I am posting this here because I'm curious of how it's been working out for people who have tried it or why you may have decided not to use it and there isn't an area for comments on homebrew creations themselves.
The feat is quite interesting, and can work well in campaign that like to give more freedom to casters., and it opens up to interesting one-turn combos. I would suggest, though, to maybe make it also give an additional cantrip to choose from any one spell casting class the character has.
On another note (and I apologise in advance), I will be so bold as to suggest a couple of corrections/rewording:
Must be possess the ability to cast cantrips. <- this seems redundant given the prerequisite is already stated at the top of the feat;
As a bonus action, cast a cantrip. -> You can cast any cantrip you know as a Bonus Action.
Add +1 to Int, Cha, or Wis, base stat may not exceed 20. -> Increase your Intelligence, Wisdom or Charisma score by 1, to a maximum of 20.
The addition I proposed above could be worded as:
You learn one cantrip from any class spell list you already know other cantrips from.
Hope this helps in any way.
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Born in Italy, moved a bunch, living in Spain, my heart always belonged to Roleplaying Games
I like your suggestions and wording changes, but I feel that the addition of another cantrip may unbalance the feat when compared to other available official feats.
I like your suggestions and wording changes, but I feel that the addition of another cantrip may unbalance the feat when compared to other available official feats.
-Vypir
Understandable, but remember the Magical Initiate feat grants 2 cantrips and one 1st level spell, which, imho, is more or less the same balance with your feat, but I am not a huge expert in feats (yet) so I might leave it to others more versed in this art to judge on that :P
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Born in Italy, moved a bunch, living in Spain, my heart always belonged to Roleplaying Games
I think this is a pretty powerful feat for a Caster.
Remember that IF you cast a spell as a Bonus Action (including a Cantrip) you can only cast a Cantrip as your Action if you cast a spell. This feat does allow a caster to cast 2 cantrips a turn, which is equivalent to a Sorcerer being able to Quicken cantrips every turn.
Remember if it's a Warlock that can be 2 Eldritch Blasts a turn. That's 2 rays at 1-4, 4 rays at 5-10, 6 rays... etc... When Martial Classes get an extra Bonus Action attack they only get +1 attack, not a full "Attack Action" which this is closer to.
I agree, casting any cantrip as a bonus action is super OP, and turning it into a half-feat on top of that? There'd be no reason not to pick this, ever. It's roughly the equivalent of Fighters being able to Action Surge every round.
Besides the damage issues, it also makes arcane casters much more difficult to pin down than intended. Now you can Shocking Grasp twice, just in case the first one misses or there's actually two creatures next to you. And if the first one hits and you get away, you still have your action.
I agree that this is a very strong feat. It would be more balanced if it said something to the effect of "if you can a cantrip this way you may not use your action to cast another spell or take the attack action". This would limit a lot of abuse from both casters and eldritch knights and make it a bit like the rogue's cunning action, limited because it only works if you cast a cantrip.
Even acknowledging these balance issues, I like the feat and I think it could open up a lot of new combat options for casters as long as your players aren't power gamers.
I just had another thought about has to balance this. How about adding one damage die to attack cantrips, but not bonus action casting, and allowing any non-attack cantrip to be cast as a bonus action?
Good point. Just reword that as any damage dealing cantrip or any cantrip that has damage dice in its description. I think something like that would work.
This is rather powerful feat as it would allow a double casting of a cantrip each round or an action spell and a cantrip. Also keep in mind that many attack cantrips already upgrade to simulate the additional attacks other classes get (by giving additional attacks or damage usually at 5th, 11th and 17th levels).
The possibility is limiting its use to the characters casting ability score bonus per long rest (or once per short rest) or limiting the cantrip to not ever be upgraded when casting as a bonus action (acting more like a single attack as a bonus action other classes get).
Alternatives could be having it as a specific cantrip that becomes a bonus action to cast and stops being an action (preventing double casting), alternatively it could let a caster add an additional target as a bonus action (still quite powerful), or simply gives the caster the ability to know more cantrips (or even cantrips outside their own list, but using their own casting ability score). The first two aspects however make it close to a "no reason not to take it" for a warlock (that is built a lot around eldritch blast) and to a lesser extent a Sorcerer and Wizard, so I wouldn't include the ability boost as well. The additional cantrips could work well with an added ability boost however.
