Hello spellcasters of all shapes and sizes! Welcome to my spellbook and thank you so much for checking out the 31st episode of our second level spell series. Today we’re gonna be taking a look at a very special and very controversial spell within the d&d community. We’re looking at flock of familiars dnd 5e spell which basically does like it sounds like it does which is really nice. I like it when spells are accurate like that, so it’s a good feeling.
It is usable by the wizard and the warlock and it is found in the lost laboratory of kwalish. That being said, let’s take a look at its mechanics. Do you know can warlocks have multiple familiars?
Table of Contents
Mechanics
- Level: 2nd
- Casting Time: 1 Minute
- Range/Area: Touch
- Components: V, S
- Duration: 1 Hour (Concentration)
- School: Conjuration
- Attack/Save: None
The effect at a glance is as followed: You can summon a maximum of 3 familiars. You can telepathically communicate with them and cast touch spells through them.
Your casting time is one minute, you get the range is touch. The duration is one hour and this is a concentration spell so please do bear that in mind. At higher levels you gain a one extra familiar for each slot level above second and in terms of components you’re looking at verbal and somatic. The school of course being conjuration which makes a lot of sense, so i like it.
Something worth pointing out here is that it is a concentration spell and the traditional find familiar is not…so make sure you are well aware of that. Also if you already have a familiar that is counted towards your maximum of three so you’d be able to get two additional ones if you already had one. That being said, let’s move on to its full description here so we know exactly what we’re talking about.
Description
You temporarily summon three familiars — spirits that take animal forms of your choice. Each familiar uses the same rules and options for a familiar conjured by the find familiar spell. All the familiars conjured by this spell must be the same type of creature (celestials, fey, or fiends; your choice). If you already have a familiar conjured by the find familiar spell or similar means, then one fewer familiars are conjured by this spell.
Familiars summoned by this spell can telepathically communicate with you and share their visual or auditory senses while they are within 1 mile of you. When you cast a spell with a range of touch, one of the familiars conjured by this spell can deliver the spell, as normal. However, you can cast a touch spell through only one familiar per turn.
At Higher Levels: When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 3rd level or higher, you conjure an additional familiar for each slot level above 2nd.
Very nice stuff here so good! Now the reason why there’s a little bit of controversy surrounding the application and use of this spell is predicated around the fact that the warlock becomes equipped with this. Now that being said, if you’re a warlock and you have picked the pact of the chain, the question is can you use those extended familiar options towards this spell.
Now it’s tricky because this spell itself specifies that you have to use the find familiar options. But the pact of the chain says it lets you add a couple other options to that so i don’t know personally i would allow it, i know that to be sure, i understand there’s some balance and issues regarding it just due to the fact hat we’ve covered literally every familiar option. also check out this find familiar 5e.
That being said however, i can see DM not allowing it too, especially at early levels. It’s just it’s a little tricky because a lot of the familiar abilities are quite nice and they’re kind of meant to prop up the warlock in a couple ways, so having the three of them or more running around might be a little bit of a headache for your average DM.
Especially the imp i can imagine the imp being an absolute shitstorm the deal with the ability to turn invisible and you throw devil’s sight into the mix and shape-shifting and poison and it doesn’t, i can see the DMs are apprehensive is all i’m saying. In any case let’s move on to some alternative uses here just to kind of get our creative juices flowing here.
Alternative Uses
So one of the most important alternative uses that i think relates to this spell is the ability to make plans go off seamlessly. Not only it does it spell provides you a great way of gathering auditory sense but it also provides a great way to communicate with your allies or maybe even the enemies during intense negotitation.
For example let’s say you have a signal where one of the birds cross and that is the sign to move forward and press the advantage, i think that’s great and the fact that you can have three or more of these is super great in terms of planning complicated procedures or maybe even using it as a great distraction.
Also i think this is a great spell to be used for scouting out ahead and mapping out terrain. Especially since a lot of the familiars have the ability to fly over great distances and with the owls ability of flyby you could get very close and personal to an enemy camp and not worry about taking any real damage.
Outside of that this is a great spell to use, if you want to balance an encounter and your favor. Not through virtue of exclusively using the top-tier familiars that the warlock pack provides but just through virtue of using the help action that all familiars can use and have access to. Also read can you summon multiple familiars?
Essentially giving three or more of your allies advantage on basically whatever they it is they want to do. It’s really great, really nice there are a lot of dms who do not allow this spell in their game and just because it is a very keen and very eager for manipulation. So just bear in mind your DM has the final approval so don’t abuse it too too much. Also check out this dnd best familiars.
Conclusion
If you have any alternative uses for flock of familiars, ideas, concepts, questions, concerns please put them down beneath in the comment section, i really enjoy reading them over, i really enjoy hearing from you guys. That being said, i hope you all have great day and as always happy casting everyone. what animals can be familiars 5e.