New Feats proposed by a wizard PC

[BurgerBeast]

I have a wizard PC who wants to use new, house-ruled feats to either:

(1) be able to cast a bonus-action spell and a non-cantrip spell in one turn.

(2) concentrate on two spells at once.

My initial instinct is simply: No. Both feats are trying to break an intentional design feature of the system, at too cheap a cost (1 feat).

What do you guys think?

[Demonic Spoon]

Both of those limitations are game mechanics to prevent casters from unloading too much power at once.

Concentration spells are extremely powerful, and it's trivial to come up with a bunch of ways to abuse being able to hold concentration on two things at once.

The bonus action + regular action spell is less of an issue. I can't confidently say it wouldn't be abusable, but two spells per turn is already possible with a fighter dip.

[Tallis]

I'm still pretty new to 5e but I tend to agree with you that they seem too powerful. Maybe if they had some sort of disadvantage included? Ex.- concentrating on 2 spells gives you disadvantage on concentration checks. Casting 2 spells in a round costs higher level spell slots. Just ideas off the top of my head. Someone better with the numbers should check me on this.

[NewDM]

Yeah, as others have said, one is already done with the Eldritch Knight class and the other is breaking an intended limit. If you put sever restrictions or penalties on them then it might work:

Focused Spell Casting
Through rigorous training and practice you have mastered the art of focused spell casting. You gain the following benefits:

You can cast a spell with a duration of instantaneous under level 3 as an action and cast a cantrip as a bonus action on your turn. If you do so you must make a concentration saving throw against DC 18. If you fail you lose the action (not the bonus action) but retain the spell slot.
You can maintain concentration on two spells at once as long as you do not cast another spell or cantrip and both spells are below level 5. Each round you must make a concentration saving throw to avoid losing both spells. Any concentration checks from damage have disadvantage and cannot benefit from bonuses (such as proficiency bonus from Transmutation or multi-classing, spells such as bless, etc...etc...).

[Sigreid]

I don't think you should just say no. I think you should laugh at them a little bit when you say it. :p

[manny2510]

Tell him he could either cast timestop, or wish for it.

[Zman]

Both of those limitations are game mechanics to prevent casters from unloading too much power at once.

Concentration spells are extremely powerful, and it's trivial to come up with a bunch of ways to abuse being able to hold concentration on two things at once.

The bonus action + regular action spell is less of an issue. I can't confidently say it wouldn't be abusable, but two spells per turn is already possible with a fighter dip.

I mostly agree.

I remember forgetting about the non Cantrip plus bonus action spell limitation and the Wizard who just hit 5th was Misty Stepping then casting fireball in the melee he just left haha. It's strong, but no where near as bad as allowing multi concentration.

[Mellack]

I would say the bonus action spell + regular spell is acceptable with one limitation: you cannot use metamagic on it. So it is only usable with spells that are built with a casting time of a bonus action.

The two concentrations feat is not acceptable as it breaks a basic control of the game.

[Misterwhisper]

Not only do you say no to the power gaming munchkin, if he complains make a sorcerer with those feats and show him why those rules are there.

[brainface]

Twin spell breaks the two spell concentration rule in a limited way--a feat that let the player do so in a similarly limited way wouldn't necessarily be out of line. Carte blanche is probably going to far, yeah

[Gtdead]

Sure, if you also add a feat that expands his spell list, gives a spellbook to a caster that allows him to add any spell he likes, cast them as rituals without preparing them, allow him to choose an arcane tradition and pick some of them to be cast at will at lvl 18.

No seriously, if your player wants to play a sorcerer, have him retire his character and make one instead of adding the most prominent features of another class for him to grab at almost zero cost.

How about you give him a magic item that allows him to cast a cantrip as a bonus action? It's still very strong, but depending on the party, it may be a good idea.

[Arkhios]

Why not house rule a feat which would give a character one Sorcerer's Metamagic of his or her choice, usable once per short rest.
Martial Adept already does similarly with Battle Master fighter's combat superiority dice and maneuvers.

Said feat would benefit a Sorcerer about as much as Martial Adept benefits Battle Master fighter. Sorcerer will never get all of the possible Metamagics through their levels, so it would be tempting even for a full sorcerer. Of course, a Sorcerer with Metamagic would be able to use the Metamagic gained through the feat like any other Metamagic gained through Sorcerer levels.

PS. Why only one Metamagic via feat when Martial Adept nets two maneuvers? Because there are about twice as much Maneuvers available as there are Metamagics.

[Kane0]

Not only do you say no to the power gaming munchkin, if he complains make a sorcerer with those feats and show him why those rules are there.

