D&D 5E would you let a PC learn a non spell magic power?

[Vaalingrade]

Some magic powers aren't spells. They're something some monsters have access to through how they're born, something that happened to them, etc. You can't just learn to be another species.

Some magic powers aren't spells because... the editing is sloppy and there's no proper keywording. I just add keywords and then yeah, maybe you can learn it if you can find someone who knows and isn't inclined to put you in a headline.

 

[LordEntrails]

if there is something that looks like a spell, I'd be inclined to allow a wizard to be able to learn it and add it to their spellbook (using the equivalent spell if it is just a renamed fireball, for instance).

But would it be a spell?

 

[cbwjm]

But would it be a spell?

Yes.

 

[Tonguez]

Some new monsters replace action attack spells with magic abilities that are close to (and in some case exact dup) of spells. If you have a monster/npc with a firey blast that duplicates fireball but doesn't count as a spell, and a player makes friends with them, can they learn firey blast?

if so would the character have to be a caster?

Can my 9th level fighter make friends and spend downtime learning Fiery blast ?

in some cases it seams like it would just be a boon like a magic item (maybe use an attunement slot maybe not) but if so and if not WHY?


side question: what would you think if someday there was a sorcerer (or other name but sorcerer like) class that just did this as there class thing... semi duplicate spells but not count as spells?

not learn it - but I might let them take it as a Feat, to show that their very nature has been changed (by divine boon, magical transformation, gamma radiation or Ooze-tainted blood)

 

[ECMO3]

Some new monsters replace action attack spells with magic abilities that are close to (and in some case exact dup) of spells. If you have a monster/npc with a firey blast that duplicates fireball but doesn't count as a spell, and a player makes friends with them, can they learn firey blast?

if so would the character have to be a caster?

Can my 9th level fighter make friends and spend downtime learning Fiery blast ?

in some cases it seams like it would just be a boon like a magic item (maybe use an attunement slot maybe not) but if so and if not WHY?


side question: what would you think if someday there was a sorcerer (or other name but sorcerer like) class that just did this as there class thing... semi duplicate spells but not count as spells?

I would make something like that a custom feat and have its damage or affects in line with other feats.

 

[Baron Opal II]

Some new monsters replace action attack spells with magic abilities that are close to (and in some case exact dup) of spells. If you have a monster/npc with a firey blast that duplicates fireball but doesn't count as a spell, and a player makes friends with them, can they learn firey blast?

Sure. There are many strange and alien magical techniques. What is required is a mentor and talent, or a means to wrest the power from the target and make it your own. Do they have to be a magician of some sort? Maybe, if the creature they encounter is. A fighter that befriends Emberhart the Salamander can probably learn some awesome forging techniques, spear fighting, and eventually hold hot metal in their bare hands. Those favored and bound to the Plane of Molten Skies can learn to project an aura of intense heat when aroused, much like the salamanders themselves.

side question: what would you think if someday there was a sorcerer (or other name but sorcerer like) class that just did this as there class thing... semi duplicate spells but not count as spells?

Nope. They use spells, just have an inherent talent. If they were a Binder, and thus using something else's power, I could see it being a power instead of a spell. Whether or not the effect would be countered by a globe is a separate issue.

 

[CleverNickName]

In my opinion, this is what the Magic Initiate and Ritual Caster feats are for. If the player wants more powerful spells, I would work with them to write a more powerful version of these feats. Something like...

Magic Adept
Prerequisites: Magic Initiate, character level 4
You learn one additional 1st level spell and one 2nd level spell from the class that you selected when you chose the Magic Adept feat. Using this feat, you can cast each spell once at its lowest level, and you must finish a long rest before you can cast it in this way again.

Magic Doyen
Prerequisites: Magic Adept, character level 8
You learn one additional 2nd level spell and one 3rd level spell from the class that you selected when you chose the Magic Initiate and Magic Adept feats. Using this feat, you can cast each spell once at its lowest level, and you must finish a long rest before you can cast it in this way again.

(just off the cuff here, very rough draft, needs polish, etc.)

 

[jgsugden]

If it fits the story, of course. I'd strive to make sure it doesn't break the game, but the game is far more sturdy than people give it credit for being.

And by the way - Ritual Caster Feat and Divine Boons both already do this, as does multiclassing into certain classes ... so ....

 

[Umbran]

Some new monsters replace action attack spells with magic abilities that are close to (and in some case exact dup) of spells. If you have a monster/npc with a firey blast that duplicates fireball but doesn't count as a spell, and a player makes friends with them, can they learn firey blast?

I think building the monsters/NPCs with magical abilities rather than using the spell frameworks is really a gameplay convenience for the GM. The stat block does not (or should not) define the narrative, merely the mechanical effect when a fight starts.

The GM should use the narrative context to decide if the attack can be learned, not the stat block.

 

[TwoSix]

It would entirely depend on the narrative of why the monster/NPC has that ability in the first place.

I'm very much a fan of the players growing via narrative events rather than simply gaining power through their class, so I'd generally be on board.