[RPG] Can the Find Familiar spell resummon the familiar behind a barrier

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The PHB (p. 240) states as part of the Find Familiar spell that:

As an action while it is temporarily dismissed, you can cause it to reappear in any unoccupied space within 30 feet of you.

Say the wizard is outside a locked vault or a locked room of some kind. Can he use this method to cause his familiar to appear inside the locked area?

Best Answer

According to Jeremy Crawford in the Youtube video Dragon+: Q&A with Jeremy Crawford, 10/30/18, RAW says it is possible, and the targeting rules don't apply.

Transcript of video section (28:35–31:09):

Bart Carroll (hosting): Texas Devin asks a real question for Jeremy: “May I dismiss my familiar and resummon it to the unseen far side of a wall or locked door?”

Jeremy Crawford: Wow, okay. So let's, let's take a look at the find familiar spell.

BC: And this is, yes, Jeremy brought his laptop today so he can look up things on the fly.

JC: Yeah, normally you know I look up things in the books, but I realized, why don't I bring in my laptop and I can search things on D&D Beyond, so BAM I have find familiar here. (Reading) And you can — as you know, you can dismiss your familiar… and then, as an action, you can cause it to reappear in any unoccupied space within 30 feet of you. Strict reading of this? I would allow it to appear in any unoccupied space within 30 feet of you. It includes beyond a wall and whatnot. Someone might then, might then ask me, “well Jeremy, what about the rules on spell targeting that say, hey the target of a spell, there must be a clear path to it?” It, you know, it can't — the target can't be behind total cover unless the spell says otherwise.

BC: Yeah.

JC: Here though, we're not talking about the targeting of the spell. The targeting of the spell is back when you first created the familiar within its original ten-foot range. This resummoning, all the spell says is it has to be any unoccupied space within 30 feet of you.

BC: So could I go to the bank, and summon my familiar behind the vault?

JC: As a DM I would allow it.

BC: A-ah.

JC: But — but, particularly because I as a DM like to interpret our rules as generously as possible. And especially generously when that's going to cause the players to get themselves into trouble. Because, because what you just described, someone might think “wow, that's broken” and as I, as a DM, I, I think of that — I'm like “ooh delicious,” because chaos is going to ensue, story time is coming.

BC: The guards must know this, so what have they placed in the vault that watches for things teleporting in, and what happens when my familiar gets absconded with, right?

JC: Right. Well and also, familiars are, are not… particularly resilient, so there's risk involved.

BC: I would also like to see the familiar just take the money and run. At what point do they decide to break ranks and just, you know, take off.

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