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Can a familiar with low intelligence report back to its master what it observed when it was more than 100 feet from its master?
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According to the Find Familiar spell description,
...the familiar has the statistics of the chosen form...
and
While your familiar is within 100 feet of you, you can communicate
with it telepathically. Additionally, as an action, you can see
through your familiar's eyes and hear what it hears until the start of
your next turn, gaining the benefits of any special senses that the
familiar has.
A spider's Intelligence score is 1. If my Wizard PC sends his spider familiar further than 100 feet from him, then once the spider reenters the 100-foot range, can it report back to the Wizard what it observed? Or does its low Intelligence prevent it from doing that?
dnd-5e wizard familiars
asked 6 hours ago
mdrichey
44418
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up vote
6
down vote
favorite
According to the Find Familiar spell description,
...the familiar has the statistics of the chosen form...
and
While your familiar is within 100 feet of you, you can communicate
with it telepathically. Additionally, as an action, you can see
through your familiar's eyes and hear what it hears until the start of
your next turn, gaining the benefits of any special senses that the
familiar has.
A spider's Intelligence score is 1. If my Wizard PC sends his spider familiar further than 100 feet from him, then once the spider reenters the 100-foot range, can it report back to the Wizard what it observed? Or does its low Intelligence prevent it from doing that?
dnd-5e wizard familiars
asked 6 hours ago
mdrichey
44418
1
Related (possible duplicate): How much can you communicate with your familiar?
– V2Blast
5 hours ago
Also related: Can I send my Owl familiar on guard duty?, Intelligence of Familiar vs Normal Creature?, Is there any way to raise a wizard's familiar's Intelligence?
– V2Blast
5 hours ago
add a comment |Â
up vote
6
down vote
favorite
up vote
6
down vote
favorite
According to the Find Familiar spell description,
...the familiar has the statistics of the chosen form...
and
While your familiar is within 100 feet of you, you can communicate
with it telepathically. Additionally, as an action, you can see
through your familiar's eyes and hear what it hears until the start of
your next turn, gaining the benefits of any special senses that the
familiar has.
A spider's Intelligence score is 1. If my Wizard PC sends his spider familiar further than 100 feet from him, then once the spider reenters the 100-foot range, can it report back to the Wizard what it observed? Or does its low Intelligence prevent it from doing that?
dnd-5e wizard familiars
asked 6 hours ago
mdrichey
44418
According to the Find Familiar spell description,
...the familiar has the statistics of the chosen form...
and
While your familiar is within 100 feet of you, you can communicate
with it telepathically. Additionally, as an action, you can see
through your familiar's eyes and hear what it hears until the start of
your next turn, gaining the benefits of any special senses that the
familiar has.
A spider's Intelligence score is 1. If my Wizard PC sends his spider familiar further than 100 feet from him, then once the spider reenters the 100-foot range, can it report back to the Wizard what it observed? Or does its low Intelligence prevent it from doing that?
dnd-5e wizard familiars
dnd-5e wizard familiars
asked 6 hours ago
mdrichey
44418
asked 6 hours ago
mdrichey
44418
edited 5 hours ago
asked 6 hours ago
mdrichey
44418
asked 6 hours ago
mdrichey
44418
asked 6 hours ago
mdrichey
44418
44418
1
Related (possible duplicate): How much can you communicate with your familiar?
– V2Blast
5 hours ago
Also related: Can I send my Owl familiar on guard duty?, Intelligence of Familiar vs Normal Creature?, Is there any way to raise a wizard's familiar's Intelligence?
– V2Blast
5 hours ago
add a comment |Â
1
Related (possible duplicate): How much can you communicate with your familiar?
– V2Blast
5 hours ago
Also related: Can I send my Owl familiar on guard duty?, Intelligence of Familiar vs Normal Creature?, Is there any way to raise a wizard's familiar's Intelligence?
– V2Blast
5 hours ago
1
1
Related (possible duplicate): How much can you communicate with your familiar?
– V2Blast
5 hours ago
Related (possible duplicate): How much can you communicate with your familiar?
– V2Blast
5 hours ago
Also related: Can I send my Owl familiar on guard duty?, Intelligence of Familiar vs Normal Creature?, Is there any way to raise a wizard's familiar's Intelligence?
– V2Blast
5 hours ago
Also related: Can I send my Owl familiar on guard duty?, Intelligence of Familiar vs Normal Creature?, Is there any way to raise a wizard's familiar's Intelligence?
