D&D 5E Does Magic Initiate need changing?

[John R Davis]

Yeah I made a MI ranger with druid spells Shillelagh and Magic stone. Fancied a more magic ranger and was very effective from the get go.

 

[Shiroiken]

One of the homebrew changes my groups sometimes use is having Magic Initate grant the spell as permanently prepared

This is pretty common IME. I think even Crawford has mentioned this should have been the case, but officially isn't.

and increase caster level by half, up to character level.

Can you clarify what you mean by this?

 

[Paul Farquhar]

One of the homebrew changes my groups sometimes use is having Magic Initate grant the spell as permanently prepared and increase caster level by half, up to character level.

In 5e caster level is always equal to character level.

 

[Li Shenron]

I agree with many about simply counting the spells as KNOWN by your character.

They probably didn't consider this because the design reason for Magic Initiate was to give a little bit of spellcasting to non-casters. But making the spell fully count as known makes the feat more balanced because it is in general less valuable to a character that already casts plenty of spells. It also gives Sorcerer a way to slightly make up for their unfair scarcity of known spells.

In addition I also wish they had kept the tier-2 and tier-3 feats in the chain which allowed to learn a 2nd and a 3rd level spell.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

Tweaks to MI:

1. Make it official that the new spell actually is added to the list of any one spellcasting class you possess. If you don't possess the spellcasting or pact magic class features, but you gain one of those features at a later time, the spell is added to that list.
2. If you prepare spells, your MI spell is always prepared. If you have a list of spells known, the MI spell is one of your spells known, but does not count against your limit of spells known.
3. Starting at 11th level, when you cast this spell using this feat, you may choose to cast it as a 1st, 2nd, or 3rd level spell. As usual, you cannot cast the spell again using this feat until you complete a long rest.

This removes unnecessary ambiguity, lets non-Bards get just a taste of what Magical Secrets can do, and opens up the option of choosing spells that might be more beneficial at high levels. High-level parties are uncommon to begin with, so this offers a small incentive for any group that reaches (or chooses to start) at higher level.

 

[cbwjm]

All you really need to do is add the line, from the shadow and fey touched feats that allow you to cast the 1st level spell with spell slots of the appropriate level.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

All you really need to do is add the line, from the shadow and fey touched feats that allow you to cast the 1st level spell with spell slots of the appropriate level.

I personally think adding it to your existing spellcasting class, or one you get later if you acquire one, is also appropriate, especially since it's gonna be pretty hard for a single first-level spell to break the game wide open. (Or, at least, any wider than it already is.) Bards can already nick any first level spell they like, and that's not seen as a big issue.

 

[Joshy]

This is pretty common IME. I think even Crawford has mentioned this should have been the case, but officially isn't.

Can you clarify what you mean by this?

It increases partial caster levels like multiclassing, 1/2 casters 1/3 casters and so on.

 

[Joshy]

In 5e caster level is always equal to character level.

Not always, some classes like the paladin and eldritch knight are only partial casters and you can increase your level and not your caster level by multiclassing with a class that isn't a full caster.

 

[CleverNickName]

The only change I think I would make is to add this to the end of the description: "You can take this feat multiple times."