Lucky 5e

Published on July 24, 2023, Last modified on September 28th, 2023

Discover the power of the Lucky feat in D&D 5e and learn how it can tip the scales in your favor during gameplay.

A lucky rogue catches a key by the ring hole at the end of his sword

Forrest Imel - Wizards of the Coast - Stroke of Luck

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What Is Lucky 5e?

The Lucky feat is a powerful option for any character in D&D 5e. It’s like having a pocket full of fate that you can use to tip the scales in your favor when you need it most. This feat gives you 3 luck points, which you can spend to reroll an attack roll, ability check, or saving throw, or to influence an enemy’s attack roll against you. It’s like having a few extra chances to succeed when the odds are against you.

How Does Lucky Work?

When you opt for the Lucky feat, you are granted 3 points of luck:

These points can be used whenever you perform an attack roll, an ability check, or a saving throw.
By spending one luck point, you can roll an extra d20. The beauty of this feat is that you can decide to use your luck point after you’ve made the initial roll, but before the result is declared. You then have the power to select which of the d20s will be used for the attack roll, ability check, or saving throw.
Moreover, you can use one luck point when you are the target of an attack roll. In this case, you roll a d20, and then decide whether the attacker’s roll will use their d20 roll or yours.
Once you use them, these luck points are spent, but fear not, as you regain any expended luck points when you complete a long rest.

Mechanics of the Lucky Feat

One of the main strengths of the Lucky feat is its ability to manipulate offensive, defensive, and skill-check related scenarios:

Offensive Luck: For martial characters who will frequently be making attack rolls, this feat can allow you to land hits with much more consistency. It’s also useful outside of combat when you’re making an important skill check to persuade a stubborn merchant or sneak past a guard unseen.
Defensive Luck: D&D is full of perilous situtions. Whether you’ve got an orc swinging an axe at your head or a dragon breathing fire at you, the Lucky feat allows you to manipulate your situation to, hopefully, make it out alive.

Is Lucky Good?

We gave Lucky an S Tier rating In our 5e Feats Tier List, making it among the most potent feats in D&D 5e.

Gain advantage on three attack rolls, ability checks, or saving throws per day day, your choice. This ability on its own makes this an S Tier feat, but being able to affect attack rolls against you is also extremely beneficial. This can make an enemy’s crit turn into a miss very easily.

The Controversy Surrounding the Lucky Feat

The Lucky feat is undeniably powerful, and has sparked debates among the D&D community. Some argue that it diminishes the thrill of dice rolls, while others believe it offers a strategic layer to gameplay. Regardless of one’s stance, there’s no denying the feat’s impact on the game.

The biggest issue that surrounds Lucky is the fact that D&D is balanced for 5-6 medium-difficulty encounters per day. If you’re only running one or two hard encounters per day, your players will be able to use more of their powerful resources to trivialize these encounters. Lucky, like most highly effective by limited resource abilities, feels very strong in these circumstances, but quickly becomes a lot more balanced in dungeons crawls or encounter-heavy days.

Lucky 5e Interactions

Lucky + Advantage and Disadvantage

For those of us lucky enough to grab the Lucky feat, did you know that you can use Lucky when you have advantage on your roll? Seeing as advantage doesn’t usually stack in D&D 5e, this is an extraordinarily powerful ability to make sure your hits land. If you have advantage on a roll and aren’t happy with the results, here is how you can use Lucky to try to improve your fate:

Roll two d20s (from advantage)
Once you see the results but before the DM determines the outcome, you can spend a Lucky dice and reroll one of the d20s
Roll your chosen d20 (probably the lower of the two previous rolls)
See the results and choose whether to take this new number, the old number, or the second roll you made with advantage

This works similarly with disadvantage, though it wouldn’t make sense to use Lucky unless one of your rolls was already a high result. If you roll a high result and a low result with disadvantage, you could reroll your low result, hoping for a better result and, thus, a better chance in passing your check.

Double Luck

If you’re facing off against a creature that also has the Lucky feat, they can cancel your lucky roll by expending one of their own. So be careful using this against any leprechauns you come across.

Synergies and Combinations

The Lucky feat’s versatility makes it a valuable asset for almost any character. However, certain classes and races can derive exceptional benefits:

Halflings: Known for their innate luck, Halflings possess a racial trait that allows them to reroll natural 1s. This trait, combined with the Lucky feat, can make Halflings exceptionally fortunate adventurers.

Divination Wizards: With abilities like Portent, Divination Wizards can further manipulate rolls, making the Lucky feat a potent addition to their arsenal.