– V2Blast
5 hours ago
add a comment |Â
1 Answer
1
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up vote
5
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Well, as you've noticed there aren't very many explicit rules about this, a lot of it can be -- and probably should be -- guided by what kind of game you and your players want. If that sort of easy scouting seems like it'll cheapen intelligence more than your table would like, I'd absolutely let that guide and flavor what exactly a spider can report back. Still, even if I were in your shoes and tempted to really rein this in, I wouldn't want the answer to be nothing, because that's not exactly enriching the table's game either.
However in the interest of getting more concrete, one thing you might not have thought of is looking at something like Speak with Animals:
You gain the ability to comprehend and verbally communicate with beasts for the duration. The knowledge and awareness of many beasts is limited by their intelligence,
but at minimum, beasts can give you information about nearby locations and monsters, including whatever they can perceive or have perceived within the past day. You might be able to persuade a beast to perform a small favor for you, at the DM's discretion. (PHB p.277)
To me, I would read this spell description as a pretty clear signpost that an Intelligence 1 doesn't mean something along the lines of, the creature has no sense of object permanence and is therefore unable to give any information about what's in a room, especially since locations, monsters, and within the past day are each explicitly staked out. The spell does not awaken or heighten an animal to humanoid intelligence in order to report all this, and so a low intelligence means a creature not only can still have some idea of these things, but must have some idea about these things.
However, I'd also absolutely have an animal be an entirely unreliable narrator, though not to the point of uselessness. Whether or not a spider can, left to its own devices, really distinguish between races of humanoids is probably something I'd land on no with. I'd probably also be tempted to think about what interesting ways a spider's perception would be inhuman and alien, and try to lean on that.
answered 2 hours ago
theCrazing
1014
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theCrazing is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
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1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
up vote
5
down vote
Well, as you've noticed there aren't very many explicit rules about this, a lot of it can be -- and probably should be -- guided by what kind of game you and your players want. If that sort of easy scouting seems like it'll cheapen intelligence more than your table would like, I'd absolutely let that guide and flavor what exactly a spider can report back. Still, even if I were in your shoes and tempted to really rein this in, I wouldn't want the answer to be nothing, because that's not exactly enriching the table's game either.
However in the interest of getting more concrete, one thing you might not have thought of is looking at something like Speak with Animals:
You gain the ability to comprehend and verbally communicate with beasts for the duration. The knowledge and awareness of many beasts is limited by their intelligence,
but at minimum, beasts can give you information about nearby locations and monsters, including whatever they can perceive or have perceived within the past day. You might be able to persuade a beast to perform a small favor for you, at the DM's discretion. (PHB p.277)
To me, I would read this spell description as a pretty clear signpost that an Intelligence 1 doesn't mean something along the lines of, the creature has no sense of object permanence and is therefore unable to give any information about what's in a room, especially since locations, monsters, and within the past day are each explicitly staked out. The spell does not awaken or heighten an animal to humanoid intelligence in order to report all this, and so a low intelligence means a creature not only can still have some idea of these things, but must have some idea about these things.
However, I'd also absolutely have an animal be an entirely unreliable narrator, though not to the point of uselessness. Whether or not a spider can, left to its own devices, really distinguish between races of humanoids is probably something I'd land on no with. I'd probably also be tempted to think about what interesting ways a spider's perception would be inhuman and alien, and try to lean on that.
answered 2 hours ago
theCrazing
1014
New contributor
theCrazing is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
add a comment |Â
up vote
5
down vote
Well, as you've noticed there aren't very many explicit rules about this, a lot of it can be -- and probably should be -- guided by what kind of game you and your players want. If that sort of easy scouting seems like it'll cheapen intelligence more than your table would like, I'd absolutely let that guide and flavor what exactly a spider can report back. Still, even if I were in your shoes and tempted to really rein this in, I wouldn't want the answer to be nothing, because that's not exactly enriching the table's game either.
However in the interest of getting more concrete, one thing you might not have thought of is looking at something like Speak with Animals:
You gain the ability to comprehend and verbally communicate with beasts for the duration. The knowledge and awareness of many beasts is limited by their intelligence,
but at minimum, beasts can give you information about nearby locations and monsters, including whatever they can perceive or have perceived within the past day. You might be able to persuade a beast to perform a small favor for you, at the DM's discretion. (PHB p.277)
To me, I would read this spell description as a pretty clear signpost that an Intelligence 1 doesn't mean something along the lines of, the creature has no sense of object permanence and is therefore unable to give any information about what's in a room, especially since locations, monsters, and within the past day are each explicitly staked out. The spell does not awaken or heighten an animal to humanoid intelligence in order to report all this, and so a low intelligence means a creature not only can still have some idea of these things, but must have some idea about these things.
