• You learn the invisibility spell and one 1st-level spell of your choice. The 1st-level spell must be from the illusion or necromancy school of magic. You can cast each of these spells without expending a spell slot. Once you cast either of these spells in this way, you can't cast that spell in this way again until you finish a long rest. You can also cast these spells using spell slots you have of the appropriate level. The spells' spellcasting ability is the ability increased by this feat.

Inflict wounds is a first level necromancy spell. It is honestly a strong spell. Especially when you have access to a form of find familiar. This, of course, allows you to cast the spell at range. And since you use the ability modifier that you increased for the spell ability, it is rest assured that you are using your casting ability. So you don't have to worry about the pesky wisdom modifier that you would have gotten from magic initiate.

Depending on your class it can be good or just ok. If you don’t have spell slots then invisibility once a day is ok and inflict wounds (13.5 average damage) once per day starts to drop off in effectiveness as you level so it becomes less and less used. If you are only playing tier 1 maybe into 2 then it isn’t bad  

if you have spell slots you can upcast it. Just depends if up casting is better than the other options you have available. Would you use this instead of fireball? Probably not unless you have too many friendlies in the blast. 

it’s a good spell but it just depends. 

Quote from ThriKreenWarrior >>

Depending on your class it can be good or just ok. If you don’t have spell slots then invisibility once a day is ok and inflict wounds (13.5 average damage) once per day starts to drop off in effectiveness as you level so it becomes less and less used. If you are only playing tier 1 maybe into 2 then it isn’t bad  

if you have spell slots you can upcast it. Just depends if up casting is better than the other options you have available. Would you use this instead of fireball? Probably not unless you have too many friendlies in the blast. 

it’s a good spell but it just depends. 

 It's 16.5, but that is just nitpicking.

My only question would be, why are you picking a magical feat if you do not have spell slots? There are other things you should be prioritizing, than a feat that increases your mental stats.

Quote from Dragonhearthx >>

Quote from ThriKreenWarrior >>

Depending on your class it can be good or just ok. If you don’t have spell slots then invisibility once a day is ok and inflict wounds (13.5 average damage) once per day starts to drop off in effectiveness as you level so it becomes less and less used. If you are only playing tier 1 maybe into 2 then it isn’t bad  

if you have spell slots you can upcast it. Just depends if up casting is better than the other options you have available. Would you use this instead of fireball? Probably not unless you have too many friendlies in the blast. 

it’s a good spell but it just depends. 

 It's 16.5, but that is just nitpicking.

My only question would be, why are you picking a magical feat if you do not have spell slots? There are other things you should be prioritizing, than a feat that increases your mental stats.

 Thanks for the correction, was thinking it was 3d8 instead of 3d10. 

Unlike Eldritch Adept there is no spell casting requirement so it’s an option if you want it. It provides an option for a spell as well as invisibility for themed or utility use. I could see some classes that might have use of a mental stat yet not be a spell caster, like maybe monk who wants something extra to use. Not saying it would be used a lot but not impossible either. 

But in this case magic initiate might be the better choice as you get two cantrips you can use all the time instead of only once per long rest. 

Edit: And I think the thoughts on inflict wounds still stands, even with spell slots, unless I’m missing something 

I think that Fey Touched is just a little bit better, because even non-casters often wouldn't mind a +1 bump to Wisdom, and you can pick up Misty Step (useful for every class) and Bless (useful for every party, but even BETTER when cast by a non-caster), neither of which rely on casting ability score whatsoever. Definitely has joined the roster of "sure why not?" feats for a Fighter or Rogue with more feats than they know what to do with... but then again, Tasha's also expanded the number of those significantly (Chef, Skill Expert, Telekinetic, etc.), so it's not like it stands out head and shoulders above. 

They're both amazing feats for non-casters. In addition to Invisibility or Misty Step, Bless, Color Spray, Disguise Self, Gift of Alacrity, Hex, Hunter's Mark, and Sleep are all great spells, with no casting modifier necessary really. 

