One thing I would point out, is that Ray of sickness deals poison damage while inflict wounds is necrotic. And there are too many creatures resistant or immune to poison damage and the poison condition. So I don't think it's a viable option.

Which does sadden me because I love poison abilities and poison characters.

Thank you for explaining the scenario. But I would have to disagree, inflict wounds is a good useful damage dealing spell. That is definitely worth taking consideration when looking at this feat. Neko Dave is a good damage type.

Using the familiar is just one way to deliver the spell. Just trying to be open-minded. 

On a different note, doesn't the familiar need to be in melee range to use the help action as well? Then the only good thing about find familiar is the exploration part. So what's the hype about then?

Familiars can do the Help action on their own on their turn. So your owl it can fly in, Help, and fly out again without you needing to do anything aside from command it to do so.

I think what it boils down to is that Inflict Wounds just isn't a very strong spell. It's good damage in the earliest levels but it quickly loses its usefulness as you hit 5+, and by 11 it's literally cantrip damage. And that is factoring in upcasting because it's still strictly worse than the more potent stuff you get at spell level 3 and beyond.

And that's ultimately why Fey Touched is considered better - the spell choices are significantly better. Not to say ST is a bad feat, but I consider it more middle of the pack than top tier in terms of feat strength.

I just remember nerdarchy making a inflict wounds build. And this would make it a lot easier to build. And opens up a different sorcerer choice. 

I love Fey and especially Shadow Touched (CHR) for Rogues, especially those, like Swashbucklers, that favour CHR as a secondary stat for Deception, Persuasion, Performance, Intimidation etc.   Invisibility, Disguise Self and +1 CHR.  What's not to like?

Quote from Chicken_Champ >>

Because up casting a melee-range save-for-zero spell that takes a full action, and if you’re using your familiar, your concentration as well... is a recipe for a bad time and a wasted spell slot. It’s not NEVER a good idea to cast a spell like Inflict Wounds, but there’s better uses for high level slots than that kind of gamble. And the spell is not unique enough to warrant a feat.

 Inflict Wounds works great in combination with Hold Person because the damage is doubled.  But except in that case, it's not really worth it.  I could even see upcasting Inflict Wounds when you're hitting a target that is paralyzed.  But aside from that special case, I don't think that Inflict Wounds is worth it once your cantrips are getting 2D8 or 2D10 damage and the martial characters in your party are doing two attacks per turn.  You're right that the spell slots are much better used on almost anything else.

At levels 1-4, it's a good spell at least.

It really depends on how high of a level you get to in your campaign. It also depends on your playstyle.  Inflict Wounds is, as people have said, good at low levels and not so good at higher ones. However, a lot of spells have this quality. This spell is not even taking up a space in how many spells you can know! If you don't like this spell, don't use it. The spell Invisibility  does not, however, decrease (much) in value as you level up. That and a bonus to your INT, WIS, or CHA are a pretty good feat in and of themselves, just made better by the extra spell, though it could become obsolete eventually. What would you rather do if you had these options: sneak around unseen or be able to teleport? I'm not trying to say Shadow Touched is better than Fey Touched, just that they are about equal.

I do agree that Shadow Touched is often overlooked because it's not quite as mechanically useful as Fey Touched, mostly because Fey Touched gives access to slightly more level 1 spells than Shadow Touched does. That said, Misty Step and Invisibility are pretty comparable in terms of how useful they are, and there are really good level 1 spell options on both spell lists.

Plus, both feats offer some interesting roleplay options. I'm sure that many DM's would be willing to just hand-wave it as something that functions purely mechanically, but it gives the option for interesting story stuff to lean into with a character.

Invisibility has next to no combat utility, but is quite useful for non-combat exploration. Misty Step is occasionally useful for exploration, but usually a climb or jump or rope could do the same, but is awesome in combat. Fey Touched just feels like a more useful combat feat, though Shadow Touched is certainly theme-y for certain types of character with invisibility and illusions.

Quote from Chicken_Champ >>

Invisibility has next to no combat utility, but is quite useful for non-combat exploration. Misty Step is occasionally useful for exploration, but usually a climb or jump or rope could do the same, but is awesome in combat. Fey Touched just feels like a more useful combat feat, though Shadow Touched is certainly theme-y for certain types of character with invisibility and illusions.

 I think that's an excellent point... a lot of DnD theory-crafting is built around combat utility. I think part of that is because combat has a lot more universal rules that apply regardless of how your individual game world is set up, but exploration and stealth depends a lot more on how the DM chooses to present those options.