He wants to concentrate on two things at once? Let him concentrate on Orcus.

But yeah, those limitations are in place to curb caster power, breaking them wouldnt turn the game on its head per se, just open the door for the wizard to accomplish more and more.

[Spacehamster]

All full casters are strong enough as is so nope would not say that these feats would be a good idea. :)

[Durazno]

I do kind of like the idea of double concentration being limited with "you can't cast any other spells while concentrating on two spells, not even a cantrip." Particularly if they still can't cast on the turn they drop one or the other.

That said, I think that double concentration and cantrip-as-bonus-action should be separate feats, if they even exist.

[Giant2005]

I do kind of like the idea of double concentration being limited with "you can't cast any other spells while concentrating on two spells, not even a cantrip." Particularly if they still can't cast on the turn they drop one or the other.

It is better to have it require their action each round to maintain. Otherwise you would have Eldritch Knights double-buffing themselves while ignoring the downside.

[Gtdead]

Well, a high level wizard can maintain 2 concentration effects at once. Hello Simulacrum ;p

[Markoff Chainey]

That said, I think that double concentration and cantrip-as-bonus-action should be separate feats, if they even exist.

That is even worse than what the OP asked for...

What he asked for was: breaking the rule in PHB 202 that you cannot cast any other spell but a Cantrip on the same turn when you cast a spell as a bonus action.

In my opinion, it is ok to allow excactly that as a feat for the one reason that many players and some DMs are not aware of that rule anyways.

[NecessaryWeevil]

Regarding concentrating on two spells at once, I'll share the spell my PC has developed: Delegation. After casting your first concentration spell, you then cast Delegation which enables your familiar to concentrate on that spell for you. Delegation requires a spell slot one level higher than the spell you're transferring.

I'm sure some of you will find that at least as overpowered, but I thought it might be interesting and relevant to the discussion.

[Foxhound438]

full casters are strong enough as is- there's no need to give them even more with such feats

[Ruslan]

I have a wizard PC who wants to use new, house-ruled feats to either:

(1) be able to cast a bonus-action spell and a non-cantrip spell in one turn.

(2) concentrate on two spells at once.

My initial instinct is simply: No. Both feats are trying to break an intentional design feature of the system, at too cheap a cost (1 feat).

What do you guys think?
Those are key mechanics in a game to prevent caster dominance. Just Say No.

[R.Shackleford]

I have a wizard PC who wants to use new, house-ruled feats to either:

(1) be able to cast a bonus-action spell and a non-cantrip spell in one turn.

(2) concentrate on two spells at once.

My initial instinct is simply: No. Both feats are trying to break an intentional design feature of the system, at too cheap a cost (1 feat).

What do you guys think?

You could have them drop their subclass and gain the sorcerer's SP and Metamagic progression. No coverting spells from SP but they can gain more sp from spells?

Hmmm... Maybe something like this feat would work.

Metamagic Initiate

You gain two SP and learn one Metamagic of your choice. You can not convert spells to or from SP.

[Dimcair]

I have a wizard PC who wants to use new, house-ruled feats to either:

(1) be able to cast a bonus-action spell and a non-cantrip spell in one turn.

(2) concentrate on two spells at once.

My initial instinct is simply: No. Both feats are trying to break an intentional design feature of the system, at too cheap a cost (1 feat).

What do you guys think?

Ahahahahah, oh wait? he is serious?

Just think about it this way.... especially (2) is so good, it would become a feat tax for every caster... so then you can guess how good it is...

[krugaan]

he can concentrate on two spells, if:

1) he makes spellcasting check each round, DC = 10+combined level of both spells

2) automatically fails any save or skill check except for 1)

3) movement drops to 0 (oh hell, drops to 5', lets be charitable) enemies have advantage to hit, and can't take any actions or reactions.

4) gets a level of exhaustion for every new pair combination

[AmbientRaven]

As part of my house rules I allow casters to concentrate on 1 positive effect spell and one negative effect spell.
They can only focus on two at once if the combined level of the spells is equal to half of their caster level (A Wizard who can cast 8th level spells may focus on 4 levels worth of spells, 5th level + normal rules).
They have disadvantage on Concentration saves, and can never receive advantage on the save. Losing concentration breaks both spells.
They also have half movement.

This works well in my game, but only because every caster can do it, including opponents.

I wouldn't make this a feat though, too powerful. Especially because it is an auto-include for every caster and monster's are written to not include such abilities. (If a measly human wizard can concentrate on two things, why cant a Lich?)