remetagross
2017-01-29, 06:08 PM
I stumbled upon this feat a few weeks back, and found it pretty good. It's from the Regional feats sections of the Player'sGuide to Faerūn, though it is actually not a regional feat itself. Here is what it does in a nutshell:
-1st level only
-Count your primary casting stat as two points higher for the purpose of save DCs
-And for the purpose of bonus spells too.
The thing is, I'm a little surprised not to have seen it in not a single spellcasting class handbook I've read, because it seems rathet decent to me.
-The first half acts as a Spell Focus feat, but for all of the schools combined, and actually stacks with said feat. Now, the Spell Focus feat is quite weak in and of itself, so I can understand that even a souped up version of the feat remains a mediocre choice.
-But the second half is not bad either, especially for classes that don't have that much spells per day like wizards or spirit shamans. Let us take an example to try and see how useful it turns out to be.
We have Bob, a 1st level Human Wizard. He starts out with Int 18, because he used a point-buy system for his stat generation. That means one 1st level spell per day, +1 bonus because his Int is 12 or higher. With the Spellcasting Prodigy feat, his Int virtually bumps to 20. And that means another bonus 1st level spell per day. Getting from 2 to 3 1st level spells per day is a pretty significant improvement in power, for Bob the 1st level wizard.
When he buys a Headband of Intellect +2 at, say, level 6, his Int gets from 19 (because of the ability increase of level 4) to 21, and virtually to 23.
So, that means he gets from 4 to 5 2nd level spells per day. This is, for sure, far less significant. But just after, at level 8 and the second ability increase, he gets a bump to virtually 24. From 4 to 5 3rd level spells. I feel like this starts to be relevant again, because there are many more things to be done with an extra 3rd level spell, compared to an extra 2nd level spell. One more Fly, Heroism, Haste or Blink for the party.
When Bob buys a Headband of Intellect +4, maybe at level 11, he gains an extra 4th. From 4 to 5 per day. Admittedly, the more powerful he grows, the less up-to-date with his maximum spell level the bonus spell is. But still, Bob only has 2 level 6 and 3 level 5, so he will have to resort to 4th if he does not want to blow up all of his power after two encounters, and the feats nets him 25 % more 4th level spells.
But when the Tomes come in, they make the bonus more relevant. I have to admit, I'm using a rather naive Int increasing pattern of "I buy Headbands of Intellect and Tomes as soon as I have the money" here. With a +1 Tome and the Int increase of level 12, that would be an extra 5th level spell, only one level behind your max spell level of 6. With a +6 Headband at level 15 you'd get an extra 6, add in a +2 Tome and the Int increase of level 16 to grab an extra 7 at that level. A +4 Tome nabs you an extra 8th at, maybe, level 18. And then the level 20 stat increase with the +5 tome would make in an extra 9.
Those would be, each time, in exchange for an extra spell one level lower without the feat, mind you. The feat's power adjusts to Bob's power.
What do you think? Is it a worthwhile feat?
-1st level only
-Count your primary casting stat as two points higher for the purpose of save DCs
-And for the purpose of bonus spells too.
The thing is, I'm a little surprised not to have seen it in not a single spellcasting class handbook I've read, because it seems rathet decent to me.
-The first half acts as a Spell Focus feat, but for all of the schools combined, and actually stacks with said feat. Now, the Spell Focus feat is quite weak in and of itself, so I can understand that even a souped up version of the feat remains a mediocre choice.
-But the second half is not bad either, especially for classes that don't have that much spells per day like wizards or spirit shamans. Let us take an example to try and see how useful it turns out to be.
We have Bob, a 1st level Human Wizard. He starts out with Int 18, because he used a point-buy system for his stat generation. That means one 1st level spell per day, +1 bonus because his Int is 12 or higher. With the Spellcasting Prodigy feat, his Int virtually bumps to 20. And that means another bonus 1st level spell per day. Getting from 2 to 3 1st level spells per day is a pretty significant improvement in power, for Bob the 1st level wizard.
When he buys a Headband of Intellect +2 at, say, level 6, his Int gets from 19 (because of the ability increase of level 4) to 21, and virtually to 23.
So, that means he gets from 4 to 5 2nd level spells per day. This is, for sure, far less significant. But just after, at level 8 and the second ability increase, he gets a bump to virtually 24. From 4 to 5 3rd level spells. I feel like this starts to be relevant again, because there are many more things to be done with an extra 3rd level spell, compared to an extra 2nd level spell. One more Fly, Heroism, Haste or Blink for the party.
When Bob buys a Headband of Intellect +4, maybe at level 11, he gains an extra 4th. From 4 to 5 per day. Admittedly, the more powerful he grows, the less up-to-date with his maximum spell level the bonus spell is. But still, Bob only has 2 level 6 and 3 level 5, so he will have to resort to 4th if he does not want to blow up all of his power after two encounters, and the feats nets him 25 % more 4th level spells.
But when the Tomes come in, they make the bonus more relevant. I have to admit, I'm using a rather naive Int increasing pattern of "I buy Headbands of Intellect and Tomes as soon as I have the money" here. With a +1 Tome and the Int increase of level 12, that would be an extra 5th level spell, only one level behind your max spell level of 6. With a +6 Headband at level 15 you'd get an extra 6, add in a +2 Tome and the Int increase of level 16 to grab an extra 7 at that level. A +4 Tome nabs you an extra 8th at, maybe, level 18. And then the level 20 stat increase with the +5 tome would make in an extra 9.
Those would be, each time, in exchange for an extra spell one level lower without the feat, mind you. The feat's power adjusts to Bob's power.
What do you think? Is it a worthwhile feat?