However, I'd also absolutely have an animal be an entirely unreliable narrator, though not to the point of uselessness. Whether or not a spider can, left to its own devices, really distinguish between races of humanoids is probably something I'd land on no with. I'd probably also be tempted to think about what interesting ways a spider's perception would be inhuman and alien, and try to lean on that.
answered 2 hours ago
theCrazing
1014
New contributor
theCrazing is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
add a comment |Â
up vote
5
down vote
up vote
5
down vote
Well, as you've noticed there aren't very many explicit rules about this, a lot of it can be -- and probably should be -- guided by what kind of game you and your players want. If that sort of easy scouting seems like it'll cheapen intelligence more than your table would like, I'd absolutely let that guide and flavor what exactly a spider can report back. Still, even if I were in your shoes and tempted to really rein this in, I wouldn't want the answer to be nothing, because that's not exactly enriching the table's game either.
However in the interest of getting more concrete, one thing you might not have thought of is looking at something like Speak with Animals:
You gain the ability to comprehend and verbally communicate with beasts for the duration. The knowledge and awareness of many beasts is limited by their intelligence,
but at minimum, beasts can give you information about nearby locations and monsters, including whatever they can perceive or have perceived within the past day. You might be able to persuade a beast to perform a small favor for you, at the DM's discretion. (PHB p.277)
To me, I would read this spell description as a pretty clear signpost that an Intelligence 1 doesn't mean something along the lines of, the creature has no sense of object permanence and is therefore unable to give any information about what's in a room, especially since locations, monsters, and within the past day are each explicitly staked out. The spell does not awaken or heighten an animal to humanoid intelligence in order to report all this, and so a low intelligence means a creature not only can still have some idea of these things, but must have some idea about these things.
However, I'd also absolutely have an animal be an entirely unreliable narrator, though not to the point of uselessness. Whether or not a spider can, left to its own devices, really distinguish between races of humanoids is probably something I'd land on no with. I'd probably also be tempted to think about what interesting ways a spider's perception would be inhuman and alien, and try to lean on that.
answered 2 hours ago
theCrazing
1014
New contributor
theCrazing is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
Well, as you've noticed there aren't very many explicit rules about this, a lot of it can be -- and probably should be -- guided by what kind of game you and your players want. If that sort of easy scouting seems like it'll cheapen intelligence more than your table would like, I'd absolutely let that guide and flavor what exactly a spider can report back. Still, even if I were in your shoes and tempted to really rein this in, I wouldn't want the answer to be nothing, because that's not exactly enriching the table's game either.
However in the interest of getting more concrete, one thing you might not have thought of is looking at something like Speak with Animals:
You gain the ability to comprehend and verbally communicate with beasts for the duration. The knowledge and awareness of many beasts is limited by their intelligence,
but at minimum, beasts can give you information about nearby locations and monsters, including whatever they can perceive or have perceived within the past day. You might be able to persuade a beast to perform a small favor for you, at the DM's discretion. (PHB p.277)
To me, I would read this spell description as a pretty clear signpost that an Intelligence 1 doesn't mean something along the lines of, the creature has no sense of object permanence and is therefore unable to give any information about what's in a room, especially since locations, monsters, and within the past day are each explicitly staked out. The spell does not awaken or heighten an animal to humanoid intelligence in order to report all this, and so a low intelligence means a creature not only can still have some idea of these things, but must have some idea about these things.
However, I'd also absolutely have an animal be an entirely unreliable narrator, though not to the point of uselessness. Whether or not a spider can, left to its own devices, really distinguish between races of humanoids is probably something I'd land on no with. I'd probably also be tempted to think about what interesting ways a spider's perception would be inhuman and alien, and try to lean on that.
answered 2 hours ago
theCrazing
1014
New contributor
theCrazing is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
answered 2 hours ago
theCrazing
1014
New contributor
theCrazing is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
answered 2 hours ago
theCrazing
1014
answered 2 hours ago
theCrazing
1014
1014
New contributor
theCrazing is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
New contributor
theCrazing is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
theCrazing is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
add a comment |Â
add a comment |Â
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1
Related (possible duplicate): How much can you communicate with your familiar?
– V2Blast
5 hours ago
Also related: Can I send my Owl familiar on guard duty?, Intelligence of Familiar vs Normal Creature?, Is there any way to raise a wizard's familiar's Intelligence?
– V2Blast
5 hours ago