Boots of the Winding Path 5e
Prerequisite: 6th-level artificer
Item: A pair of boots (requires attunement)
While wearing these boots, a creature can teleport up to 15 feet as a bonus action to an unoccupied space the creature can see. The creature must have occupied that space at some point during the current turn.
Review by Prince Phantom
This is a weird one. We get a 15ft teleport as a bonus action, but only to a space we previously occupied this turn. This is a teleportation effect wholly unique to this infusion, meaning we have no reference points by which to judge it, so let’s break it down as best we can. First, this requires a bonus action, so both the Artillerist and Battlesmith have immediately lost all interest. They both have bonus actions provided by their subclass that are much better than this.
This leaves the Alchemist and Armorer, both of which could use this effect. The ranged Armorer probably has no need of this, as the seeming intended use for this is to move in, attack, then teleport back out to play a hit-and-run skirmisher style of fighting. Both the Alchemist and melee Armorer wouldn’t mind that, but the limitation of only a 15ft teleportation kills the usefulness of this infusion. Let’s set up the best case scenario. We start 15ft from our target. We walk 15ft and make our attacks, then bonus action teleport 15ft back to where we started. We can then retreat an additional 15ft (assuming we have a 30ft speed, which most Artificers do), leaving us 30ft from our target. That happens to be the exact amount of movement most monsters have in 5e, meaning they can stride right up to us and attack.
Now we can break this parity multiple ways like playing a Centaur or casting Longstrider. but if I’ve laid out the idea circumstance and we are still having the help this infusion out with other effects and synergies, that’s not a good sign. Yes, there will be times where you use this teleport and other outside circumstances (like your target being grappled) will allow you to escape, but trying to plan these out with your party is so difficult because of the limitations of the ability. Remove the line about only teleporting to spaces you’ve been previously this turn and I would be quite happy with this, but as is, I can’t recommend it unless you very specifically build around it and have a plan.
Final Rating: 2/5
Thank you for visiting!
If you’d like to support this ongoing project, you can do so by buying my books, getting some sweet C&C merch, or joining my Patreon.
The text on this page is Open Game Content, and is licensed for public use under the terms of the Open Game License v1.0a.
‘d20 System’ and the ‘d20 System’ logo are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast, Inc.
and are used according to the terms of the d20 System License version 6.0.
A copy of this License can be found at www.wizards.com/d20.
