Five Must-Have Cantrips in Dungeons and Dragons 5e
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 29 มิ.ย. 2024
- MONSTERS OF DRAKKENHEIM is 300+ pages of eldritch horror inspired monsters for 5e by the Dungeon Dudes! Coming to Kickstarter March 26th, 2024: www.kickstarter.com/projects/... In this episode we focus on the fundamentals! We discuss five awesome cantrips essential for any spellcaster in Dungeons and Dragons 5e.
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Mage Hand Uses:
1. Have it carry your light source ahead of you.
2. Flip off enemies. Wave at friends. Flip off friends. Wave at enemies.
3. Pass items over a long distance (60ft if someone else has Mage Hand).
4. Open doors or chests from far away. Was it trapped? Great! It's not going to hit you, because you're 30ft away.
5. Illusion detector. Is that thing real? Poke it with Mage Hand!
6. Archer? Have it hold a fire source so you can light flaming arrows without having to stop drawing/knocking arrows.
7. Throw a blanket/cloak over it and pretend it is a spooky ghost.
8. Double Mage Hand high five!
If you're a small creature, you can cast Enlarge/Reduce and let the hand carry you
Extreme pattycake
But is "poking" an attack? CAN you "attack" an illusion?
I would say that throwing sand in the face would be an attack. I go by what I would ask a player to do if they were doing it. Either a ranged thrown attack (like throwing a rock) or a DEX save. Both are attacks. No dice. Now... sprinkling sand from above? No problem.
Can't forget using Mage Hand to cover someone's mouth to stop them from saying something stupid.
Also pick pocket, especially if your an arcane trickster.
You missed the highest utility use of minor illusion: magical powerpoint. You can quickly share visual information. Need to describe a villain you're looking for? Sharing results of a scouting foray or planning pre-attack tactics? Never underestimate the value of quick, accurate visual display in a world without TVs or cameras!
Holy shit you can do that?
This is an amazing use of the spell with a bit of basically creating a general image not a specific pinpoint detail picture, you can get the gist but not "Ah there's a mole that's barely poking above the collar" I tend to run it as a quick "Sketch" Illusion
Oh shit, you changed my life bro
That's what I did with my Raven Queen Warlock, with the level 1 raven familiar and level 2 invocation Misty Vision (silent image at will). I sent the raven as far as I could keep contact with him and showed the map of the dungeon to the group with the illusion. The GM only answer to that was to try to kill my raven lol. She ultimately showed us the entire map of the level, there was nothing else to do ;)
I for one really hate you for this idea, yet entirely on board... but damn power point is hunting me into my gaming
Somebody else usually does this, but I didn't see it, so:
2:15 Guidance
5:10 Minor Illusion
10:06 Mage Hand
14:24 Mending
19:18 Prestidigitation, Druidcraft, Thaumaturgy,
If you can point me to a tutorial on how to make those times into links that jump the video/start it there, much appreciated.
[on edit--the TH-cam deities heard my plea and automatically made those times into links--what a fascinating modern age we live in, eh?]
If someone already listed the cantrips and times, and I missed it, also much appreciated.
15:54 Um
@@busterblast3416 bruh what
@@busterblast3416 lmao simultaneously
How is Druidcraft worthy? I think it's shit
@@californiakodiak6438 Watch the video
Me: I cast Minor Illusion to make a cat sat down.
DM: sorry you can only create objects not creatures.
Me: I cast Minor Illusion to make a taxidermy cat sat down.
I thought the same thing as a loop hole for animal minor illusions. Want a cat, rat or whatever?
Taxidermy
That DM is a bit of a ssssstickler, isn't it?
I think the distinction is probably intended to be ‘the thing you create can’t move’. That it has to be a static image.
But, yes, a statue or taxidermy of an animal that fits the size requirements would certainly meet the restrictions. (Which, of course, further solidifies my interpretation of the intended restriction.)
I would rule that the taxidermy cat illusion is sitting curled up with eyes closed, immobile.
Taxidermy hasnt been invented yet
One of my favourite Prestidigitation moments was when my players were invited to the Grand Duke's castle for a feast as thanks for their latest heroic quest. The party Bard was obsessed with cooking. He had expertise in Cook's Utensils and had a dream to be the "Adamantine Chef" (typical quirky backstory, etc.). He asks the grand duke if he can see the royal kitchen and is allowed to do so. While no one is looking, he uses Prestidigitation to make all of the food taste terrible.
