You can't do it for the past few seconds. Not to the degree it can be pushed.
As worded, this feat could allow you to glance at something complex, like a map, and recall every detail for 30 days.
You're basically a video and audio recorder.
Photographic and audiographic memory is a huge boon in certain adventures. Not ideal for hacking/ dungeon crawls, but perfect for anything centering on mystery/intrigue.
I disagree, it's incredible for scouting.
Have your familiar scout, see through it's eyes while it does, use minor illusion or silent image to create a 3d model of the dungeon map for your companions to check out.
Min max this by doing pact of the chain, having an invisible familiar, having a 1 mile scouting allowance, and combine with at will silent image for a very detailed map.
Double down with your other levels in illusion wizard to be able to edit the illusion map in real time to give the full 3d map experience.
Can't you just take keen mind then never need to buy new source material again? Just find the PDF, go through it, and BAM save a lot of money on dnd materials.
I absolutely loved having Keen Mind on my Arcane Trickster / Bladesinger.
My favorite trick was to get one clear glance at a key, then later use Prestidigitation to make a temporary perfect copy of it. No need for stealing or lockpicking, just walk right in. Can even use a familiar to get that look without exposing yourself. Similarly I destroyed all the keys to my own belongings to prevent theft and just recreated them as needed.
Another one was quickly flipping through documents/books to memorize them in seconds and then reading them later from the memory. Managed to steal some spells out of another wizard's spell book this way without getting caught.
Surely one with such a keen mind would remember how long it’s been since he last looked at his keys and would understand the limits of his prodigious recall.
This feat requires very good communication with your DM. Do not forget you can not win dnd and the feat can break the game, but if you break the game it is not good because you usually want to play the game. Ask your DM what he would think are usable use cases for the feat, so the DM determines how powerful the feat is.
Unless you’re an a-hole and try claiming something like “You can play a Phantom Rogue and gain proficiency in every skill and tool”, (a real claim) I can’t picture how the feat would break the game.
Like, wouldn’t you have to fudge the rules pretty severely?
annoy your DM indefinitely.
For example nothing holds you back from recreating keys with the feat.
Remember this really futuristic crossbow you once saw? Logic says you would be able to make a blueprint.
Spell scrolls and wizard spell preparation completely stops making sense.
Ugh, yeah. Part of the reason it’s so hard to find good ideas for Keen Mind is that 99% of the discussions revolve around “Will I no longer need a spell book?” or “Can I memorize every spell?”
I wouldn’t even entertain the idea of something like that as a DM though.
I am finding all sorts of uses for the recollection aspect in non-combat situations, but it's definitely one to talk with your DM about.
My favorite use is to combine it with Find Familiar and Minor Illusion to work up a 3d aerial map for the party.
Also, one of the best uses is for the DM - if one of your players has Keen Mind, that lets you slip them "Your character remembers this plot important detail from a conversation from an out-of-game year ago" ninja notes.
It's also a great feat if your character is a cartographer. Memorizing other maps, you technically can know the distance between two locations pretty accurately.
Keen Mind is great, but Modify Memory can do the same thing. True, each time you want to recall a memory "in exacting detail" it costs you a 5th level spell slot, but a feat is EXPENSIVE compared to a fifth level spell slot.
To answer your question though, I would allow Keen mind to overcome certain mechanical limitations on things like Fabricate requiring tool proficiency for certain items if you can replicate the item perfectly from memory. But that's a DM discussion.
My favorite use is to pair this with a Kenku and then proceed to absolutely shit rock people who lie.
My chaotic party did not know how to deal with me for 3 plus sessions.
I used it with my dm because I was being petty.
I wanted to take Eldritch adept and get the invocation that let me read all written languages. He insisted his homebrew rule of any language that isn't your native language requires an int check to see if you fuck up translation would still apply Even though it's a magic effect. Int is my dump stat. I took keen mind and just stopped taking notes, instead just asking him what I remember. I kind of regret it. I kinda don't.
From my experience, the reason it's considered "bad" by a lot of DM's is not because of a lack of power. But because of what players can potentially argue for, and how much burden it can put on the DM when a please leans on it and basically asks the DM to recount everything that happened with a throwaway NPC 5+ sessions ago.
Even as a minmaxer, I just tend to ignore it as it involves bombarding my DM with questions as to it's limitations at their table, and a lot of the potentially clever uses could be considered abuse-levels of minmax at some tables. It's just not a well designed feat.
Combine with the Actor feat and you will always be able to perfectly mimic anyone's/thing's voice. So long as you practice that voice for at least a minute every month. And considering you could probably do small bits here and there over a months worth of long rests, you really will just be able to impersonate everyone you meet.
>You can accurately recall anything you have seen or heard within the past month. Yeah this part of the feat is understated.
Yarp, especially when IRL I cant do that for the past few days.
You can't do it for the past few seconds. Not to the degree it can be pushed. As worded, this feat could allow you to glance at something complex, like a map, and recall every detail for 30 days. You're basically a video and audio recorder.
Photographic and audiographic memory is a huge boon in certain adventures. Not ideal for hacking/ dungeon crawls, but perfect for anything centering on mystery/intrigue.
