Pact of the Chain 5e

In the heart of a shadowed forest, Liora whispered an ancient incantation, calling upon her Archfey patron. She’d been having visions for months about an ancient tome and a small fairie circle at this exact spot. When she saw the tome in the vault she knew what she had to do. Laying it within the circle, she knelt.

Power surged into her and the tome was swallowed by the earth. With a blink of an eye the book was gone, and in its place was a small sprite sitting on a toadstool. As their eyes locked, it smiled at Liora and she instantly felt the small creature’s presence in the back of her mind.

“Come. We have much to do,” she said to the sprite. It flew to her and hovered around her head playing in the air as they left the Archfey’s forest.

What is the Warlock Pact of the Chain 5e Boon?

At level 3, all Warlocks get a gift from their Patrons. It comes in the form of one of four official Pact Boons. They are the Pact of the Blade, Pact of the Chain, Pact of the Tome, and Pact of the Talisman. Pact of the Chain can be found in the Player’s Handbook on page 107. It essentially gives the Warlock a familiar and some extra options for what shape the familiar can take. It’s usually associated with your Patron to some degree.

Pact of the Chain and Find Familiar Rules 5e 

As we mentioned earlier, Pact of the Chain gives the Warlock a familiar. To be more specific, Pact of the Chain grants the Warlock the ability to cast Find Familiar as a ritual without using any spell slots. So the Pact Boon works exactly the same as the Find Familiar spell with extra cosmetic options and 1 extra ability. 

The standard forms a familiar can take are typically small beast forms, but Warlocks get a few extra magicky familiar options with an imp, pseudodragon, quasit, or sprite. They can also use the standard beast options if they wish. 

The other extra ability is the Warlock’s Familiar can attack if the Warlock gives up one of their attacks to the Familiar. Normal Familiars will not be able to do this. All other rules are the exact same as a normal Familiar. 

Pact of the Chain Rules as Written

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, pseudodragon, quasit, or sprite.

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 with its reaction.

Find Familiar Rules as Written

1st-level conjuration (ritual)

• Casting Time: 1 hour
• Range: 10 feet
• Components: V, S, M (10 gp worth of charcoal, incense, and herbs that must be consumed by fire in a brass brazier)
• Duration: Instantaneous

You gain the service of a familiar, a spirit that takes an animal form you choose: bat, cat, crab, frog (toad), hawk, lizard, octopus, owl, poisonous snake, fish (quipper), rat, raven, sea horse, spider, or weasel. 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. In combat, it rolls its own initiative and acts on its own turn. 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.

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. During this time, you are deaf and blind with regard to your own senses.

As an action, you can temporarily dismiss your familiar. It disappears into a pocket dimension where it awaits your summons. Alternatively, you can dismiss it forever. As an action, while it is temporarily dismissed, you can cause it to reappear in any unoccupied space within 30 feet of you.

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.

Finally, when you cast a spell with a range of touch, your familiar can deliver the spell as if it had cast the spell. Your familiar must be within 100 feet of you, and it must use its reaction to deliver the spell when you cast it. If the spell requires an attack roll, you use your attack modifier for the roll.

Source: Player’s Handbook, Page 240

Best Pact of the Chain Familiars 

Animal Familiars

The standard choices are animal forms familiar, “bat, cat, crab, frog (toad), hawk, lizard, octopus, owl, poisonous snake, fish (quipper), rat, raven, sea horse, spider, or weasel”. These are fine, but since you have the option all of the other familiar offered through Pact of the Chain are better in every way. You can choose a beast if you like, just know that it’s not the optimum choice. 

Imp

The Imp stat block can be found on page 76 of the Monster Manual.

Out of all of the familiar options the Imp is probably your best choice. It has the highest HP, can shapeshift into a small beast form, see in complete darkness (including magic darkness), has a poisonous stinger attack, and can turn invisible. 

Just from abilities and stats, the Imp is hands down the best choice for a familiar. It can be commanded to turn invisible in order to scout, attack enemies afflicted with darkness, or ambush enemies with invisibility. 

Overall it’s one of the best if not the best familiar option. 

Pseudodragon

The Pseudodragon can be found on Page 254 of the Monster Manual. 

