Prerequisite: The ability to cast at least one spell
You have practiced casting spells in the midst of combat, learning techniques that grant you the following benefits:
You have advantage on Constitution saving throws that you make to maintain your concentration on a spell when you take damage.
You can perform the somatic components of spells even when you have weapons or a shield in one or both hands.
When a hostile creature's movement provokes an opportunity attack from you, you can use your reaction to cast a spell at the creature, rather than making an opportunity attack. The spell must have a casting time of 1 action and must target only that creature.
War Caster: Scroll with the Punches
Review by Sam West, Twitter:@CrierKobold
Concentration is one of 5e’s most defining mechanics. It acts as a gate to prevent characters from doubling up on powerful duration based effects alongside adding in a way enemies can interact with said magic. This comes with some costs; concentration based spells are harder for frontline characters to justify casting because they can be quickly dispelled by simply doing your job. Casting these spells comes with more hurdles, too; typically a martial character will want to be holding something in both their hands, making spells with the somatic component particularly difficult to cast without needing to clumsy fumble around with your objects. War Caster does a pretty clean and effective job at solving these problems in a way that is subtle, yet potent, so much so that some characters, especially in upper tiers, will consider taking it for the concentration aid alone.
Advantage on Constitution saving throws to maintain concentration on a spell often turns it from a 55% chance to maintain your concentration (DC 10) to nearly an 80% chance to maintain your concentration, and that’s before Constitution modifiers and proficiency in Constitution saving throws are taken into account. Concentration is most often broken by either one large instance of damage (30 damage or more at once) or a large quantity of small damage sources resulting in three or four saves. Advantage in the latter case can make it so you’re consistently getting several extra rounds of it up even as you take the onslaught of attacks from multiple sources. In the case of one large single instance of damage, that's still going to be an issue, but this feat on its own can’t completely mitigate dropping concentration on damage.
So long as you’re wielding a spell focus in your hands (which can be a weapon in many cases), Warcaster makes spellcasting feel hands free. Clerics in particular will get a lot of mileage out of this, as they can don a shield with their holy symbol, pick up a mace, and cast whatever spells they’d like while also getting to make attacks of opportunity and keep their AC at a comfortable number. Other martial full-casters are a little less common, but these unique builds, like hexblades and bladesingers, can still get a lot out of functionally having another hand free.
The final bit of text will vary in usefulness table to table. Some monsters will never retreat or switch targets and just bash their heads against you and your buddies till death; you won’t get a lot of opportunities for these free casts there. At other tables, you might be able to consistently set yourself up to get a free cast in combat which can radically improve your character's power. In high stakes fights where you want to unload as many resources as possible, getting an extra Inflict Wounds or Hideous Laughter off as a reaction is encounter defining. Most tables probably land somewhere in the middle where you’ll get to use it every few encounters. This leaves this element to me feeling mediocre, but because it's attached to other great effects, it's nice to have.
War Caster hits all the marks I want a feat to hit. It gives players a new toy to play with, empowers a specific genre and playstyle of character that could use support, and does so in a way that is powerful specifically to that archetype. If you’re a concentration based character who wants to wade into melee combat, War Caster will absolutely help you do that. If you’re in the upper tiers with a maxed out spellcasting ability score, this is a great addition to your sheet to help keep your high level slot concentration effects rolling. All in all, War Caster is excellent.
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