Talk:Scratch

Find Familiar: Scratch

After recruiting Scratch, Tav gets Find Familiar: Scratch. The summoned Scratch is level 1, HP 5, Str 13, Dex 14, Con 12, Int 3, Wis 12, Cha 7. He's got 14 AC, 30 ft. speed, 7 ft. darkvision. Bite deals 1d6+2 damage

Most notable is that the spell description says "Scratch's keen nose can discover many things hidden around the world". This seems to manifest in the form of "Scratch's Sniff", a condition I first noticed while in Grymforge. Scratch begins barking and animating like a pointer dog, although I was unable to find out what he's actually pointing at, since the direction he points is whichever direction he happens to be facing when he stops moving... --174.160.170.64 14:01, 5 August 2023 (CEST)

Only minion with Help action?

Scratch, unlike most or possibly every other summonable minion, has the Help action, meaning in combat he can revive downed, restrained, enewebbed, etc, characters without you wasting an action or having to move far to get there. He can be summoned into position from 18m away (using an action). This is especially useful if trying to untie Volo in Act 3 or rescue Santoria in the Iron Throne without having to travel all to the way to them yourself. Is there an elemental, familiar, undead, etc, besides Scratch who has Help? --Dennis Bratland (talk) 19:36, 25 February 2024 (CET)

The Deva does too, I believe (and someone should def add that to his page if my memory's correct). --HarveyPekar (talk) 04:53, 26 February 2024 (CET)

Stratch is the only familiar with access to the help action. While it is correct, that Devas also can use the help action, they are summons and thus the statement is correct. However, I included the help action on their page. Thank you for the hint. Alithea (talk) 10:41, 26 February 2024 (CET)

Aren't familiars considered summons too? The description of the spell literally starts with "Summon a familiar" and I'm not aware of any in-game function that distinguishes between familiars and any other summoned being. I'm also no expert, so maybe I just haven't found that yet. --Jacktavarian (talk) 06:13, 27 February 2024 (CET)

And to add to the conversation, Ranger's Beast Master subclass grants Help to their Ranger's Companion at level 7 via Exceptional Training. --Jacktavarian (talk) 06:13, 27 February 2024 (CET)

The article states that Scratch "is also the only familiar capable of the Help action". Which is correct. While all familiars are summons, not all summons are familiars. Like all apples are fruit but not all fruit are apples. One difference is that the hp of a summoned companion increases when the ranger levels up. The hp of a familiar stays the same throughout all 12 levels of the player. There might be more differences, idk. The Help action is included in the description of exceptional training. Alithea (talk) 08:19, 27 February 2024 (CET)

sure, I get what you mean. I'd assumed you were responding to Harvey who was responding to Dennis who asked if there is any "elemental, familiar, undead, etc, besides Scratch who has Help?" to which the answer is 'no' if you only consider elementals, familiars, and undead, and 'yes' if you consider all summon-able characters/beings/entities within that "etc". This brings up a good question: Is there a recognized term for summonable beings? I can't find a wiki page to clarify what term might be used to group Scratch, elementals, and ranger companions all together. Is it "Minion"? --Jacktavarian (talk) 21:11, 27 February 2024 (CET)

The Quasit is a one time minion, like the little minions from the Spider Egg Sac. Unless you learn the summon quasit spell, then it becomes a familiar that you can get back each long rest, like Scratch and Us. Lump is summonable, but a very limited number of times, so he's somewhere in between. And you don't control him, unlike a typical minion. You can have NPCs like Jaheria join your party as a fifth member, and you can control them, but you don't have full control, like access to her inventory. She has to become a full party member for that.

I don't think there's any easy terminology possible, because the game has every variety of minion type: full party members, partial, summonable once, summonable a few times, full control, partial control, inventory access, etc. Which means that what you should do is try to include in an article specifically what they can and can't do. Just saying they're a "companion" or a "minion" or "summons" is bound to be ambiguous and unhelpful, so you have to spell it out. --Dennis Bratland (talk) 03:26, 28 February 2024 (CET)