One DnD War Caster Feat Guide

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War Caster is one of the most popular feats for spell casters and it doesn’t take much playing to see why. This is a feat designed for those casters who need to be in the middle of things and want to still make themselves as capable as possible in that situation whether maintaining concentration or

The One DnD War Caster Feat allows a +1 to the casting stat of your choice, Advantage on Constitution Saving throws for maintaining concentration, use a single-target spell for an Opportunity attack in lieu of a melee attack, and you no longer need a free hand to use somatic components for spells.

This was one of the most popular feats for Clerics, Wizards, and other casting classes in 5th Edition D&D and there’s little reason to believe that this is going to change with the newest iteration that is still designed to allow builds of spellcasters who can take a hit, maintain concentration, and hit back with a blast at close range. So how well does the new War Caster feat compare?

Best part of war caster? Yelling “In your face!” when you let your enemy have it at close range.

Let’s dive in and find out more!

War Caster Feat DnD One Review

The best way to break down a feat is to check out the exact wording.

From Unearthed Arcana:

4th-Level Feat

Prerequisite: Spellcasting or Pact Magic Feature

You have practiced casting spells in the midst of combat, granting you the following benefits:

Ability Score Increase. Increase your Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma score by 1, to a maximum of 20.

Concentration. You have Advantage on Constitution Saving Throws that you make to maintain your Concentration.

Reactive Spell. When a creature provokes an Opportunity Attack from you by moving out of your Reach, 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 one Action and must target only that creature.

Somatic Components. You can perform the Somatic Components of Spells even when you have Weapons or a Shield in one or both hands.

Unearthed Arcana, Expert Classes 2022

Now let’s break down each of these benefits in more detail to see how the feat breaks down under further inspection.

Benefit #1: Increase your Charisma, Intelligence, or Wisdom score by 1, up to a maximum of 20.

Good half-feat spread of ability scores that allows any casting class to get benefit from this feat. Nothing too spectacular, but always better to have than not and these tend to be a bit more useful on average than boosts for melee characters or builds.

Benefit #2: You have advantage on Constitution Saving Throws that you make for maintaining Concentration.

Keeping concentration can be difficult, especially for those classes like Clerics looking to bring up Spirit Guardians and wade into the middle of things. Having advantage on these throws is a big deal and makes these types of builds far more viable. Advantage is a powerful mechanic and having that for maintaining concentration is huge.

This is an excellent benefit, and there’s a reason it’s a big mainstay of this feat. There is an interesting debate among min-maxers whether it makes more sense to go with the War Caster Feat or the Resilient Feat to maximize your potential of success, but either way, you’re in good shape.

Benefit #3: When a creature provokes an Opportunity Attack by moving out of your Reach, you can use your reaction to cast a spell at the creature as opposed to a melee attack. The Spell can only target one creature and must target just that creature.

No AOE effects allowed…which your party will probably appreciate, but the ability to suddenly use an attack spell versus a melee weapon can open up opportunities for some serious damage. To be able to do that with an attack of opportunity is a very big deal, especially with the power creep of spells from additional books like Xanathar’s Guide to Everything or Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything – giving options that

Benefit #4: You can perform the Somatic Components of Spell even if you have Weapons or a Shield in one or both hands.

Important for those DMs who run Rules as Written, so it’s a good mechanic in that sense, at most tables I’ve been at we don’t bother with these rules because they’re restrictive and just not that fun. However, having it in actual writing that you don’t have to worry about these concerns while casting spells – which is especially important for classes like Cleric who are often in the middle of battle and need to be able to fight, heal, and cast spells without issue.

How Does War Caster Feat Measure Up?

The War Caster feat is consistently rated up there as one of the best feats for spellcasters out there, and there’s good reason for it. There aren’t many feats that come up every single time a certain class or build comes up, but this is one of them. War Caster should make the short list of every Best Feats for Clerics articles, as well as Best Feats for Wizards.

Depending on the build of Sorcerer, Bard, or Druid it may or may not apply, but it’s always a solid choice – just not necessarily a must have. It’s still a B+ or higher graded feat which makes it remarkably versatile among many of the most popular classes found in D&D.

Usually a good feat is either very versatile or it’s very powerful, it’s rare when you have a feat that does both, but War Caster arguably actually does just that. It gives the ability to hit harder, to protect your concentration, and a little core stat boost isn’t a bad thing, either.

War Caster Feat: DnD One Vs 5E

The feat is basically the same in both editions, but there’s a +1 to the casting stat of your choice in One DnD/6E because of the movement towards having stat boosts with each feat. Because of that, the One DnD version of War Caster is going to be the superior in a head up comparison to the 5E because the two are pretty much the same.

Related Article: 5E War Caster Feat Guide

War Caster is an exceptional feat in either system, and there’s very little doubt it will consider to be a heavyweight among players around the gaming table well into the future.

Who Should Take the War Caster Feat in DnD One?

Basically any casting class that is going to be in the front line, or focusing on concentration spells, or needs a way to get out of a tight spot (or all three) should look at taking this feat.

Classes that should always seriously consider taking War Caster includes:

  • Bards
  • Clerics
  • Warlocks
  • Wizards

Classes that should always look (and can always use) War Caster includes:

  • Arcane Trickster Rogues
  • Druids
  • Eldritch Knight Fighters
  • Paladins
  • Sorcerers

There’s a reason that War Caster is such a popular feat, and the benefits it gives are very powerful and can make spellcasters much more likely to survive a tough campaign than if they go without!

DnD One War Caster Feat Final Grade

War Caster is an absolute banger of a feat, meaning it’s still one of the best out there. A lot of feats had major changes from one edition to another, but there were very few changes here. War Caster became a half feat the way the overwhelming majority of One DnD feats have, but otherwise all changes are minor and just to work with the new mechanics.

War Caster is one of the rare A-grade feats and it really delivers on what it promises. This is a powerful feat that works for full casters, half casters, and third casters, and delivers something that all of them can use.

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