The duke is (naturally) displeased with the "awful cooking" and asks (somewhat sarcastically) if anyone can cook a decent meal. The Bard jumps out of his seat and offers his services. He rolls a few high cooking checks (and tops off the rest with Prestidigitation). The duke is so taken by his cooking that he hires him on as the new royal chef. The player retires the character since his dream has basically been realised. Legend has it his character still works there to this day. And people still say fluff cantrips are useless...
Eh, even though it takes up a cantrip slot, I just use it for fun social gags, making temple guards piss themselves, something similar to the food thing you mentioned above, making a poison undetectable by taste, and my personal favourite, using it to clean rusty swords from bandits or kobolds, and sell the shiny swords for a profit.
@@patrickduffin7912 Would cleaning rusty swords be a Prestidigitation or a Mend?
@@ericsaxon5736 I'm pretty sure prestidigitation. For one, mending is basically fusing broken parts back together, would work for broken shafts and such. With prestidigitation, you could simply clean off the rust, and there you have a shiny sword, sharpen it a bit, and boom, full price.
@@patrickduffin7912 I'm not sure rust = dirt. Damaged/cracked leather handles, might also need more than just a polish or oiling. I believe rust is water/oxygen corrosion, similar to acid, except it takes much longer to do the damage
Would polishing/cleaning restore these? www.wikiwand.com/en/Viking_sword
@@ericsaxon5736 To be fair, you could interpret it that way, however it says: you instantly clean or soil an object that is no bigger than one cubic foot. With the damaged handles, yeah, you'd use mending for that. And even though rust is just corrosion if metal due to said oxygen and moisture, my DM let's it's slide, as it's a cool use of it. Magic doesn't really apply with the laws of physics, unless you really wanted to. Feel free to say it doesn't though, difference of opinion on what works really.
For a quick run down here they are.
1) Guidance
2) Minor Illusion
3) Mage Hand
4) Mending
5) Thaumaturgy / Prestidigitation / Druid craft
Sounds like I need to make a jack of all trades bard and have all 5 of these.
Thanks for this. I have no idea why it took 27 minutes to talk about 5 cantrips, jfc
@@maxsquatch because it takes time to talk _about_ something rather than just list the names... I mean it's one thing to say "donald trump", it's another to explain who he is, where he came from, what he's doing, how people react to him etc.
Thanks! I was hoping someone would list them so I would need to watch the whole thing lol
Gods work
A Freind playing a Cleric who's character was a germaphobe would constantly cast prestidigitation on themselves to keep themselves clean, the DM ruled that the effect had become permanent around her causing this kind of Slug like trail of cleanliness around the character wherever they went.
& that there's a dimension of dust and dirt where all magically swept away debris is taken via the use of spells like prestidigitation
someone else is using prestidigitation to soil anything they feel like, drawing on the dust and dirt dimension, and so the cycle of life continues
And also it said the spell can make trinkets untill your " next turn
ehhh.... this is actually canon. there's a layer of the abyss where all dirt, grime, and filth eventually goes. it's the home plane of the demon ooze prince.
Sort of like Pig Pen, but inverted.
@@RobertBarry1969 Actually, if you think about the Last Sentence of the OP, Pigpen Could be the repository of the "magically swept away debris is taken via the use of spells like prestidigitation"
I love mending! I was trapped in a church one session and while the rest of the party was evacuating the townsfolk out the back door, my Cleric was mending the front doors after every battering ram attack the horde outside would make! They couldn’t figure out why the doors just wouldn’t break! It was great!
It has a 1-minute cast time, and can only fix a crack ("break or tear") up to 1ft long on each casting. Sure it could help, but can't hold out for long unless you have other defenders stopping them from ramming repeatedly, or multiple casters.
At least that's the rules-as-written. I could see allowing it for rule-of-cool reasons as a one-time thing (perhaps being willing to let you pump a spell slot into it or something to justify it.)
But I think those limitations are intended to prevent things like that in-combat usage, so it's not intended to be a routine tactic you can use all the time to hold doors.
It is quite a good cantrip for at least someone in a party to have, though.
@@Peter_Cordes it’s DND, rules are meant to be “flexed” :)
@@AnAfinityForKarma Indeed, and it's a fun story from one person's campaign. It's still useful to know what amount of bending you're asking the DM for.
And as an internet comment on how good each cantrip is or isn't, it's important to know you can't count on other DMs allowing the same thing, because it gives it combat applications to a cantrip that seems intentionally written to not be that way.
