Editing Familiar (section)

===5th Edition===
5th edition goes for a strange blending of 2e and 4e approaches to familiars. Once again, the familiar is hidden behind the 1st level spell ''find familiar''. As in 4e, familiars are considered to be magical spirits (thus they have to take the Celestial, Fey or Fiend creature type) manifesting in the form of an animal chosen by you. Certain monsters in the [[Monster Manual]] or other bestiary sources are called out as valid options for your ''find familiar'' spell. However, as in 4th edition, there are no drawbacks to having a familiar: if one dies, it has no effect on you, and it will return with a simple recasting of ''find familiar''. When you don't need your familiar, you can dismiss it, causing it to vanish to some other plane until you need it again, whereupon it teleports back to you; summoning or dismissing a familiar just takes an action. Familiars can take all sorts of actions, but they can't fight (which is kind of baffling, given some of the creatures you can make a familiar) - they do, however, possess a 100-ft. telepathic link with you, and they can act as a conduit for your Touch range spells when within that same distance. Whilst your familiar is within telepathic link range, as an action, you can "borrow" its senses, leaving you blind and deaf in regards to your own body, but letting you perceive everything that your pet perceives. The warlock has three versions of it's 3rd level class feature, one of which provides a superior familiar that can attack if you expend your own action.

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'''5th Edition Familiars'''
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;PHB Familiars
* Bat
* Cat
* Crab
* Frog/Toad
* Hawk
* Lizard
* Octopus
* Owl
* Poisonous Snake
* Quipper
* Rat
* Raven
* Sea Horse
* Spider
* Weasel

;Splatbook Familiars
* [[Al'miraj]] (Tomb of Annihilation)
* [[Chwinga]] (Tomb of Annihilation)
* Flying Monkey (Tomb of Annihilation)
* [[Gazer]] (Volo's Guide to Monsters)
* [[Imp]] (Monster Manual)
* [[Pseudodragon]] (Monster Manual)
* [[Quasit]] (Monster Manual)
* [[Sprite]] (Monster Manual)
* [[Tressym]] (Storm King's Thunder)

In addition to the above, an interactive map of [[Icewind Dale]] released for the 2020 D&D Celebration contained three puzzle-concealed Adventurer's League-legal unlockable familiars; the Gelatinous Ice Cube (a frozen miniature [[Slime|Gelatinous Cube]]), the Snowy [[Owlbear]] Cub, and the Arctic Stink-Squirrel (basically a skunk with a climb speed).

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The [[Tome of Beasts]] series by [[Kobold Press]] does have a few unique familiars tucked away in its pages. Perhaps due to the [[Midgard]] setting originating as a [[Pathfinder]] system, many of these familiars actually work by different rules; these "pseudo-familiars" do gain the sense-sharing telepathic link, but don't have the normal reincarnative or dismissal abilities, nor can they usually channel magic - the Kuunganisha is unusual for this trait alone. Unlike true familiars, they can't simply be summoned with a Find Familiar spell, but must be persuaded to agree to forming a familiar bond - Find Familiar can make them show up, but won't guarantee automatic obedience.
* '''Clockwork Beetle (ToB1)'''
* '''[[Drake]], Crimson (ToB1)'''
* '''Library Automaton (ToB1)'''
* '''Stryx''' (Pseudo-Familiar)
* '''Witchlight (ToB1)'''
* '''Alkonost (CC)''' (Pseudo-Familiar)
* '''Kuunganisha (CC)''' (Pseudo-Familiar)
* '''Leonino (CC)''' (Pseudo-Familiar)
* '''Living Shade (CC)''' (Pseudo-Familiar)
* '''Wolpertinger (CC)''' (Pseudo-Familiar)
* '''Aviere (ToB2)''' (Pseudo-Familiar)
* '''Lantern Beetle (ToB2)'''
* '''Sniffer Beetle (ToB2)'''
* '''Blood Imp (ToB2)''' (Pseudo-Familiar)
* '''Compsognathus (ToB2)''' (Pseudo-Familiar)
* '''Keyhole Dragonette (ToB2)''' (Pseudo-Familiar)
* '''Light Drake (ToB2)''' (Pseudo-Familiar)
* '''Lymarien (ToB2)''' (Pseudo-Familiar)
* '''Wicked Skull (ToB2)''' (Pseudo-Familiar)
* '''Yowler (ToB2)'''
* '''Bilby (ToB2)'''
* '''Fennec Fox (ToB2)'''
* '''Holler Spider (ToB2)'''
* '''Resinous Frog (ToB2)'''