Find Familiar 5e

Imagine the scene: your party is huddled in a dank dungeon corridor, unsure of what horrors lurk behind the heavy oak door ahead. Rather than risking the Rogue’s life to check for traps, the Wizard kneels, lighting a brass brazier filled with charcoal and herbs. After an hour of chanting, a celestial owl manifests from thin air, taking flight to scout the darkness in silence. This is the sheer utility and magic of the Find Familiar 5e spell.

More than just a way to acquire a magical pet, Find Familiar is a cornerstone of mechanical advantage for Wizards, Warlocks, and anyone wise enough to pick up the Ritual Caster feat. It offers a unique blend of roleplay potential and tactical superiority, allowing players to deliver touch spells from a distance or grant advantage in the heat of battle. Whether you are a veteran caster or a new adventurer, mastering Find Familiar 5e will fundamentally change how you approach exploration and combat.

What is the Find Familiar 5e Spell?

At its core, Find Familiar 5e is a ritual of binding, pulling a spirit from the outer planes to serve as your loyal companion. Unlike a Ranger’s beast companion, which is a creature of flesh and blood, the entity summoned by this spell is a celestial, fey, or fiend that merely adopts the form of an animal. This distinction is crucial; it means your companion is magical in nature, intelligent enough to follow complex commands, and capable of being dismissed into a pocket dimension when danger looms.

Mechanically, Find Familiar 5e is a 1st-level conjuration spell. Once summoned, you gain a telepathic bond with the creature up to 100 feet, allowing you to see through its eyes and hear what it hears. This turns the caster from a vulnerable mage into an omnipresent observer, capable of scouting ahead without ever leaving the safety of the campfire.

Who Can Cast Find Familiar in 5e?

While this spell is synonymous with the Wizard class, the secrets of Find Familiar are accessible to several other adventurers, provided they have the right training or subclass features.

• Wizards: This is a staple spell on the Wizard spell list. It is almost mandatory for the class due to its utility.

• Warlocks: While not on their base spell list, Warlocks who choose the Pact of the Chain or Pact of the Tome (with the Book of Ancient Secrets invocation) gain access to a potent version of Find Familiar.

• Druids: Thanks to the optional "Wild Companion" feature introduced in Tasha's Cauldron of Everything, Druids can expend a use of their Wild Shape to cast Find Familiar without material components, though the spirit only lasts for a few hours.

• Feat Users: Any character, from a Barbarian to a Bard, can learn Find Familiar by taking the Magic Initiate or Ritual Caster feats.

Material Components Needed for Find Familiar

Magic always comes with a price, and Find Familiar 5e is no exception. To cast the spell successfully, you cannot simply wave a wand; you must have specific components on hand.

The spell requires 10 gold pieces worth of charcoal, incense, and herbs, which must be consumed by fire in a brass brazier.

Important Note: The charcoal, incense, and herbs are consumed upon casting. This means every time your familiar reaches 0 hit points and vanishes, it will cost you another 10gp to bring them back. However, the brass brazier itself is not consumed, so you only need to purchase that item once.

Casting Find Familiar as a Ritual

One of the greatest advantages of Find Familiar 5e is the ability to cast it as a ritual. As a 1st-level spell, it has a standard casting time of one hour. However, Wizards and those with the Ritual Caster feat can choose to add 10 minutes to that casting time, taking 1 hour and 10 minutes total, to cast the spell without expending a spell slot.

This is the preferred method for most players. Since a familiar sticks around until it drops to 0 HP or is permanently dismissed, you typically only need to cast Find Familiar during downtime or a long rest. Casting it as a ritual ensures you start your adventuring day with full spell slots and a loyal scout ready for action.

Key Takeaways

• Nature of the Spirit: The familiar is a celestial, fey, or fiend taking an animal form, not a real beast.

• Cost: Resurrecting your familiar costs 10gp per cast (materials are consumed).

• Casting Time: It takes 1 hour to cast, usually done during downtime.

• Ritual Casting: Adding 10 minutes to the cast time saves a precious spell slot.

• Availability: Primarily for Wizards, but accessible to Warlocks, Druids, and others via Feats.

Choosing a Form for Your Find Familiar 5e Spirit

One of the most deceptively powerful choices in Find Familiar 5e happens the moment the spirit manifests: deciding what form it takes. Because your familiar is not a true animal but a magical spirit wearing a physical shape, this choice is far more about utility than aesthetics. Each form offers different movement types, senses, and tactical advantages, and picking the right one can dramatically improve how your party explores, gathers information, and survives dangerous encounters.