Many DMs would take the cast time as a showstopper, so if you're considering taking it for reasons like this, talk to your DM about it.
The Dungeon Dudes are pretty careful to stick to RAW on what they say a spell can do or not in their videos.
@@Peter_Cordes can battering rams be used more than two or three times per minute? I’m less familiar with siege engine RAW than actual history but they were fairly slow IRL so if the door was fairly strong to begin with and the ram wasn’t super powerful or super fast I feel like many DM’s would absolutely rule of cool this, IMO
@@rickonthemountain I was picturing a big log with a steel cap at one end, wielded by a crew of people carrying it from either side. As a group, taking a couple steps back and then surging forwards to slam it into a door seems like something you could repeat every 6 seconds with practice. Especially if you're not trying to dodge arrows or anything.
Advancing *to* the door would be fairly slow, but once you're there, hitting repeatedly should be once per round. Maybe once per two rounds, so 5 hits per cast of Mending.
I'm not familiar with any historical literature or re-creations of siege warfare, just stuff I've seen in movies, and what I can picture a group doing in 6 seconds.
Even 3 bigger hits per cast of Mending would probably do a lot more than it could keep up with, since it can only fix one "single break or tear" per cast.
Prestidigitation -> change flavor.
Wizard "The fighter now tastes like ghost peppers."
Creature with bite attack "Oww my face!"
Hahahaha
Well, you can't use it on something living for that. So maybe change the flavor of the clothing he is wearing?
@@lordskyline9766 Change the flavor of someone's brassiere to menthol as a subtle way of saying "Cool your tits".
that's why you grease the fighter/barbarian.
This is a fun idea, but the flavour is not what makes ghostpeppers hot. Hot food is not a flavour.
You know how displacer beasts look like cats??? I used minor illusion to create a red laser dot and distract one with it. DM allowed it, it was hilarious.
I love that idea ^^
So creative!😂😂😅
Hope you put it on the barbarians crotch at least once...
Technically, you moved the red dot around (I assume, to distract the "big kitty"), which breaks the "you can't move the illusion" restriction on the cantrip. Right?
@@frederickcoen7862 keep casting it again? Or just gm rolling with rule of cool vs raw
1. Guidance (2:14)
2. Minor Illusion (5:09)
3. Mage Hand (10:05)
4. Mending (14:22)
5. Prestidigitation, Druidcraft, Thaumaturgy (19:17)
Took a bit of scrolling to find, but thank you
Thank you! I watched this twice and still missed the spells.
@@sickmindedteenagerIf you click on the time stamps, you go right to that point in the video.
Honestly when someone casts guidance, all I hear is when our cleric slaps someone and says “do better!”
Or the barbarian glares and mumbles incoherently at the aided character
Feeling 1d4 better for having watched this episode, thanks guys
You can't use the 1d4 because you didn't ask to use guidance before you started watching the video.
I give yOoOOOOouuuu bardic inspiration. Change that to 1d6 ;)
Yeah I just rolled a 1d6...you won't like the 1 I rolled
Here. Have a +1 modifier from me.
@@yanjanjon9090, the video *was* the casting of Guidance in ritual form. It’s a rare thing to cast it in such a manner, but doing so allows the caster(s) to provide the bonus to individuals in different realities. (Which explains why it’s so rarely done.)
Random and pointless bit of trivia:
Grog isn't a kind of beer; it's a drink made of water and rum. Sailors were traditionally given a daily ration of rum as a means of keeping them a bit more relaxed during long voyages. Water was added, generally, for one of two reasons... First, the men themselves would water their rum to make it seem like it would go further; second, the quartermaster watered it- either on the captain's orders aboard private vessels, or as a standard procedure on most naval military ships- to keep the men from getting too drunk at any one time.
The proportion of water to rum in the recipe varies widely depending on the time period in question, as well as country of origin. In many of the more tightly regulated situations (mainly military, but some strict commercial and private ventures as well) the grog was premixed and stored in barrels, often with the addition of dried fruit such as raisins and apples to improve taste and help prevent scurvy (a form of vitamin c deficiency.)
Things you can learn when a lot of your friends are *really* into their jobs as bartenders can boggle the mind, lol.
I'm noting down all of this, thank you!
@@Draeckon Little odds and ends of trivia like that can be surprisingly helpful for adding flavor to a game. You wouldn't *believe* how many random bits learned from the game show Jeopardy have made it into my games over the two decades I've been playing, lol!
