+1 int feat for enchanter

[Hiro Quester]

I'm playing an Artificer 1/Enchantment Wizard 7, a small race of DM's home-brew design (gets expertise in perception), specializing in control spells and abilities.

The rest of my party are mostly damage dealers (ranger/cleric, monk, paladin, fighter/barbarian, rogue).

So my job is locking down or separating enemies, while my friends deal with the others.


Int is currently 19. DM let us take a flaw and a bonus feat. I took Telekinetic (for a bonus action shove). And Skill Expert (for proficiency in religion, for plot reasons, and expertise in Investigation).

With the Enchanter's Hypnotic Gaze ability, I'm often casting a concentration spell that takes out or controls enemies (web, black tentacles, sleet storm, hideous laughter, levitate, suggestion), then next round trying to get in melee range of an enemy, so I can lock them down with my hypnotic gaze. Telekinetic shoving enemies into AOE effects like web and black tentacles.

Which +1 int feat would you take on a character like this to get int to 20?

Telepathic seems a good option. Detect Thoughts would possibly be good to have on an enchanter.

Fey Touched would also give a spell-slot-free use of misty step, and enable learning an otherwise out-of-class enchantment or divination spell (perhaps Command?).

Linguist would enable learning 3 more languages. Many enchantments depend on sharing a language with the target. But I can alway learn tongues for that.

Observant might be good. It would make passive investigation 25 and passive perception 22. But DM doesn't use passive scores very much.

Can you take Skill Expert twice? Proficiency in another knowledge skill (nobody has Nature in our party; he's not that kind of ranger) and expertise in Arcana would possibly also be useful.

Shadow Touched seems meh. There really aren't any 1st level necromancy or illusion spells that seem that beneficial.

Keen Mind is also somewhat Meh.

Elven Accuracy seems useless. I don't make attack rolls much at all. Rarely with advantage.

I'm really indecisive here. Am I missing any serious advantages of any of these? Does one stand out for you as a really good choice?

[RogueJK]

Fey Touched.

Dissonant Whispers is an excellent single target damage spell with an even more useful rider effect, allowing you to set up big OA damage from all your melee companions, including off-turn Sneak Attacks by the Rogue.

It also works quite well with the Enchanter's "free twin spell" from Split Enchantment.

And it's not otherwise available to Wizards.

Plus, it's thematically appropriate.

[solidork]

I agree with the Fey Touched option, but I'd probably take Command if you can be confident that you're mostly going to be facing things you can talk to that aren't undead. Split Enchantment to deny two people their turn with a first level slot seems strong.

Dissonant Whispers is also good. It's pretty weird in that you don't have to see your target in order to affect them, which is likely a weakness of your current loadout. Your party looks like its got plenty of people to take advantage of the opportunity attack.

[RogueJK]

I agree with the Fey Touched option, but I'd probably take Command if you can be confident that you're mostly going to be facing things you can talk to that aren't undead. Split Enchantment to deny two people their turn with a first level slot seems strong.

Also a solid option. I personally lean towards Dissonant Whispers in this particular case, due to the melee-heavy nature of the rest of the party, packed with tons of big OA hitters. Generating additional opportunities to land impactful Sneak Attack/Smite/GWM/Stunning Strike OAs would be a big plus here.


I'm playing an Artificer 1/Enchantment Wizard 7

I do hope you're utilizing the Sanctuary + Hypnotic Gaze combo. It goes together like chocolate and peanut butter. A straight Enchantment Wizard can't do it, but the 1 level Artificer dip opens it up as an option since it's a 1st level Artificer spell.

Hypnotic Gaze isn't an attack or a spell, so it doesn't break Sanctuary. This type of character is an ideal Sanctuary user, as they still have something useful to do every single round that won't cause the Sanctuary effect to end. Plus, Sanctuary's effect helps facilitate you safely remaining in close proximity to enemies, as required by Hypnotic Gaze's 5' range.

And Sanctuary isn't a Concentration spell, so you can have another big Concentration spell running at the same time. Plus Sanctuary is a Bonus Action to cast, so you can use it the same turn you utilize your Hypnotic Gaze.

You can effectively lock down an enemy with your Action each turn using Hypnotic Gaze, while being fairly protected from attacks by other enemies, and even if one of them manage to make Sanctuary's WIS save, you can potentially use your Instinctive Charm reaction to try to divert it, with them basically having to make two WIS saves in a row in order to be able to attempt to attack you.

It would look something like this:
Round 1: Action big Concentration spell (like Slow, Hypnotic Pattern, Summon X, etc.), potentially Bonus Action Telekinetic shove
Round 2: Action Hypnotic Gaze, Bonus Action Sanctuary
Round 3+: Action renew Hypnotic Gaze, Bonus Action Telekinetic shove

[Psyren]

Aside from Fey Touched (which fits great on an enchanter both mechanically and flavorwise) I'd recommend the playtest version of Keen Mind if you can swing that. It slices off the weak ribbons from the 2014 version and instead gives you another Expertise similar to Skill Expert, plus a very useful bonus action to scan enemy weaknesses.

[Chaos Jackal]

Fey Touched also grants access to gift of alacrity, assuming the spell is allowed. Which is a very, very powerful use of an once-per-day cast.

[Hiro Quester]

Fey touched is looking like a strong option. Especially if gift of alacrity was an option. I don’t think we’re using chronomancy in our game though. I’ll check with DM. Dissonant whispers, is good for generating OAs. But perhaps Command is more versatile.

(In my other game I play a board. I have stopped using dissonant whispers after about second or third level, because I usually have other actions that are more effective. Being able to twin it as an enchanter, though, does seem potentially useful.)

The playtest keen mind, with skill proficiency and study as a bonus action, is better than the current one. But we’re not using such content.


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I do hope you're utilizing the Sanctuary + Hypnotic Gaze combo. It goes together like chocolate and peanut butter.
ooooh. I had not considered using Sanctuary that way, to protect myself. I only prepared it a couple of times when we were looking out for somebody vulnerable and trying to return them home. Of the artificer spells, I regularly prepare, that has moved up to a higher priority. Thanks!

[Hiro Quester]

Follow up.

DM says Gift of Alacrity is a spell I could learn with Fey Touched. Both Gift of Alacrity and Misty Step are spells I will definitely cast most days, so casting each without using a spell-slot will be rather handy. So that's the plan.

Thanks everyone! Especially Chaos Jackal, for suggesting GoA.

Thanks also to Rogue JK. In our game last night I used the sanctuary spell on myself in the way you suggested. And it saved my life.

After the Frost Giant who wanted to murder me made one hit that took over half my hit points (I still made the concentration save), it saved vs. my Hypnotic Gaze. I could not misty step and move far enough to beat its massive move speed, so I cast Sanctuary on myself, and it failed that save and went off to attack others instead. Thanks again!