Pact Boon: Pact of the Tome – What Spell Should You Choose?

At 3rd level, Warlocks in 5e Dungeons & Dragons unlock a major feature of their class, the Pact Boon. Pact of the Tome adds three cantrips to the ones known by your Warlock and they can be chosen from any class’s spell list and don’t need to be from the same list. At 5th level, if you choose the Book of Ancient Secrets, you can add ritual casting to your abilities along with a couple of ritual spells which is a good way to expand the Pact of the Tome.

This is a good way to add some class-specific cantrips to your repertoire, such as Druidcraft and Thaumaturgy. Warlocks do have the best damage-dealing cantrip in the game with Eldritch Blast, but this is a good way to expand your damage types. If your party lacks a Cleric then picking up Word of Radiance is a good way to add radiant damage to your bag of tricks for when dealing with the undead.

Here is the list of all the cantrips that are available:

• Acid Splash

• Blade Ward*

• Booming Blade*

• Chill Touch*

• Control Flames

• Create Bonfire*

• Dancing Lights

• Druidcraft

• Eldritch Blast*

• Encode Thoughts

• Firebolt

• Friends*

• Frostbite*

• Green-Flame Blade*

• Guidance

• Gust

• Infestation*

• Light

• Lightning Lure*

• Mage Hand*

• Magic Stone*

• Mending

• Message

• Mind Sliver*

• Minor Illusion*

• Mold Earth

• Poison Spray

• Prestidigitation*

• Primal Savagery

• Produce Flame

• Ray of Frost

• Resistance

• Sacred Flame

• Sapping Sting

• Shape Water

• Shillelagh

• Shocking Grasp

• Spare the Dying

• Sword Burst*

• Thaumaturgy

• Thorn Whip

• Thunderclap*

• Toll the Dead*

• True Strike*

• Vicious Mockery

• Word of Radiance

*Cantrips already available to Warlocks

I would avoid using this to pick up cantrips that are already available to Warlocks. You have more opportunities to pick up Warlock cantrips, but this is your only chance to grab something off of other spellcaster lists. This is also a chance to fill any gaps that your party may have.

Here is my tier list (not including cantrips already available to Warlocks):

S Tier

Guidance – Adding a d4 to any ability check at will is always useful.

Mold Earth – Useful in so many situations and could possibly save a life.

A Tier

Control Flames – A nice functional spell that can cast some light in dark places.

Dancing Lights – Can be used to create a distraction or cast some light.

Druidcraft – The Druid version of Prestidigitation, but you can also predict the weather to the chagrin of DMs everywhere.

Gust – Is a poor man’s version of having telekinetic powers plus you can cause a sensory effect for causing distractions or sending a warning to another party member.

Mending – Always useful, the casting time of 1 minute keeps it out of the S Tier.

Message – Very useful, especially for parties that are infiltrating an enemy base or doing a heist.

Thaumaturgy – The cleric version of Prestidigitation which can always find uses in an adventure whether exploring, role-playing, and even in combat.

Thorn Whip – An attack cantrip that has a nice battlefield control element by being able to pull an opponent up to 10 feet toward you.

B Tier

Firebolt – A good attack cantrip, but you should have Eldritch Blast, so you would want this one only if you needed to be able to cause fire damage on command.

Light – Is useful but not as multifunctional as Control Flames or Dancing Lights.

Produce Flame – A great choice for your player characters that lack darkvision. You can cast this and hurl the flame on the same turn, but if it’s your only light source then hopefully you and your companions can fight in the dark.

Ray of Frost – A good attack cantrip and it also slows anyone hit by ten feet which is not a bad little bonus.

Shillelagh – If you are using a club or quarterstaff then this could be very useful in melee combat.

Shocking Grasp – A good close-quarters combat spell that can negate your opponent’s reactions on a successful hit.

Spare the Dying – Can be useful from keeping your fellow party members from dying.

Vicious Mockery – I’m not the biggest fan of attack cantrips that only work on a failed saving throw. I do like that it causes psychic damage and disadvantage attacks.

Word of Radiance – Not a big fan of how close range this is and that it allows a saving throw, but it does affect all creatures you choose that are in range.

C Tier

Poison Spray – A nice damaging cantrip, but the range is a little too close for most spellcasters and many monsters have resistance to poison damage.

Resistance – Would I give up my action in combat to give a d4 to another party member for a saving throw? No. If it were a Bonus Action, that would be different. Outside of combat, this could be useful against known traps or situations where you or your party might have a run-in with a spellcaster in a social interaction.

Sacred Flame – You get to ignore cover when you call down this attack on an enemy, but they get a saving throw. It is nice to add radiant damage to your arsenal.

Sapping Sting – I like the way this can cause the Prone condition, but it is dependent on a saving throw and has a base damage of d4.

Shape Water – The water version of Mold Earth can be useful but it does not have the permanency. In a water-based campaign, this could be very useful.

D Tier

Acid Splash – It is nice to be able to hit more than one opponent, but it is a saving throw instead of an attack roll and the damage is not that great.

Encode Thoughts – A little too niche to give it better than a D Tier rating.

Primal Savagery – If you want an attack cantrip then get something that has a range that will keep you safe and out of danger.

You can also choose any cantrips that are available to Warlocks, but this gives you a chance to go beyond that list so I would take it. Cantrips are so useful in the game that any chance to pick up more should be considered. What are your favorite cantrips? Do you have any stories about cantrips that were used in a non-traditional way? Let me know down in the comments.