To add the point about scurvy prevention - at one point, French or British navy (can't remember which one) issued an order to substitute rum with wine (since rum was considerably stronger) and as a result, their people started getting afflicted with scurvy while the crews still holding on to their grog were fine.
@@KubinWielki That most likely happened at one time or another in most of the nations on the northern side of the Mediterranean; those lands have been particularly well-known for wine production for longer than most of the countries currently there have existed. The French, Italians, and Spaniards are highly likely candidates, to my mind, as they were historically quite heavily involved in both seafaring activities and wine production.
To add to this: aboard ships where the men were simply given a rum ration and told to water it themselves, they'd often hoard their rations so they could go on a bender.
Fighter: Damn! My spear is broken!
Druid: I gotcha! *Casts Mending on it to fix it*
Fighter: Thanks, Druid!
Druid: Wait, one more thing!
Fighter: What?
Druid: *Uses Druidcraft and adds some neat designs on the spear's shaft*
Fighter: NOICE!
Rogue: "The Engraving Gives You No Tactical Advantage Whatsoever"
@@arcuslux516 Fighter: "I know. But it looks cool."
@@arcuslux516 I disagree, it says right here on the item card "+2 Hype"
@@ClasticOne found the Bard
Although I imagine if you added flame decals, or hell, just turned it red, it would go faster.
"Is a corpse an object?" Getting into philosophical territory now
Can the object be a bwah?
@@Zombiewithabowtie like the sound Hank Hill makes?
@@Zombiewithabowtie hah. I understood that reference.
Technically, everything made of Atoms or other particles (like light) is an object :)
I'd probably ask for a high dc medicine check to mend the druid ripped in half, all those bones, organs, blood vessels, gotta go back together in just the right way
"Cast it at Will", What has Will ever done to you? Cast it at John or Ken!
Will is a very nice guy. I know him
Will Byers?
Maybe Wil Wheaton? If that's the case, he curses your dice.
John is kinda cool(John Wick), ken is a badass, (Kenshiro) but will? He wont kick my ass (will wheaton) so my deductional elimination of how to avoid retribution, will
@@MrEddie4679 I couldn't agree more!
#ShutUpWestly
Note: Mage Hand can also be used by Arcane Trickster Rogues and is, in fact, arguably the backbone of that archetype.
Colin Brown I’m planning on making an arcane trickster kobold for my next game. Imma drive the dm crazy.
Mage Hand Legerdermain is so powerful
And a rogue's mage hand can be invisible :)
One ATR I had was essentially a mage turned stage performer that developed tricks for other entertainers for a living. His signature spell was “Rage Hand”, essentially just Mage Hand that punches people from 30 feet away. There’s also Cage Hand, Sage Hand, Afterimage Hand, and Hemorrhage Hand. I basically was every Warlock ever but with Mage Hand instead of Eldritch Blast.
Yup. Used this often with my halfling rogue
Mage hand cantrip is my favorite. My half-elf rogue "arcane trickster" was using it to steal arrows from enemy archers rendering them, mostly, harmless :)
This is genius
I'm playing an arcane trickster myself. I will use this trick :)
Also random question, but as a level 3 rogue, Idk if I should pick minor illusion or shape water for my 3rd cantrip, suggestions? Currently have mage hand and booming blade
Arcane trickster is great because it makes the mage hand invisible, opening up all kinds of stealth abilities. I used it to pull down enemies' pants (hey, it didn't cause damage, so...)
@@TheHauntedMouth funny enough, I've also used mage hand to de-pants NPCs with the same logic of, "It didn't cause damage!" 😄
@@legionarybooks13 Depends if your DM counts emotional damage
I recently ran my second session of Dragon's of Icespire Peak with three new players and another that has a fair bit of experience. They were doing the quest where you have to find the midwife for Phandalin and bring her back to town so she's safe, but when the party arrives, they see that she's being harassed by a manticore.
Our party's druid cast fog cloud centered on the manticore. The tiefling rogue used thaumaturgy to create whispers in the fog. The wizard then used prestidigitation to amplify the barbarian's voice, who then began shouting that he was an evil spirit, come to harvest the manticore's soul. I loved this idea so much that I was a hair away from just letting them have it, but my buddy Nate, playing the barbarian, picked up his die and said "So, I'm rolling intimidation, right?" I figured what the hey, why not? Manticores have poor wisdom anyway, so they're probably going to succeed. So I have him go ahead and roll, and with all of the extra effects, plus the fact that it was a table mostly of inexperienced players, I gave advantage. Nate winds up rolling a 17 and 18, against the manticore's double 1's, I had it fly off screaming.
