Level 1 •
Conjuration (Ritual
)
Casting Time: 1 hour
Range: 10 ft
Components: V, S, M
Duration: Instantaneous
You gain the service of a familiar, a spirit that takes an animal form you choose: bat, cat, crab, frog (toad), hawk, lizard, octopus, owl, poisonous snake, fish (quipper), rat, raven, sea horse, spider, or weasel. Appearing in an unoccupied space within range, the familiar has the statistics of the chosen form, though it is a celestial, fey, or fiend (your choice) instead of a beast.
Your familiar acts independently of you, but it always obeys your commands. In combat, it rolls its own initiative and acts on its own turn. A familiar can't attack, but it can take other actions as normal.
When the familiar drops to 0 hit points, it disappears, leaving behind no physical form. It reappears after you cast this spell again
While your familiar is within 100 feet of you, you can communicate with it telepathically. Additionally, as an action, you can see through your familiar's eyes and hear what it hears until the start of your next turn, gaining the benefits of any special senses that the familiar has. During this time, you are deaf and blind with regard to your own senses.
As an action, you can temporarily dismiss your familiar. It disappears into a pocket dimension where it awaits your summons. Alternatively, you can dismiss it forever. As an action while it is temporarily dismissed, you can cause it to reappear in any unoccupied space within 30 feet of you.
You can't have more than one familiar at a time. If you cast this spell while you already have a familiar, you instead cause it to adopt a new form. Choose one of the forms from the above list. Your familiar transforms into the chosen creature.
Finally, when you cast a spell with a range of touch, your familiar can deliver the spell as if it had cast the spell. Your familiar must be within 100 feet of you, and it must use its reaction to deliver the spell when you cast it. If the spell requires an attack roll, you use your attack modifier for the roll.
Material Component:
10gp worth of charcoal, incense, and herbs that must be consumed by fire in a brass brazier
Verbal Component:
Reperio Medeis Spiritus
Classes: Wizard, Rogue
Tags: Summoning
Source: Player's Handbook [5th Edition] (page 240)
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Spell FAQs
Below are commonly asked questions about this spell. Some of the information is pulled official D&D sources (such as books and the twitter feeds of D&D officials), but other information is derived from forums and online discussions. As always, it is up to the DM to decide how they wish to spell questions. If you have a FAQ about this spell that you feel other DM's may wish to know, please send us the message!
Can your familiar use the Help action to grant you advantage on your attack roll?
A familiar can't attack, but it can take non-attack actions, including Help. As the text of the Help action indicates, the action doesn't require you to be able to attack; you simply need to be able to provide some sort of distraction.
Does the familiar count as an ally for the purposes of Sneak Attack?
A familiar is an allied creature. Its proximity to a target can allow you to use the Sneak Attack feature or any other feature that requires the presence of an ally.
When you send your familiar to its pocket dimension, can it take any objects it's wearing or carrying with it?
No. As stated in Sage Advice Compendium:
The intent of find familiar is that any objects are left behind when the familiar vanishes. This intent will be reflected in future printings of the Player’s Handbook.
Other Planes and Effects
Below is information about this spell as it relates to other planes and area of effects (i.e. underwater). Some of the information is pulled official D&D sources (such as books and the twitter feeds of D&D officials), but other information is derived from forums and online discussions. As always, it is up to the DM to decide how they wish to handle spell effects.
Summoning in Sigil
From Planescape Adventures in the Multiverse, Sigil and the Outlands, "With the exception of permanent teleportation circles, the Lady of Pain prevents spells and other powers from allowing anything to enter the City of Doors. That means creatures and objects from outside in the multiverse can't be summoned or conjured into Sigil by any means. Summoning abilities a character might have, such as the conjure elemental spell or a class feature that summons a companion, still function as normal with these features calling only creatures that exist somewhere within Sigil itself."
Underwater - Verbal Component
Official rules have been verified by Jeremy Crawford - "No rule prohibits verbal components from working underwater. Keep in mind that if you're talking, you're not holding your breath." Hence, while submerged underwater and holding its breath, a creature can cast a spell that requires a verbal component. After casting the spell, if the creature can't breathe underwater, it immediately runs out of breath. The creature can survive for a number of rounds equal to its Constitution modifier (minimum of 1 round).
