What Are Epic Boons in D&D 2024?
Epic Boons are the feats every class can take at level 19; each raises one ability score by 1, to a maximum of 30, and adds a power the rest of the game doesn't allow. Level 19 is the last feat of a career, and the SRD gives it its own category: Epic Boon. Seven exist. Every class gets one, each class has one recommended, and each boon breaks a rule the rest of the game keeps.
Who gets one
Every class has the same line at level 19:
You gain an Epic Boon feat (see "Feats") or another feat of your choice for which you qualify.
Each class then names one:
| Boon | Recommended for |
|---|---|
| Combat Prowess | Fighter |
| Dimensional Travel | Druid, Ranger, Sorcerer |
| Fate | Cleric, Warlock |
| Irresistible Offense | Barbarian, Monk |
| Spell Recall | Bard, Wizard |
| the Night Spirit | Rogue |
| Truesight | Paladin |
"Recommended" is advice, not a lock. Six boons need only "Level 19+". Spell Recall also needs the Spellcasting feature.
The +1 that can go past 20
Every boon opens with an Ability Score Increase, for example:
Increase one ability score of your choice by 1, to a maximum of 30.
Thirty, not twenty. But modifiers move on even scores, so a 20 becoming 21 is still +5. The +1 pays only on an odd score: a 19 becomes 20 and the modifier climbs to +5. If your main score is 20 at level 18, put the point somewhere odd, or count on the boon's other benefit alone. More on odd and even in Level 4 Feats.
The Barbarian's level 20 feature lifts the ceiling again: "Your Strength and Constitution scores increase by 4, to a maximum of 25."
Boon of Combat Prowess
Peerless Aim. When you miss with an attack roll, you can hit instead. Once you use this benefit, you can't use it again until the start of your next turn.
You use it after you see the miss, so it never goes to waste while you have attacks left. A level 19 Fighter with Strength 20 has +11 to hit and three attacks.
| Target | Hit chance | Hits per turn | With Peerless Aim |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ancient Red Dragon, AC 22 | 50% | 1.50 | 2.38 |
| Tarrasque, AC 25 | 35% | 1.05 | 1.78 |
The harder the target, the bigger the gain: +58% hits against the dragon, +69% against the Tarrasque.
Boon of Dimensional Travel
Blink Steps. Immediately after you take the Attack action or the Magic action, you can teleport up to 30 feet to an unoccupied space you can see.
Teleporting dodges the reach rule entirely. The Opportunity Attack rules say so:
You also don't provoke an Opportunity Attack when you Teleport
An Ancient Red Dragon's Rend reaches 15 feet. A Sorcerer standing 10 feet from it casts, blinks 30 feet, then still has their full Speed to walk further. No Disengage needed, no Bonus Action spent.
Boon of Fate
Improve Fate. When you or another creature within 60 feet of you succeeds on or fails a D20 Test, you can roll 2d4 and apply the total rolled as a bonus or penalty to the d20 roll. Once you use this benefit, you can't use it again until you roll Initiative or finish a Short or Long Rest.
A D20 Test is any ability check, attack roll or saving throw. You pick after the result is known, so you spend it where it flips the outcome. A roll that missed by 3 needs 3 points to pass; a roll that beat the target by 2 needs 3 points to fail. The odds that 2d4 gives enough:
| Points needed | 2d4 gives it |
|---|---|
| 1 or 2 | 100% |
| 3 | 93.8% |
| 4 | 81.3% |
| 5 | 62.5% |
| 6 | 37.5% |
| 7 | 18.8% |
| 8 | 6.3% |
An ally who fails the Ancient Red Dragon's DC 24 Fire Breath by 3 takes half of 91 instead of all of it, 93.8% of the time. A dragon that beats your DC 19 save by 2 (a total of 21) fails if the 2d4 rolls 3 or more: 93.8% again. Once per fight, roughly, since it comes back when you roll Initiative.
Boon of Irresistible Offense
Overcome Defenses. The Bludgeoning, Piercing, and Slashing damage you deal always ignores Resistance.