So with two cantrips, a fog cloud, and a barbarian who assigned a 14 to charisma, they improvised a plan to scare away what could have been a nasty encounter.
That was a very beautiful moment as DM, and I've never been more proud to be one.
"because of the list of spells that we've chosen, it's difficult for a single character to have all of the cantrips we list"
Pact of the tome warlock with magic initiate feat: "hold my beer"
Which is why they said "difficult" not "impossible"
Make him a High Elf and you get one for free yo
@@SomeTH-camTraveler Being kind of redundant to pick all prestidigitation, thaumaturgy and druidcraft. You can have one of those and the other 4 listed here by level 3 (as a tomelock) without the magic initiate feat
Pfft. Bard. 'Magical Secrets' feature.
@@theoptimist5366 which the bard gets at lvl 6 or 10 depending on the subclass, tomelock has them all at lvl 4
'I feel 1d4 better already'. Gold.
@@MsDoIIy that's... A good idea actually :)
My favorite use for guidance is boosting counterspell’s ability check to counter higher level spells
@@talongreenlee7704 If you're trying to do that, then you need do have Guidance cast on you preemptively, like at the start of the fight or something, and hope that Counterspell will be useful. Guidance still requires an action to cast (and concentration), so it's rarely worth it for the cleric to use in combat.
16:40 interesting thing about that, according to WotC it is possible to fix substantial damage by multiple castings of Mending. In Hoard of the Dragon Queen the door of the castle's sally port are broken down. Like, completely smashed. The adventure says that someone with Mending can completely fix the door up in 5 minutes.
I hadn't noticed that, but yes, it says so on page 9. Thanks for pointing it out!
I don't agree with the Dungeon Dudes assessment of being able to repair shoes with Mending. The spell repairs *1* break or tear in an object per casting, so therefore, to completely fix one *worn out* shoe would require casting more than a thousand cantrips of Mending.
@@benkayvfalsifier3817 yeah ive seen from multiple dms that mending doesnt fix wear and tear making material just missing from time only fix what material is there
@@benkayvfalsifier3817 but according to the module Tyranny of Dragons, a busted up gate can be repaired with 5 castings of Mending.
@@rodneytrotter3725 I don't have that one. Could you be a bit more descriptive with what you mean by "busted up"?
Wizard: “I cast Minor Illusion to cast the image of a kobold.”
DM: “You can’t use Minor Illusion to create creatures.”
Wizard: “I cast Minor Illusion to create a statue of a Kobold.”
DM: *:0*
Or a clay sculpture of a Kobold works too
Bow users can recover only half of the arrows used after a fight, as the others are considered broken. Mending potentially returns all of your arrows/bolts.
Can you tell me what page of which book this is in? I've never seen any rules about ammunition before, and I like learning new things.
@@CrimsenOverlordVideos , PHB, 146/147 ish. under "Weapon Properties", "At the end of the battle, you can recover half your expended ammunition by taking a minute to search the battlefield."
@@Tzunamii777 Thanks a bunch. You have been a big help. :)
@@CrimsenOverlordVideos , my pleasure m8!
@@Tzunamii777 what a bro!
In a fight with a group of creatures our DM basically descibed as "straw golems", my character (A Forge Cleric) thrust a sword into one of them, which didn't do much, but then I ask, "can I leave the sword in it?" He agreed, and ruled that since they didn't posess much intelligence, that it wouldn't think to remove it. So, in the next turn, I cast Heat Metal on it. My teammate (a Warlock) had already picked up on what I was going for, so after the one enemy died from my spell, he used Mage Hand to move my still heated sword on the next one.
Now if that isn’t glorious teamwork idk what is
Nice! Dont ya love it when a plan comes together so seamlessly!
I thought mage hand can’t pick up things heavier than 5 lbs
@@baker7280 10 pounds additionally swords arent that heavy a two handed sword like a greatsword is only 5 to 7 pounds
Jebediah Tweed wow I just learned that, I always imagines swords being 15-20 lbs idk why, sorry I’m pretty new to dnd.
