[RPG] Can a Bladesinger wizard cast Shillelagh, Magic Stone, or Mending with their Extra Attack feature

cantripsclass-featurednd-5espellcastingwizard

The Bladesinging wizard's Extra Attack feature reads:

You can attack twice, instead of once, whenever you take the Attack action on your turn. Moreover, you can cast one of your cantrips in place of one of those attacks.

Notably, all but three cantrips have a casting time of 1 action. Two cantrips, shillelagh and magic stone, have a casting time of 1 bonus action, and the cantrip mending has a casting time of 1 minute.

Can these cantrips be cast with the Bladesinger's Extra Attack feature, despite not having a casting time of 1 action?
If mending in particular can be cast in this way, does it take effect immediately? Or does it still take a minute to complete casting?

(Never mind how our Wizard learned shillelagh or magic stone; perhaps they took a 1 level dip into druid when they went hiking during a gap year in their studies.)

Best Answer

Yes, you can.

Compare that phrasing to the third benefit of the War Caster feat (PHB, p. 170):

When a hostile creature's movement provokes an opportunity attack from you, you can use your reaction to cast a spell at the creature, rather than making an opportunity attack. The spell must have a casting time of 1 action and must target only that creature.

You can see that it specifies what type of cantrip you can cast, with the limitations of needing to have a normal casting time of 1 action, and also only targeting the creature that provoked the opportunity attack. It effectively limits your options to mostly just offensive cantrips.

Notably, the Bladesinger's Extra Attack feature lacks any language that restricts what type of cantrip you can cast. It simply states that "you can cast one of your cantrips". Obviously, the intent was for you to cast an attack cantrip, such as booming blade or fire bolt, but this ability has been worded poorly, and allows for any cantrip to be cast, including ones that normally have a casting time of "1 bonus action" or "1 minute".

In the case of mending, it should go into effect immediately, although the benefits of casting mending in the middle of combat are few, unless you have an Artificer ally with an Eldritch Cannon, Steel Defender, or Homunculus Servant in need of repair.


If I were the DM in this situation, I would restrict it to only cantrips with a casting time of 1 action, and disallow things like the examples you provided. I would still allow non-offensive cantrips, as I like to reward creative uses of spells.