Spell Sniper – DnD 5e Feat Guide (2024)

Introduction

Easily overlooked as a spellcasting feat, Spell Sniper qualifies since it allows you to select a spell beyond your class features. The primary appeal is to add a good ranged spell attack option for classes that don’t have them, and remove the nuisance of cover for classes like the Warlock which rely heavily on spell attacks.

Because you’re limited to cantrips which make spell attacks, your choices arevery limited, and very few of the spell options are worth selecting. And,since you use the spellcasting ability of the class which take the spell from,spellcasters are typically locked into classes which share a spellcastingability, severely limiting Spell Sniper’s usefulness. Even worse, severalspellcasting classes have no qualifying cantrips.

The incredibly narrow function of the feat, the sparse cantrip options, and the situational nature of the feat’s other benefits mean that there is an extremely narrow set of characters who benefit from Spell Sniper in any meaningful way. Warlocks who are heavily reliant on Eldritch Blast will find the cover benefit helpful, and bards and sorcerers will enjoy eldritch blast as a go-to damage cantrip, but that’s basically the extend of Spell Sniper’s useful benefits. Any other characters will be better served by Magic Initiate, and even those classes which do benefit from Spell Sniper are probably still better off with Magic Initiate.

Disclaimer

RPGBOT uses the color coding scheme which has become common among Pathfinder build handbooks, which is simple to understand and easy to read at a glance.

Red: Bad, useless options, or options whichare extremely situational. Nearly never useful.
Orange: OK options, or useful optionsthat only apply in rare circ*mstances. Useful sometimes.
Green: Good options. Useful often.
Blue: Fantastic options, often essentialto the function of your character. Useful very frequently.

We will not include 3rd-party content, including content from DMs Guild, in handbooks for official content because we can’t assume that your game will allow 3rd-party content or homebrew. We also won’t cover Unearthed Arcana content because it’s not finalized, and we can’t guarantee that it will be available to you in your games.

Spell Sniper Spell Options

For a full list of available spell options and spell descriptions, see DnDBeyond.

Bard Cantrip Options

Bards have no cantrips which qualify for Spell Sniper.

Cleric Cantrip Options

Clerics have no cantrips which qualify for Spell Sniper.

Druid Cantrip Options

The Druid’s spells are potential options for clerics and for rangers who takeFighting Style (Druidic Warrior). For the Cleric, Thorn Whip is basically theonly option worth having. For the Ranger, you can already get all of thesespells and the ability to ignore partial cover with them is so situationalthat there is basically no reason to consider it a benefit.

Magic Stone: I honestly have no idea if this qualifies, but I think that it wouldbecause it doesn’t actually do anything interesting unless an attack ismade. Even if it does, it’s not a good choice.
Primal Savagery^XGtE: If you can add damage to your weapon attacks from basically any sourcebeyond your ability modifier (Divine Strike, Hunter’s Mark, etc.) yourweapon attacks will probably outpace Primal Savagery until high levels.
Produce Flame^PHB: Sacred Flame is considerably better, and if Sacred Flame is available toyou I wouldn’t both with Produce Flame.
Thorn Whip^PHB: The pull effect is nice.

Sorcerer Cantrip Options

The Sorcerer gets access to Fire Bolt and Ray of Frost, neither of which areavailable to the Bard or the Warlock, but otherwise the Sorcerer’s optionsoverlap with the Warlock.

Booming Blade^{SCAG / TCoE}: Why would you take Spell Sniper to take a melee cantrip?
Chill Touch^PHB: Too situational to justify taking this over a more reliable high-damagecantrip.
Fire Bolt^PHB: Simple, reliable damage at range. The only problem is that fireresistance is common. But since the Bard is the only one who mightreasonably take this and Eldritch Blast is an option, this appeals toliterally no one.
Green-Flame Blade^{SCAG / TCoE}: Why would you take Spell Sniper to take a melee cantrip?
Ray of Frost: Fine dmaage and a passabledebuff.
Shocking Grasp: Why would you take SpellSniper to take a melee cantrip?

Warlock Cantrip Options

Eldritch Blast. I could go further, but honestly that’s all that there is tosay. Put Eldritch Blast on your bard or sorcerer.

Booming Blade^{SCAG / TCoE}: Why would you take Spell Sniper to take a melee cantrip?
Chill Touch^PHB: Too situational to justify taking this over a more reliable high-damagecantrip.
Eldritch Blast^PHB: The definitive reason to take Spell Sniper. Good range, good damage,multiple attacks, and basically nothing resists Force Damage.
Green-Flame Blade^{SCAG / TCoE}: Why would you take Spell Sniper to take a melee cantrip?
Magic Stone: I honestly have no idea ifthis qualifies, but I think that it would because it doesn’t actually doanything interesting unless an attack is made. Even if it does, it’s not agood choice.

Wizard Cantrip Options

The only spellcaster that this appeals to is the Artificer, and the Artificergets nearly all of these spells.

Booming Blade^{SCAG / TCoE}: Already on the Artificer’s spell list.
Chill Touch^PHB: Too situational to justify taking this over a more reliable high-damagecantrip.
Fire Bolt^PHB: Already on the Artificer’s spell list.
Green-Flame Blade^{SCAG / TCoE}: Already on the Artificer’s spell list.
Ray of Frost: Already on the Artificer’sspell list.
Shocking Grasp: Already on the Artificer’sspell list.