Magic Initiate 5e Guide – Make Yourself (Even More) Magical

You’re an average human fighter. Not an Eldritch Knight, just a Battle Master. Not a single drop of magic courses through your veins… or so you believed. Out of curiosity, you ask your Cleric if learning healing magic is possible. Although their agreement is hesitant, they encourage you to practice and offer their aid.

Their magic may come from their deity, but it could be possible with enough focus and intent. Magic is not something learned quickly; taking time and focus.

Eventually, however, you create your first spark of a spell. Instead of putting all your effort into becoming stronger physically, you have become wisened through your efforts. More confident in you and your willingness to learn, your party’s Cleric agrees to become your tutor, and you can finally take the Magic Initiate Feat.

Welcome to a Magic Initiate 5e Guide.

Up Front

The Magic Initiate Feat can be overwhelming. You gain two cantrips and a first-level spell from the same class spell list. There are so many different options you can pick from, but you don’t have nearly enough freedom to take everything you would like.

My best suggestion would be to opt for the Wizard spell list, taking the cantrips Fire Bolt and Message, with the first-level spell Expeditious Retreat. This Feat can completely revolutionize how you play as a melee character and should not be overlooked.

What is a Feat?

You don’t have to put a lot of time and effort into gaining a Feat as your character would. For roleplay purposes, it’s fun to see yourself build up to taking a Feat like in the introduction, but it’s not necessary. A Feat represents a talent or an area of expertise your character may have.

It allows you to have special capabilities beyond what your class would normally provide. In order to take a Feat, you need to forgo the Ability Score Improvement. You generally can only take a Feat once, but there are a few rare oddities where you could potentially take them multiple times.

Most Feats require you to fill a prerequisite before you can take them, though, in the case of Magic Initiate, there are no prerequisites.

What Does it Do?

When you take the Magic Initiate Feat, you learn two cantrips of choice from a magic class’s spell list: Bard, Cleric, Druid, Sorcerer, Warlock, or Wizard. In addition to your two cantrips, you choose to learn one first-level spell from that same list. You can only cast the spell once at its lowest level per long rest.

Your spellcasting ability depends on which class you choose your spells from. Bards, Sorcerers, and Warlocks require Charisma; Clerics and Druids require Wisdom; Wizards require Intelligence.

Your Cantrip Options

Unlike other Feats, you can pick any cantrip from these classes. That’s a lot of cantrips. In total, there are over 30 unique cantrips in the base game. Add Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything and Xanathar’s Guide to Everything, and you will be drowning in cantrip options. We will only be looking at what is available through the Player’s Handbook.

The Best Option

There are many options. Almost too many options, if I’m going to be honest. Regardless, I feel a few cantrips are a step above the rest. Eldritch Blast is always a fantastic go-to, but I recommend avoiding Warlock-bound cantrips for this Feat.

Taking spells from the Warlock spell list binds you to what is available to them, and in this case, it really isn’t worth it when there are so many other options on the table.

Instead, I would opt for something available to a Wizard or Sorcerer because it gives you more options for the two cantrips you can take and the first-level spell. Fire Bolt and Message are the best cantrips you can take.

Both are on the Wizard and Sorcerer spell lists. Fire Bolt is practical for battle, dealing 1d10 damage that increases over time with leveling up. On the other hand, Message helps communicate with your party from a distance. If you want to get creative with it, Message could also work for intimidation or getting out of battles.

The second best choice would be to opt for the Cleric spell list for one reason: healing spells. If you’re a fighter trying to take some weight off your likely worn-out Cleric who doesn’t want to be a heal-bot anymore, take Guidance and Spare the Dying.

Guidance allows you to give yourself and others an extra d4 roll on their ability checks. When trying to advance the game, ability checks are everything. Spare the Dying, on the other hand, allows you to save player characters before they need to make death rolls.

This can keep your party together for longer and help to keep your game fun for all. When it comes time to take your first-level spell, you should take Cure Wounds.

Not only do you become somewhat self-sufficient for longer in battle, but you can keep yourself alive for even longer or even save your fellow party members. Your party’s Cleric will love you for doing this.

Your Spell Options

You thought cantrips were bad? There are about 39 first-level spells you can theoretically choose from. Of course, you can only pick your first-level spell if it comes from the class you previously selected, so be aware when perusing this list.

Furthermore, I would like to add that these are only base-game spells in the Player’s Handbook. Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything and Xanathar’s Guide to Everything would likely add too much onto an overwhelmingly full plate.

