D&D 5E Your best suggestion for a spellcaster's feat?

[imabaer]

Magic Feats I'd Love to See:

Focused Caster: ______
-Allows you to pick a lower level buff/summon spell when you take the feat. You waive Concentration requirements (maybe at the cost of duration?)

Versatile Shifter
-Allows druids to utility wildshape and not lose a charge (something like CR 0 creatures doesn't consume a wildshape, or if the druid doesn't take/deal damage, he can shift back to caster form for free)

Helping Hand
-Allows self targeted spells to be cast on friendly targets

Master Summoner
-Summon duration is doubled, and they operate similarly to familiars: you can choose to dismiss them with a bonus action into a pocket dimension, where you don't need to maintain concentration. You can call them out again with a bonus action.

Lightning Rod
-A target you can see is marked. All lightning damage spells you cast gain an +2 attack bonus and -2 save reduction against this target.

Concussion
-A target you can see is marked. All force damage spells you cast will knock it prone upon a hit.

Frozen Burst
-A target you can see is marked. All ice spells you cast will reduce its speed by 5 upon a hit (increases at certain levels).

Burning Agony
-A target you can see is marked. All fire spells you cast deal an extra 1d6 damage upon a hit (increases at certain levels).

 

[EzekielRaiden]

I'd really like to give a suggestion, but I'm having a hard time thinking of something in particular that would be worth suggesting. On the one hand, there are plenty of interesting things from prior editions, e.g. 3.5e Reserve feats were a neat idea...but 5e gives magic (and only magic...) infinitely-reusable at-will spells. On the other, magic continues to be powerful, versatile, and adaptive...so it's difficult to see exactly where one should begin making such feats. When Magic Can Do Anything, with the right spell, how do you make it better without making it broken?

 

[mellored]

Your theory of diminishing returns supposes that said returns begin to diminish at a low threshold.

I think it is more like the first 25 spells, if sorted in order of what the player felt was "best", would involve more than 10 ties along the lines of "I'd really like to take hunger of hadar, but I think I'll get more use out of greater invisibility in the long run" that would no longer need to be chosen between thanks to such a significant boost in spells known.

And taking a feat that makes one of the classes with intentionally fewer spells known have as many at their disposal as a wizard could prepare? That's a warning flag for me since spells-prepared is most definitely not a "ribbon" feature.

Then how much do you think would be fair?

And you still do make a hard choice. "do i want inspiring leader? or more spells?"

 

[AaronOfBarbaria]

Then how much do you think would be fair?

For a class that has a specific limit of spells known, I think a feat giving them 1 additional spell known is about as fair as things can get... and that doesn't feel like quite enough for a feat all by itself, but becomes too much when combined with pretty much anything I have thought of so far, including a +1 ability score.

Because Magic Initiate shouldn't be made completely obsolete by a new feat, and limited spell casting classes shouldn't be able to get more spell options for what to cast than a preparative caster would get from an ability score increase to their casting stat... and you can't even really use the fact that such a caster would also get a bump to spell attack/save DC as justification for a feat that gives more known spells, because there are a lot of useful spells that don't have an attack roll and also don't call for a saving throw.

I guess if there is no concern as to whether the new feat will cause other options to be viewed as not as much of an option, such a feat can be included... but I'm not into that whole power creep thing.

 

[mellored]

Because Magic Initiate shouldn't be made completely obsolete by a new feat

Personally i find it to be a rather weak feat.

But, it comes with a level 1 spell slot. So it's not obsolete.

but I'm not into that whole power creep thing.

That's fair.

 

[AaronOfBarbaria]

But, it comes with a level 1 spell slot.

You are hitting this pet peeve of mine by saying something is probably true with how you meant it (you get to cast the spell granted by the feat 1/day for free), but is actually completely wrong if read how you actually wrote it and not knowing the context that makes it make sense (if the spell actually gave a level 1 spell slot, you'd be able to cast any spell of 1st level with it, not just the one granted by the feat, and would be able to recover that slot with various methods or cash that slot in for sorcery points).

 

[CapnZapp]

Yup, that sure was a peeve...

 

[Quartz]

I've already posted these in the Feats database, but I was trying to recreate the MU / Cleric of old and came up with these:

Pre-requisites: Spellcaster of one type, Magic Initiate in a class of the other type.

Feat: Divine Spellcasting
Benefit: Arcane casters gain access to one domain of divine spells. You prepare them normally as if they were arcane spells but they do not require writing in your spell book and they retain the divine descriptor. No domain, clerical, or druidical powers are granted. No additional spell slots are granted.
Special: This feat may be taken more than once. Each time you gain access to a new domain.

Feat: Arcane Spellcasting
Benefit: Divine casters gain access to one school of arcane spells. You prepare them normally as if they were arcane spells, so you require a spell book, and they retain the arcane descriptor. No school powers are granted. No additional spell slots are granted.
Special: This feat may be taken more than once. Each time you gain access to a new school.

 

[Kalshane]

You are hitting this pet peeve of mine by saying something is probably true with how you meant it (you get to cast the spell granted by the feat 1/day for free), but is actually completely wrong if read how you actually wrote it and not knowing the context that makes it make sense (if the spell actually gave a level 1 spell slot, you'd be able to cast any spell of 1st level with it, not just the one granted by the feat, and would be able to recover that slot with various methods or cash that slot in for sorcery points).

Pretty sure there's a tweet from either Mearls or Crawford that says this is exactly how the feat is supposed to work. As in, if you can't cast spells, it lets you know one spell and gives you a slot to cast it with. However, if you are a spell caster, it gives you an additional spell known/prepared and a free 1st level slot that recharges on a long rest.

And really, that saves a lot on book-keeping. You have your spells known/prepared and your spell slots and don't have to worry about which of either is the uber-special feat-granted one.

 

[AaronOfBarbaria]

Pretty sure there's a tweet from either Mearls or Crawford that says this is exactly how the feat is supposed to work. As in, if you can't cast spells, it lets you know one spell and gives you a slot to cast it with. However, if you are a spell caster, it gives you an additional spell known/prepared and a free 1st level slot that recharges on a long rest.

And really, that saves a lot on book-keeping. You have your spells known/prepared and your spell slots and don't have to worry about which of either is the uber-special feat-granted one.

I'm pretty sure that if there is such a tweet that says this feat gives someone a spell slot that it is either A) using the same shorthand that can be misunderstood if the context isn't know, or B) actually mentions that said spell slot is limited how you can use it (to cast this one spell only), not just +1 to the number of 1st level spell slots you have.