Gazer familiar

Post date: Apr 23, 2019 8:6:21 PM

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Albino Gazer: Xanathar dreamed this gazer into existence and sent it to spy on Thorvin, whose loyalty the beholder is beginning to question. The gazer is itself disloyal. A wizard character can befriend it with a successful DC 11 Persuasion check and turn it into their familiar with a find familiar ritual. When the gazer becomes a familiar, its alignment changes to match that of its new master. (S8 Dragon Heist pg 105)

Gazer (Volo's Guide to Monsters pg126): A gazer is a tiny manifestation of a beholder's dreams. It resembles the beholder who dreamed it into existence, but its body is only 8 inches wide, and it has only four eyestalks. It follows its creator like a devoted, aggressive puppy, and sometimes small packs of these creatures patrol their master's lair for vermin to kill and lone creatures to harass.

Nuisance Pet. A gazer can't speak any languages but can approximate mimicking words and sentences in a high-pitched, mocking manner. Beholders find gazers amusing and tolerate their presence like spoiled pets. A gazer can't be tamed by anyone but its creator, except through the use of magic or by bonding with a spellcaster. Some beholders with wizard minions insist they take a gazer as a familiar because they can see through the eyes of these creatures.

Aggressive Vermin-Eater. A wild gazer (one living separately from a beholder) is territorial, eats bugs and small animals, and is known for playing with its food. A lone gazer avoids picking fights with creatures that are Medium or larger, but a pack of them might take on larger prey. A gazer might follow humanoids in its territory, noisily mimicking their speech and generally being a nuisance, until they leave the area, but it flees if confronted by something it can't kill.

Variant Gazer Familiar: Spellcasters who are interested in unusual familiars find that gazers are eager to serve someone who has magical power, especially those who make a point of bullying and harassing others. The gazer behaves aggressively toward creatures smaller than itself, and it tends to randomly attack house pets, farm animals, and even children in town unless its master is very strict. A gazer serving as a familiar has the following trait. ·

• • Familiar. The gazer can serve another creature as a familiar, forming a telepathic bond with its willing master, provided that the mater is at least a 3rd-level spellcaster. While the two are bonded, the master can sense what the gazer senses as long as they are within 1 mile of each other. If its master causes it physical harm, the gazer will end its service as a familiar, breaking the telepathic bond.

Gazer (fly, stealth, perception, wisdom sv, darkvision, aggressive, mimicry, eye rays): A incredible choice. Aside from its high hit point total, it's eye rays ability is by far the most powerful of the familiar abilities.

• • 1 mile telepahtic vision, aggressive, mimicry, AC 13, HP 13 (3d4+6), tiny aberration, PP 14, darkvision 60 ft, stealth +5, fly 30 ft (hover, immune to prone), Str-4, Dex+3, Con+2, Int-4, Wis+0 [sv+2], Cha-2, Bite +5 (1P), Eye Rays (range 60, 2 random rays: charmed+1/2spd+disadv atks 1 round [Wis sv DC12], frightened 1 round [Wis sv DC12], 3d6 cold [Dex sv DC12], pushed 30 ft [Str sv DC12])

• Aggressive. As a bonus action, the gazer can move up to its speed toward a hostile creature that it can see.

• Mimicry. The gazer can mimic simple sounds of speech it has heard, in any language. A creature that hears the sounds can tell they are imitations with a successful DC 10 Insight.

• Eye Rays. The gazer shoots two of the following magical eye rays at random (reroll duplicates), choosing one or two targets it can see within 60 feet of it:

  • Dazing Ray. The targeted creature must succeed on a DC 12 Wisdom saving throw or be charmed until the start of the gazer's next turn. While the target is charmed in this way, its speed is halved, and it has disadvantage on attack rolls.

  • Fear Ray. The targeted creature must succeed on a DC 12 Wisdom saving throw or be frightened until the start of the gazer's next turn.

  • Frost Ray. The targeted creature must succeed on a DC 12 Dexterity saving throw or take 10 (3d6) cold damage.

  • Telekinetic Ray. If the target is a creature that is Medium or smaller, it must succeed on a DC 12 Strength saving throw or be moved up to 30 feet directly away from the gazer. If the target is an object weighing 10 pounds or less that isn't being worn or carried, the gazer moves it up to 30 feet in any direction. The gazer can also exert fine control on objects with this ray, such as manipulating a simple tool or opening a container.

Find Familiar Ritual: You gain the service of a familiar, a spirit that takes an animal form you choose from a list. Appearing in an unoccupied space within range, the familiar has the statistics of the chosen form, though it is a celestial, fey, or fiend (your choice) instead of a beast.

Your familiar acts independently of you, but it always obeys your commands. A familiar can’t attack, but it can take other actions as normal.

When the familiar drops to 0 hit points, it disappears, leaving behind no physical form. It reappears after you cast this spell again.

You can’t have more than one familiar at a time. If you cast this spell while you already have a familiar, you instead cause it to adopt a new form. Choose one of the forms from the above list. Your familiar transforms into the chosen creature.

The above quotes indicate the following summary for the Albino Gazer:

• (Dragon Heist) The Gazer can become a familiar to a Wizard who befriends the Gazer and casts the Find Familiar ritual.

• (Volo's Guide) The spellcaster must be a 3rd level spellcaster.

• (Volo's Guide) The Gazer gains a variant familiar trait that lets its master see thriough its eyes upto a mile away.

The above leaves unclear the following:

• 1. Does the Gazer become a spirit (using the rules found under the Find Familiar spell)?

     • If Yes, the Gazer would leave no physical form behind of killed and the find familiar ritual would allow it to reappear.

• • Our ruling is No, as the description of the familiar leaving service if not treated well suggests it is creature and not a spirit. This means the abilities listed under the Find Familiar spell does not apply to the Gazer and instead it uses the Familiar trait feature described.

• 1. Does Gazer get added to the list of allowed familiar forms for this Wizard?

     • If Yes, the Find Familiar ritual could change the familiars form (to a bat for example) and later be used to change the familiar back into a Gazer.

• • Our ruling is No, as nothing in the text suggests this is added.

• 1. Does the Wizard need to also have the Pact of the Chain (Warlock 3rd level) to use its special eye gaze abilities?

• • If Yes, the Gazer would fit within other powerful warlock variants listed.

  • Our ruling is No, as the Gazer does not use the abilities found under the Find Familiar spell.

Two options seem well balanced with the above information:

1. (Our Decision) Gazer gains the Familiar trait in place of the abilities in the Find Familar spell: 

   • The Gazer is a normal creature (leaves behind a body when killed, cannot be resummoned, transported to a pocket dimension, or deliver touch spells) 

2. Gazer gains abilities in the Find Familiar spell:

   • The Gazer gains all of the benefits found under the Find Familiar spell, including the ability to be resummoned after death.

   • The Gazer Eye Rays ability only become usable with Pact of the Chain (this makes it much more robust, but not too powerful as a standard familiar).