Introduction
The Cult of the Dragon Initiate feat provides a reusable fear option and an easy way to farm Heroic Inspiration. The biggest problem with the feat is that the Dragon Cultist Background doesn’t let you increase Wisdom or Charisma, so it doesn’t synergize with its own feat chain.
Cult of the Dragon Initiate is a prerequisite for the Dragonscarred feat, which further improves Dragon’s Terror. Frustratingly, Dragonscarred does not let you improve Wisdom.
This feat and Dragonscarred are especially useful for Oath of Conquest Paladins since they get a lot of benefit from making enemies Frightened. However, the DC is Wisdom-based, which likely makes it too unreliable to justify.
Cult of the Dragon Initiate is available from the Dragon Cultist background, but you can also select it as a Human or using the Warlock invocation Lessons of the First Ones. You can always select an Origin Feat whenever you get a feat from your class, but you usually want General Feats with those slots.
Cult of the Dragon Initiate is required for Dragonscarred.
Dragon’s Tongue
Languages don’t matter frequently in DnD, but this does feel very thematic.
Dragon’s Terror
Similar in function to the spell Cause Fear, this provides a repeatable way to apply the Frightened condition. This can prevent melee enemies from approaching your party, it can allow you to corner enemies if the terrain works in your favor, it can make it hard for a creature to attack you and your allies for a round, or you could eat a Legendary Resistance. Beyond the 24-hour immunity, there’s no usage limitation, so you can rely on this as a go-to tactic.
Inspired by Fear
A consistent, reliable way to farm Heroic Inspiration. This is obviously great in combat when you use Dragon’s Terror, but, with this as an option, you should always have Heroic Inspiration. The bag of rats abuse case applies here, but since this doesn’t cause any lasting harm, you could also use this on your party members. Giving your allies a nasty look in exchange for Heroic Inspiration is very powerful.
You might also consider the roleplaying implications of doing this. Are your allies generally terrified of you? Is your character a terrifying monster of a person? If so, what do you bring to the party that’s worth having you around? What greater ambition does the party share that holds you all together? Or is your character a cartoon villain who occasionally turns up the scary factor when it’s useful?
