D&D 5E Warlock - Pact of the Chain Question

[Melkor]

I managed to find a local store that had the PHB and Horde for sale today, and have been reading through the PHB tonight.

I had a question on the Pact of the Chain Warlock Boon. The text states:

"You learn the find familiar spell and can cast it as a ritual. The spell doesn't count against your number of spells known. When you cast the spell, you can choose one of the normal forms for your familiar , or one of the following special forms: imp, pseudo dragon, quasit, or sprite."

The text that follows is what I have a question about:

"Additionally, when you take the Attack action, you can forgo one of your own attacks to allow your familiar to make one attack of its own."

Would that mean your familiar can only make an attack if you forego your own attack, or the familiar could attack normally on its own, and make an additional attack on your turn if you choose to forego your own attack?

Edit to add: The Find Familiar spell says: "A familiar cant attack, but can take other actions as normal." I guess that answers that.

 

[Mouseferatu]

Familiars normally can't attack at all, per the Find Familiar spell. So I'd interpret this to mean that you are sacrificing your attack for the round so your familiar can make an attack as an exception to the general rule.

 

[mach1.9pants]

Similar to 4E but different from previous E, 5E appears to be controlling the action economy. So you don;t end up with a summoner rolling 30 odd attacks during his turn!

 

[Mouseferatu]

Similar to 4E but different from previous E, 5E appears to be controlling the action economy. So you don;t end up with a summoner rolling 30 odd attacks during his turn!

Unless you decide to piss off the DM and your fellow players by casting Conjure Animals in a 9th-level slot, in which case you do have the option of summoning 32 animals of 1/4 CR each.

 

[mach1.9pants]

Jeez it does? Oh dear...

 

[green_destiny]

*First post

Just a question reading the stats in PHB of imp, quasit, psuedo dragon familiars they all have poison damage/effect. This also applies to pact of chain familiars right when its warlock lets them attack in his place (by spending a combat action)?

Its just that I havent read anyone mention this particular benefit of the chain pact. All people are mentioning is the invisibility benefit.

I'm planning to swtich from pact of blade to pact of chain. I decided not to force my warlock to be a bit competent in melee and stick on what a warlock naturally does best - hurtful spells/statuses.

*Not that the familiars are made to kill but I find them more useful in-game not just in combat.

 

[steeldragons]

Welcome to Enworld. Have some start-up XP.

And yes, the familiars with poison can certainly use their poison to attack...when the warlock forgoes their own attack to have the familiar strike.

 

[green_destiny]

Welcome to Enworld. Have some start-up XP.

And yes, the familiars with poison can certainly use their poison to attack...when the warlock forgoes their own attack to have the familiar strike.

Great, thanks!

 

[keterys]

The pact of the chain was a no brainer for my warlock, because it let me use the imp for scouting (invisible sneaky flying devil I can sense through? Done) and as a melee combatant when I can't conveniently attack. He also tends to be invisible so I often have advantage for that attack.

He's actually surprisingly hardy, too, due to resistance, though I imagine I'll have to burn some gold eventually.

My next choice was definitely Pact of the Tome, which has some very interesting applications. The blade option felt nonsensical to me. I don't feel that they did enough to make that a viable option.

 

[Zaruthustran]

I picked Tome for the extra cantrips and for Find Familiar + Unseen Servant. But Pact of Chain gets you those two spells, essentially, rolled into one: an invisible familiar.

So, after a few levels, I retconned a switch from Tome to Chain pact (houseruling with DM). I miss Ritual Casting, but that can be picked up with a feat.

In play the invisible, darkvisioned, shapeshifting, can-see-through-his-eyes-with-no-range-limitations familiar has proven to be an absurdly useful scout. We use him to explore passageways, search for traps, spy on conversations, identify and tail threats... it's essentially drone warfare, D&D style.