OP, I agree with you. I am running a Dragonwrought Kobold Shadow Sorcerer and lemme tell ya... We just hit level 4 and I am going to take Shadow Touched considering it works thematically and functionally with my build. I am going to take Inflict Wounds with it and as well as that sweet free invisibility spell and the nice ASI to max my CHA score(all I need is 1 point) 

To anyone who doubts the strength of this feat, let me explain a few ways this can work with spellcasters - especially Metamagic users.

-Shadow Sorc goes and uses 2 sorc points to cast Darkness which only their Eyes of the Dark can see through(save for Blindfighters and Truesighters) and then on their next turn, from their veil of shadows, uses metamagic to use Distant Spell on Inflict Wounds to give it a range of 30 feet - and you get advantage while firing from 100% Full Cover Magical Darkness.

Spellcaster is in a pinch, surrounded by Melee fighters, and casts invisibility and manages to sneak away. Sure, Misty Step could get you out of the immediate jam, but, once you reappear they may know where you are.

Honestly, then you could use it to sneak your character(literally any character) past nearly anyone or into/out of nearly anywhere.

Frankly, sure, it doesn't make perfect sense for melee classes to take it to most, but, even once per day for Invisibility and whatever 1st level Illusion/Necro spell taken is pretty great.. Not to forget about the extra Int, Wis, or Cha bonus on top of it. 

Or, you could have taken Fey Touched to get Misty Step (which doesn’t take up your concentration, and is easier action economy to use than Invisibility) to fill the same disengagement role you’re attributing to Invisibility, and Dissonant Whispers (which has 60 foot range without requiring sorcery points, doesn’t require a free hand to cast, does just about as much average damage as Inflict Wounds on a failed save but also inflicts a control effect, and even does damage if the target succeeds save) instead of Inflict Wounds.

Shadow Touched is fine. But it is miles behind Fey Touched for combat optimization though. 

Quote from StrykerOmega >>

OP, I agree with you. I am running a Dragonwrought Kobold Shadow Sorcerer and lemme tell ya... We just hit level 4 and I am going to take Shadow Touched considering it works thematically and functionally with my build. I am going to take Inflict Wounds with it and as well as that sweet free invisibility spell and the nice ASI to max my CHA score(all I need is 1 point) 

 

To anyone who doubts the strength of this feat, let me explain a few ways this can work with spellcasters - especially Metamagic users.

 

-Shadow Sorc goes and uses 2 sorc points to cast Darkness which only their Eyes of the Dark can see through(save for Blindfighters and Truesighters) and then on their next turn, from their veil of shadows, uses metamagic to use Distant Spell on Inflict Wounds to give it a range of 30 feet - and you get advantage while firing from 100% Full Cover Magical Darkness.

Spellcaster is in a pinch, surrounded by Melee fighters, and casts invisibility and manages to sneak away. Sure, Misty Step could get you out of the immediate jam, but, once you reappear they may know where you are.

Honestly, then you could use it to sneak your character(literally any character) past nearly anyone or into/out of nearly anywhere.

 

Frankly, sure, it doesn't make perfect sense for melee classes to take it to most, but, even once per day for Invisibility and whatever 1st level Illusion/Necro spell taken is pretty great.. Not to forget about the extra Int, Wis, or Cha bonus on top of it. 

 
Once you reach level 5, you'll realize that Inflict Wounds isn't that great.  3D10+0 isn't that useful when the martial classes (and Agonizing Blast Warlocks) are usually doing around 2d10+8 damage each round without using any resources, and you're using a spell slot to deal LESS damage than the martial classes (and most Warlocks) will deal in a round.  And you're planning on wasting a sorcery point to do it each time as well?

Quote from Chicken_Champ >>

Or, you could have taken Fey Touched to get Misty Step (which doesn’t take up your concentration, and is easier action economy to use than Invisibility) to fill the same disengagement role you’re attributing to Invisibility, and Dissonant Whispers (which has 60 foot range without requiring sorcery points, doesn’t require a free hand to cast, does just about as much average damage as Inflict Wounds on a failed save but also inflicts a control effect, and even does damage if the target succeeds save) instead of Inflict Wounds.

Shadow Touched is fine. But it is miles behind Fey Touched for combat optimization though. 

 If you really want combat optimization, you would choose hideous laughter rarher than  dissonant whispers. 

And as stated before invisibility is better than misty step, because of the out of combat utility. Also as stated before most spells don't increase very well with higher spell slots.

Also you are comparing 3d6 to 3d10. So how is that comparable?

Because it can’t “miss”, the average dmg for DW per 1st level slot is probably 8ish (avg 5 on a passed save, avg 11 on a failed save). IW can miss, so even putting aside its poor range and somatic-without-material requirement (which some will argue means it requires a true free hand, not a focus), it’s avg dmg per slot is probably 8 as well (0 on a miss, avg 17 on a hit). They’re equivalent-ish on damage.

