Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Suggestions & Feedback Magic Initiate feat for 4th level dwarf ranger?

I'm leveling a dwarven ranger up to 4th level and I'm not worried about stats and I'm thinking about maybe a Magic Initiate feat. Any thoughts? Which one? Which cantrips/spells?
A side note question that came up a long time ago but I never asked, when did the game change so sorcerers don't have the same spell list as wizards? I thought they were the same?
My dwarf has a 16 Constitution but with the high frequency that concentration gets broken I'm kinda vearing away from any concentration cantrips/spells but a good argument may change my mind

I'd really like to grab the cantrip Blade Ward and I'm thinking about Fleet of Foot so wizard is looking highly probable. I have Wyll, Lae'Zel and Astarion as my other party members if that helps anyone decide.

I briefly considered False Life but there's scrolls for that. Also briefly considered going warlock and taking Blade Ward from that class as well as Eldritch Blast but I have Wyll so I don't really need force damage. I had also considered Hellish Rebuke for my 1st level warlock spell. I had never used that spell before patch 9 introduced the whole reactions mechanic. I always missunderstood how it worked.

It's really looking like wizard and taking Blade Ward and maybe Minor Illusion for cantrips and Longstrider as my 1st level spell. How does Minor Illusion work in combat? Or is it a non-combat / avoid combat spell? The couple of times I tried using it in combat (during patch 8) it didn't seem to work. It almost immediately disapeared right after casting. I think it was with Shadowheart on the Nautaloid. I tried to distract the cambions I think.


my stats are
Str 9
Dex 14
Con 16
Int 8
Wis 14
Cha 14

I drink potions of hill giant strength to raise my strength if that matters also.

Maybe you'd suggest a better feat option instead altogether?
Shield Master was another though. Right now she's using "The Sparky Points" & "The Jolty Vest". I havn't picked up any of the other lightning charge related items yet but she'll use some boots and the shield as well. Maybe some gloves too.

*edit*
I forgot to mention, since she's a dwarf she has resistance to poison and I took the Wasteland Wanderer Fire path so she has that as well. Not sure if that matters but I figured maybe it might so there ya go

with 14 char and only 8 intel you would be better going sorcerer as they get the same spells to pick from
magic missile is a no brainier + whatever cantrip

The Sorcerer and wizard spell list have always been slightly different in 5e. There is a lot of overlap, but sorcerers tend not to get out of combat utility spells. There are a couple of sorcerer exclusives, such as Chaos Bolt.

Coming from PnP, Blade Ward is generally considered a horrible spell. Minor Illusion is a good as the DM lets you get away with. But I've never found it effective in BG3. Longstrider, Jump, Magic Missile, Mage Hand, Find Familiar are all useful and don't care what your INT/CHA scores are.

To answer your edition question, I believe that Wizards and Sorcerers had the same spell list up until 3.5 - I'm uncertain about 4th, but each class has a slightly unique spell list in 5e. Wizards and Sorcerers still share the vast majority of spells, but there are some differences in eahc direction, and most classes have at least one spell that is exclusive to their class.

If OP wants mobility, that's probably great. Also magic missile for ranged options since 14 dex vs 18 is 10% lower hit chance.

I've personally never found a use for blade ward. When something hits my casters/half casters with blade ward, it's almost always a spell, bomb, arrow, etc. Better to mystystep away or trust nothing /wants/ to particularly kill the high AC dex character

Magic Missile can be found on scrolls and is therefore feeling like a wasted option for me.
Blade Ward is horrible? Hmm. That was honestly the main thing I was thinking about. Lol.
Find Familiar is a total waste IMO. I have tried using it before and it is just NOT useful at all for me I must be trying to use it wrong I guess. I just can't usefully use any of the pitiful familiars they let you choose from. Anyone care to clue me in on this spell and actually making it useful?
Sorcerers don't have access to Longstrider for some reason.

Yeah, the Sorcerer's spell list in 5e is the Wizard's spell just leaps and bounds worse. No Identify, no Wall of Force, no Forcecage, no summoning, no 'named' spells, hardly any utility spells. It's quite a kick in the teeth of a spell list really. They do have a handful of largely useless Druid/Cleric spells the Wizard doesn't have access to, but I've never seen one used in play except for Enhance Ability.

Personally I think the initiate feats beyond warlock are kind of a waste. You only get a single spell from a list that isn't super impressive. There are some good utility spells like longstrider and jump, but as a ranger you have access to those anyway anyway. Cantrips can be nice, shocking grasp lets you do damage and disengage. Blade ward can be helpful if you know you will be taking a bunch of physical hits next turn. I also like chill touch to disable healing. However with your stats as a ranger I don't think a cantrip will outperform your weapon damage with a hill giant potion.
While I do think warlock is the only initiate feat that isn't a waste, it unfortunately is a waste for a ranger. Hex is really the gem of warlock initiate. In part because you can reapply it making a single spell go a very long way. Unfortunately as a ranger you have hunters mark which is pretty much a weapon damage version of hex that is applied the same way and can't be stacked by the same character. If you really want to pick it still then I would go with hellish rebuke to add a reaction to your kit when you don't normally have one (assuming you didn't pick giant killer).

Larian should really implement this feat as intended, or at least as the Rules Sage Crawford said it was intended to work. If they did, if the character has spell slots, they should also be able to use those spell slots to cast the 1st level spell that was chosen, in addition to be able to cast it once per day for free. This would greatly increase its utility for the classes that have have a only a few known spells such as the Sorcerer, Warlock, Arcane Trickster, Eldritch Knight, etc.

Fun Fact:

In original designs, the "we say what is necessary and not what isn't" philosophy led at times to assuming players understand certain elements, which it later turned out they often didn't. The reason the vast majority of spells that you get from other features, in the original PHB, don't say that you can cast them with other spell slots, is because it wasn't initially deemed necessary to say this: the features generally say "You know the X spell" - and that statement alone, along with the spelcasting rules section, cover the fact that you can cast it using your spell slots. Many of those features also allow a free cast, without expending spell slots, which they state, but that was never intended to imply that you couldn't cast the spell normally - you 'know' the spell. That was the intention, anyway. When it hit player audiences large scale, it turned out that that wasn't how the vast majority read it... so the SA confirms that you are meant to be able to use your slots to cast spells you know, even if you gain them from other sources.