Which 5e Classes Make the Most of Lucky?

The color code below has been implemented to help you identify, at a glance, how good the Lucky 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 : A good option
Blue : A great option, you should strongly consider this option for your character
Sky Blue: An amazing option. If you do not take this option your character would not be optimized

The beauty of the Lucky feat is that it’s beneficial for any class. However, classes that make a lot of attack rolls, ability checks, or saving throws can get the most mileage out of it. This makes it a shoe-in for most martial classes.

Spellcasters, on the other hand, tend to force enemies to make saving throws, rather than rolling attack rolls. That said, they can still make use of Lucky for more defensive purposes, as well as skill checks. If your caster favors wading into combat, like heavy armor clerics, or blasting enemies with attack-roll-based cantrips, like warlocks, this feat will also be useful offensively.

Artificer: Artificers usually make a decent amount of attacks between the cantrips, ranged weapons, and melee weapon builds. Also, if you'll be crafting or picking locks for your party, Lucky provides even more usage. Plus, when combined with Tool Expertise and Flash of Genius, you'll be hard pressed to ever fail an ability check or saving throw.

Barbarian: Lucky is a feat that is useful to any character but barbarians can make especially good use of it because of all the attack rolls they'll be making.

Bard: Because of Jack of All Trades, Bardic Inspiration, and Expertis, bards are usually relied on to be a skill monkey. Lucky helps ensure you don’t mess up when you need to succeed for your party.

Cleric: Lucky is a feat that is useful to any character, but is less good for spellcasters. Clerics will find it useful when combined with spiritual weapon which requires melee spell attacks.

Druid: Lucky is a feat that is useful to any character, but is less good for spellcasters.

Fighter: Just a straight-up, damn good feat that's made even better by the fighter's ability to make tons of attacks.

Monk: Lucky is a feat that is useful to any character but martials can make especially good use of it. Monks won't need to spend their rerolls on saving throws as often because of Evasion and Diamond Soul. This means you'll have more to spend making sure your attacks land.

Paladin: Just a straight-up, damn good feat that's made even better by the paladin's ability to output a ton of damage when they hit. This is especially beneficial because it can result in more crits, which nets more opportunities for supercharged smites.

Ranger: Lucky is a feat that is useful to any character but martials can make especially good use of it. Rangers are also usually relied on for sneaking, perceiving, and foraging for their party, all of which Lucky can help with.

Rogue: The Lucky feat is especially good for a rogue. Because rogues are proficient in so many skills, this feat is an extra insurance policy to not fail important ability checks and saving throws. Also helps land attacks seeing as you don't get any extra attacks and need to hit to use Sneak Attack.

Sorcerer: Lucky is a feat that is useful to any character, but is less good for spellcasters.

Warlock: While Lucky is usually less good for casters, warlocks will be making plenty of attack rolls with eldritch blast. This can ensure you land your hits and net more crits.

Wizard: Lucky is a feat that is useful to any character but is slightly less powerful on spellcasters because they won't be making as many attack rolls. It is certainly a good resource to have for defensive purposes though.

Lucky FAQs

Is the Lucky feat broken in 5e?

While many believe it's a strong choice, its power is balanced by the limited number of luck points available. If you're finding your players are able to abuse Lucky too often, consider running more encounters in a given adventuring day.

Can the Lucky feat be used on death saving throws in 5e?

Yes, death saving throws are still saving throws, meaning Lucky can be a lifesaver in dire situations.

Can you use Lucky on a roll twice?

You can only use a luck point on any given roll once. The Lucky ability reads, "Whenever you make an attack roll, an ability check, or a saving throw, you can spend one luck point to roll an additional d20." By stating you can only spend one lucky point, it means that you can't spend more than one luck point on any given roll.

Can I use a luck point on a dice I've already rerolled?

No, you can only use luck points on attack rolls, ability checks, or saving throws. The reroll you get from spending a luck point doesn't fall into one of those categories.

Is Lucky like advantage?

The Lucky feat and advantage in D&D 5e are similar in that both allow players to roll additional d20s to potentially achieve better outcomes. The main difference is Lucky, you can choose which of the results to take, whereas advantage you always take the higher roll.

Can you take the Lucky feat more than once?

No, you can only take this feat once, therefore you can only have a maximum of 3 luck points.

Mike Bernier

Mike Bernier is the lead content writer and founder of Arcane Eye. He is a Adamantine best-selling author of Strixhaven: A Syllabus of Sorcery on DMs Guild and is a contributing author at D&D Beyond. Follow Mike on Twitter.