The Best (Depending on Class)

It genuinely depends on what class you have taken your spells from. Wizards and Sorcerers have access to just about everything on the list. Clerics have access to several healing spells, unlike the other classes.

The only spell lists it isn’t worth it to take anything from would be the Warlock spell list. Regardless, I can offer my suggestion for the best choice. More than a handful of these spells have their uses and, in various situations, would be fantastic. Unfortunately, we only get to pick one spell.

Bard

If you’ve taken Bard cantrips, you likely aren’t aiming for healing spells. In this right, I would suggest taking Charm Person as your best option for a first-level spell. Once a day, you can woo someone into liking you enough that they’d be willing to do just about anything to help you, or so we hope.

Cleric

If you want to be nice to your clerics (or lack thereof), you’ll take Healing Word or Cure Wounds. If not, Guiding Bolt is a fantastic choice. Instead of healing, it will give the next attacker advantage on their attack against the targeted enemy.

Druid

Although Druids have access to healing spells, if you don’t find yourself in need of healing often enough, Longstrider or Jump are excellent choices. Jump will be useful in a few situations, tripling your or your target’s jump distance until the spell ends.

Longstrider will be one of the best for getting yourself up close and personal with the enemy, increasing your movement speed by 10 feet until the end of the spell. If you’re a long-range fighter, I would suggest taking the spell Entangle, making it much more difficult for your enemies to reach you or escape your range.

Warlock

The Warlock spell sheet has the least amount of options out of any other spell sheet. In the same right, however, it offers the most unique options. If you find yourself in the action and getting hit often, Hellish Rebuke is an amazing choice.

You can inflict fire damage to your opponents, rolling 2d10 and forcing them to make a Dexterity saving throw in the process. I would, however, avoid taking any Warlock spells if you are a long-range fighter.

Wizard

Find Familiar would be the perfect spell for any spellcaster, giving you access to a Familiar who can help you sneak around and spy or even deliver touch-based spells to your fellow party members or enemies. For melee fighters with little access to spells, however, I can’t imagine a Familiar would do much good.

A spell that is a safe bet for any player, however, is Faerie Fire. Fighting invisible opponents sucks, and Faerie Fire destroys that mechanic.

If you’re a Drow, you likely already have this spell, so I would opt for something like Longstrider or Expeditious Retreat, allowing you to get into a melee confrontation faster than before. For a Monk especially, these two spells can get you the jump on your enemies.

Sorcerer

Wizard and Sorcerer have the same spells, for the most part. In fact, so much so that my recommendations really don’t differ for the two classes. The only difference is that the Sorcerer class doesn’t have access to the Find Familiar spell.

So, for long-range fighters, something like Magic Missile or Thunderwave would be good options. Magic Missile offers long-ranged projectiles, but Thunderwave gives you the perfect spell for if you are ever backed into a corner.

Best Paired Feat

If you want to pair a Feat with Magic Initiate, Spell Sniper is a fantastic choice. It doubles the range of your ranged-attack spells and can give you another attack-based cantrip.

If you skipped out on Eldritch Blast in favor of something else, Spell Sniper can offer you that opportunity to take it. The only requirement for this combination would be taking Magic Initiate first if you did not already have the ability to cast spells.

FAQs

Changing the Game

Magic Initiate completely revolutionizes how you play certain classes. You suddenly have access to magic for melee fighters like Fighters, Barbarians, and Monks. More so, you can access magic that makes you completely overpowered.

While you can only use your first-level spell once every long rest, you likely will only have one serious fight every long rest. Spells like Expeditious Retreat can push your melee fighter right up into the action or prevent an enemy from escaping.

If you’re concerned about your Cleric being overwhelmed with healing, you can take that into your own hands and heal yourself amid battle or stabilize your fellow party members before the Death Saving throws can take them to the other side.

This Feat is overwhelming with options, yes, but in that right, it has the potential to create an overpowered character no matter what point in the game you are in. I highly encourage you to consider this Feat above all others and above taking an Ability Score Modifier.

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Tallis Spalding

Since she entered the world of Dungeons and Dragons (and other Table Top games), Tallis has completely immersed herself, indulging in the rules and game expansions. She's completely thrown herself into homebrew, creating an entire world for her frequent one-shots and campaigns to take place in. She believes the most important thing with DnD is to communicate with everyone at the table because when everyone is on the same page (and comfortable improvising), the game ends up being even better than expected.

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