In my campaign I let casters get druidcraft, thaumaturgy, or prestidigitation (depending on your class) as a bonus cantrip. I just figure casters are already restricted enough in cantrips and I see these as the first version of spell casting the casters learned. 😊
I would recommend not doing this, as all you are really doing is increasing the number of cantrips a caster has by +1. However, it may be neat early in a campaign for a caster without such a spell to find a little stuffed toy that grants such a cantrip to an attuned caster. You'll notice them being fond of a little trinket and it will have more interaction than just another spell on a list. This way, they can feel like they earned something neat, can't just pass it around to their friends, and at higher levels, if they want to attune other objects, they can pick up the cantrip legally.
This is cute.
@@FlatOnHisFace While I'm inclined to agree. The mechanical impact would be fairly minimal. All this does is gives people who ignore less combat oriented cantrips a role play/utility cantrip and gives people who pick it anyway the ability to also pick up another utility or damage cantrips. Neither of which really changes the game too much.
The only downside is martial characters might be wanting some little perk as well. Which, as long as it was role play oriented, I would be inclined to provide them. Espexially since combat oriented martial characters can often be the most limited when it comes to this stuff.
@@piranhaplantX Okay, but that choice they made to pick all combat cantrips now wasn't a choice at all, because whatever else was just given to them. Why remove a choice from the game when the work-around that I proposed above will have the same mechanical effect and bring about something more that can't be expressed in pure mechanics?
I think that people who ignore prestidigitation just never saw a value in it (as it isn't directly related to combat) so never pick it, so never learn its value. By granting it for free, as the OP states, they won't learn its value because you don't learn a lesson when you don't strive for it. If you want them to learn its value, give it to them in the form a plush toy, let them enjoy it awhile, then have some dog rip apart their stuffed teddy bear several sessions later.
These spells aren't purely role-play spells; they impact the narrative. Ever need to light a fire with no gear? Need a show someone you have a coin, for just a moment, when you don't? Did your character ever come back from a journey in torn, tattered, blood-soaked clothes and immediately need an audience with a noble?
@@piranhaplantX
Fighters do get their fighting style, so they do get their 'bonus cantrip' in a way.
Though perhaps, if that isn't considered enough, the martial classes (Rogues, Rangers, Paladins, Fighters, Barbarians) could get a free Battlemaster feat? Fighters could get "Martial Adept" for free (2 Battlemaster maneuvers & 1 d6 superiority die) while the rest get a free "Fighting Initiate: Superior Technique" (1 Battlemaster maneuver & 1 d6 superiority die).
Though part of the issue with those is that cantrips are unlimited, while basically any option that would be comparably unique to non-casters has strong limits on how often it can be used.
I'm going to start by saying that I agree with this list. My Pact of the Tome Sorlock has all of these cantrips (only Prestidigitation out of your three way tie) and uses them to great effect.
That being said, I've got to say I've gotten WAY more impactful use out of Shape Water. I've used it to create cover, bust open locks, create an ice bridge, distract an enemy, and I think it's important to note that a five foot cube of ice weighs three and a half tons. So far, my favorite use of the spell was to eject a Merrow from combat. Ice floats, so if you cast the spell under water, physics should do what it does.
I'm still waiting for an opportunity to freeze a chunk of cloud, but we'll get there.
Mending in one campaign was critical in maintaining a ship. repairing sails, rigging and damaged timber.
Mage Hand hauled lines and tools up to sailors and Prestidigitation was used to shout commands from the helm and lite a torch for pitch-dipped arrow heads before they're fired into enemy sails. The cantrip solidified the concept of every ship of worth having a "sea mage", certainly the ships of wealthy or powerful NPCs. Good times.
Very true!
Mage hand couldn't haul lines on most ships, it's strength isn't enough. It could definitely carry tools and things
@@Aedi I think he meant take the end of a line up to a sailor on the mast. But yes, it definitely takes more than 10lb pull to haul a sail into place.
In my game just now, our wizard made a good use of Mage Hand twice.
The rogue jumped on a bridge above us to tie a rope so we could all climb, but he got spotted by an enemy at that level so we all rolled initiative, and he rolled the lowest initiative score so he couldn't tie the rope so he would've been attacked by all the enemies before we could climb to help him, but the wizard was going first so he used Mage Hands to tie the rope.
Then after the encounter we found a chest, the greedy rogue dashed to open it but the wizard cast Mage Hands to open the chest first, and it saved the rogue from triggering a spike trap.
Mage Hands save rash, unwise rogues.
Your rogue was not being played right. Rash and rogue shouldn’t go in the same sentence.
@@annaschulmeyer9356 hey, if it's appropriate to the character, a rash rogue actually sounds like it could be really fun!
