[RPG] Does the Quicksmithing feat make the Servo Crafting feat obsolete

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In Plane Shift Kaladesh the Servo Crafting feat (page 13) grants you a mechanical familiar through a ritual casting of Find Familar. On the same page, the Quicksmithing feat allows you to ritual cast a number of spells, including Find Familiar (as well as a few other benefits), and seems to imply you're doing so by building machines. Wouldn't that mean that Quicksmithing completely encompasses Servo Crafting? Or does one of these feats do a similar thing differently somehow?

Best Answer

The Servo Crafting feat enhances find familiar, the Quicksmithing feat does not

It is true that you could pick find familiar as one of your ritual spells via Quicksmithing:

When you choose this feat, you master two magical effects, each of which recreates the effect of a 1st-level spell that has the ritual tag. These spells can come from any class list, but Intelligence is your spellcasting ability for them

However, Servo Crafting adds:

You can communicate telepathically with your servo familiar and perceive through its senses as long as you are on the same plane of existence. You can speak through your servo in your own voice.
Additionally, when you take the Attack action, you can forgo one of your own attacks to allow your servo familiar to make one attack of its own.

Normally, the find familiar spell does not allow you to have essentially infinite range on telepathic communication and seeing through its senses, speak through it with your voice (I'm ignoring Pact of the Chain warlocks here) or forgo an attack to allow it to make an attack instead1.

Since the Servo Crafting feat enhances the spell in this way, it is distinctly different from simply picking find familiar via the Quicksmithing feat, which does not enhance the spell in this way.


1 It can do something similar, in that it can allow you to deliver a touch spell through it, but that it quite different from what Servo Crafting provides:

Finally, when you cast a spell with a range of touch, your familiar can deliver the spell as if it had cast the spell. Your familiar must be within 100 feet of you, and it must use its reaction to deliver the spell when you cast it. If the spell requires an attack roll, you use your attack modifier for the roll.