Pseudodragon familiar 5e Guide – The complete guide 2023

It’s dangerous to go alone! Take a Pseudodragon with you. If you are looking for a companion on your adventures, it is important to pick the right one.

In this guide, we will take a closer look into the Pseudodragon Familiar, the stats, how to get one and how you summon a Pseudodragon familiar. In addition, we have included an FAQ section at the end of the guide.

What is a Pseudodragon Familiar?

Let’s start with what a Pseudodragon is. This creature is a small dragon-kin creature known to be tamable by wizards. However, contrary to popular belief, they are not true dragons and are quite shy in nature. The beast is relatively tiny, only two feet in length from head to tail and around 7 pounds in weight. 

A familiar is a celestial, a fiend like a quasit, or a fey that looks and acts like the creature you decide to take. It also has the same stats. Thanks to it being a fey and not the actual thing, you can effortlessly dismiss it and recall it wherever you like within a 30 feet range of wherever you are standing. Of course, some DMs give you a genuine Pseudodragon, so these rules don’t apply.

So to summarize, a Pseudodragon Familiar is a fiend, fey, or celestial that has taken the shape, behavior, and stats of a Pseudodragon after you have summoned the familiar. 

Pseudodragon Familiar stats

Armour Class (AC)	Hit Points	Speed
13	7 (2d4+2)	15 feet + 60 feet flying

STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
6 (-2)	15 (+2)	13 (+1)	10	12 (+1)	10

• Skills: This critter has a perception of +3 and +4 stealth; Those are some pretty respectable stats for activities like scouting. However, they aren’t spectacular analogized to the Crag Cat. 
• Senses: The Pseudodragon Familiar has a few senses that might come in handy. They have a Blindsight 10 Ft. and a Darkvision 60 Ft. That means these creatures can see in the absolute dark for 10 feet as if there was just as much light as on a clear day. Pseudodragon familiars also have a passive Perception 13. 
• Languages: These creatures understand both common and draconic tongues. Unfortunately, they lack the vocal cords to communicate in these languages. However, the Pseudodragon Familiar does have limited telepathy as an ability. 

Pseudodragon familiar Abilities

• Keen Senses – Whenever this creature has to make a Wisdom check that relies on either sight, hearing, or smell, the familiar has an advantage on the next throw. 
• Magic Resistance – When a creature has the magic resistance ability, the damage done is halved when a damage-dealing spell targeted the creature.
• Limited Telepathy – Your Pseudodragon Familiar can communicate with you – and any other creature – in simple ideas, emotions, and images for a range of 100 feet. However, it needs to understand the language of that creature. Uncomplicated thoughts are something like, “get me that potion.” In my campaign, a simple Idea has a maximum of two steps that are easy to convey. 

Actions

• Bite – A bit of this monster has +4 to hit, a reach of 5 feet, and can hit 1d4 +2 of piercing damage—so pretty standard stuff. 
• Sting – The sting is pretty interesting. While it has the same stats as the bite, it has a unique effect. 

The target of the sting must make a saving throw of 11 on the CON stat. If that throw fails, the target will become poisoned. If the saving throw fails by 5 (or more), the target that took the sting will fall unconscious for an hour – or until another monster wakes it up or damages the senseless creature.

How to get a Pseudodragon Familiar 5e

To get a Pseudodragon Familiar, you need to do the same as any other familiar. But, first, you cast the level one spell, Find Familiar. When you cast this hex, a spirit takes the form of an animal of your choice. This animal can be a bat, crab, cat, frog, hawk, owl, lizard, octopus, poisonous snake, fish. 

Variant Familiar

As you see, there is no Pseudodragon Familiar on that list. So how do you summon one? If you examine Volo’s guide on page 213 and the Monster Manual on page 347, you can read the rules for a Variant Familiar. The Pseudodragon is one of those possible variant familiars in 5e. 

Ask your DM

There is just one problem with that: Variant familiars are meant for NPC’s, not players. So, in conclusion, the only two ways to get a Pseudodragon Familiar in 5e is to ask your DM if he allows you to select from the variant familiar list or if you can tame a wild one.

If you want to understand Find Familiar spell more profoundly, we have written the Ultimate Find Familiar 5e Guide! If you are interested in utilizing a Giant poisonous snake as familiar as a rogue, here is more information!

Is the Pseudodragon Familiar good in DnD 5e?

Strengths

• Intelligence: A Pseudodragon Familiar has an intelligence stat of 10. That means it is just as bright as an average human commoner. Pseudodragons can thus make complex decisions and be aware of their actions and mortality. 
• Thumbs: The paws on the Pseudodragon have thumbs. While the familiar has claws, they can use their feet to grab items like potions, gold, etc. 
• Language knowledge: Thanks to the knowledge of common and draconic languages, combined with high intelligence, the Pseudodragon Familiar can comprehend instructions just as easily as a typical human. 
• Scouting abilities – This familiar makes a great scout or thief thanks to the stats, dexterity, senses, and flying skills. Thanks to telepathy, the Pseudodragon Familiar can also give you live information on what it is seeing. 

Weaknesses

• Low damage: These monsters don’t do much damage, so if you want to have a reliable battle partner, you might want to keep looking around for a better pet. 
• No invisibility or shape-changing: Unlike some other alternatives, the Pseudodragon Familiar has no invisibility powers and can not shapechange. Those are rather significant drawbacks for a monster built for scouting and spying. 
• No damage resistance: The Pseudodragon is one of the few familiars that does not have damage resistance. While your familiar is – in most cases – not a battle partner, this does make the critter less survivable.

Final thoughts

The Pseudodragon Familiar in 5e is an excellent option for someone looking to change up the regular list of Find Familiar options. The monster has fascinating abilities that make it perfect for scouting out targets and thieving (unguarded items).

Advantages

The high intelligence and limited telepathic abilities, combined with the fact that they understand the common and draconic speech, make these wanna-be dragons the perfect familiar to execute intricate plans.

Drawbacks

There are some downsides to picking this familiar. The main one is that the Pseudodragon is not survivable or helpful in battle.

They have no damage resistance, can not shape-shift or turn invisible to flee, and lackluster damage.

If I ranked the Pseudodragon Familiar in 5e DnD on a tier list, I would put it in the A tier. Just shy of the S tier.

Summary table

Aspect	Information
Description	A Pseudodragon Familiar is a fiend, fey, or celestial creature that takes the shape, behavior, and stats of a Pseudodragon when summoned by a wizard.
Size	Approximately two feet in length from head to tail and around 7 pounds in weight.
Stats	AC: 13, HP: 15, Speed: 15 ft + 60 ft flying
Skills	Perception: +3, Stealth: +4
Senses	Blindsight 10 ft, Darkvision 60 ft, Passive Perception 13
Languages	Understands Common and Draconic, limited telepathy
Abilities	Keen Senses (advantage on Wisdom checks relying on sight, hearing, or smell), Magic Resistance (halves damage from targeted damaging spells), Limited Telepathy (communicates in simple ideas, emotions, and images within 100 ft range)
Actions	Bite (+4 to hit, 1d4 + 2 piercing damage), Sting (CON save DC 11, poisoned on failure, unconscious for an hour on failure by 5 or more)
Summoning	Requires casting the spell “Find Familiar” and obtaining permission from the DM to choose the Pseudodragon as a variant familiar or tame a wild one.
Strengths	Intelligence, ability to manipulate objects with thumbs, knowledge of languages, scouting abilities.
Weaknesses	Low damage output, lack of invisibility or shape-changing abilities, no damage resistance.

Pseudodragon Familiar 5e FAQ