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I was looking at the tressym's description in the Storm King's Thunder adventure, and saw this (p. 243):

With the DM's permission, a person who casts the find familiar spell can choose to conjure a tressym instead of a normal cat.

The tressym seems really strong in comparison to other familiars, such as the owl (who many see as the strongest familiar).

Tressym as compared to the owl: \begin{array}{r|ccc} \text{} & \text{Tressym} & \text{Owl} \\ \hline \text{Stats} & \text{-4, +2, 0, 0, +1, +1} & \text{-4, +1, -1, -4, +1, -2} \\ \text{Skills} & \text{perception +5, stealth +4} & \text{perception +3, stealth +3} \\ \text{HP} & \text{HP(5)} & \text{HP(1)} \\ \text{AC} & \text{AC(12)} & \text{AC(11)} \\ \end{array}

The owl has a flying speed, but it has has almost no ground / climbing speed.
The tressym has the Detect Invisibility trait (with a range of 60 feet) as well as immunity to and detection of poison. These features compared to the Flyby ability of a owl seem not worth it to me.

Is it actually as strong as I think, or am I overlooking something?

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  • \$\begingroup\$ This question is very likely going to get closed for being opinion based. It's certainly very versatile, but does that make it stronger? You'll have more success if you state in what area you want to compare them, then "stronger" is an objective thing, instead of a subjective one. \$\endgroup\$
    – Theik
    Commented Dec 11, 2018 at 14:07
  • \$\begingroup\$ I was searching for information related to this question and came across this closed post. The last bit of this question certainly seems quantifiable and answerable. \$\endgroup\$
    – Token
    Commented Jan 12, 2019 at 7:13

1 Answer 1

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It depends on what you're using the familiar for.

Offense: If the familiar is being used as a method to harass opponents to gain advantage, Owl is the winner - it has a superior Fly speed (60' to the Tressym's 40') and Flyby. It can swoop in, take the Help action and get out without provoking an attack of opportunity.

Defense: If the familiar is being used to protect the caster, the Tressym is far superior - it can detect invisibility and poison. Yes, the Owl has darkvision out to 120 feet, but that's only really good for the caster when they're directly using the owl's senses. A Tressym is also intelligent - it can't speak, but that doesn't mean it can't communicate the things it sees.

Companionship: Even when enhanced by find familiar, the owl is still of animal intelligence (Int 2). The Tressym is as smart as most adventurers (Int 11, smarter than some, actually). It can't speak, but it can understand Common. The Tressym is a creature that can actually be a friend; an owl familiar is just a magical tool.

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    \$\begingroup\$ These are all good points - but you need a conclusion. Right now your answer doesn't actually answer the question of how strong a tressym is, it just talks about some comparisons. \$\endgroup\$
    – Miniman
    Commented Dec 11, 2018 at 22:04
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    \$\begingroup\$ @miniman The very first line is both summary and conclusion. \$\endgroup\$
    – T.J.L.
    Commented Dec 12, 2018 at 12:35

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