Familiar Names

Marra

Andru

Callabus

Shoon

Wistla

Yrsa

Andar

Aldanon

Grendan

Domiel

 
familiar illustration

Familiar Name Generator

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What is a Familiar?

Familiars are helpful spirits often summoned by spellcasters like Wizards, Druids, and Warlocks. Other classes interested in gaining a spiritual companion can also learn the Find Familiar spell by taking the Magic Initiate feat. When cast, familiar spirits often take the form of a smaller animal like a cat, owl, or weasel, each with unique stats and abilities. However, rather than a natural beast, they exist as celestials, fey, or fiends. Warlocks who choose the Pact of the Chain boon also have additional, more demonic creature options available to them.

While familiars are separate entities from their caster with independent action economies, most cannot take the attack action. Still, their wide range of possible abilities allows familiars to perform many supporting tasks, often cementing their place as mini party members. These valuable little spirits can move delicate objects, offer help, scout, and search for hidden items depending on their selected form. There are even spells like Flock of Familiars that allow their caster to summon several spirits at once.

Choosing the right familiar

Depending on the chosen class, a player may select from several different animal options for their familiar. While some adventurers may desire a simple companion, more strategic players may pick their creature based on environmental factors, the time of day, or a specific task requiring specialized skill.

If the party decides to venture underwater, two of the best options may be the octopus and the frog. While both can breathe and function underwater, octopuses possess the ink cloud ability that creates a heavily obscured area in a five-foot radius once per short rest. On the other hand, frogs are amphibious, allowing them the flexibility to breathe both air and water. They also possess darkvision, which can be incredibly useful to mages without the ability themselves.

If the group requires air support, bats, hawks, ravens, and owls are excellent options for a familiar. While frogs can see in the dark, bats have the more advanced ability of blindsight. This gift allows them to perceive their surroundings without relying on sight alone. Bats also have the benefit of advantage on perception checks involving hearing. Hawks are twice as fast as bats, and their keen eyesight gives them advantage on sight-based perception checks instead of hearing. Ravens are only slightly slower than hawks but make up for the disparity with their mimicry ability. They can imitate simple sounds like whispers, crying babies, or shifting metal to distract enemies or signal party members. However, many players may find the owl to be the most reliable option for flying familiars. They are just as fast as a hawk, have advantage on perception using both sight and hearing, possess darkvision, and have a unique flyby ability that prevents opportunity attacks on the battlefield.

If players are looking for less standard, more interesting familiar choices, they may consider the warlock class with the Pact of the Chain boon. Beyond the standard forms of the find familiar spell, this gift from their patron allows the player to also choose from a quasit, pseudodragon, sprite, or imp. The quasit boasts higher than average hit points and 120 feet of darkvision, along with the ability to polymorph into additional forms, turn invisible, and a unique scare action that can potentially startle enemies. Pseudodragons have a quick fly speed and can use their sting action as an attack to poison a foe and potentially knock them unconscious. Sprites have the highest armor class of any familiar, due in part to their size and quickness. They can also turn invisible like the quasit and have a similar attack feature to the pseudodragon. However, the imp is often considered the most useful form available to Pact of the Chain warlocks. Some game masters may consider imps over-powered, but they can provide their caster with a host of valuable abilities if allowed. Imps have the highest hit points, polymorph, invisibility, the sting of a pseudodragon, darkvision, devil's sight, and several damage resistances and immunities.

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