Below are the most common and effective categories of familiar forms, and what each brings to the table.

The Best Flying Options for Find Familiar

Flying familiars are widely considered the gold standard, and for good reason. A creature that can take to the air ignores ground-based hazards, bypasses locked doors and pit traps, and scouts areas that would otherwise be inaccessible.

Owls and hawks are the standout choices here. Both provide flight and keen senses, but the owl in particular shines thanks to its ability to fly silently. This makes it ideal for dungeon scouting, where a single failed Stealth check could alert an entire room of enemies. Flying familiars also excel in combat support, easily darting in to use the Help action before retreating out of reach.

If your campaign features vertical environments, open battlefields, or frequent ambushes, a flying familiar is often the optimal pick.

Stealth and Scouting Forms for Find Familiar

When subtlety matters more than mobility, small ground-based scouts can be invaluable. Creatures like rats, spiders, weasels, and cats thrive in cramped environments where flying might draw attention.

These forms excel at infiltration. A spider crawling along a ceiling beam or a rat slipping through a cracked doorway is far less suspicious than a bird flapping through a stone corridor. Many of these creatures also benefit from naturally high Dexterity or Stealth modifiers, making them reliable information-gatherers in urban campaigns, dungeons, and enemy strongholds.

If your party relies heavily on ambushes, espionage, or recon before combat, a stealth-focused familiar form can quietly save lives.

Aquatic Forms for Find Familiar

Aquatic campaigns and coastal adventures open up a niche but powerful set of options. Forms like fish, octopus, or even a frog allow your familiar to scout underwater tunnels, shipwrecks, and submerged ruins without risking a party member’s breath.

While these forms are situational, they can be indispensable in the right environment. An aquatic familiar can swim ahead to check for threats, hidden passages, or underwater traps, all while maintaining your telepathic link. In campaigns that frequently involve rivers, lakes, or ocean travel, having access to an aquatic scout is a quiet but significant advantage.

Changing Your Find Familiar’s Form

A common misconception is that choosing a familiar’s form locks you into that decision permanently. In reality, Find Familiar 5e is far more flexible. Each time you cast the spell, you may choose a different form for the spirit.

This means your familiar can adapt to the campaign’s needs. An owl for dungeon delving today, a rat for urban espionage tomorrow, and an aquatic scout when the adventure dives beneath the waves. The only limitation is the cost and casting time required to resummon the spirit.

Smart casters treat their familiar’s form as a tool, not a pet, one that can be reshaped whenever the situation demands it.

Combat Tactics Using Find Familiar 5e

While Find Familiar 5e is often praised for scouting and utility, its true strength becomes apparent once initiative is rolled. A familiar is not a damage dealer, but when used intelligently, it can tilt the odds of combat in your party’s favor. From granting advantage to extending the reach of dangerous spells, a familiar turns a fragile caster into a tactical mastermind on the battlefield.

Using the Help Action with Find Familiar

The most common and most powerful combat use of a familiar is the Help action. On its turn, your familiar can distract an enemy, granting advantage on the next attack roll made against that creature by one of your allies.

This is devastating when paired with heavy hitters like Rogues or Paladins. A Rogue who consistently attacks with advantage can trigger Sneak Attack round after round, while a Paladin landing a smite with advantage dramatically increases burst damage. Because your familiar acts on its own initiative, this advantage can be set up reliably every round.

The key is positioning. A familiar only needs to be within 5 feet of the target to help, not to attack. With smart movement, especially from flying forms, it can swoop in, distract the enemy, and retreat without ever exposing itself to unnecessary danger.

Delivering Touch Spells Through Your Find Familiar

One of the most unique features of Find Familiar 5e is the ability to deliver touch-range spells through your familiar. When you cast a spell with a range of touch, your familiar can use its reaction to deliver the spell as if it had cast it itself.

This dramatically extends your threat range. Spells like Shocking Grasp, Inflict Wounds, or Cure Wounds can be applied from a safe distance, keeping your caster out of melee while still influencing the front lines. In dangerous fights, this can mean the difference between controlling the battlefield and becoming the next target.

Because the familiar must be within 100 feet and uses its reaction, timing, and positioning matter, but when executed well, this tactic is incredibly efficient.

Why the Owl is the Top Pick for Find Familiar

If there is a single form that dominates combat discussions around Find Familiar 5e, it is the owl. The reason is simple: Flyby.