I think a simple change that might fix this feat is to stipulate that the bonus cantrip cannot be a damage-dealing cantrip. I just used it in Ghosts of Saltmarsh with my Warlock, and the ability to punctuate every attack with a Blade Ward literally saved our entire party. I would have died a thousand times over. We completely pulled that battle out of our asses. When I tried to double up an Eldritch Blast with it, though, that's when the DM was like, where the heck did you get this feat?, after literally four hours of blithely accepting my Blade Wards.
I like the idea of just limiting this to non-damage dealing cantrips. I mean, it's still ripe for abuse... but at least with that stipulation it requires a bit more creativity to get the full benefits.
Heh. Wow, super necro. But yeah - while I dig the idea, turning an action into a bonus action is an extremely powerful ability that is well worth being its own feat, without a half-ASI bolted on. You're essentially Quickening your entire cantrip list for free, which is bongo. Remember - the entire reason the Sorcerer/Warlock multiclass is considered busted as hell is the combination of Quickened Magic with Eldritch Blast; this feat allows you to dispense with the Sorcerer levels entirely and just do it at the cost of one feat you can take at level four - or one, as a variant human.
Depending on whether you want the idea to swing more powergamey/potent, or swing more toolboxy, I'd add either a level requirement (likely 8 or 12) or the aforementioned Non-Damaging Cantrip caveat. Even then, NDC-restricted Cantrip Master still means you get to cast Blade Ward every turn for free and effectively simulate the barbarian's Rage feature without having to, y'know...rage. Not to mention the utter ridiculousness (if delightfully so) of Mold Earth as a bonus action and the attendant Mole Man of Neverwinter combat tunneling. TRENCH WARFARE HOOOO.
I love cantrips, the entire idea of a magical toolbelt you have unlimited use of and trying to push that toolbelt to its limits. Some of my absolute favorite characters are the ones with 8+ cantrips carefully selected to offer a maximum amount of utility both in and out of combat. Feats that enhance cantrip use are right up my alley, but I don't think I could ask my DM in good conscience to let me use this one as written. Even on clerics - the class in the game with inarguably, undeniably, infuriatingly, the single weakest cantrip list in all of D&D history - being able to cast Guidance as a bonus action in combat allows you to Guidance up before an Athletics check to grapple or shove or dole out Resistance freely.
At that point I'd likely consider it closer to simply 'very powerful' rather than 'outright busted', but Magic Initiate is only ever one feat away, and it can come with Blade Ward and Booming/Green Flame Blade for two cantrips which are both extremely powerful as bonus actions and which don't care about the casting ability modifier of the class you take them from. On top of whatever throwaway first-level spell you end up picking up.
May want to reconsider some limiting factors for this one, man.
How about if it was limited to a certain number of cantrips? I could see this being extremely fun with Control Flames, Shape War, Mold Earth and the one for wind, on top of prestidigitation and probably some other one.
I was going to suggest that you choose one of your cantrips when you select this feat and it only applies to that feat, with either the caveat that you can select an additional cantrip if you select the feat again later on, or you can change the feat whenever you gain a level in your spellcasting class.
The way it is now, it kind of steals the Sorcerer's thunder a little.
The wording on the OP's feat says "any cantrip they know" and doesn't state any other costs. As it's written now, a warlock can cast two Eldritch Blasts per round with this feat anyway.
I would probably suggest a "Ring of Quickened Spell Storing" with one charge that recharges each dawn to reign things a in a bit instead of a feat.
It's the OP's world though; this level of power might be what he/she's looking for. I believe one of the factors of taking a feat is weighing in on, "Is it really worth trading in a +2 ASI for this?" and this looks like a feat every magic using class would take without hesitation.
I liked the idea of changing wording to “one cantrip you know” it’s still a powerful feat but not unbalancing. It’s still pretty terrifying in the hands of a warlock so maybe add “once per short rest” or “equal to your spell casting modifier” to prevent it being too OP. It would actually make the War School in XGE worthwhile.