Overwhelming Strike. When you roll a 20 on the d20 for an attack roll, you can deal extra damage to the target equal to the ability score increased by this feat.
The Tarrasque resists all three weapon types. Take a level 19 Barbarian, Strength 20 raised to 21, raging (+4 Rage Damage), greataxe 1d12 + 5 + 4, Reckless Attack for Advantage, +11 against AC 25:
- Hit chance with Advantage: 57.8%. Rolling a 20: 9.8%.
- Without the boon: a 15.5 average hit becomes 7.5. Two attacks deal about 9.3 a turn.
- With it: full damage, plus 21 on every 20. Two attacks deal about 23.3 a turn, two and a half times as much.
At level 20 the Barbarian's Strength reaches 25, and the extra damage becomes 25.
Boon of Spell Recall
Free Casting. Whenever you cast a spell with a level 1–4 spell slot, roll 1d4. If the number you roll is the same as the slot's level, the slot isn't expended.
Every slot from level 1 to 4 has the same 25% chance; only the number it must match changes. A slot kept can be used again and roll again, so each slot averages 1⅓ casts.
A level 19 Wizard has 4, 3, 3 and 3 slots of levels 1 to 4: 13 slots, about 4.3 extra casts a day. Counted in slot levels, the level 4 slots give the most back: about 4 extra levels from three slots.
Boon of the Night Spirit
Merge with Shadows. While within Dim Light or Darkness, you can give yourself the Invisible condition as a Bonus Action. The condition ends on you immediately after you take an action, a Bonus Action, or a Reaction.
Shadowy Form. While within Dim Light or Darkness, you have Resistance to all damage except Psychic and Radiant.
The order matters. Attack first, then Merge with Shadows as your Bonus Action, and you stay Invisible through the enemy's turn. Invisible means:
Attack rolls against you have Disadvantage, and your attack rolls have Advantage. If a creature can somehow see you, you don't gain this benefit against that creature.
An Iron Golem (two Bladed Arms, +12, 20 Slashing plus 10 Fire) against a Rogue with AC 17 in the dark:
| Rogue | Hit chance | Damage per golem turn |
|---|---|---|
| Lit, no boon | 80% | about 50 |
| Dark, Shadowy Form only | 80% | about 25 |
| Dark, Invisible as well | 64% | about 19 |
Two catches. Uncanny Dodge uses your Reaction, and a Reaction ends the Invisible condition. And plenty of level 19 foes can "somehow see you": the Lich, Balor and Pit Fiend have Truesight; the Ancient Red Dragon has Blindsight to 60 feet.
Boon of Truesight
Truesight. You have Truesight with a range of 60 feet.
Truesight pierces, in the SRD's words:
- Darkness. "You can see in normal and magical Darkness."
- Invisibility. "You see creatures and objects that have the Invisible condition."
- Visual Illusions. "Visual illusions appear transparent to you, and you automatically succeed on saving throws against them."
- Transformations. "You discern the true form of any creature or object you see that has been transformed by magic."
- Ethereal Plane. "You see into the Ethereal Plane."
Against a foe you can't see, your attacks have Disadvantage. A Paladin who hits 65% of the time drops to 42.3%. Truesight puts it back.
Which to take
- Martial with many attacks: Combat Prowess. It gains most against the hardest armour.
- Weapon user facing resistant monsters: Irresistible Offense. Double damage against anything that halves it.
- Full caster: Spell Recall for raw slots, Dimensional Travel to stay out of reach.
- Support: Fate, one flipped save or attack every fight.
- Rogue or anyone who fights in shadow: the Night Spirit, if your foes can't see in the dark.
- Party with no answer to invisibility or illusion: Truesight.
For the feats you pick before this, see Origin Feats, Fighting Style Feats and Level 4 Feats. For the Invisible condition and the rest, see Conditions.
This work includes material from the System Reference Document 5.2.1 ("SRD 5.2.1") by Wizards of the Coast LLC, available at dndbeyond.com/srd. The SRD 5.2.1 is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
