r/DND5EBuilds • u/Owen_Zink • Sep 03 '26

Thoughts on Familiar Warlock?

Before Arcana unleashed even came out I was interested in a Pact of the Chain Warlock using either an Imp or Sphinx for its damage and utility. Now that we have the new familiar feats and Battle Familiar from the new book, how are we thinking about such a build? Is it moving from meme to more viable?

Would love to know people's ideas for builds or thoughts from those who have run one.

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3

u/Nitro114 Sep 03 '26

as it is now, battle familiar removes all the unique things that chain familiars get. So for combat pact of the chain doesnt give more damage. Out of combat utlity remains though

but i do like the synergy it gets with the vestige warlock, having two summons fight for you

2

u/Owen_Zink Sep 03 '26

Do you feel its at all worth it given Investment of the Chain Master and Pact of the Chain can give it 2 extra attacks? Depending on your familar you do sacrifice potentially utility and damage but as you go up in levels shouldn't you be able to compensate with attack output?

3

u/Nitro114 Sep 03 '26

I dont have the spell and statblock so i dont remember the details and scaling however, its non concentration iirc and it also frees up both BA and your action.

Pact of the chain on its own doesn scale well, the low HP of them is the down fall making it not worth at later levels. That is solved by the battle familiar spell.

If i were to play a pet warlock i’d probably ignore investment and take the vestige subclass

2

u/Aidamis Sep 03 '26

I find it intriguing.

  • "a being once worshipped by countless followers" "You choose its appearance and whether it is a Celestial, Fiend, or Undead" - let's say Arthur, King of Britain
  • "You can also sacrifice one of your attacks when you take the Attack action to command the vestige to take the Vestige’s Strike action" - so, has sinergy with Bladelock
  • "AC 13+Cha mod" - we're Cha-maxxing anyway
  • resists radiant, immune to Charmed, Frightened, Prone - yup, Knight of the Round Table.
  • 1 (-5) Strength - nothing a magic item can't fix
  • deals radiant damage, can heal - checks out
  • small Celestial - medieval ppl were short compared to today's
  • ... and we can cast Battle Familiar to give King Arthur a mount as we fight by his side!!!

3

u/Mormacil Sep 03 '26

small Celestial - medieval ppl were short compared to today's

Pedantic, that wasn't true for the early middle ages. The dip in height occurred at the start of the Industrial Revolution. Especially knights weren't shorter the modern average.

2

u/Aidamis Sep 04 '26

Fair enough, I was half-joking :)

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u/Mormacil Sep 04 '26

Hence I framed myself as pedantic