3D10 is great in tier 1, but in tier 2 and later it's not that great.  At level 5, the Barbarians, Fighters, Monks, Paladins, Rangers, Rogues, and Warlocks (if they took Agonizing Blast, which most do) can all do just as much damage in one round without using any resources.

To me it felt like everyone was looking at Fey touched. And I just wanted to put shadow touched in the spot light. Showing how strong it is. People may just look at the invisibility spell and pass over it, not knowing the potential of the second half could be.

A warlock using his PotC to inflict wounds by an invisible creature is strong. It also doesn't require having a high wisdom either.

Quote from gabrielrockman >>

3D10 is great in tier 1, but in tier 2 and later it's not that great.  At level 5, the Barbarians, Fighters, Monks, Paladins, Rangers, Rogues, and Warlocks (if they took Agonizing Blast, which most do) can all do just as much damage in one round without using any resources.

 That's why spell caters get higher spell slots and up-casting is an option. I cannot understand why people don't take up-casting into consideration when they are comparing a spell to later levels. Low level spells, when up-cast to the appropriate level, can still be strong.

Because up casting a melee-range miss/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.

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 is a concentration free melee spell attack. Which spell are you looking at? And you're telling me 3D10 to 7d10 neko damaged is not good? Considering you stop up casting at 5th level.

Using it through your familiar requires taking the Ready action, which requires concentration. 

It’s fine damage. But not enough to warrant a feat. 

Quote from Chicken_Champ >>

Using it through your familiar requires taking the Ready action, which requires concentration. 

It’s fine damage. But not enough to warrant a feat. 

 Where does it say that? I had to double check the spell. And it only says, when you cast a spell with the range of touch, you can have the familiar use its reaction to cast it instead.

It doesn't say anything about the ready action.

Edit: this is also a cleric only spell so the only other way to get it is multiclassing or magic initiate and it might not use your primary casting modifier. This feat allows you to use your primary casting modifier

Is your familiar just hanging out in melee range, ready to touch on your turn? Then you have no familiar, it’s dead already, it had AC 11 and 1 hp. When we talk about familiars delivering spells, we typically assume you ready to cast on their turn, then they dart in on their turn to deliver the spell with a reaction, then take the disengage action and retreat. If not... they’re really only there on paper, because in every fight they’re dead as a defenseless combatant. 

Owls have the fly-by feature. Pact of the chain has invisibility.

But that's regardless of the point. Where did you read that you have to use your ready action to cast spells through your familiar? 

Yes one on one is not a good idea for your familiar. So that's why you would want to probably Target a creature near your allies.

One other point that I neglected to mention that I will say in passing. Sorcerers can extend this spell.

Quote from Dragonhearthx >>

Owls have the fly-by feature. Pact of the chain has invisibility.

But that's regardless of the point. Where did you read that you have to use your ready action to cast spells through your familiar? 

Yes one on one is not a good idea for your familiar. So that's why you would want to probably Target a creature near your allies.

One other point that I neglected to mention that I will say in passing. Sorcerers can extend this spell.

If you cast a Touch spell through your familiar, it needs to be in touch range of your preferred target at the time the spell is cast. If the familiar is not already in touch range, you need to Ready your action to cast the spell when your familiar gets to touch range on its turn. Using the Ready action to cast a spell requires Concentration.

There is no specific rule that says "You must Ready an action to cast through your familiar", but casting through your familiar in the above way requires a cascade of general rules. It's worth it for a useful touch spell, which Inflict Wounds largely isn't.

Quote from ratwhowouldbeking >>

Quote from Dragonhearthx >>

Owls have the fly-by feature. Pact of the chain has invisibility.

But that's regardless of the point. Where did you read that you have to use your ready action to cast spells through your familiar? 

