thing I said is that it disproportionately benefits something like Greenflame Blade which packs all of its damage into one Helped attack, as opposed to multiple attacks using Extra Attack, of which only one of them are Helped. I originally encountered this effect when evaluating Helping an Eldritch Blast vs. Helping a Fire Bolt.

 

[Huntsman57]

The standard ploy is to use an Owl familiar (Flyby: doesn't provoke opportunity attacks) and have it Help and then fly upwards out of melee reach.

In any event "soak 1 attack and give me advantage on an attack" ...I mean it sounds like I got good mileage out of that 1st level spell. Especially since it didn't cost me a combat round to cast and provided some scouting duty beforehand.

It's going to fall out of favor quickly past low level, but pretty handy for your average starting adventurer.

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

In any event "soak 1 attack and give me advantage on an attack" ...I mean it sounds like I got good mileage out of that 1st level spell. Especially since it didn't cost me a combat round to cast and provided some scouting duty beforehand.

It's going to fall out of favor quickly past low level, but pretty handy for your average starting adventurer.

AND it's a ritual.

I'm not sure about falling out of favor quickly past low level--enemies with ranged attack seem to be most common at low level (gnolls and hobgoblins). If your DM likes higher-CR enemies like Mind Flayers, Slaads, Hezrou, and Vampires, I can see that familiar surviving and thriving for quite a long time without even requiring a recast. For example, no Mind Flayer is going to waste his Mind Blast shooting straight up at an owl 40' overhead.

 

[Huntsman57]

AND it's a ritual.

I'm not sure about falling out of favor quickly past low level--enemies with ranged attack seem to be most common at low level (gnolls and hobgoblins). If your DM likes higher-CR enemies like Mind Flayers, Slaads, Hezrou, and Vampires, I can see that familiar surviving and thriving for quite a long time without even requiring a recast. For example, no Mind Flayer is going to waste his Mind Blast shooting straight up at an owl 40' overhead.

The scouting part would age well I'd imagine. What I mean is..

1) Advantage will likely come from other, more consistent sources at higher level

2) the familiar's ability to soak an attack suffers from degradation at higher levels similar to the Mirror Image spell. Which is to say at low level, that missed attack may well have hit you. As you reach higher levels, whatever you're fighting is increasingly unlikely to miss your familiar with an attack, but that attack may not have come close to hitting you with your now much higher AC anyway. So the familiar dies with no gain.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

And it costs you some money. But yeah. Could be worth it

 

[Celtavian]

find familiar is definitely worth it at low level. Not so much at higher level where many creatures have multiple attacks and one attack destroys your familiar. The warlock's improved familiar that can turn invisible is much better because it can Help without breaking invis and fly away because AoOs can only be taken by opponents that can see their target.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

Find familiar is a very good spell.

 

[Huntsman57]

find familiar is definitely worth it at low level. Not so much at higher level where many creatures have multiple attacks and one attack destroys your familiar. The warlock's improved familiar that can turn invisible is much better because it can Help without breaking invis and fly away because AoOs can only be taken by opponents that can see their target.

Taking the help action to give someone else advantage takes the form of a feint. I would imagine it would be difficult to feint against something that couldn't see you so I'm not sure most DMs would allow that.

 

[Celtavian]

Taking the help action to give someone else advantage takes the form of a feint. I would imagine it would be difficult to feint against something that couldn't see you so I'm not sure most DMs would allow that.

Help could be a feint. It could also be tugging on someone's cloak. It could be yelling something from behind someone. It would running a feather across a person's face. It could be making funny faces at them, while stomping at their feet. Usually when I describe a familiar using the Help action, I make it appropriate to the creature. If it's an owl, he might just fly down in front of the opponents eyes or about its head. If it's a rat, it might scurry about the opponents feats. If it's my gnome wizard, I picture him tapping at the enemy's feet or pushing his a foot with his staff for no damage. As long as the opponents senses are disrupted in some way or distracted regardless of how, I give advantage.

Help does not require a viable threat. It only requires a viable way to describe how the distraction occurs. Your invisible imp could cover the guys eyes for a second or two or pull his hair to give you advantage.

 

[Huntsman57]

Help could be a feint. It could also be tugging on someone's cloak. It could be yelling something from behind someone. It would running a feather across a person's face. It could be making funny faces at them, while stomping at their feet. Usually when I describe a familiar using the Help action, I make it appropriate to the creature. If it's an owl, he might just fly down in front of the opponents eyes or about its head. If it's a rat, it might scurry about the opponents feats. If it's my gnome wizard, I picture him tapping at the enemy's feet or pushing his a foot with his staff for no damage. As long as the opponents senses are disrupted in some way or distracted regardless of how, I give advantage.

Help does not require a viable threat. It only requires a viable way to describe how the distraction occurs. Your invisible imp could cover the guys eyes for a second or two or pull his hair to give you advantage.

I don't disagree that I too would see this as how a familiar would help to provide advantage, though the PHB specifically states this form of help comes in the form of a feint. By definition this means "a mock blow or attack on or toward one part in order to distract attention from the point one really intends to attack." So a distraction, when it isn't in the form of a mock attack, isn't necessarily the same thing as a feint. It will really just come down to how strictly the DM in question wishes to interpret the rules.