Find Familiar

Spell

Spellbook

Wizard

Not usable by

Diviner

School

Conjuration

Spell level
1

Specifics

Effects

Create familiar according to alignment of Gorion's Ward

Special

Where to find scroll

Obtained from

Nimbul

Icons

Technical Data

Spell code

SPWI123

Scroll value

100 

Scroll code

SCRL6D

Find Familiar is a spell that summons a magical animal or extraplanar creature to act as the wizard's servant and companion.

Although familiars are fully capable of fighting, their low hit points and the severe drawbacks for the familiar's death means that allowing familiars to enter combat is risky, unless you have a good strategy. The best way to use them is usually to summon them once for the permanent HP bonus, then talk to them and put them in your backpack where they can't be harmed.

The summoned familiar depends on the alignment of the caster of this spell. In the case that the alignment of the caster changes, the summoned familiar will also change when the caster casts this spell again with the new alignment.

Besides arcane casters (Mage, Sorcerer, Bard), Beast Masters also gain this spell, and Thieves at high level can gain the ability Use Any Item and cast it from a scroll.

Note: This spell may only be cast by the protagonist.

Effects[]

Note: This is one of the few spells that has different stats for all three games.

“

This spell enables the caster to attempt to summon a familiar to act as his aide and companion. Familiars are typically small creatures. A creature acting as a familiar can benefit a wizard, conveying its sensory powers to its master, conversing with him, and serving as a guard/scout/spy as well. A wizard can have only one familiar at a time, and he has no control over what sort of creature answers the summoning, if any at all come.

(Note: This spell may only be cast by the protagonist.)

The creature is always more intelligent than others of its type (typically by 2 or 3 Intelligence points), and its bond with the wizard confers upon it an exceptionally long life. The wizard has an empathic link with the familiar and can issue it mental commands. The caster receives half the familiar's total Hit Points (rounded down) as bonus Hit Points. However, the caster must take care to treat his familiar well, for if the familiar should die, the caster loses the bonus Hit Points and half the familiar's Hit Points again as damage. Also when a familiar dies, the caster loses 1 point of Constitution PERMANENTLY.

Example: A Mage has 12 Hit Points and casts Find Familiar. The imp summoned has 9 Hit Points, so the caster gets a bonus of 4 Hit Points. The caster now has 16 Hit Points. If the familiar dies, the caster loses those 4 Hit Points (putting him back at 12), loses 1 point of Constitution permanently (which may cause additional Hit Point loss), and takes 4 damage.

”

Familiars and alignment[]

LAWFUL GOOD, NEUTRAL GOOD: Pseudo Dragon

	Baldur's Gate	Shadows of Amn	Throne of Bhaal
Hit Points	12	24	48
Armor Class	0	-2	-2
Magic Resistance	35%	50%	50%
Combat Abilities	2 attacks per round at 15 THAC0 for 1d3 slashing damage	2 attacks per round at 13 THAC0 for 1d3 piercing damage, save vs. Death or be rendered unconscious for 2 turns (blocked by magic resistance)	2 attacks per round at 8 THAC0 for 1d6 piercing damage, save vs. Death or be rendered unconscious for 2 turns (blocked by magic resistance)
Special Abilities	Can cast Blur (duration: 10 rounds) once per day. Regenerates 1 HP/round. Immune to Level drain, sleep, and petrification.		Can cast Blur (duration: 10 rounds) once per day. Can cast Spirit Armor once per day and Detect Illusion twice per day. Regenerates 1 HP/round. Immune to Level drain, sleep, and petrification.

CHAOTIC GOOD: Fairy Dragon

	Baldur's Gate	Shadows of Amn	Throne of Bhaal
Hit Points	12	24	48
Armor Class	6	4	0
Magic Resistance	15%	32%	45%
Combat Abilities	2 attacks per round at 15 THAC0 for 1d2 slashing damage	2 attacks per round at 13 THAC0 for 1d2 slashing damage	2 attacks per round at 8 THAC0 for 1d2 slashing damage
Special Abilities	Can cast Mirror Image (4 images, duration: 6 rounds) once per day. Immune to Level drain, sleep, and petrification.	Can cast Mirror Image (4 images, duration: 6 rounds) and Invisibility, 10' Radius once per day. Immune to Level drain, sleep, and petrification.	Can cast Mirror Image (4 images, duration: 6 rounds), Invisibility 10' Radius, and Improved Invisibility once per day. Immune to Level drain, sleep, and petrification.

