It's been a thunder spell from the druid both times.
I gave her owl stats but flavored her as a very small dragon who has a fondness for polyhedral gems. Yep, she's a dice dragon.
I guess that makes my familiar my self-insert character.
A smart player will try to keep the owl out of LoS during most of the round, so sacrificing action + reaction for "I attack it once it comes out of cover" is the best most NPCs can do.