Find Familiar makes BG3 a perfectly balanced game

[TEA CAT]

I've been trying stuff and found out that the way Find Familiar is implemented makes it "perfectly balanced" (tm).

First, the reason it's not perfectly balanced in 5e, is that Find Familiar is a ritual with 1 hour casting time, so you can resurrect your familiar at most 10-15 times per day and need to take an entire hour each time. The familiar is also limited to being within 100ft of you, unless you give it some simple command to carry out and then hope the DM doesn't make it run into a pit of spikes once it's out of telepathy range.

However, in BG3 both of those limiters are removed. You can Find Familiar after it dies as many times as you want and have control and vision over it in an infinite range. So you can quite literally sit outside of battle and keep sending in invisible stealth imps to kill whatever you want.

[BlissfulPluto]

I just took on the goblin camp with my halfling. Kept summoning a spider outta combat and snuck my way in and killing things with stealth. Resummon outta combat and repeat. I will cheese the whole game like this if i can. Watch me.

[asdf]

Having characters outside of combat while other characters are in combat in any form (or leaving combat part way through) is broken, just like it was in D:OS2. This doesn't really have anything to do with the familiar in particular, there are countless other ways to cheese the game like this.

[Moldy Orb]

I don't know about "perfectly balanced"... but I likes it.

First, my background. I have a strong knowledge of 5e, but care not about BG2, Neverwinter Nights, or any of those games.

In 5e, "Find Familiar" is a ritual spell that has a 1 hour casting time (1 hour, 10 minutes, if cast as a ritual); it also requires 10 gold worth of herbs'n'stuff. The familiar persists forever (until it dies or you deliberate dismiss it), and you can poof it away into a "pocket dimension" until you need it. 5e includes several varieties of familiar that Larian hasn't implemented yet (Bat, hawk, lizard, octopus, and seahorse to name a few. I can't wait for that seahorse familiar.)

I won't go into the range-and-distance limitations, particularly since some of the warlock invocations make those more than a little complex.

5e familiars cannot perform the "attack" action, but they can perform "help" and can attack in other ways (such as the "Dragon Breath" AoE spell, which doesn't require an "attack action"). They're mostly useful for scouting and doing a help-assist. Pact of the Chain warlocks add some new familiars to the roster, including imp & quasit, and Chain familiars can attack... providing the warlock uses their own attack action to attack-as-a-familiar (technically the familiar is using its reaction for this, since it may come somewhere else in the initiative order).

Even with these limitations, Find Familiar is considered one of the best, most useful and versatile spells in the game. Partially because the wizard or warlock can cast touch-range spells through their familiar.

As implemented in BG3... I *like* it! Some of the features aren't there, some are simplified or made quicker and easier. I like how familiars and companions and the like are attached to a main character. I like how you can run them separately. Wizard familiars (cat, raven, et cetera) can attack but are weak enough and have few enough hit points that you probably don't want to risk it. You can summon a new familiar, but it will cost you a spell slot. Seems like it's probably not worth it. And the familiar will vanish during a long rest, but once again... it only costs a spell slot.

The warlock/pack of the chain familiar is a LOT more powerful. First, you can summon whenever you want (well, out of combat) and it doesn't cost a spell slot. That means your familiar is more useful because you can sacrifice it at no cost and summon a new one later. Second, the imp and quasit can sneak around invisibly, making them easy to position for the perfect entry into combat. (Like any characters that aren't in the immediate party when combat begins, they may need to be selected and moved into combat deliberately to make them "enter combat.") Both the imp and quasit have enough hits and attack power to be basically 1st-level characters (making them disposable minions that can be restored at will). Furthermore, if you summon them at the start of day and then have your cleric/Shadowheart cast AID, everyone will gain an extra 5 HP for the entire day, *including your familiar*. That moves them from 1st-level to 2nd-level durability. And if they get wounded, you can resummon them for free, losing the AID boost, but essentially healing them up for free.

Finally, for the imp, flying is WONDERFUL. It's always flying, so it's never subject to surface conditions like fire, acid, or webs. Second, it can FLY (the imp's "jump" is relabeled "fly," it takes some movement but doesn't use an action, it gives an *amazing* movement boost, and allows the imp to fly up or down to otherwise-unreachable heights or depths).

Adding all of this together makes the imp into an amazing perfect minion and party boost. It can reach unreachable foes (I'm looking at you, phase spiders), it can cover your back as you flee screaming in terror (see earlier reference to phase spiders), it has a pretty good attack, and you don't have to feel guilty about leaving it behind to die.

So, echoing my opening, I likes it. Normal familiars are nice for scouting, good for emergency distraction. Pact-of-the-chain imps are *brilliant* and are pretty much like boosting your party by one extra character.

[zenebatos1]

Don't forget an aspect that is NOT (yet?) implemented in BG3 of the Quasit/Imp, is that they are the most intelligent of all the Familliars you can summon with this spell.

They have Hands(contrary to the others) and they can speak...

And they also have the use item action.

So an Imp/Quasit, can have a Wand of Firebolt/Magic Missiles, and use it.

You'd essentially be having Rocket Raccoon from Guardians of the galaxy in the party...

Did this in one of our super Homebrewed campaign (mix of Diesel/Cyber Punk, Eve Online, WH40k, Spelljammer and Chtulhu) where Our Clockwork Wizard made a once per Short Rest use, Beam Cannon for my Imp ( it can cast Bolt of Lightning...).

So i Had my Cannon armed Imp blast concentrated energy beams all over the place, opening a path, while my Paladin/Hexblade Character was charging right in the middle of it on his Assault Hoverboard( reflavored Broom of Flying).

[Queso]

Something I noticed with the warlock familiars is every time I summon them in sight of the party, EVERYONE HATES THAT. -5 approval from everyone. Each long rest at least.

not sure if bug or if pact of chain warlocks are just destined to be forever alone.

Edit: I think it's every long rest, I've had to redo things a lot because of forgetting to quicksave and not wanting to deal with incorrectly triggering encounters cinematics and bad pathfinding that keeps butchering my sneaky battle preparations.