LAWFUL NEUTRAL: Ferret

	Baldur's Gate	Shadows of Amn	Throne of Bhaal
Hit Points	12	24	48
Armor Class	2	0	-4
Magic Resistance	35%	50%	65%
Combat Abilities	2 attacks per round at 15 THAC0 for 1d3 slashing damage	2 attacks per round at 13 THAC0 for 1d3 slashing damage	2 attacks per round at 8 THAC0 for 1d6 slashing damage
Special Abilities	Has 50% in Pick Pockets, 25% in Hide in Shadows/Move Silently, and 20% in Detect Traps. Can cast Blur (duration: 10 rounds) once per day. Immune to Level drain, sleep, and petrification. Backstab multiplier: x2.	Has 75% in Pick Pockets, 40% in Hide in Shadows/Move Silently, and 20% in Detect Traps. Can cast Blur (duration: 10 rounds) once per day. Immune to Level drain, sleep, and petrification. Backstab multiplier: x2	Has 95% in Pick Pockets, 60% in Hide in Shadows/Move Silently, and 60% in Detect Traps. Can cast Blur (duration: 20 rounds) once per day. Immune to Level drain, sleep, and petrification. Backstab multiplier: x3

NEUTRAL: Rabbit

	Baldur's Gate	Shadows of Amn	Throne of Bhaal
Hit Points	12	24	48
Armor Class	3	1	-4
Magic Resistance	45%	65%	65%
Combat Abilities	2 attacks per round at 15 THAC0 for 1d2 slashing damage	2 attacks per round at 13 THAC0 for 1d2 slashing damage	2 attacks per round at 8 THAC0 for 1d2 slashing damage
Special Abilities	Has 20% in Hide in Shadows/Move Silently and 40% in Detect Traps. Has 75% resistance to fire, cold, and electricity. Immune to level drain, sleep, and petrification. Backstab multiplier: x2.	Has 30% in Hide in Shadows/Move Silently and 50% in Detect Traps. Has 75% resistance to fire, cold, and electricity. Immune to level drain, sleep, and petrification. Backstab multiplier: x2	Has 60% in Hide in Shadows/Move Silently, 85% in Detect Traps and 50% in Detect Illusion. Has 75% resistance to fire, cold, and electricity. Can cast Blur once per day. Movement bonus like under permanent Haste. Immune to level drain, sleep, and petrification. Backstab multiplier: x3

CHAOTIC NEUTRAL: Cat

	Baldur's Gate	Shadows of Amn	Throne of Bhaal
Hit Points	12	24	48
Armor Class	2	0	-4
Magic Resistance	35%	50%	65%
Combat Abilities	2 attacks per round at 15 THAC0 for 1d3 slashing damage	2 attacks per round at 13 THAC0 for 1d3 slashing damage	2 attacks per round at 8 THAC0 for 1d3 slashing damage
Special Abilities	Has 15% in Pick Pockets and 65% in Hide in Shadows/Move Silently. Immune to Level drain, sleep, and petrification. Backstab multiplier: x2.	Has 30% in Pick Pockets and 99% in Hide in Shadows/Move Silently. Immune to Level drain, sleep, and petrification. Backstab multiplier: x2	Has 60% in Pick Pockets, 60% in Find Traps, 60% in Detect Illusion and 99% in Hide in Shadows/Move Silently. Immune to Level drain, sleep, and petrification. Acquires 5 points of natural luck. Backstab multiplier: x3

LAWFUL EVIL: Imp

	Baldur's Gate	Shadows of Amn	Throne of Bhaal
Hit Points	9	18	48
Armor Class	4	2	-2
Magic Resistance	15%	25%	35%
Combat Abilities	1 attack per round at 17 THAC0 for 1d6 slashing damage	1 attack per round at 15 THAC0 for 1d6 piercing damage.	2 attacks per round at 8 THAC0 for 1d6 piercing damage and on-hit 100 poison damage/second (save vs death, bypasses MR)
Special Abilities	Has 100% resistance to fire, cold, and electricity. Can cast Polymorph Self (duration: 31 rounds) once per day. Regenerates 1 HP/round. Becomes immune to normal weapons in Throne of Bhaal.

NEUTRAL EVIL: Dust Mephit

	Baldur's Gate	Shadows of Amn	Throne of Bhaal
Hit Points	12	24	48
Armor Class	8	6	-2
Magic Resistance	10%	10%	35%
Combat Abilities	2 attacks per round at 15 THAC0 for 1d2 (+1 from 16 STR) slashing damage	2 attacks per round at 13 THAC0 for 1d2 (+1 from 16 STR) slashing damage	2 attacks per round at 8 THAC0 for 1d3 (+1 from 16 STR) slashing damage
Special Abilities	Has 100% resistance to fire and 35% resistance to slashing, piercing, and missile damage. Can cast Glass Dust (duration: 5 rounds) twice per day. Regenerates 1 HP/round. Immune to Level drain, sleep, and petrification.	Has 100% resistance to fire and 50% resistance to slashing, piercing, and missile damage. Can cast Glitterdust once per day and Glass Dust (duration: 5 rounds) twice per day. Regenerates 1 HP/round. Immune to Level drain, sleep, and petrification.	Has 100% resistance to fire and 60% resistance to slashing, piercing, and missile damage. Can cast Glitterdust once per day and Glass Dust (duration: 5 rounds) twice per day. Can cast Stoneskin once per day and Prismatic Spray once per day. Regenerates 1 HP/round. Immune to Level drain, sleep, and petrification.

