Prerequisite: Elf (Wood)
You learn the magic of the primeval woods, which are revered and protected by your people. You learn one Druid cantrip of your choice. You also learn the Longstrider and Pass without Trace spells, each of which you can cast once without expending a spell slot. You regain the ability to cast these two spells in this way when you finish a long rest. Wisdom is your spellcasting ability for all three spells.
Wood Elf Magic: Got Wood?
Review by Sam West, Twitter:@CrierKobold
Wizards of the Coast loves elves, and I get it. They’re hot. They’re powerful They’re popular. So many characters start as elves or half-elves for one reason or another. Of the subrace options, while wood elves are fairly popular, they lack a little bit of spice, something eladrin, drow, and high elves all get. They’re missing a bit of magic. For a feat, though, Wood Elf Magic puts them on par (if not well above) the other elf racials, all still while you’ve got mask of the wild, fleet of foot, and longbow proficiency.
When you take Wood Elf Magic, you’re getting two free spell slots (one 1st, one 2nd) for Longstrider and Pass without Trace only. I love these selections so much; Longstrider is a spell I don’t often take, but consider in the mid to upper tiers because it's cheap. It has no concentration, lasts an entire hour, and gives a creature +10 ft. to their speeds for the duration. Paired specifically with wood elves, who make exceptional rogues and monks, you’re looking at a once per hour additional bonus 10 feet of speed on top of your racial +5, class speed increases, and bonus action dash options. What this combines to create is a character that can MOVE. At minimum, any wood elf taking this feat can have a 45 ft. speed, which turns needed dashes into regular movements, or two dashes into one. 90ft. Covered normally takes three moves; with just longstrider, it goes down to two, meaning rogues and monks can cover that distance with their bonus actions. That’s really solid.
On top of Longstrider, you’re getting Pass Without Trace. This is the party hiding spell, the ultimate tool for early game stealth outside of Invisibility that gets everyone involved with big stealth checks. Again, the typical Dex/Wis characters love this, and wood elf racials push them in that direction. Characters that are wood elves probably want Pass Without Trace, and when used, will be making Stealth checks with +15 or higher modifiers to their rolls. A lot of these characters aren’t going to be full casters either. Wood elf rangers getting another 2nd level spell slot, often before their class gives them access to it normally, for a spell they routinely want to cast anyway… it's just excellent.
But wait, there’s more! You ALSO get any druid cantrip of your choice! You’re probably taking like Guidance or a cosmetic cantrip (Control Flames, Druidcraft, Gust, Mold Earth, Shape Water), and that’s just gravy. Guidance on its own can have a huge impact on groups without it, especially on characters who aren’t regularly keeping up a concentration effect. This makes it particularly noticeable on rogues and monks, where you literally will only have Pass Without Trace competing with it. You can routinely bust it out whenever you’re exploring the world out of combat, and help with all the investigation and lore checks as well as the larger feats of strength of social navigation. It's all around great to have, and fits into this feat cleanly and easily. The other options aren’t particularly appealing to the non-casters, and casters probably have damaging cantrips they prefer over whatever you’re gaining here, but sometimes you’ll want to unleash a little poison with Poison Spray or upgrade your quarterstaff for d8s of damage with Shillelagh.
Like most of the magical offering feats, Wood Elf Magic is baller. It's a bit of a bummer that it doesn’t also give a mod bump, but it definitely doesn’t need to to be worth it. If you're a wood elf this is a super convenient feat that will embellish exactly what you want your character to be doing in an impactful, powerful way.
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