Prerequisite: Dragonlance Campaign, Sorcerer or Wizard Class or Mage of High Sorcery Background
You've received training from magic-users affiliated with the Mages of High Sorcery.
Choose one of the three moons of Krynn to influence your magic: the black moon, Nuitari; the red moon, Lunitari; or the white moon Solinari. You learn one cantrip of your choice from the Wizard spell list and two 1st-level spells based on the moon you choose, as specified in the Lunar Spells table.
Lunar Spells
| Moon | 1st-level Spells |
|---|---|
| Nuitari | Choose two from Dissonant Whispers, False Life, Hex, and Ray of Sickness. |
| Lunitari | Choose two from Color Spray, Disguise Self, Feather Fall, and Longstrider. |
| Solinari | Choose two from Comprehend Languages, Detect Evil and Good, Protection from Evil and Good, and Shield. |
You can cast each of the chosen 1st-level spells 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 spells using any spell slots you have.
Your spellcasting ability for this feat’s spells is Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma (choose when you select this feat).
Initiate of High Sorcery: Serious Magic
Review by Sam West, Twitter:@CrierKobold
Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen brings with it nine new feats to play with specifically in the Dragonlance setting. Each feat has a prerequisite either requiring an earlier feat to be taken from the book, or that you’re playing in a Dragonlance Campaign, all of which end up functionally requiring the character be in the world of Dragonlance. Let's be honest, though: these feats are just as mechanically applicable at every table, even those outside of Dragonlance, and the vast majority of tables can find them to be solid additions to character sheets should you shrug off the lore and focus just on the mechanics they bring to the table. None of them require some Dragonlance specific gimmick or rule to function; if you’re DMing for somebody who likes these new feats, but aren’t playing in Dragonlance, I’d encourage you to let them give it a go should they meet whatever other prerequisites the feats ask for.
This feat specifically has a lot of prerequisite options; it requires the Dragonlance setting and the character be either a sorcerer or wizard or take the Mage of High Sorcery background (which I would advocate not using at tables outside of Dragonlance).
Initiate of High Sorcery gives you a wizard cantrip of your choice, then a two 1st level spells with one free cast each from one of three groups: Nuitari (Dissonant Whispers, False Life, Hex, or Ray of Sickness), Lunitari (Color Spray, Disguise Self, Feather Fall, or Longstrider), or Solinari (Comprehend Languages, Detect Evil and Good, Protection from Evil and Good, or Shield).
Without even considering the base spells, two extra 1st level spell casts at 4th level (or 1st on a variant human) with two additional learned spells (as you can cast these with regular spell slots as well) is incredible. Stack on top of that a free Mage Hand, Minor Illusion, or Create Bonfire and we’re talking about what will feel like taking an entire class level’s worth of wizard attached to a single feat.
Of the three, Solinari stands out to me, as it comes with one of the best 1st level spells in the game, Shield, with a free cast should you choose it . The other options aren’t particularly noteworthy outside of Hex, which opens up attack roll based builds involving Scorching Ray for wizards and sorcerers. You can’t really go wrong taking any two of these, as two free casts of any 1st level spells tends to be fantastic, but if you’re looking to juice this as much as possible, I’d recommend Solinari with Protection from Evil and Good for the early game and Shield for a major new resource you’re always happy to have.
All in all Initiate of High Sorcery feels like a great direction for feats to be moving towards. This one builds into three additional feats from the book, giving you a clear build direction to move, and offers a solid amount of options without allowing anything like Magic Initiate does. If you’re playing in Dragonlance, or just are waiving the campaign setting prerequisites, this is an excellent early game feat with some solid utility in even the upper tiers I’d recommend to any sorcerer or wizard looking to expand their resources.
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