You’ve learned some of an artificer’s inventiveness:
You learn one cantrip of your choice from the Artificer spell list, and you learn one 1st-level spell of your choice from that list. Intelligence is your spellcasting ability for these spells.
You can cast this feat's 1st-level spell without a spell slot, and you must finish a long rest before you can cast it in this way again. You can also cast the spell using any spell slots you have.
You gain proficiency with one type of artisan's tools of your choice, and you can use that type of tool as a spellcasting focus for any spell you cast that uses Intelligence as its spellcasting ability.
Artificer Initiate: Get Crafty
Review by Sam West, Twitter:@CrierKobold
Magic Initiate is the feat I’ve taken most in D&D. It opens up easily a whole suite of potential to any character who wants just a taste of the full-caster life, often wizard, alongside being an easy way to get access to Find Familiar. Artificer Initiate trades a cantrip for tool proficiency, but otherwise mirrors Magic Initiate in a decent way. If you like the Artificer spell list, which functionally is a shorter version of the wizard spell list, and want access to some artisan’s tools to play around with using the Xanathar’s tool rules, this feat delivers.
At the cantrip level, you can basically take your pick from all the hits wizards get with a few other nifty toys thrown in. Mage Hand is a classic option that adds a huge tool for exploring spaces remotely. Thorn Whip is a nifty trick to have as a cantrip, and with a little DM allowance a super fun grappling-hook like spell to navigate the world in some interesting ways. Green Flame Blade and Booming Blade fit easily onto rogue character sheets, and Guidance is a tried and tested support option to make all of your friends better at ability checks as you adventure.
The first level selection is slightly worse, but does come with some neat options. This may be a rare case where I say you could justifiably pick up Cure Wounds, specifically on characters without access to any other healing magic. Getting a person off of 0 hit points and back into a fight can be critical, especially if they have access to more healing tools. Feather Fall is handy in all tiers of play, as is Detect Magic. Absorb Elements works great on fighters and barbarians who can afford to have an open hand or don’t mind losing attacks of opportunity if you want this reaction instead (which can absolutely be worth it). Expeditious Retreat taking concentration is rough, but could find its way onto Paladin sheets or other characters who tend to lack solid bonus action options.
Those are all the heavy hitters that you’d be pretty happy to leverage throughout the game. Beyond that, you’re getting a neat tool proficiency, which can be leveraged in some neat ways to embody a specific fantasy. I’d highly encourage using the Xanathar’s Guide to Everything options, as they give concrete examples of how to use the tools to get mechanical benefits, but even without them you can come up with all kinds of uses for these kits.
If you don’t need a 2nd cantrip and want a tool proficiency, this is a slight downgrade from Magic Initiate that gives you what you asked for. It still is pretty great to have, especially on martial characters looking to expand their options in and out of fights with just a bit of supplementary magic. I’m a fan.
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