Top 10 Capstone Abilities in DnD 5e (Skills You Get at Max Level)

Capstones are the class features a character gains for hitting level 20 in a specific class. So in this video we'll be looking at the best of these abilities that most players never get to see in an average game

Video set up by Selty
Edited by S

--The List--
Intro: (0:00)
10: Perfect Self: (0:12)
9: Primal Champion: (1:07)
8: Sorcerous Restoration: (2:19)
7: Signature Spell: (3:47)
6: Eldritch Master: (4:59)
5: Sacred Oath: (6:02)
4: Stroke of Luck: (7:12)
3: Soul of Artifice: (8:38)
2: Archdruid: (9:40)
1: Divine Intervention: (11:06)

--Social Media--

- #DnD #5e #DungeonsAndDragons

Art Assets:

[artificerprime]

Some key things you missed about the Barbarian at Level 20: They get infinite rages, which combined with Persistent Rage means they can always have resistance to bludgeoning/piercing/slashing damage, and they can always use Reckless Attack (advantage on attacks at the cost of having attacks against them have advantage). And with the basically perma-advantage on attacks, they have higher chances to crit, which is extra-deadly thanks to Brutal Critical.

[digifreak]

I will say, you left out a MAJOR part of the Druid capstone.

"Additionally, you can ignore the verbal and somatic components of your druid spells, as well as any material components that lack a cost and aren’t consumed by a spell. You gain this benefit in both your normal shape and your beast shape from Wild Shape."

They get permanent subtle spell, meaning that (RAW) they can't be counterspelled unless the spell has a material component that has a cost and/or is consumed)

[DoctorFabio]

With 12 classes, a ranking of all 12 would have been better in my opinion

[TheEmperorGulcasa]

I honestly find it a bit odd that only Paladin gets a different capstone for each subclass. Some classes don't have that much variation between subclasses, but plenty of others do. A lot of the caster features also feel more like something that should be gained earlier.

[Oxfordbroski]

I love artificers, and their capstone is everything and more. I was surprised archdruid wasn’t #1, but that’s because I forgot about divine intervention lol

[jormungandthemidgardserpen]

I'm speechless. Barb's capstone on 9th place. Capstone, that permanently makes a barb even better at what they do 99.9% of the time. 40 extra hp with rage is like one additional ancient dragon breath survived. And additional strength helps to mitigate minus 5 to hit from GWM, which, let's face it, majority of barbs take.

When sorcerer'a capstone alone requires a rest and 4 points is enough barely for one combat if you're very conservative with them.

[Centaur]

Mostly agree with all of these, though I do think Barbarians should be higher since they get infinite rages at 20th level. That should probably move it to #7, possibly #6 or 5.

[klyxes]

For eldritch master, it says you must do a long rest after regaining spell slots, so you can't spam it like the previous entries

[CasualDnD]

The Stroke of luck feature of the Rogue is even more amazing if you’re an Arcane Trickster Rogue with Counterspell. If you’re the only one with counterspell in the party then you basically have a free negate as the highest possible DC for negating a spell is 19 if the spell is 9th level, unless you get countered of course. Also Spore Druids would have 80 Temporary HP at level 20 from Symbiotic Entity instead of 40, so its even better

[Dwfreak]

You forgot the most important part of the Druid's capstone. It removes the Verbal, Somatic, and non-costly Material components from all Druid spells. While it might seem meh at first glance, this makes them immune to Counterspell!

[misterdayne]

I'd love to see a lvl 14 capstone video, since that's much more likely to happen to a player. Also, how in the world did the monk and sorcerer make it, but the fighter didn't? They need to either rest or throw resource management out the window, while the fighter just gets better.

[SilverFoxR]

I think that you missed that, in the Druid capstone ability, not only can you ignore verbal, somatic and material components (that aren't used up in the spell), meaning that a druid has essentially a permanent subtle spell, but it also specifically says that this is also available in your wild shape beast form. That implies that all Druids can cast spells during Wild Shape, so long as they don't use consumable material components.

[agentchaos]

Hey you did toughest monsters for their CR, at CR 1-3..are you ever gonna continue that series? I was really enjoying the analysis of toughest monsters for different levels of play, and if you Google toughest 5e monsters, most of the lists are pretty bad (clearly not researched/fact checked)

[rickau]

The best thing about the Soul of Artifice capstone is how great it stacks with their other abilities for bonkers modifiers to saving throws.

