Agent of Order 5e
Published on October 3, 2023
Harness the cosmic forces of order and bind your foes in chains of stasis with the Agent of Order feat in 5e!
Kieran Yanner - Wizards of the Coast - Dovin, Architect of Law
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Learn more.What Is Agent of Order 5e?
The universe is a vast expanse of chaos and randomness, but there are those who seek to bring order to it. The Agent of Order feat allows characters to tap into the cosmic forces of a lawful plane of order, like Mechanus, granting them the power to bind their enemies in chains of stasis. This feat not only provides an ability score increase but also introduces the Stasis Strike, a powerful ability that can restrain foes with spectral bindings.
How Does Agent of Order Work?
When you take this feat, you can increase any ability score by 1 and you gain the Stasis Strike feature.
When you damage a creature within 60 feet, this ability allows you to deal 1d8 additional force damage and potentially restrain it with spectral bindings. The target must succeed in a Wisdom saving throw against your save DC, which is 8 + your prof. bonus + the modifier of the ability score you chose for your Scion of Outer Planes cantrip, or become restrained until the start of your next turn. This ability can be used a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, refreshing after a long rest.
Prerequisite
This feat is a 4th-level feat and requires the Scion of Outer Planes (Lawful Outer Plane) feat before you can pick it up. Luckily, you can get Scion of the Outer Planes for free at 1st-level by choosing the Planar Philosopher or Gate Warden background at character creation.
Is Agent of Order Good?
This feat offers a meager damage boost, but the restrained condition it can inflict can be incredibly beneficial depending on the order of initiative. Ultimately, seeing as this ability requires a high spellcasting ability score to be effective, it’s less good for martials, who would be the primary users of this feat.
Apart from requiring a high spellcasting modifier to have a decent save DC, this feat really excels at is its boundless limitations in both the ASI it provides and the catalyst to activate Statis Strike. For the ability score increase, you can choose any ability score, which is quite unusual as half-feats are normally tied to specific ability scores. As for activating Stasis Strike, you can do so whenever you inflict damage, which can be a spell, melee, or ranged attack. This is further supported by the 60-foot range.
This is quite a solid boost for casters, who could AoE a group of enemies and decide which one they want to lock down for a turn.
Powerful Prerequisite
For players looking to add a bit of control to their repertoire, Scion of the Outer Plane’s Lawful Outer Plane option—which is required to take Agent of Order—is probably the strongest option of the bunch. It provides resistance to force damage and the guidance cantrip, both of which are some of the stronger choices.
Agent of Order 5e Interactions
Locking Down Multiple Enemies
Seeing as the language of this feat says “Once per turn,” you can activate this multiple times in a single round off of a variety of effects. One easy way to activate this would be through an opportunity attack. But, you could also get a trigger off of something like a creature entering your spirit guardians or moon beam area of effect.
Synergy with Area of Effect Spells
Speaking of area of effect spells, the ability to restrain targets synergizes really well with damage-dealing AoE effects, as you can lock down an enemy and prevent them from escaping.
Which 5e Classes Make the Most of Agent of Order?
The color code below has been implemented to help you identify, at a glance, how good the Agent of Order 5e feat is for a specific class/subclass.
- Red isn’t going to contribute to the effectiveness of your character build at all
- Orange Situationally good, but a below-average option otherwise
- Green is a good option
- Blue is a great option, you should strongly consider this option for your character
- Sky Blue is an amazing option. If you do not take this option your character would not be optimized
Seeing as the DC for the restrain ability is dependent on a spellcasting modifier, this feat is unfortunately not for martials.
Artificer: Increasing your Intelligence while gaining the ability to deal some extra force damage and lock enemies down is certainly not a bad option, but it's not incredibly exciting for the artificer.
Barbarian: Unfortunately, your Charisma, Intelligence, or Wisdom won't be high enough to consider taking this feat.
Bard: Bards aren't known for their ability to output damage, and a turn you spend buffing, debuffing, or healing is a turn where you can't use this ability. Also, it doesn't really work with one of the bard's favorite spells, dissonant whispers.
Cleric: Being able to potentially lock down enemies that come within range of your spirit guardians is enough of a reason on it's own to make this feat a tempting pickup. The fact that you can increase Wisdom on top of that and output some extra damage is icing on the cake.
Druid: Outputting some extra damage and restraining enemies is a pretty decent boost to a druid's array of abilities, and the free ability score increase is a nice bonus.
Fighter: A typical fighter's ability scores aren't going to provide a high enough save DC on Stasis Strike's restrain effect. If you're playing a Eldritch Knight or Psi Warrior and have a high Intelligence ability, this feat gets a lot more tempting.
Monk: Pumping your attack's damage and potentially restraining your target is a great look for the monk, who could follow up the Stasis Strike with extra attacks and their Flurry of Blows with advantage. The ability score increase is an added bonus.
Paladin: Pump your Strength, Constitution, or Charisma and get the ability to output extra damage and potentially lock down a target for a turn. This is a great ability for paladins who would love being able to follow up their Stasis Strike with an attack with advantage so they have a higher chance of landing smites.
Ranger: Seeing as you can use Stasis Strike on enemies out to a distance of 60 feet, this is incredibly powerful for rangers. Just sit back, and lock down enemies for your melee buddies to go to town on. Plus, if an enemy is ever getting to close, just restrain them and move away.
Rogue: The efficiency of this feat depends on your build. If you're going to be dual wielding so you can offhand attack, this can be beneficial as it allows you to potentially restrain your enemy for a free attack with advantage (and thus, Sneak Attack). Otherwise, this isn't great for rogues cause they only get one attack per round.
Sorcerer: Great debuff that can be dealt at range and tacked onto your spells (including AoE spells). Plus, you can boost your Charisma, which is always a bonus.
Warlock: Great debuff that can be dealt at range and tacked onto your spells (including AoE spells). Plus, you can boost your Charisma, which is always a bonus.
Wizard: Great debuff that can be dealt at range and tacked onto your spells (including AoE spells). Plus, you can boost your Intelligence, which is always a bonus.
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