Dungeons and Dragons: Best Feats For Wizards

Wizards are known as the bread and butter magic class for Dungeons & Dragons. They gain their magic through meticulous studies to learn how to cast spells, rather than gaining it through ancestry like Sorcerers or by making a deal with a powerful entity as Warlocks do.

Wizards are thought to be glass canons. They have impressive damage output, but the constitution of a dandelion on a particularly breezy day. As such, players must take care into how they create their Wizard character to ensure their longevity. However, there are Feats that Wizard players can take that are sure to give them that edge they need.

Updated February 18, 2024, by Mara Cowley: Feats are one of the most important aspects of Dungeons and Dragons. They can provide some pretty useful buffs to players to help them navigate and survive the dangers of Faerun or wherever their adventure takes them. Upon reaching certain levels, players can either choose to put more points in their skills, or look through the feat list for one that might benefit their character. Supplement books have added even more feats to the game, which can make deciding on feats a tough choice. This article for the best Wizard feats in D&D 5e has been given an update, so that Wizard players can make an informed choice of which are the right ones for their character.

17 Elemental Adept

Deal More Elemental Damage

A lot of magic revolves around the elements in some way, such as fire spells to burn enemies, ice spells to freeze them to death, or acid to eat through their armor and skin. But, not every enemy players encounter will be suspectible to the elements, allowing them to shrug off the dame type of certain spells.

This is where Elemental Adept feat comes in handy. The player chooses one damage type, such as cold, acid, fire, lightning, or thunder. Whenever they cast a spell that does damage of that type, they will completely bypass any enemy resistances to that damage type. Additionally, players cannot deal any less than 2 damage of their chosen type. If they roll a 1 for damage, it should be treated as a two, making this a useful feat for wizards who value damage output.

16 Lucky

Gain a Second Chance on Any Dice Roll

Dungeons and Dragons at its heart is a game about luck. Everything is determined by the roll of dice, from trying to attack, sneaking past enemies, or trying to befriend or beguile NPCs. And sometimes, lady luck abandons the table.

But, players can make their own luck with the feat called Lucky. With this feat, players can choose to roll an additional die after rolling already to try and increase the odds of success. Players can do this a total of three times per long rest to help balance out the power of this feat. Just one of these points can completely change the outcome of a situation to the party’s favor.

15 Ritual Caster

Save Precious Spell Slots with More Ritual Spells

Ritual spells are the most useful spells for casters, as it means they can spend more time to cast the spell without using up a spell slot. This allows players to save those slots for more pressing situations where time is not on their side.

With the Ritual Caster feat, Wizards gain access to a ritual book with two 1st level ritual spells from the spells from the Bard, Cleric, Druid, Sorcerer, Warlock, or Wizard spell list, granting them no shortage of options. Players can also copy spells from scrolls or wizard books to their ritual book as long as they can be cast as a ritual. This gives Wizards plenty more spells they can cast without extending a spell slot.

14 Observant

Boosts Player’s Perception

Observant is a feat that the savvy Wizard should take when looking for something that could help them outside of combat, as it doesn’t offer anything in the combat side of D&D. This feat may be situational, but players will be grateful to have it when the situation arises.

As the name suggests, the Observant feats sharpens a Wizard’s senses, giving them a boost to their passive Perception and Investigation scores. It also allows them to increase either their Wisdom or Intelligence score. They can even read the lips of another creature to understand what they are saying.

13 Fey Touched

Gain the Misty Step Spell to Escape Danger

The Feywild is a land of whimsy and mischief, home to inhabitants such as pixies, satyrs, and dryads, as well as magic. Those who find themselves in this land witness its awe-inspiring beauty, and may gain some benefits.

This is what the Fey Touched feat does. It grants the character a bonus to their Wisdom or Charisma, as well as giving them a 1st level spell from the school of Divination or Enchantment. Finally, players with this Feat gain access to the Misty Step spell, allowing them to get in range of creatures or make a quick getaway.

12 Shadow Touched

Learn Magic That Might Have Otherwise Been Out of Reach

The Shadowfell is quite literally one of the darkest places in D&D. It’s ome to everything dark and shadowy including the Shadar-kai, and a menagerie of menacing monsters. With the Shadow Touched feat, players can tap into the dark magics of this place, gaining its benefits.

Wizards touched by Shadowfell gain a +1 bonus to either their Wisdom or Charisma. They also gain use of the Invisibility spell, and one additional first level spell of their choice from the Illusion or Necromancy spell list. This Feat thus allows them to gain access to magic that may have initially been out of their reach.

11 Artificer Initiate

Learn Artificer Spells

Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything brought a whole host of new goodies for seasoned veterans to experiment with, including the Artificer class. Those who wish to dip their toes into the Artificer class but don’t want to take the plunge should look into the Artificer Initiate feat.

Wizards who take this feat will gain Proficiency with a type of tools of their choice, which can double as a spellcasting focus. They can learn some additional spells from the Artificer cantrip and first level spell lists.