CHAOTIC EVIL: Quasit

	Baldur's Gate	Shadows of Amn	Throne of Bhaal
Hit Points	12	24	48
Armor Class	4	2	-2
Magic Resistance	15%	25%	35%
Combat Abilities	2 attacks per round at 15 THAC0 for 1d6 slashing damage	3 attacks per round at 13 THAC0 for 1d6 slashing damage	3 attacks per round at 13 THAC0 for 1d6 piercing damage; save vs. death or lose 1 dexterity for 6 rounds
Special Abilities	Has 100% resistance to fire, cold, and electricity. Can cast Horror once per day. Regenerates 1 HP/round.	Has 100% resistance to fire, cold, and electricity. Can cast Horror and Blur once per day. Regenerates 1 HP/round. Becomes immune to normal weapons in Throne of Bhaal.

Where to obtain its scroll[]

Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition[]

Nimbul

Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn[]

Sold by[]

Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal[]

Arcana Archives

Familiar's advice[]

In Baldur's Gate II, and in the Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition, a familiar might have advice for Gorion's Ward if asked. The respective thoughts that are given depend on the current chapter of the storyline.

Notes[]

When talking to the familiar, the option for it to be stored in your pack arises, which guarantees it won't die (select the Talk symbol from the bottom left of the quickbar). Gorion's Ward will still keep the HP bonus.
You can talk to people through your Familiar. When you select your Familiar and try to talk to others, it "works", but the person who's actually considered to be talking isn't the Familiar, it's the Mage (or other class who can have a Familiar). This allows you to, for example, talk from a distance, talk while polymorphed or to perform some exploits listed in the Exploits page.
Every familiar has 15 STR, 18 DEX (except for the Dust Mephit who has 16 STR and 19 DEX) and 9 CON, therefore, they'll all end up with bonus damage/THAC0 if their STR is boosted by spells and an AC of -3 if given the effects of Spirit Armor (unless they already have better AC, like the neutral familiars in ToB). As for the CON, it can, technically, be raised to 18 via the Girdle of Fortitude when it comes to the neutral familiars (who can pickpocket it and then use it after saving/reloading) and, considering those exact three familiars have levels in Thief and/or Mage classes, they'll all gain extra HP in proportion to how many levels they have (they're level 3 or multiclass 3/3 in BGEE and SoA and level 8 or multiclass 8/8 in ToB). The Good and Evil familiars don't have traditional classes, so even if one manages to boost their CON somehow, they won't get any extra HP.
When a savegame is loaded with the whole party selected, the familiar is not selected. This is important if immediately after loading an area transition is intended: "Select All" has to be activated again, else the familiar might stay behind.
Having a familiar is particularly effective in Legacy of Bhaal difficulty since all NPC's including familiars, receive an HP bonus, which in turn affects the caster's hit point bonus.
If a mage is imported – but not made the protagonist – who already has a familiar, releasing it may cause the familiar to disappear, though the hit point bonus will remain.
If a familiar dies while the mage is mazed, the constitution penalty won't be applied and the mage will simply take some damage when they return.
Familiars don't act like summons in most regards: They have their own line of sight when moving around, they don't count towards the summoning limit of 5 creatures, and they are not automatically killed by the Death Spell (but are very vulnerable to it because of their low hit die, they can only block it with magic resistance). Familiars also trigger traps, unlike normal summons.
If a Mage dual-classes to another class and has already summoned a familiar, they keep it and the HP boost even while their Mage levels are inactive.
Familiars don't restore their daily usable abilities if they are in your bag while resting. They need to be outside during rest to restore their charges.
Familiars are not kept when importing your character (e.g. from BG1 -> BG2). You have to cast the spell again, or if you had only cast it from scroll, find another scroll.

Visuals[]

Videos[]

SPWI123 Find Familiar

Mod gallery[]

Familiar portraits: Taken from Portraits Portraits Everywhere

External links[]

Find Familiar on the Icewind Dale Wiki, a wiki for the first Icewind Dale game.
Find familiar on the Forgotten Realms Wiki, a wiki for the Dungeons & Dragons campaign setting Forgotten Realms.