D&D 5E Rogue with Find Familiar?

[CTurbo]

I haven't got to play a Rogue yet in 5e so I've been thinking about rolling one up. One thing I think would be fun is take the Magic Initiate feat and get Find Familiar plus two utility cantrips that would help with things Rogues like to do. Minor Illusion would probably be my first choice, but I can't decide on the second pick. Mage Hand, Control Flames, Gust would all be good to possibly cause a distraction. I don't think I'd need an attack cantrip, but I guess Booming Blade or Firebolt would be fun.

Anyway, has anybody played a Rogue with a Familiar? It seems like a flying scout would be infinitely useful for a Rogue.

 

[Immoralkickass]

Arcane Trickster can learn Find Familiar as one of their spells. I've not played one, but I've seen one in action.

 

[Olrox17]

In terms of sheer power and utility, an owl is the ultimate rogue familiar. Flying speed, good stealth and perception, darkvision, and thanks to flyby it can swoop in, use the help action on an enemy to grant the rogue advantage, and then immediately fly away without taking opportunity attacks.

 

[TallIan]

Honestly find familiar is not a great choice for Magic Initiate. Once cast FF is rarely cast again IMX, and the MI spell slot can only be used for the spell you chose with it. You are much better off taking another feat (or at least another spell that you are more likely to use once a day) and getting FF through Arcane trickster later on.

Keep in mind you may not be able to afford the 10GP cost at 1st level, so might be waiting until 2nd level anyway for a familiar.

But a familiar is very useful for almost any class (with diminishing returns of there are more than one in a party), and for a rogue and owl is by far the best choice.

 

[Aldarc]

I haven't got to play a Rogue yet in 5e so I've been thinking about rolling one up. One thing I think would be fun is take the Magic Initiate feat and get Find Familiar plus two utility cantrips that would help with things Rogues like to do. Minor Illusion would probably be my first choice, but I can't decide on the second pick. Mage Hand, Control Flames, Gust would all be good to possibly cause a distraction. I don't think I'd need an attack cantrip, but I guess Booming Blade or Firebolt would be fun.

Anyway, has anybody played a Rogue with a Familiar? It seems like a flying scout would be infinitely useful for a Rogue.

Just go Arcane Trickster and you can pick up Find Familiar as one of your non-Illusion/Enchantment spells. I would still not recommend Magic Initiate though, as it's better just to pick up at least two levels of Wizard. You get A LOT out of that as an Arcanist-Rogue: e.g., spell book, ritual spells, tradition feature, arcane recovery, etc. It's easily worth more than two feats worth of features.

 

[LapBandit]

In terms of sheer power and utility, an owl is the ultimate rogue familiar. Flying speed, good stealth and perception, darkvision, and thanks to flyby it can swoop in, use the help action on an enemy to grant the rogue advantage, and then immediately fly away without taking opportunity attacks.

Yeah Flyby was a HORRIBLE design decision. Owl familiars as far as the eye can see.

 

[Olrox17]

Yeah Flyby was a HORRIBLE design decision. Owl familiars as far as the eye can see.

Eh, that's true. As I DM, I wouldn't be opposed to give a Flyby or a similar trait to all familiars, just for the sake of variety.

 

[CTurbo]

I was going for flavor moreso than maximum optimization. I didn't know that Arcane Trickster had access to Find Familiar so I'd have to look into that. I was probably going to take Assassin as it seems to be what I would enjoy the most, but I was at least considering Thief. I will definitely read up on Arcane Trickster. I do not want to multiclass.

I considered Ritual Caster, but it seems worse than Magic Initiate to me.

So even though I was wanting this for flavor, I still wanted it to be useful of course.

 

[Swarmkeeper]

Yeah Flyby was a HORRIBLE design decision. Owl familiars as far as the eye can see.

I dunno, a ranged attack by that extra enemy hidden in the bushes could serve to balance out one too many owl Flybys.

 

[Gradine]

When I first saw this thread my original thought was Aladdin.

Having read so far, I'm not still not convinced you shouldn't go with a monkey. Think of all the tiny vests and fezzes!