Familiars and touch spells: all cantrips with a range of touch

[Greywander]

Guidance
Light
Magic Stone
Mending
Resistance
Shillelagh
Shocking Grasp
Spare the Dying

As far as I'm aware, even a chainlock with Voice of the Chain Master still requires you to be within 100 feet to cast touch spells through your familiar. I was curious if I could find any cantrips with interesting synergy with familiars. Shocking Grasp is the obvious one, but most of the situations where you'd use it you could just use a ranged cantrip to do the same or better damage, or for Chainlocks you can do similar damage with the imp's sting attack. Spare the Dying and Resistance at a range are also interesting, but not greatly so. You can give your familiar its own Shillelagh, but again, either your familiar can't attack or it already has a superior attack. You can cast Mending or Light on something without getting too close to it, which could have some niche utility.

What are some things we can do with these cantrips and a familiar (particularly a chainlock familiar, though I don't think it makes much of a difference)? Are there any leveled spells that are just amazing to cast through your familiar?

[elyktsorb]

Cure wounds is good if you want to keep out of slap range but still want adequately heal your team during fights.

[stoutstien]

Bestow curse is a biggie at my tables.

[DarkKnightJin]

Cure Wounds, Inflict Wounds, Enhance Ability (not100% sure on the range of that, I believe it's Touch). Revivify might be Touch, as well. That last one could help you get to a downed ally sooner.

Of course, most of the spells there that would be nice to have a Familiar for are on the Cleric's list..

If you want a exhaustive list, you'd have to check every spell with the range of Touch, and pick which would be 'better' if you could be outside of butt-slapping range to cast.

[nickl_2000]

I think you aren't giving Shocking Grasp the credit it deserves, especially at higher levels when you are fighting casters. If you land a shocking grasp on someone, they have suddenly lost their ability to counterspell. That can be amazing when you are fighting against a high level caster.

[Chronos]

Here's one I used once: The barbarian was charging into some dangerous situation, and didn't herself have an exit strategy. So I had my familiar ride on her shoulders. When the situation got too hot, I cast Invisibility on her through my familiar.

[MilkmanDanimal]

Really looking forward to getting Plane Shift in a couple levels. Hey, you want to pet this cute little kitty cat?

[Warlush]

I think you aren't giving Shocking Grasp the credit it deserves, especially at higher levels when you are fighting casters. If you land a shocking grasp on someone, they have suddenly lost their ability to counterspell. That can be amazing when you are fighting against a high level caster.

Ooooh nice! Also no Shield or Hellish Rebuke

[BarneyBent]

Magic Stone on reaction, movement to distribute to minions so that you’re not all clumped together and vulnerable.

[Cikomyr]

Shillelagh wouldn't work with a familiar as it requires you to hold the stick

[Snowbluff]

Warding Bond. This gives you resistance to damage and a bonus to saves and AC. Of course, this require you to make the little guy into an HP battery with other spells/abilities.

[Damon_Tor]

Shillelagh wouldn't work with a familiar as it requires you to hold the stick

I think the clause in Find Familiar where it says you treat the Familiar as the caster of the spell should cover this, just as it covers "a creature you touch gains a number of hitpoints..." or "Lightning springs from your hand to deliver a shock to a creature you try to touch."

[Chronos]

The issue, though, is that even if the familiar can cast Shillelagh, the effect is a big stick that has combat bonuses when it's wielded by a housecat or spider or whatever. I don't think that even any of the Pact of the Chain familiars would be able to effectively wield a Shillelagh.

[Cikomyr]

The wording of Shillelagh is clear:

"The wood of a club or quarterstaff you are holding is imbued with nature’s power."

It's subtle, but precise. *you* have to hold the stick. You can cast the spell through your familiar on the stick, but you still need to hold the stick

[Damon_Tor]

The wording of Shillelagh is clear:

"The wood of a club or quarterstaff you are holding is imbued with nature’s power."

It's subtle, but precise. *you* have to hold the stick. You can cast the spell through your familiar on the stick, but you still need to hold the stick

Similarly, the wording of shocking grasp says "Lightning springs from your hand to deliver a shock to a creature you try to touch." The only way any spell functions with Find Familiar is if you treat the familiar as "you". Thankfully the Find Familiar spell says "when you Cast a Spell with a range of touch, your familiar can deliver the spell as if it had cast the spell." So since the familiar is treated as the caster for the purposes of delivering the spell, it's safe to treat it as "you" for the purposes of holding the club or staff in question.