Shadow Touched DnD 5e

Introduction

Shadow Touched provides a +1 increase to any mental ability score, making this an easy choice for any spellcasting class, but the spellcasting options simply aren’t as universally appealing as Fey Touched. First, Invisibility is a powerful but not universally useful spell. While any adventurer can use Misty Step to great effect, Invisibility isn’t always helpful if you’re stomping around in full plate. Similarly, the 1st-level spell options number less than half as many as the options for Fey Touched, and there are few that are truly appealing.

If you are eyeing Shadow Touched, first ask yourself: How is taking this feat better than playing a Glasya Tiefling or a Pallid Elf? If you don’t have a good answer to that question, skip the feat and consider changing races.

For more information about spellcasting feats, including ratings of the various feats, see our Spellcasting Feats Guide.

Table of Contents

Disclaimer

RPGBOT uses the color coding scheme which has become common among Pathfinder build handbooks, which is simple to understand and easy to read at a glance.

  • Red: Bad, useless options, or options which are extremely situational. Nearly never useful.
  • Orange: OK options, or useful options that only apply in rare circumstances. Useful sometimes.
  • Green: Good options. Useful often.
  • Blue: Fantastic options, often essential to the function of your character. Useful very frequently.

We will not include 3rd-party content, including content from DMs Guild, in handbooks for official content because we can’t assume that your game will allow 3rd-party content or homebrew. We also won’t cover Unearthed Arcana content because it’s not finalized, and we can’t guarantee that it will be available to you in your games.

The advice offered below is based on the current State of the Character Optimization Meta as of when the article was last updated. Keep in mind that the state of the meta periodically changes as new source materials are released, and the article will be updated accordingly as time allows.

Shadow Touched 1st-Level Spell Options

For a full list of available spell options and spell descriptions, see DnDBeyond.

  • Cause FearXGtE: Frightened is a good debuff at any level, but you can find better uses for your Concentration and immunity to fear is common.
  • Color sprayPHB: Doesn’t stay relevant as you level.
  • Disguise SelfPHB: Consider playing a changeling or a race which can cast Disguise Self as an innate spell, or get proficiency in disguise kits.
  • Distort ValueAI: An amusing but situational novelty.
  • False LifePHB: A good way to improve your durability, but if this is the reason you’re here you might be better served by the Tough feat. You’ll also mitigate more total damage as you level with Absorb Elements or Shield since False Life won’t scale, but the damage that you take will.
  • Illusory ScriptPHB: Take Ritual Caster instead.
  • Inflict WoundsPHB: The damage scales reasonably well with spell level, so if you have spell slots to spend to cast this again it may be worthwhile.
  • Ray of SicknessPHB: Generally just not a great spell. Little damage, short duration, a commonly-resisted status condition, and it’s all on a Constitution save.
  • Silent ImagePHB: Illusions are a ton of fun, but unless you really want Invisibility from Shadow Touched I would consider Magic Initiate first so that you can also learn Minor Illusion.