Nah, let the greedy rogue get punished lol
I usually let rash, unwise rogues die.... and next rogue is usually wise and not a greedy dumbass hehehe
One time we were fighting a human spellcaster that was wearing goggles (which we later found out to be Goggles of Night, which give you darkvision). I was able to use Prestidigitation to create a black mark over the lenses, rendering them useless to him and depriving him of his darkvision
Note that Prestidigitation cannot be used in any harmful manner. It should also not duplicate another spell effect.
**laughs in sonar-vision**
@@FlatOnHisFace Actually, the spell can be used in a harmful manner if applied appropriately. The difficulty here is that the spell inflicts 0 damage, nor does it impose any negative conditions (like sickness for example). What Jonah did was "You make a color, a small mark, or a symbol appear on an object or surface for 1 hour", applying it to the Goggles of Night since the spell has a range of 10 feet. Additionally, Prestidigitation allows the caster to have up to three non-instantaneous effects active at a time, meaning he would have had to cast the spell twice to render the goggles temporarily useless, one mark for each lens.
@@Drangelon I'm going to disagree with you here. Coloring something translucent doesn't simultaneously make it opaque. Color and transparency are different. A small mark doesn't mean completely filling a lens. Affecting an object held or worn is always considered harmful. Hell, if you try to cast the Light cantrip on an object held by someone that doesn't want it, they are allowed a save, so "harmful" isn't just about inflicting hit point loss. Nothing about this fits with the spell description. And this is replicating another, higher level, spell.
Look, do it if you want to do it. But for anyone that feels that Prestidigitation is not an offensive spell, you are correct and here is rationale that you can use, if you need to explain it to someone.
@@FlatOnHisFace I would say coloring in the lens of goggles counts as a small mark/symbol. goggle lenses are probably two inches across, two and a half max. A two inch diameter black circle is well within the definition of small mark in my opinion (if you think two inches is big she lied to you /lh) Nowhere in the spell description does it say it can’t be cast on an object that’s being worn or carried, (spells always specify if this is the case so using other spells that do specify this doesn’t qualify as a precedent) so RAW this works just fine, and what higher level spell is this replicating the effect of? certainly not blindness or darkness, because it would cause blindness at most until the target’s turn, at which point the target would take off the goggles- blindness lasts for a minute, darkness lasts for up to ten, both are clearly much more powerful, and I can’t think of a higher level spell that disables darkvision goggles specifically for one hour and does nothing else. If i were the dm in this situation, i would absolutely let them have less than a round of a blinded combatant and disabling their darkvision because of the pure creativity that goes into thinking of this. I have no clue why someone would rule that this couldn’t be done beyond just spiting the player.
I love using Mage Hand in role playing moments. Just give an enemy 3 middle fingers or to hold my staff while my character is using my other hands for something. I feel like it’s one of those spells that lets you add a little bit of flair to your character
Feeling blasphemous: "Okay, so I use Prestidigitation to set fire to the bush. Just a tiny flame, it's kinda dry..."
DM: "Sure."
Fb: "So, then when the sheepherder looks up, I say in a booming voice from the bush, I AM THE LORD THY GOD"
DM: "Wait..."
THAT'S MY JUNIPER BUSH!
Nice. So what can you do with a few fish and loaves of bread?
I know that campaign, it has a shitty ending some 2k years later
Brian Jacob robe of summon bread.
@@pencilbender "rocks fall, everyone dies"
My favorite hacky way to use Mage Hand was when we discovered (and accepted into our party) a pseudodragon that had a shredded wing and could not fly. Later, the tiny dragon was found to have minimal arcane magical abilities -- she was allowed two cantrips, each of which could be used once per long rest. Weighing less than 10 pounds, she could cast Mage Hand and use it to carry _herself_ around, and go anywhere or to any height because anywhere the hand went, it was within 30 feet of the caster. _Ray of Frost_ was her other option, as it enabled her to slow down any potential prey she wanted to take, if it didn't die outright.
too bad Mend doesn't work on the living, else you coulda repaired her wing
Once you reach lvl 13 if you have a Cleric there is regenerate. It is a bit dark but cut the wing off and cast regenerate it will grow back and should be fully functional.
@@nickm9102 That was the plan all along, but the household got disbanded when the town was invaded and burned. They were only 8th level at the time.