I did the math for it with a mock character elsewhere a while ago and the saving throw ranges were absolutely nuts.

But to demonstrate it again here and this is really basic:

Start with Standard Array
Be Mountain Dwarf and use TcoE customisations to put your two +2's into whatever you want (I did INT and CON).
Take an ASI at level 4 (+2 to INT)
Take Resilient (Dex or Wis, whatever is more appealing - I'm using Dex in this example)
Take some other feat / ASI for the final +1 to INT (I went w/ a +1 assuming Fey Touched, Observant, etc)

The remaining ASI/feat options are personal preference. I'm sticking with the below stats assuming other feats were picked up that didn't change ability scores but you could totally ASI CON to 20 if you want.

Our stats:
STR: 8
DEX: 14*
CON: 16*
INT: 20*
WIS: 12
CHA: 10

Anyhow, I'm assuming that we're rocking at least the Ring and Cloak of Protection as 2 of our 6 attuned magic items because we can make both of them as infusions.

Now, let's have some fun with the math and look at everything the Artificer can boost saving throws with:

Ring of Protection: +1
Cloak of Protection: +1
Soul of Artifice: +6

Won't included Flash of Genius in the ranges as that's a resource.

Our Saving throw potential range:

STR: 8 - 25
DEX: 17 - 36
CON: 18 - 37
INT: 20 - 39
WIS: 10 - 27
CHA: 9 - 28

We can also throw in Flash of Genius in there for another +5 up to 5 times a day, making even our worst saving throw (STR) a 13 minimum.

And that's just the results of things natively available to the class.

There's other magic items we can attune to like a Staff of Power (+2 to saving throws), and spells or other class features that can jack that up further; Bless, Resistance, Bardic Inspiration, etc but these rely on the DM and or other players making them available.

[arshk-dev]

Was expecting to see fighter's extra attack on this list. Being able to make an extra attack on every turn and every fight (not counting action surge) is nothing to laugh at and if the fighter has a magical weapon (which a lvl 20 character will certainly has), it'll make fighters way more powerful and make them the best magical weapon users in the game.
On average every single attack of the fighter on lvl 20 deals more damage to a single target than a Fireball on the same target (not including ressistance and making the save) which makes their capstone better than wizard & sorcerer.

[simonmcglynn]

Doing fighters dirty here tbh. By the time you get to level 20 there's probably not much time left in the campaign and only so much use for the resource smoothing of most capstone abilities. But having 4 attacks a turn? You get to do a lot of damage with that and that's before taking into account action surge (×2) battlemaster maneuvers or any bonuses you might get off whatever super powerful weapons you've got at that stage

[tillfangohr]

Sorry, but didn't you forget to mention about your No1 the frequency it can be used? “It has nigh infinite uses on top of that” is wrong. PHB "If your deity intervenes, you can’t use this feature again for 7 days." (Interesting also, that a week in the Forgotten Realms is a "tenday" and here it is 7 days...) Also, how reliable is an ability that is so much dependent on your DM? This is great flavor, but bad mechanics. For me, rather spot 10 than 1 on the list...
However, Ranger and Bard capstones are bad, I agree! But the fighter is way better than the monk!

[LadyTsunade]

Video idea: TOP 10 Subclass capstone abilities.
Things like the (now sadly removed) Sea Sorcerer's 18th level Water Soul ability, which gives: "You no longer need to eat, drink, or sleep. All critical hits against you become normal hits instead. You have resistance to all bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage." (note that last part does _not_ specify 'non-magical', so it still gives you resistance to physical damage caused by spells or magical weapons)

[WolfHreda]

Honestly, I think the Wizard's 18th level feature is better. A 1st and 2nd level spell that basically become new cantrips for you? Amazing. You'd be a fool not to make Shield (or MAYBE Magic Missile) your first level choice. And Misty Step is a shoe-in for the 2nd level spell.

[sephikong]

I love the idea of the Cleric's capstone. It's like that annoying kid at the back of the car that have annoyed their parents for so long that they now face lost all will to resist and just say yes to everything to make them stop