Yes one on one is not a good idea for your familiar. So that's why you would want to probably Target a creature near your allies.

One other point that I neglected to mention that I will say in passing. Sorcerers can extend this spell.

 

If you cast a Touch spell through your familiar, it needs to be in touch range of your preferred target at the time the spell is cast. If the familiar is not already in touch range, you need to Ready your action to cast the spell when your familiar gets to touch range on its turn. Using the Ready action to cast a spell requires Concentration.

There is no specific rule that says "You must Ready an action to cast through your familiar", but casting through your familiar in the above way requires a cascade of general rules. It's worth it for a useful touch spell, which Inflict Wounds largely isn't.

 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?

There’s no hype about them. But enough about familiars.

There are a finite number of spells you can choose from with FT or ST. Only Dissonant Whispers (FT) and Inflict Wounds (ST) and Ray of Sickness (ST) deal damage. If you’re looking for a damaging spell, I’d prefer the dissonant whisper since it’s ranged, guaranteed damage, can trigger Opportunity Attacks for more damage, has other situational uses aside from damage, and is verbal only... but it’s from FT, not ST. Ray of Sickness is awful in most contexts, so I suppose inflict wounds is okay, if you really want to pick up a damaging spell with ST.

6th level Shadow Sorc

Turn 1: [BA] Hound of Ill Omen + [A] Hold Person/Monster

Turn 2: [BA] Quicken Spell + Inflict Wounds with advantage and, if needed Seeking Spell, with Auto Crit. [A]Mind Sliver

Not bad for 1x 2nd level spell slot. 

Especially given you could use more spell slots to upcast that Inflict Wounds for 10d10 necro damage (yay autocrits).

Between the disadvantage from the hound and -1d4 from Mind Sliver, they're quite stuck there as you use up your points and slots unloading wave upon wave of necro damage. 

Yup, seems a good feat for me.

Shadow-Touched is by no means a bad feat.  Fey-Touched is generally held to be more useful because it has a much larger pool of spells to pick from, including several high-value buff options, but Shadow-Touched is no slouch.  Half an ASI, the never-useless Invisibility spell, and a smaller but not godawful selection of spells to benefit from.

I would not cite Inflict Wounds as the best option, though.  As debated fiercely in this thread, Inflict Wounds' usefulness falls off dramatically outside Tier 1 play even with Familiarnanigans, nor is every character that takes Shadow-Touched going to have a familiar in the first place.  If you're not leaning into whatever story elements caused you to take the feat in the first place, I would cite Disguise Self, Silent Image, or Cause Fear as your best bets, with Ray of Sickness edging out Inflict Wounds for a spell attack option.

Disguise Self is another one of those "You'll never be sorry you have this" spells that simply opens up new options and avenues for handling situations to you.  Silent Image is similar - there's a myriad of uses a clever spellcaster could invent for being able to place a static image of anything they like anywhere they like it.  Cause Fear and Ray of Sickness both impose disadvantage on attacks, which can be a big deal for Big Scary ****ers with dangerous physical attack options; I tend to favor Cause Fear even with its recurring save simply because most of the things you'd really like to debuff this way (i.e. dangerous physical-punching monsters) have huge Constitution scores and are harder to debuff with Con saves.  Ray of Sickness doesn't deal the damage Inflict Wounds can, but it deals that damage from sixty feet of safety away with the chance of applying the potent Poisoned debuff.

Shadow-Touched tends to favor more deceptive characters who specialize in skullduggery and need a couple of key illusions to do that.  The Necromancy side of Shadow-Touched almost feels superfluous with how terrible most first-level Necromancy spells are, but Cause Fear on a target with weak Wis saves is still a very potent debuff.  The feat is far from useless, and is indeed up in the higher tier of Gud Schitt To Take.  I still don't think it holds up to Fey-Touched in terms of broad applicability, but for a character that can make full use of its deceptiveness?  Shadow-Touched is great.