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Hello everyone, I've noticed several hundred views and a good amount of adds of the Cantrip Mastery feat that I posted, https://www.dndbeyond.com/characters/feats/392-cantrip-mastery
I am posting this here because I'm curious of how it's been working out for people who have tried it or why you may have decided not to use it and there isn't an area for comments on homebrew creations themselves.
Thanks in advance for any feedback!
-Vypir
Hi Vypir! o/
The feat is quite interesting, and can work well in campaign that like to give more freedom to casters., and it opens up to interesting one-turn combos.
I would suggest, though, to maybe make it also give an additional cantrip to choose from any one spell casting class the character has.
On another note (and I apologise in advance), I will be so bold as to suggest a couple of corrections/rewording:
The addition I proposed above could be worded as:
Hope this helps in any way.
Born in Italy, moved a bunch, living in Spain, my heart always belonged to Roleplaying Games
Thank you for your input, Lek!
I like your suggestions and wording changes, but I feel that the addition of another cantrip may unbalance the feat when compared to other available official feats.
-Vypir
Born in Italy, moved a bunch, living in Spain, my heart always belonged to Roleplaying Games
I think this is a pretty powerful feat for a Caster.
Remember that IF you cast a spell as a Bonus Action (including a Cantrip) you can only cast a Cantrip as your Action if you cast a spell.
This feat does allow a caster to cast 2 cantrips a turn, which is equivalent to a Sorcerer being able to Quicken cantrips every turn.
Remember if it's a Warlock that can be 2 Eldritch Blasts a turn. That's 2 rays at 1-4, 4 rays at 5-10, 6 rays... etc...
When Martial Classes get an extra Bonus Action attack they only get +1 attack, not a full "Attack Action" which this is closer to.
I agree, casting any cantrip as a bonus action is super OP, and turning it into a half-feat on top of that? There'd be no reason not to pick this, ever. It's roughly the equivalent of Fighters being able to Action Surge every round.
Besides the damage issues, it also makes arcane casters much more difficult to pin down than intended. Now you can Shocking Grasp twice, just in case the first one misses or there's actually two creatures next to you. And if the first one hits and you get away, you still have your action.
The Forum Infestation (TM)
I agree that this is a very strong feat. It would be more balanced if it said something to the effect of "if you can a cantrip this way you may not use your action to cast another spell or take the attack action". This would limit a lot of abuse from both casters and eldritch knights and make it a bit like the rogue's cunning action, limited because it only works if you cast a cantrip.
Even acknowledging these balance issues, I like the feat and I think it could open up a lot of new combat options for casters as long as your players aren't power gamers.
I just had another thought about has to balance this. How about adding one damage die to attack cantrips, but not bonus action casting, and allowing any non-attack cantrip to be cast as a bonus action?
Technically anything that has a save is classified as "not an attack", an attack requires a d20 roll.
Although that would make True Strike not stupid.
Good point. Just reword that as any damage dealing cantrip or any cantrip that has damage dice in its description. I think something like that would work.
This is rather powerful feat as it would allow a double casting of a cantrip each round or an action spell and a cantrip.
Also keep in mind that many attack cantrips already upgrade to simulate the additional attacks other classes get (by giving additional attacks or damage usually at 5th, 11th and 17th levels).
The possibility is limiting its use to the characters casting ability score bonus per long rest (or once per short rest) or limiting the cantrip to not ever be upgraded when casting as a bonus action (acting more like a single attack as a bonus action other classes get).
Alternatives could be having it as a specific cantrip that becomes a bonus action to cast and stops being an action (preventing double casting), alternatively it could let a caster add an additional target as a bonus action (still quite powerful), or simply gives the caster the ability to know more cantrips (or even cantrips outside their own list, but using their own casting ability score).
The first two aspects however make it close to a "no reason not to take it" for a warlock (that is built a lot around eldritch blast) and to a lesser extent a Sorcerer and Wizard, so I wouldn't include the ability boost as well. The additional cantrips could work well with an added ability boost however.
