[RPG] Can a Wizard’s familiar be dispelled or banished

dnd-5efamiliarsspells

Just as it says on the title. Can any PHB/DMG spell or effect dispel or banish a familiar?

Best Answer

Dispelled, no. Banished, yes.

Find familiar's duration is instantaneous so there's no lasting magical effect to be dispelled. The familiar isn't created and sustained by magic, you merely alter it to gain it's service.

The spell harms, heals, creates, or alters a creature or an object in a way that can't be dispelled, because its magic exists only for an instant.

(PHB 203)

The familiar is, however, a creature and thus can be affected by spells or abilities that affect creatures. So yes, it could be banished.

Banishment

You attempt to send one creature that you can see within range to another place of existence. The target must succeed on a Charisma saving throw or be banished.

If the target is native to the plane of existence you’re on, you banish the target to a harmless demiplane. While there, the target is incapacitated. The target remains there until the spell ends, at which point the target reappears in the space it left or in the nearest unoccupied space if that space is occupied.

If the target is native to a different plane of existence that the one you’re on, the target is banished with a faint popping noise, returning to its home plane. If the spell ends before 1 minute has passed, the target reappears in the space it left or in the nearest unoccupied space if that space is occupied. Otherwise, the target doesn’t return.

(PHP 217)

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