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The find familiar spell description states:

When you cast a spell with a range of touch, your familiar can deliver the spell as if it had cast the spell. Your familiar must be within 100 feet o f you, and it must use its reaction to deliver the spell when you cast it. If the spell requires an attack roll, you use your attack modifier for the roll."

It says I use my attack modifier from my character, but what about the abilities of the familiar? For instance, vultures have the Pack Tactics trait:

Pack Tactics. The vulture has advantage on an attack roll against a creature if at least one of the vulture's allies is within 5 feet of the creature and the ally isn't incapacitated.

If I cast a spell with an attack roll and a range of Touch, and use my vulture familiar to deliver the spell, is the attack made with advantage thanks to the vulture's Pack Tactics trait?

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  • \$\begingroup\$ To clarify, are you asking if the touch attack channeled through the familiar gets a pack tactics bonus because the familiar is within 5 feet of the target? \$\endgroup\$
    – Orvir
    Sep 7, 2016 at 23:59
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    \$\begingroup\$ @ORVIR No, just if the spell can take advantage of Pack Tactics if it applies. Or any other familiar bonus, like a Bats blindsense for instance. \$\endgroup\$
    – Menagroth
    Sep 8, 2016 at 3:08
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    \$\begingroup\$ I recently came across this older question... And while editing in the relevant links and clarifying the actual question, I noticed that vultures are not one of the options for the find familiar spell. Should this discrepancy be noted in the question? \$\endgroup\$
    – V2Blast ♦
    Jul 11, 2018 at 8:39

3 Answers 3

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Yes.

[Y]our familiar can deliver the spell as if it had cast the spell

This means that your familiar is the point of origin of the spell. This is supported by the Jeremy Crawford tweet (mentioned by Slagmoth), where Jeremy tweeted:

"Does wizard have disadvantage on touch attack delivered by familiar if wizard can't see target but familiar can?" No.

What About That Modifiers?

Advantage/disadvantage based on sight isn't a modifier, it is advantage or disadvantage. You would still use your spell attack modifier instead of the creatures.

Advantage and Disadvantage section of the PHB never calls them modifiers. They follow after the Ability Scores and Modifiers section, but they are not a subsection of the modifiers. Advantage and Disadvantage affect the roll pre-modifiers.

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Yes. I don't see why not, when Jeremy Crawford indicates that you don't get disadvantage on attack rolls for your spell if you can't see it but your familiar can.

If you were thought to be the one casting, then you would get the disadvantage on the attack roll; therefore, this seems like a viable way for you to circumvent certain tactical issues albeit at the risk of your familiar's life.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ So, to shoot my idea in the foot, is this because the wizard could also use an action to see through the familiars eyes and would need that in order to use something like blindsight from a bat or see around a corner? Or is it be as I hoped and you can just use the familiars ability "... Additionally, as an action, you can see through your familiar’s eyes and hear what it hears until the start o f your next turn, gaining the benefits o f any special senses that the familiar has. During this time, you are deaf and blind with regard to your own senses. As an action, you can temporarily" \$\endgroup\$
    – Menagroth
    Sep 7, 2016 at 21:25
  • \$\begingroup\$ Going through some of the other Twitter posts from Mearls, he says that the familiar acts more or less as a conductor. This would seem to indicate that you simply cast the spell and the familiar delivers the attack part of it, if the familiar would have some advantage over you in that matter then it would apply I would deduce based on what I have read thus far. \$\endgroup\$
    – Slagmoth
    Sep 7, 2016 at 21:28
  • \$\begingroup\$ Was in the process of correcting that when you posted although not sure how it is contradictory. \$\endgroup\$
    – Slagmoth
    Sep 7, 2016 at 21:33
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    \$\begingroup\$ @Menagroth Nothing I have read would indicate that the Wizard would need to spend the action looking through the familiar's eyes to make an attack against an enemy the Wizard could not see but the familiar could. \$\endgroup\$
    – Slagmoth
    Sep 7, 2016 at 21:38
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Yes, but only if the familiar already qualifies for Pack Tactics

Basically, since the find familiar rules treat the spell as if it was cast by the familiar, it needs to have yet another allied creature in contact with the target to gain an advantage from Pack Tactics. That said, if both you and your familiar are in contact with the target, it's beneficial for you to have it be cast from the familiar, since then you'll give it advantage through Pack Tactics.

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