Borrowed Knowledge: I’m Just Better Than You
Usable By: Bard, Cleric, Warlock, Wizard
Spell Level: 2
School: Divination
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: Self
Duration: 1 hour
Components: V, S, M (a book worth at least 25 gp)
You draw on knowledge from spirits of the past. Choose one skill in which you lack proficiency. For the spell's duration, you have proficiency in the chosen skill. The spell ends early if you cast it again.
Review by Sam West, Twitter:@CrierKobold
Skills to me are the foundation of 5e. The vast majority of rolls happening outside of combat are skill based, and many in combat rolls are going to levy skills. What often separates characters in the low tiers is what skill rolls they make for the party; even though the druid may have a lower Intelligence than the wizard, they can take the Nature skill and have a better chance of success. Borrowed Knowledge takes that idea of everyone having their moment and shoves a bunch of people out; if you’ve got a higher ability score than somebody else, Borrowed Knowledge lets you roll the check instead!
That to me feels pretty bad, and feels like what Borrowed Knowledge will result in more often than not. You really want this to be a part of a long series of checks to make it worth it, as if you’re ever casting this for a single skill check it's probably not worth it (in the early levels, at least). If you’re making a bunch of stealth checks navigating a dungeon, or you need to take perception to boost your passive perception for a specific kind of encounter, this is probably a fine option to consider.
If you couldn’t tell, I’m not a fan of this kind of mechanic. Characters gaining temporary skills whenever they’d like frustrates me, as the base mechanic of them rewards having a diverse set of characters to navigate various problems. As you get into the upper tiers, Borrowed Knowledge can start to feel like the wizard or cleric is just functionally proficient in every skill. If anyone took skills with lower modifiers, they can feel obsolete; a single 2nd level spell replaces them for an action when that skill is involved. Are you a ranger with a 12 Wisdom and Animal Handling? Well, the 18 Wisdom cleric can just decide to be better than you at that for a 2nd level spell!
I doubt as many people will run into this problem as I’m suggesting, but if any do that’s frustrating, and the upside the spell offers is just so boring. This kind of spell doesn’t need to exist; spells offering specialized solutions to a variety of problems are spells at their best in my opinion. If you’re looking for magic to enhance your skills, look towards tools to aid in investigation like Identify or Detect Magic, or tools that enhance other’s skill checks like Enhance Ability. Borrowed Knowledge is a boring catch all I wouldn’t want to play with.
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