Introduction

“Spellcasting Feats” is not an official term. I’m using the term to loosely group a set of feats like Fey Touched which allow characters to learn and cast spells beyond what their racial traits and class features provide. Spellcasting feats often work in place of multiclassing, allowing you to add powerful magical capabilities to your character without sacrificing class progression.

But these feats are complicated. Choosing the right feat the right spells can be a hugely impactful decision for your character, and it’s difficult to consider the broad range of options available, especially as Wizards of the Coast publishes more and more rules supplements with a gradually growing mountain of spells to choose from.

When selecting spells for feats like Fey Touched and Magic Initiate, consider how it fits into the rest of your build. Martial characters with little or no spellcasting often do well with Concentration spells because their Concentration generally isn’t in use. Those same characters also probably want spells with long-term effects, so long durations are good. By comparison, characters who already have spellcasting will benefit most from spells from outside of their own spell list which are good enough to justify spending a spell slot to cast them, especially if upcasting them is helpful.

For help with the Eldritch Adept feat (which doesn’t quite qualify as a “spellcasting feat” for the purposes of this article), see our Warlock Invocations Breakdown. Ritual Caster is also not covered in this article.

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 2014 DnD 5e 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.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I use my spell slots to cast spells gained from a spellcasting feat like Magic Initiate?

Generally yes, though Magic Initiate is an exception. Most spell feats specify that you “learn” the leveled spell(s) which it grants. Just as if you learned the spell from another source, such as from your class, you can spend spell slots to cast the spell. In addition, spell feats allow you to cast the spell at its lowest level without spending a spell slot.

The Sage Advice compendium addresses Magic Initiate: You can only use spell slots to cast the leveled spell if the class which you selected with Magic Initiate is a class in which you have levels.

Which ability modifier do I use to cast spells gained from a spellcasting feat like Magic Initiate?

The answer varies. Aberrant Dragonmark uses Constitution. Artificer Initiate is always Intelligence (because you’re using artificer spellcasting). Magic Initiate uses the same ability modifier as the class you choose to select spells. Fey Touched and Shadow Touched use whatever ability score you increase when you take the feat.

This is an important thing to understand. Choosing an ability score which you’re bad with can make your spellcasting feat much less useful, but if you’re aware of the issue you can choose spells which avoid relying on your ability modifier so it’s not a problem.

Spellcasting Feats

Aberrant Dragonmark

Aberrant Dragonmark is an unusual and often-overlooked feat option. Buried at the end of the chapter of Eberron: Rising from the Last War which details dragonmarks (essentially subraces), it’s easy to overlook the feat both because it’s a tiny block of text in a long chapter and because the benefits of the feat are easy to overlook.

Aberrant Dragonmark’s leveled spell can be cast once per Short or Long Rest, rather than once per long rest like other spellcasting feats. It also provides a Constitution increase and possibly temporary hit points. However, those benefits come at a cost. You get one less cantrip than Magic Initiate, and you’re limited to the Sorcerer’s spell list.

See our Aberrant Dragonmark Feat Guide for more.

Artificer Initiate

In many ways it’s just Magic Initiate for the Artificer, but you give up one cantrip for a tool proficiency and the ability to use that tool as a spellcasting focus for Intelligence-based spellcasting. The benefits of a tool proficiency and using a tool as a spellcasting focus are very minor. You might get a magical tool that provides a bonus to your spell attacks and save DCs, but there are plenty of focuses which do that already and don’t require a feat.

The real benefit of Artificer Initiate is buried in the Artificer’s spell list. You get many cantrips available to the sorcerer or the wizard, including staple options like Booming Blade, but the Artificer has access to spells which the Wizard doesn’t like Cure Wounds, Faerie Fire, and Sanctuary.

See our Artificer Initiate Feat Guide for more.

Fey Touched

A +1 increase to any mental ability score makes this an easy choice for any spellcasting class. Misty Step is a 2nd-level spell, and is among the most tactically-impactful spells in the game. On top of those benefits, you get a 1st-level Divination or Enchantment spell to learn and cast for free once per day.

The clear winner among Fey Touched’s spell options is Silvery Barbs. Silvery Barbs is wildly powerful, and if you’re allowing it your game, Fey Touched shoots up to blue.

See our Fey Touched Feat Guide for more.

Magic Initiate

The original spellcasting feat, Magic Initiate remains a staple option for many builds looking to borrow some spellcasting from other classes. You get two cantrips and a leveled spell, so in many cases it’s sufficient to remove the need for multiclassing.

See our Magic Initiate Feat Guide for more.

Shadow Touched

A +1 increase to any mental ability score makes 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.

See our Shadow Touched Feat Guide for more.

Spell Sniper

Because you’re limited to cantrips which make spell attacks, your choices are very limited, and very few of the spell options are worth selecting. And, since you use the spellcasting ability of the class which take the spell from, spellcasters are typically locked into classes which share a spellcasting ability, severely limiting Spell Sniper’s usefulness. Even worse, several spellcasting classes have no qualifying cantrips.

The incredibly narrow function of the feat, the sparse cantrip options, and the situational nature of the feat’s other benefits mean that there is an extremely narrow set of characters who benefit from Spell Sniper in any meaningful way.

See our Spell Sniper Feat Guide for more.

Strixhaven Initiate

In many ways, Strixhaven Initiate feels like an updated version of Magic Initiate. The cantrip options are iconic options from several classes which were published in the Player’s Handbook alongside Magic Initiate, so limiting characters to those options prevents players from taking potentially problematic cantrips like Booming Blade which are added in other supplements.

See our Strixhaven Initiate Feat Guide for more.