A Very Abstract Question (0 level spell vs. feat)

[Voadam]

3 cantrips a day is a very weak feat, I've never seen anybody even consider it.

At will prestigitation would be a neat "hey I'm magical" effect. But it lasts a long while anyway.

The rays would mean they can't be disarmed, they must be chained up or gagged or something to stop them from being dangerous in jail. 1d3 a round quickly becomes irrelevant at higher levels unless they are an arcane trickster and can get off sneak attacks.

At will orison healing would mean unlimited healing in between fights. However 1 or 2 / level would not be unbalancing.

Most of the others are not overpowered, for instance detect poison at will is not bad, only create water in a dark sun game, but I think the spell wouldn't work there anyway because of the weak connection to the plane of water (I might be misremembering that though).

 

[seankreynolds]

For a feat that gave a utilitarian spell (such as mage hand), 3/day should be totally fine. If it's an attack spell you might want to consider dropping it to 2/day. For a particularly weak cantrip, 4/day should be fine. I'd hesitate giving any cantrip away as an at-will ability for a feat, as some player is going to find some way to exploit it beyond it's average value as a cantrip.

 

[The_Universe]

Thanks for all of the input.

I was hoping to come up with a purely systemic way of determing how many times per day a feat could grant a cantrip. However, as the comments thus far would seem to reflect, I think it's going to have to depend very much upon the cantrip.

Thanks again, and feel free to keep the comments coming.

 

[TracerBullet42]

I think there was something like this in the newest Dragon magazine...I'll give it a check when I get home...(or if someone else wants to beat me to it, that'd be hunky-dory too.)

 

[JoeBlank]

If you want a set rule, I think you would be fine by allowing either:

Choice of 3 cantrips, once per day each, or

Choice of one cantrip, three times per day.

As the esteemed Mr. Reynolds mentioned, there are some that might make more sense at 2 or 4 per day, but it is not much of a difference, especially if you want to have a set feat that you don't have to re-evaluate for every cantrip/orison.

 

[The_Universe]

I think there was something like this in the newest Dragon magazine...I'll give it a check when I get home...(or if someone else wants to beat me to it, that'd be hunky-dory too.)

Thanks! I'd love to see it if there is anything!

 

[Gez]

Well, in an older Dragon Mag, there was a feat that allowed a Gnome to ditch her three gnome cantrips and choose three other cantrips or orisons from the lists of the druid and the sorcerer/wizard to replace them.

I always found it too weak to be of use, though. Paying a feat slot and one racial ability in order to get to use cure minor wounds once per day...

 

[TracerBullet42]

Here it is, in the latest Dragon Magazine...

Innate Magic (Racial)
You can cast a minor spell.
Prerequisites: Int 3, Cha 11, must be taken at 1st level.
Benefit: Select a 0-level spell. You gain the spell-like ability to cast this spell once per day. Caster level 1st; save DC 10 + Cha modifier.

(Is it ok to post this, mods? Sorry if it's a problem.)