The Pseudodragon is another great choice for a familiar. They are tiny draconic creatures that look like miniature dragons. When compared to the Imp it has most of the same (or equivalent) abilities. The only thing that the Pseudodragon lacks is the Imp’s invisibility.

However it still makes an excellent scout, and its Limited Telepathy can be extremely useful in the right situations. 

Quasit 

The Quasit can be found on Page 53 of the Monster Manual. 

Quasit are tiny demonic creatures. They look like little gremlins. These creatures are extremely well-versed in hiding their true appearance. They can polymorph into a bat, centipede, or toad while retaining all of their normal stats and can be invisible most of the time. Combined with its invisibility it can reappear to attempt to scare a target and force it to flee. 

Quasit are a cool thematic choice if you wish to have a creepy demon constantly following your Warlock, and its poison attack is rather decent for a familiar. The only downside is that it cannot fly like the other familiar choices. 

Sprite

Sprites can be found on Page 283 of the Monster Manual. 

If Imp is the best overall, Sprites are the best versatile. They can fly, turn invisible, and use human tools. The ability for them to use tools and equipment far outweighs many of their disadvantages. 

They don’t have Darkvision like the others, so they’ll need to rely on their invisibility for scouting, and although they can wear armor and have a higher AC, they have only 2 HP. 

Best Invocations for Pact of the Chain

Chains of Carceri

Prerequisite: 15th-level, Pact of the Chain feature

“You can cast hold monster at will, targeting a celestial, fiend, or elemental, without expending a spell slot or material components. You must finish a long rest before you can use this invocation on the same creature again.”

Chains of Carceri can be found on page 110 of the Player’s Handbook. 

Although it doesn’t actually interact with your familiar, Chains of Carceri does require the Warlock to choose the Pact of the Chain. It’s a neat ability that lets you cast the 5th-level spell Hold Monster for free once every long rest. This can free up your higher-level spell slots for something a little more flashy.  

Gift of the Ever-living Ones

This is a great passive Invocation, especially if you find yourself getting injured a lot. It basically negates any rolls for healing done to you and replaces them with their highest values. So if you’re drinking a healing potion with your familiar nearby (100ft) instead of rolling 2d4 +2 (4 -10) you’ll just take the max value of 10. 

The Gift of the Ever-Living Ones Invocation can be found in Xanathar´s Guide to Everything on page 57.

Investment of the Chain Master

Prerequisite: Pact of the Chain feature

This invocation is an absolute must if you plan on having your familiar take part in fights. It grants your familiar either a flying or swimming speed and changes the familiar’s attacks to magical. You can also grant it damage resistance as a reaction, and more importantly, instead of giving up one of your attacks to command the familiar to attack, the Warlock can now use their Bonus Action to command the familiar instead. Overall it’s a huge step up for how your familiar can move and interact. 

The Investment of the Chain Master Invocation can be found in Tasha´s Cauldron of Everything on page 71. 

Voice of the Chain Master

Prerequisite: Pact of the Chain feature

“You can communicate telepathically with your familiar and perceive through your familiar’s senses as long as you are on the same plane of existence. Additionally, while perceiving through your familiar’s senses, you can also speak through your familiar in your own voice, even if your familiar is normally incapable of speech.”

Voice of the Chain Master can be found on page 111 of the Player’s Handbook. 

Voice of the Chain Master is a nice utility ability. It basically turns your familiar into a Ring door camera. You’ll be able to see everything that it sees and communicate with whatever’s directly in front of it. Instantaneous 2-way communication literally changed the world and we often overlook that in a fantasy setting like DnD. 

Pact of the Chain 5e FAQs

Which Familiar is Best with Pact of the Chain?

For stats, the Imp is the best familiar overall. For versatility, the Pixie is a good choice for its ability to use equipment. 

Is Pact of the Chain Good?

Yes. The Pact of the Chain is good if you want a familiar as an ally. It can be used for scouting and for combat. Familiars aren’t particularly strong but they can be useful as distractions. 

What is the Point of Pact of the Chain?

Pact of the Chain is the easiest way for a Warlock to gain a familiar. The Pact of the Chain’s familiar is also an upgraded version of the standard familiar that can be upgraded with Warlock Invocations. 

Is Pact of the Chain Better than Pact of the Tome?

It depends on your play style. Pact of the Tome gives you better spells, but Pact of the Chain gives you an extremely useful ally for scouting and infiltration.