D&D 5E Cartomancer Feat

[Nikosandros]

The Book of Many Things contains the feat Cartomancer. It has two features. The first one is straightforward (it grants the Prestidigitation cantrip and you can use it to perform "stage tricks"), the second one is less clear to me.

Hidden Ace. When you finish a long rest, you can choose one spell from your class’s spell list and imbue that spell into a card. The chosen spell must have a casting time of 1 action, and it must be a level for which you have spell slots. The card remains imbued with this spell for 8 hours. While the card is imbued with the spell, you can use a bonus action to flourish the card and cast the spell within. The card then immediately loses its magic.

How does that work exactly? AFAIK, imbue is not a "term of art" in 5e. Does it consume a spell slot? If so, is the slot expended when you imbue the spell or when you cast it? It seems to me that the implication is that you use up a slot when you actually cast the spell, but I'm not 100% sure.

 

[overgeeked]

The Book of Many Things contains the feat Cartomancer. It has two features. The first one is straightforward (it grants the Prestidigitation cantrip and you can use it to perform "stage tricks"), the second one is less clear to me.

Hidden Ace. When you finish a long rest, you can choose one spell from your class’s spell list and imbue that spell into a card. The chosen spell must have a casting time of 1 action, and it must be a level for which you have spell slots. The card remains imbued with this spell for 8 hours. While the card is imbued with the spell, you can use a bonus action to flourish the card and cast the spell within. The card then immediately loses its magic.

How does that work exactly? AFAIK, imbue is not a "term of art" in 5e. Does it consume a spell slot? If so, is the slot expended when you imbue the spell or when you cast it? It seems to me that the implication is that you use up a slot when you actually cast the spell, but I'm not 100% sure.

Reason suggests the spell slot is used during the initial "imbuing" of the card, otherwise this feat gives you a free spell slot up to your highest level.

RAW it is not explicitly declared to be used, therefore it is not used.

There's a bit more off with this. Multiclassing and you don't actually need to know the spell to cast it into the card.

Say you're a 17th-level sorcerer, so have 9th-level slots. You're also a 1st-level wizard, so wish is on your spell list.

Despite not having wish, this feat allows you to imbue wish into the card.

 

[The Myopic Sniper]

It is a poorly written feat. I have no idea how it made it to print this way.

I would rule it that you expend the spell slot when "imbuing" the card and that it has to be a spell that you could normally cast. That isn't what is written, but that is how I am going to DM it if it comes up. I would warn any player who wants to bring this feat to the table that I am ruling it this way. I don't think it necessarily breaks anything to rule it as written... it is just weird that it doesn't work like anything else in the game with its rules interactions.

Even the whole "prestidigitation as stage magic, but it is actually real magic" bullet point is just kind of bizarre, but using the spell system to navigate around having a more robust skill system is definitely a 5E thing. I think they could have phrased this differently. Although I like the idea of the stage magician who is actually using real magic to do his stuff and gets humiliated for "cheating" with a well timed counterspell or anti-magic zone. That is more of a short story concept than something that would be fun in play though.

 

[Kurotowa]

It is a poorly written feat. I have no idea how it made it to print this way.

It is indeed poorly written. On the one hand, no where does it say you have to spend a spell slot to imbue the card. On the other hand, it lacks the standard wording for feats and species features that explicitly says it doesn't cost a spell slot.

Since the RAW are unclear, my next step is to attempt to divine the RAI. And I don't think the RAI is "This gives you an additional spell slot of your highest available level". It's already quite strong in giving you a quickened spell that doesn't have to be on your spells known/prepared list. So on that basis, I would say that it costs the spell slot you imbue into the card.

 

[Nikosandros]

It is indeed poorly written. On the one hand, no where does it say you have to spend a spell slot to imbue the card. On the other hand, it lacks the standard wording for feats and species features that explicitly says it doesn't cost a spell slot.

Since the RAW are unclear, my next step is to attempt to divine the RAI. And I don't think the RAI is "This gives you an additional spell slot of your highest available level". It's already quite strong in giving you a quickened spell that doesn't have to be on your spells known/prepared list. So on that basis, I would say that it costs the spell slot you imbue into the card.

I agree with all of that, but when do you think that the slot is expended? When you imbue the spell?

 

[Kurotowa]

I agree with all of that, but when do you think that the slot is expended? When you imbue the spell?

Yes. That's what makes the most sense both mechanically and descriptively.

 

[MarkB]

It's already quite strong in giving you a quickened spell that doesn't have to be on your spells known/prepared list.

Quite possibly Quickened and Subtle, since it's within the realm of interpretation that flourishing the card is all you need to do to cast the spell.

And talking of components, if you're going with the interpretation of the spell slot being consumed when imbuing the spell, are any relevant material components consumed at that point too?

 

[cbwjm]

Reads to me like no spell slot is used up, you don't even need to know the spell, you just need to have spell slots of the appropriate level and have the spell on you spell list. Basically it gives you one free spell cast, no spell slot required.

 

[Charlaquin]

Anybody here use the app formerly known as Twitter and want to ask ‘ol JC about this for us?

 

[ninjayeti]

Definitely a badly written spell. However, I would rule that the slot is expended when you flourish the card as that is when you actually cast the spell ("you can use a bonus action to flourish the card and cast the spell within"). I have no idea what "imbue" means mechanically, but when you "cast" a spell normally it uses up a spell slot (see, e.g. PHB p. 114). As there is no specific language to the contrary here, that is what I would go with.