I'm just curious if anyone has been able to find a use for Familiars, given how fragile they seem. Like, there's very little reason to actually ever make use of one, given how they can't do much and have a handful of HP at most.

>>95859596 (OP)
I incorporate mine into other powers (with storyteller permission, of course). For example, I have a 1 dot familiar for my Solar Exalted that is an adorable dog. But if I use the spell "Hound if the Five Winds", he becomes a dire wolf that I can ride and who can track like a bloodhound. You don't need a familiar to have that spell, but it has some utility. This way, I can send my dog familiar into situations where my character or a dire wolf would draw too much attention, and then cast the spell to basically use him as a Trojan Horse. He's made of Wyld essence that is bound to me, so I can just resummon him if he gets merc'd.

>>95859596 (OP)
Assuming D&D your DM is definitely not challenging your party enough if you can’t see the use in a disposable scout that follows your commands perfectly, often has unique senses/abilities like darkvision or blindest or being aquatic, can operate independently from you at any distance, takes its own set of actions in combat and blends in perfectly with local wildlife. It is like having a camouflage drone.

>>95859596 (OP)
The DM made my familiar an extension of my character's soul. It did the typical familiar things like scouting and spell channeling, but could only go so far before my character would start to lose consciousness. It also proved instrumental in convincing our big bad (my pc's divine soul twin turned emerging dark god) that we could move past the shit the church did to us and be together with our family again via sharing the mutual pain the church had inflicted on us. I had to expose and offer up half my soul to prove my sincerity, but it worked.

>>95860265
I also had another PC who used one of the strixhaven mascot's and pact of the chain warlock to create a huge sized flying scorpion familiar as a mount.

>>95859596 (OP)
in a 5e campaign, I had a dog familiar who was pretty useful when it came to sensing things (I think it was a reflavored "Cat" statblock since for some reason base game didn't have "Dog").

>>95859596 (OP)
>Like, there's very little reason to actually ever make use of one, given how they can't do much and have a handful of HP at most.
You're thinking too small. Familiars have all sorts of uses in 5e/2024 alone.
>Scouting
>Giving advantage with the Help action
>Depending on the class, giving you the ability to see as they see or cast spells from their location
>Cool roleplaying opportunity for the non-mechanical benefits since how they look would be very personal

>>95859596 (OP)
>scouting
>moving items (monkey, run with this potion to the cleric!)
>ocasional distraction
>third line combatants
>miscelenous animal dependent bonuses, like dogs being able to track via smell
Think of them like light infantryman, you dont actually want them stuck in a fight, you want them to run around and do everything else

>>95859596 (OP)
They work as an emergency spell buffer in my game, like a circuit box fuse.

>>95859596 (OP)
In our last 5e campaign my familiar was a quasit and it essentially broke entire encounters. "Invisible, flying scout drone" is hyper useful.

>>95864074
Does 5e hand out quasits as standard familiars?

>>95865463
It's one of many options in 2014, I think it came with Volo's Guide or Xanathar's.

>>95865463
Pact of the chain warlock, my dude. With Quasit and the right evocations, you have a drone that you can cast spells through that you can essentially pilot with zero range penalties. it has three forms and can turn invisible. It's fucking broken, it was great. We basically skipped an entire dungeon because of it.

>>95859596 (OP)
I was generally skeptical on the idea, but pic related was great. That little owl was a huge help to my character, and turned out to be a plot-important NPC to boot.
>>95859863 and >>95861083 lay out the benefits, but I'd like to note the power of an owl using its Flyby trait and 60' movement to dive in, grant advantage, and zip away without provoking attacks of opportunity. So if an enemy wants to remove the familiar, they have to make an effort to take her out, which is an attack NOT aimed at the PCs.

>>95859596 (OP)
Familiars were capable of using wands or being conduits for spells in 3.5. Used right they basically doubled your actions.

>>95868081
VERY cute owl.

>>95859596 (OP)
My familiar was a constant source of low-grade mayhem, embarrassment and comedy out of combat, and a goddamn Hellfire Missile in combat.
Flying familiars in 3.5 DnD were fucking hideous with a few buffs or wards applied and used to deliver Touch Spells.

My Wizard's (Played by the DM as Nobby Nobbs with feathers) Raven and the Sorcerer's (Posh and Snooty) Owl would also bicker, feud, and prank each other near-constantly, which ruined any chance of my low-born Wizard being taken seriously by the many, MANY high-born NPCs we were dealing with.