- Loswaith
I think a simple change that might fix this feat is to stipulate that the bonus cantrip cannot be a damage-dealing cantrip. I just used it in Ghosts of Saltmarsh with my Warlock, and the ability to punctuate every attack with a Blade Ward literally saved our entire party. I would have died a thousand times over. We completely pulled that battle out of our asses. When I tried to double up an Eldritch Blast with it, though, that's when the DM was like, where the heck did you get this feat?, after literally four hours of blithely accepting my Blade Wards.
Alternatively you could need to short rest between uses of this feat.
I like the idea of just limiting this to non-damage dealing cantrips. I mean, it's still ripe for abuse... but at least with that stipulation it requires a bit more creativity to get the full benefits.
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Heh. Wow, super necro. But yeah - while I dig the idea, turning an action into a bonus action is an extremely powerful ability that is well worth being its own feat, without a half-ASI bolted on. You're essentially Quickening your entire cantrip list for free, which is bongo. Remember - the entire reason the Sorcerer/Warlock multiclass is considered busted as hell is the combination of Quickened Magic with Eldritch Blast; this feat allows you to dispense with the Sorcerer levels entirely and just do it at the cost of one feat you can take at level four - or one, as a variant human.
Depending on whether you want the idea to swing more powergamey/potent, or swing more toolboxy, I'd add either a level requirement (likely 8 or 12) or the aforementioned Non-Damaging Cantrip caveat. Even then, NDC-restricted Cantrip Master still means you get to cast Blade Ward every turn for free and effectively simulate the barbarian's Rage feature without having to, y'know...rage. Not to mention the utter ridiculousness (if delightfully so) of Mold Earth as a bonus action and the attendant Mole Man of Neverwinter combat tunneling. TRENCH WARFARE HOOOO.
I love cantrips, the entire idea of a magical toolbelt you have unlimited use of and trying to push that toolbelt to its limits. Some of my absolute favorite characters are the ones with 8+ cantrips carefully selected to offer a maximum amount of utility both in and out of combat. Feats that enhance cantrip use are right up my alley, but I don't think I could ask my DM in good conscience to let me use this one as written. Even on clerics - the class in the game with inarguably, undeniably, infuriatingly, the single weakest cantrip list in all of D&D history - being able to cast Guidance as a bonus action in combat allows you to Guidance up before an Athletics check to grapple or shove or dole out Resistance freely.
At that point I'd likely consider it closer to simply 'very powerful' rather than 'outright busted', but Magic Initiate is only ever one feat away, and it can come with Blade Ward and Booming/Green Flame Blade for two cantrips which are both extremely powerful as bonus actions and which don't care about the casting ability modifier of the class you take them from. On top of whatever throwaway first-level spell you end up picking up.
May want to reconsider some limiting factors for this one, man.
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How about if it was limited to a certain number of cantrips? I could see this being extremely fun with Control Flames, Shape War, Mold Earth and the one for wind, on top of prestidigitation and probably some other one.
I was going to suggest that you choose one of your cantrips when you select this feat and it only applies to that feat, with either the caveat that you can select an additional cantrip if you select the feat again later on, or you can change the feat whenever you gain a level in your spellcasting class.
The way it is now, it kind of steals the Sorcerer's thunder a little.
Gnome Armorist - Artificer Subclass Homebrew
Are you referring to quickened spell? I would say these would have a different focus, if the cantrips allowed wouldn't be damage dealing ones.
Even if you select only one, that one could be for example eldritch blast, with massive damage in addition to your normal turn.
The wording on the OP's feat says "any cantrip they know" and doesn't state any other costs. As it's written now, a warlock can cast two Eldritch Blasts per round with this feat anyway.
I would probably suggest a "Ring of Quickened Spell Storing" with one charge that recharges each dawn to reign things a in a bit instead of a feat.
It's the OP's world though; this level of power might be what he/she's looking for. I believe one of the factors of taking a feat is weighing in on, "Is it really worth trading in a +2 ASI for this?" and this looks like a feat every magic using class would take without hesitation.
Gnome Armorist - Artificer Subclass Homebrew
I liked the idea of changing wording to “one cantrip you know” it’s still a powerful feat but not unbalancing. It’s still pretty terrifying in the hands of a warlock so maybe add “once per short rest” or “equal to your spell casting modifier” to prevent it being too OP. It would actually make the War School in XGE worthwhile.