10 War Caster

Use Spells for Attacks of Opportunity

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One of the most useful reactions a player can take is Attacks of Opportunity, which arise when a creature leaves a square five feet away from a hostile creature. They can do choose to take an Attack of Opportunity, normally with a melee weapon.

However, the War Caster feat offers a bit more versatility to this rule. It will allow the player to cast a spell against the creature rather than use a weapon. As Wizards are mostly unpracticed in the school of weaponry, allowing them to use their spells is hugely beneficial in combat.

8 Initiate of High Sorcery

Access More Spells

For Wizards that are looking to further expand their repertoire of spells, they need look no further than the Initiate of High Sorcery feat. It allows them access to an expanded spell list by offering the choice of an additional Wizard cantrip for free, as well as two first-level spells that are divided between three different types of moons. These can be cast without expending a spell slot.

This makes the feat extremely powerful, as anything that allows Wizards to cast more spells makes them a force to be reckoned with. Not only that, this feat comes free with the Mage of High Sorcery background, and stands out as one of the more powerful background features. It also allows players access to more magic-bolstering feats; the Order of the Robes.

7 Adept of the Black Robes

Gain Two Second-Level Spells

Wizards who take the aforementioned feat gain access to three optional feats they can take: Adept of the Black Robes, Adept of the Red Robes, and Adept of the White Robes. The first of these is perhaps the most useful for pure damage output.

Wizards who pledge loyalty to the Order of the Black Robes gain two additional second-level spells from the schools of Necromancy or Enchantment, and don’t expend spell slots to cast them. Furthermore, Wizards can make the most of their spells by applying additional damage to enemies that fail a saving throw against a spell equal to their hit dice equivalent to the spell level.

6 Gift of the Gem Dragon

Deal Damage When Struck

By accepting a gift from one of the fabled gem dragons, a Wizard gain two benefits that can boost their strengths and get them out of dangerous combat situations. Though the second benefit is extremely situational, when a Wizard finds themselves in those circumstances, this feat could be the difference between life and death.

The player character who opts to take this gains a plus one bonus to their Wisdom, Intelligence or Charisma. In addition, when they take damage from a creature within 10 feet, they can use their reaction to emit a blast of telekinetic energy, dealing 2d8 force damage and pushing the target away 10 feet. While Wizards make a point to stay far away from combatants to sling spells from a distance, this feat is perfect for when enemies get close enough to pose a threat.

5 Spell Sniper

Cast Spells at a Longer Range with More Accuracy

Spell Sniper is one of the more basic but useful feats any caster can take. It boasts a total of three benefits to help casters hone their craft, and make the most of the spells they cast.

Wizard can choose an additional cantrip from the Bard, Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard, Cleric or Druid list to expand their repertoire. Furthermore, this feat doubles the total range of spell attacks, and can ignore up to three quarters cover. This means that as long as their foe is not in total cover, the Wizard suffers no disadvantage on their ranged spell attacks.

4 Eldritch Adept

Benefit from Eldritch Invocations Without Multiclassing

Eldritch Adept allows a character who is not a Warlock to gain one particular benefit that that this class offers: Eldritch Invocations. There are some restrictions, such as prerequisites that must be met for certain invocations. However, this still offers a whole host of new opportunities to bolster a Wizard’s capabilities.

With invocations such as Armor of Shadows or Gift of the Protectors, and the ability to use Intelligence as the spell casting ability, this feat is not to be overlooked.

3 Strixhaven Initiate

Choose a College and Gain More Spells

The book that introduced a magical university and different colleges of magic, Strixhaven: A Curriculum of Chaos also offered some feats, one of which is Strixhaven Initiate.

The player must choose from one of five colleges, and then choose two cantrips and one first-level spell that correspond with the college they chose. The player can cast their chosen spell without using a spell slot once per long rest, but they also have the option to expend any remaining spell slots they have if they so choose. This feat has great versatility, and any ways Wizards can expand on their spells are worth consideration.

2 Telepathic

Cast Detect Thoughts for Free

Telepathic is a feat very simple in terms of its benefits. It is less intended for use in combat, and instead opens up new RP possibilities between PCs or even with NPCs.

As with many of these feats, the player character can increase their Intelligence, Wisdom or Charisma by one point, as well as being able to cast the spell Detect Thoughts once per long rest without using a spell slot or needing any components. And finally, player characters have the option to communicate telepathically with other creatures they can see, as long as the other creature understands the language. This allows player characters secretive communication, which can spice up roleplay encounters.

Gain Metamagic Without Multiclassing

Similarly to Eldritch Adept, the Metamagic Adept allows wizards to experiment with the Sorcerer spell feature Metamagic. This feature allows the players to alter their spells function in minor ways. Though the spell remains largely the same, players with Metamagic can expend sorcery points to give their spells some embellishments. For example, Twinned Spell allows the spell to be applied to two creatures rather than one.

As such, this feat allows casters who aren’t Sorcerers to learn two Metamagic options. It also gives them two sorcery points which are necessary for to spend on their chosen Metamagics, which refresh every long rest.