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Looking at the Spell Sniper feat (PHB, p. 170), it seems to be potentially useful - but when I started looking for spells that could be used with it, the choices seem really limited. This makes me concerned that the feat itself is not a good long term choice feat for a character.

What is the list of spells that benefit from the Spell Sniper feat?

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Are you asking about the first benefit of Spell Sniper, the second benefit, or both? \$\endgroup\$
    – V2Blast
    Commented Nov 23, 2019 at 23:14

3 Answers 3

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Here is a D&D Beyond link to a list of all spells that require a ranged attack roll. There are:

  • six cantrips
  • six 1st-level spells
  • four 2nd-level spells
  • one 4th-level spell
  • one 5th-level spell, and
  • one 7th-level spell.

Any spell that entails making a ranged spell attack will be affected by Spell Sniper. As you may notice, it's quite a few of them!

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    \$\begingroup\$ Note that the Spell Sniper feat has 2 different benefits, besides learning a cantrip. The second one (ignoring cover) only applies to ranged spell attacks, but the first one (doubling range) actually applies to all spells that require attack rolls - including melee attacks. This means that anything with a range listed as 5 feet now has a range of 10 feet. (But if the spell description itself says "within 5 feet" rather than "within range", that's unaffected - and spells with a range of "Self" are also unaffected.) \$\endgroup\$
    – V2Blast
    Commented Jan 15, 2019 at 20:13
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    \$\begingroup\$ If you are a sorcerer this would entail any attack roll made in conjuction with Distant metamagic would it not? Might be worth including. \$\endgroup\$
    – Slagmoth
    Commented Jan 15, 2019 at 20:46
  • \$\begingroup\$ Neil, there's some big caveats to your question that I think are worth mentioning, unless you're able to? \$\endgroup\$ Commented Jul 23, 2020 at 11:15
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"When you cast a spell that requires you to make an attack roll, the spell’s range is doubled."

Notice that this doesn't specify ranged attack rolls: don't forget there are several melee spells that require you to make a melee spell attack roll on something within 5 feet of you, instead of at touch range. So if you have spell sniper, this doubles to 10 feet.

You can follow the link in the other answer and sort for melee in an advanced filter to see them, too.

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    \$\begingroup\$ Welcome to the stack! Please take our tour to learn more about how we operate and you can also visit help center for more info. \$\endgroup\$
    – NotArch
    Commented Feb 12, 2020 at 17:51
  • \$\begingroup\$ sageadvice.eu/2016/01/10/… Crawford says that it doesn't. (But does affect booming blame \$\endgroup\$
    – NeutralTax
    Commented Feb 13, 2020 at 17:02
  • \$\begingroup\$ FYI, it was more grammatically correct without the "So" or the exclamation point. Ten feet is really something to shout about. \$\endgroup\$
    – T.J.L.
    Commented Feb 13, 2020 at 20:35
  • \$\begingroup\$ NeutralTax Just read your link; most of the questions were for touch-range attacks, which can be thought of as a 0ft range which would double to 0. Green Flame Blade states to make a melee spell attack on a target within 5 feet, and Crawford indeed confirms that this doubles. To summarise: Touch range stays at touch range, and 5 foot 'melee' range spells become 10 foot. \$\endgroup\$
    – Elliott
    Commented Feb 16, 2020 at 12:18
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The majority of spells that benefit are those with a ranged attack roll, therefore we can start with all spells that require a ranged attack roll.

Some of the above spells, while requiring ranged spell attacks, do not do so as part of casting and are thus an exception. These are Crown of Stars, Storm Sphere, and Wall of Light. Crown of Stars is an even bigger outlier as it is a spell of range 'self'.

This is because, as Double Range for Storm Sphere with Spell Sniper mentions the benefits of doubling the range come,

When you cast a spell...

Thus from a strict reading of the rules, for all of the above named spells (where the attacks all occur separately from casting), they do not benefit from the range increase. But those ranged spell attacks do benefit from the reduction in cover granted by the feat.

The Produce Flames cantrip is also an outlier, which could arguably be ruled either way. The relevant text is:

You can also attack with the flame, although doing so ends the spell. When you cast this spell, or as an action on a later turn, you can hurl the flame at a creature within 30 feet of you. Make a ranged spell attack. On a hit, the target takes 1d8 fire damage.

Thus, the attack may be done as part of casting the spell, and this attack has a range, even though the spell range is 'self'. The attack being part of the casting distinguishes it from the other outliers above.

On top of the initially linked list of ranged spell attacks, the melee attack spells Booming Blade and Green-flame Blade also benefit, so long as you can attack out to 10ft with your melee weapon (i.e. your weapon has at least 10ft reach).

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