Spell Ruling: Familiar - Checks
Note: The focus of this article is on the find Familiar Spell and this is very different from a creature who becomes a familiar. See this article for information on Creatures who become familiars: Familiars
From the spell:
As long as the check you are doing through the familiar relies purely on sight and sound and your wisdom or intelligence and does not require touch, or tools etc then it is your check. Like reading a sign, your familiar usually can’t read, but you seeing through the familiar isn’t forcing the familiar to read the sign, it’s you reading it. If your familiar is hearing a language you know (or you have comprehend languages up) you’ll be able to understand it. If the sign is in a language you don’t know, you won’t be able to understand it even if you have Comprehend languages because that spell requires the caster to touch the written word to understand it. If your familiar actually can read and understand that language, it could read it but you couldn’t.
If you somehow gave your familiar lock picking tools and had it try to pick the lock, even though it is your sight, it is the Familiars hands performing the action and therefore not your lockpicking skills but the Familiar’s. If you had the ability to speak though your familiar and wanted to persuade or intimidate through the familiar, it is the Familiars CHA checks. Sorry but a voice through a bunny rabbit may be surprising, but it is not going to be as intimidating. CHA is more than just words used. All STR, DEX, CON and CHA checks will have to use the Familiars stats.
Note there may be instances where the check is WIS or INT but it won’t be the caster’s check. Something like feeling for a heartbeat may require a Medicine check and that is WIS, however you can’t feel through your familiar and therefore I would ask that you used the Familiar’s wisdom for that check. There may a situation where investigation requires doing something physical like picking something up or opening a drawer or looking behind a tapestry. If you tell me that you are investigating a desk, that usually implies that you are opening drawers and looking flipping open the books etc. I wouldn’t expect your cat would be able to investigate things as thoroughly as you could in some situations. As long as the check your doing relies on INT or WIS AND the situation requires only sight and sound then it is the caster’s abilities.
“…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…
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…”
Home Rule:
When you are “seeing through your familiar’s eyes” the key thing is YOU are seeing. It is you doing the check based on what you see or hear through the Familiar. It is your wisdom and intelligence interpreting what you see to understand what it is etc. Therefore it is your Perception check or Investigation check and you use your stats. If your familiar has darksight then you effectively have darksight through your familiar.As long as the check you are doing through the familiar relies purely on sight and sound and your wisdom or intelligence and does not require touch, or tools etc then it is your check. Like reading a sign, your familiar usually can’t read, but you seeing through the familiar isn’t forcing the familiar to read the sign, it’s you reading it. If your familiar is hearing a language you know (or you have comprehend languages up) you’ll be able to understand it. If the sign is in a language you don’t know, you won’t be able to understand it even if you have Comprehend languages because that spell requires the caster to touch the written word to understand it. If your familiar actually can read and understand that language, it could read it but you couldn’t.
If you somehow gave your familiar lock picking tools and had it try to pick the lock, even though it is your sight, it is the Familiars hands performing the action and therefore not your lockpicking skills but the Familiar’s. If you had the ability to speak though your familiar and wanted to persuade or intimidate through the familiar, it is the Familiars CHA checks. Sorry but a voice through a bunny rabbit may be surprising, but it is not going to be as intimidating. CHA is more than just words used. All STR, DEX, CON and CHA checks will have to use the Familiars stats.
Note there may be instances where the check is WIS or INT but it won’t be the caster’s check. Something like feeling for a heartbeat may require a Medicine check and that is WIS, however you can’t feel through your familiar and therefore I would ask that you used the Familiar’s wisdom for that check. There may a situation where investigation requires doing something physical like picking something up or opening a drawer or looking behind a tapestry. If you tell me that you are investigating a desk, that usually implies that you are opening drawers and looking flipping open the books etc. I wouldn’t expect your cat would be able to investigate things as thoroughly as you could in some situations. As long as the check your doing relies on INT or WIS AND the situation requires only sight and sound then it is the caster’s abilities.