Flyby allows the owl to avoid opportunity attacks when it flies out of an enemy’s reach. This means it can swoop in to use the Help action and then retreat to safety every single round without provoking retaliation. No other standard familiar form offers this level of hit-and-run reliability.

Combined with flight, keen senses, and silent movement, the owl becomes the perfect combat support unit, hard to pin down, easy to reposition, and consistently useful from the first round of combat to the last.

Keeping Your Find Familiar Alive in Battle

A familiar has very few hit points, and enemies who recognize its impact may try to eliminate it quickly. Protecting your familiar is less about armor and more about discipline.

Avoid leaving your familiar adjacent to enemies at the end of its turn unless it has a way to escape safely. Use movement creatively, take advantage of cover, and don’t be afraid to dismiss your familiar into its pocket dimension if things turn dire. Losing a familiar isn’t permanent, but repeatedly spending gold and casting time can add up over a long campaign.

A familiar that survives the fight continues to provide value long after the last enemy falls, and that longevity is what separates clever casters from reckless ones.

Advanced Strategies for Find Familiar 5e

Once you understand the fundamentals of Find Familiar 5e, the spell opens up a deeper layer of optimization through class features, optional rules, and clever character building. Certain classes and feats don’t just grant access to a familiar; they enhance it, reshape its role, or change how often you can rely on it. These advanced strategies turn an already powerful spell into a defining part of your character’s identity.

Warlocks: Pact of the Chain and Find Familiar

Warlocks who choose the Pact of the Chain gain access to an upgraded version of Find Familiar 5e that pushes the spell well beyond its standard limits. In addition to the normal familiar options, Pact of the Chain Warlocks can summon specialized forms such as the imp, quasit, pseudodragon, or sprite.

These familiars are significantly stronger than standard options. They boast better defenses, unique abilities like invisibility or poison, and higher intelligence, making them exceptional scouts and social manipulators. An invisible imp familiar, for example, can safely gather information in hostile territory with minimal risk, while still providing combat utility through the Help action.

For Warlocks, the familiar is not just a tool it’s an extension of their pact, perfectly suited for espionage, battlefield control, and roleplay-heavy campaigns.

Druids: Wild Companion and Find Familiar

Druids traditionally lack access to Find Familiar 5e, but Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything introduced the optional Wild Companion feature, changing that limitation. By expending a use of Wild Shape, a Druid can summon a temporary familiar without material components.

This version of the spell is more flexible but less permanent. The familiar lasts only a limited number of hours and cannot be resummoned endlessly without cost to the Druid’s Wild Shape resource. However, for scouting, spell delivery, and battlefield awareness, it provides many of the same benefits Wizards enjoy.

Wild Companion is especially strong for Druids who value information and positioning over raw Wild Shape combat forms, offering a strategic alternative that fits seamlessly into nature-focused playstyles.

Getting Find Familiar via Feats (Magic Initiate & Ritual Caster)

Not every character who wants a familiar is a spellcaster by default. Feats provide a powerful workaround, allowing nearly any class to access Find Familiar 5e with the right investment.

Magic Initiate grants the spell once per long rest, along with two cantrips from the chosen class. While this limits how often you can resummon your familiar, it’s an excellent option for characters who want the utility without dedicating their build to spellcasting.

Ritual Caster, on the other hand, is the gold standard for long-term familiar users. It allows you to cast Find Familiar as a ritual, meaning no spell slots are required and the familiar can be replaced whenever necessary, given enough time and gold. For non-Wizards who want consistent access to a familiar, this feat offers unmatched reliability.

With the right feat choice, Find Familiar 5e becomes a universally accessible tool proof that clever preparation can rival even the strongest class features.

Summary: Find Familiar

Find Familiar 5e is far more than a flavorful spell or a novelty companion; it is one of the most versatile and impactful tools available to spellcasters and clever character builds. From scouting deadly environments and gathering information safely, to reshaping combat through advantage, positioning, and spell delivery, a well-used familiar consistently punches far above its cost and level.

Whether you’re choosing the perfect form for the situation, exploiting combat synergies like the Help action, or unlocking advanced options through Warlock pacts, Druid features, or feats, the true strength of Find Familiar lies in adaptability. Treated as a strategic asset rather than a disposable pet, a familiar rewards foresight, creativity, and tactical thinking.

Master this spell, and you don’t just gain a companion, you gain control over the battlefield, the exploration phase, and the story itself.