Yeah I still don't see the comparison on how they are the same. Especially when you consider that inflict wounds can crit.

So the actual damage range for inflict wounds is 0 to 33 on average.

This is the problem when you compare attack spells to save spells. So in order to be fair you have to look purely at the dice and secondary effects not including save on half. 

Quote from Dragonhearthx >>

Yeah I still don't see the comparison on how they are the same. Especially when you consider that inflict wounds can crit.

So the actual damage range for inflict wounds is 0 to 33 on average.

This is the problem when you compare attack spells to save spells. So in order to be fair you have to look purely at the dice and secondary effects not including save on half. 

 
Critical hits happen only 5% (or 9.75% with advantage) of the time.  They don't provide a big boost to the average damage of an attack.  Using Inflict Wounds on a paralyzed target is great.  But other than that very niche situation, it's not worth using the spell once you reach level 5.

Dissonant Whispers can trigger opportunity attacks, which is a huge increase in damage, especially since melee characters doing opportunity attacks get to add their strength or dexterity (or charisma or wisdom in special cases) to their damage roll to provide a much higher floor in damage than spells like Dissonant Whispers or Inflict Wounds have which are 3D6+0 or 3D10+0.

Opportunity attacks from DW is also considered niche. And not reliable. Because not only does the creature have to use this reaction but also the melee character has to use his reaction. And if either one is not available it doesn't go off. Also you're not always targeting the creature that would have it happened to. There's also the factor of which direction he's going and the local terrain.

So the potential for an opportunity attack is niche. Because there's too many factors.

Quote from Dragonhearthx >>

Opportunity attacks from DW is also considered niche. And not reliable. Because not only does the creature have to use this reaction but also the melee character has to use his reaction. And if either one is not available it doesn't go off. Also you're not always targeting the creature that would have it happened to. There's also the factor of which direction he's going and the local terrain.

So the potential for an opportunity attack is niche. Because there's too many factors.

You just wait to cast it.  It's generally trivial knowing when both reactions are available.

It’s a little bit lackluster, but a free cast of False Life is always nice. Specially if the party doesn’t have better ways to generate THP.

Quote from Dragonhearthx >>

Opportunity attacks from DW is also considered niche. And not reliable. Because not only does the creature have to use this reaction but also the melee character has to use his reaction. And if either one is not available it doesn't go off. Also you're not always targeting the creature that would have it happened to. There's also the factor of which direction he's going and the local terrain.

So the potential for an opportunity attack is niche. Because there's too many factors.

 I've actually played D&D before, and I can tell you that the potential for an opportunity attack is not niche.  It's extremely common for your melee allies to be standing next to enemies.  It's almost like they're intentionally trying to stand next to enemies.  And it's not that hard to figure out whether or not your allies & your enemies have reactions.  You have to be a good D&D player and pay attention to the game even when it's not your turn.

Because you can know these factors before you cast Dissonant Whispers, you can control it so that you're only casting the spell when it's going to be optimized.  On the other hand, the only ways to get a guaranteed crit with Inflict Wounds are to have a Divination Wizard that happened to roll a 20 and has agreed to let you use it for Inflict Wounds, or to be casting it on a paralyzed target.

Inflict Wounds is great with Hold Person or Hold Monster with a guaranteed crit.  But other than that much more niche situation, you're just hoping for luck.  Dissonant Whispers is great when your enemy has its reaction available and you want the enemy to move.  If the situation doesn't meet those two criteria, then it's not worth using.  If you're casting Dissonant Whispers just for the damage and not the extra effect, it's a huge waste of a spell slot.  But the situation of an enemy having its reaction available and you wanting the enemy to move away from you is not a niche situation at all, it's actually extremely common.  And you can know these conditions before you cast the spell.

An alternative use for Dissonant Whispers is to force an enemy to use their reaction even if you don't care about their movement, just so that you can prevent them from casting Shield or Counterspell (if there's another spell caster in the party).  

Another use for Dissonant Whispers is to force an enemy that is standing next to one of your casters to run away so that the caster won't have to use its action to disengage, or to use its Bonus Action to cast Misty Step, both of which would prevent it from casting non-cantrip spell with its action.

The damage from Dissonant Whispers is pathetic, and the damage from Inflict Wounds is only slightly less pathetic.  You're a spell caster (and not an agonizing Blast Warlock) - leave the single target damage dealing to the martial classes.  Your specialty is crowd control and area of effect, not single target damage.  Dissonant Whispers is part of your specialty.  Inflict Wounds is not.

It's important to know your role in the party.