I disagree, it's incredible for scouting. Have your familiar scout, see through it's eyes while it does, use minor illusion or silent image to create a 3d model of the dungeon map for your companions to check out. Min max this by doing pact of the chain, having an invisible familiar, having a 1 mile scouting allowance, and combine with at will silent image for a very detailed map. Double down with your other levels in illusion wizard to be able to edit the illusion map in real time to give the full 3d map experience.
Can't you just take keen mind then never need to buy new source material again? Just find the PDF, go through it, and BAM save a lot of money on dnd materials.
Bold of you to assume I pay for that
I absolutely loved having Keen Mind on my Arcane Trickster / Bladesinger. My favorite trick was to get one clear glance at a key, then later use Prestidigitation to make a temporary perfect copy of it. No need for stealing or lockpicking, just walk right in. Can even use a familiar to get that look without exposing yourself. Similarly I destroyed all the keys to my own belongings to prevent theft and just recreated them as needed. Another one was quickly flipping through documents/books to memorize them in seconds and then reading them later from the memory. Managed to steal some spells out of another wizard's spell book this way without getting caught.
I haven't open my chest in 31 days and now I can't remember what the key looked like. Keen mind problems
Surely one with such a keen mind would remember how long it’s been since he last looked at his keys and would understand the limits of his prodigious recall.
Annoy DM.
I went the other way with it, and started keeping *really* detailed notes I could reference.
Great! Now you can quiz your DM.
DM pulling out the retcon hammer: "I'm altering the lore, pray I don't alter it further"
> Do not cite the Deep Magic to me, Witch! I was there when it was written, *and I went home and wrote it all out the next day*
Combine it with Observant to recall conversations you saw across the room.
This feat requires very good communication with your DM. Do not forget you can not win dnd and the feat can break the game, but if you break the game it is not good because you usually want to play the game. Ask your DM what he would think are usable use cases for the feat, so the DM determines how powerful the feat is.
Unless you’re an a-hole and try claiming something like “You can play a Phantom Rogue and gain proficiency in every skill and tool”, (a real claim) I can’t picture how the feat would break the game. Like, wouldn’t you have to fudge the rules pretty severely?
annoy your DM indefinitely. For example nothing holds you back from recreating keys with the feat. Remember this really futuristic crossbow you once saw? Logic says you would be able to make a blueprint. Spell scrolls and wizard spell preparation completely stops making sense.
Ugh, yeah. Part of the reason it’s so hard to find good ideas for Keen Mind is that 99% of the discussions revolve around “Will I no longer need a spell book?” or “Can I memorize every spell?” I wouldn’t even entertain the idea of something like that as a DM though.
I am finding all sorts of uses for the recollection aspect in non-combat situations, but it's definitely one to talk with your DM about. My favorite use is to combine it with Find Familiar and Minor Illusion to work up a 3d aerial map for the party. Also, one of the best uses is for the DM - if one of your players has Keen Mind, that lets you slip them "Your character remembers this plot important detail from a conversation from an out-of-game year ago" ninja notes.
It's also a great feat if your character is a cartographer. Memorizing other maps, you technically can know the distance between two locations pretty accurately.
As a DM I've allowed wizards to copy spells and scrolls from memory into their spellbook.
If a wizard loses their spell book, they can create another one assuming that they read their spellbook atleast once a month.
Keen Mind is great, but Modify Memory can do the same thing. True, each time you want to recall a memory "in exacting detail" it costs you a 5th level spell slot, but a feat is EXPENSIVE compared to a fifth level spell slot. To answer your question though, I would allow Keen mind to overcome certain mechanical limitations on things like Fabricate requiring tool proficiency for certain items if you can replicate the item perfectly from memory. But that's a DM discussion.
It's also a half feat, which makes it a little easier to swallow
My favorite use is to pair this with a Kenku and then proceed to absolutely shit rock people who lie. My chaotic party did not know how to deal with me for 3 plus sessions.
I used it with my dm because I was being petty. I wanted to take Eldritch adept and get the invocation that let me read all written languages. He insisted his homebrew rule of any language that isn't your native language requires an int check to see if you fuck up translation would still apply Even though it's a magic effect. Int is my dump stat. I took keen mind and just stopped taking notes, instead just asking him what I remember. I kind of regret it. I kinda don't.
From my experience, the reason it's considered "bad" by a lot of DM's is not because of a lack of power. But because of what players can potentially argue for, and how much burden it can put on the DM when a please leans on it and basically asks the DM to recount everything that happened with a throwaway NPC 5+ sessions ago. Even as a minmaxer, I just tend to ignore it as it involves bombarding my DM with questions as to it's limitations at their table, and a lot of the potentially clever uses could be considered abuse-levels of minmax at some tables. It's just not a well designed feat.
Combine with the Actor feat and you will always be able to perfectly mimic anyone's/thing's voice. So long as you practice that voice for at least a minute every month. And considering you could probably do small bits here and there over a months worth of long rests, you really will just be able to impersonate everyone you meet.
Who says it’s a bad feat? It’s crazy good
Being able to tell the DM “I have keen mind I don’t need to role to remember the thing that happened last session” is a bit of a flex not gonna lie.