I love the mending cantrip. One of the ways that I use it a lot are to restore trash loot found on monsters. It doesn't make it magical, but clearing away rust and cracks in a goblin sword turns trash into treasure that could reasonably be sold in a town. Or to repair a snapped bow string (or a lute for a bard).
I've also found message to be so fucking useful and honestly ive actually forgone mage hand for it. say someone is scouting ahead and you need to know what's going on, and you have no idea where they went. cast message! it's like a short range sending spell that costs nothing
My group has 2 casters with message, and it's been insanely useful to be able to send in the more "sneaky" characters to scout ahead, and then have the Bard alert the rest of us with message. Or to spread out and coordinate an investigation together by messaging information around. And that's just on the second arc of the campaign!
That's not how message works. You have to point your finger at the target, i.e. know where the target is.
And while it doesn't require a direct line of sight (if you're familiar with the target), any non-trivial amount of matter will block it, so if your scout is behind a few big trees or something, it won't work even if you know the direction.
@@hellterminator "The spell doesn’t have to follow a straight line and can travel freely around corners or through openings." So no, trees won't block the message. Even indoors, as long as the scout leaves any doors ajar as they go ahead, the message will get through.
My favourite use of these Cantrips was actually with a character of mine that was a multi-class Bard/Illusion Wizard, she had been invited to a feast in the King's palace, because on our way there we kinda accidentally saved somebody important, so I wanted to make a great impression, so I spent the week gathering information on the life of the King so I could compose a song for the King so I could impress him, the only problem was that I was the only musician in the party and I had no money at all to hire backups but then I noticed, Prestidigitation allows you to play musical notes, it also says you can have up to 3 different effects going at the same time and it's not Concentration, and Minor Illusion can do something similar for one effect, for a total of 4 magical sound effects going on at the same time my Lyre and my Singing, so after working on it I presented my song to the King while he was expecting just a simple Lyre performance he got a complete band concert delivered by one single girl.
It really was great though because I didn't tell the DM what I was planning all the DM and the party knew was that I was composing a song and getting pretty good rolls on it and that it needed a whole band to be performed but they didn't know how I would pull it off and then I just pulled out 2 Cantrips, not even spells and did it, the only thing I regret was not having Thaumaturgy to make it even better, the point is the King was really impressed and we managed to get a few allies and some much needed funds after that.
Genius!
By the spell description the notes from prestidigitation are instantaneous "You create an instantaneous, harmless sensory effect, such as a shower of sparks, a puff of wind, faint musical notes, or an odd odor." and "f you cast this spell multiple times, you can have up to three of its non-instantaneous effects active at a time, "
So you can't have multiple sets of notes playing using prestidigitation that last more than an action or that would make it more powerful than minor illusion.
@@Awol991 That was a long time ago, it's very likely that I misinterpreted the rules, that being said, there are probably other ways to do it so I'll look into it in case I want to play another musician.
I have used minor illusion that way, but never though of including stacked prestidigitation. Nicely done.
I think Awol991 is technically correct, but the way around this is just to continually cast prestidigitation to create instantaneous musical effects and cast minor illusion every minute. If you combine that with something like a mage hand playing a drum then you are really in business even at a low level. You just need to cast quite a bit. Magical one person band though.
@@dainslatton9877 Probably, in hindsight I don't think it really matters, if the DM agrees it happens, an in that case he did, so it was done, there's no necessity to get so technical about the rules, especially when it's not really affecting the balance of the game.
Here's 5 cantrips not in the video that I think are pretty great.
*General Use*
Shape Water - Want to cross a body of water? Build a bridge by standing on an ice block, placing a block in front of you, stepping on that block, and then placing another one in front of you. (You can only have two blocks at a time, so each casting causes the block behind you to disappear. Just like Minecraft.) You can also make water clearer to see through it, or murkier to hide something. And you can change the color, move a square of water, make a small current, or make the water into animate shapes, which is just as flavorful as many of the general use cantrips like Prestidigitation.
Mold Earth - Dig a 5-ft deep pit. Make images, colors, and words appear on dirt or stone, letting you write on walls. Create difficult terrain. There's dirt and stone everywhere, so this spell is useful everywhere.
*Lighting & Visibility*
Control Flames - Cause a fire to spread. Extinguish a fire. Make a flame brighter or darker. Make shapes appear in the flame, ala Frollo's performance of Hellfire. This one is just sort of a pretty spell to have, and you can always make a use for it, but the main use is to cast it on your torch every hour. You double the range of it, meaning you'll see father than if you relied on just darkvision. (Extinguishing campfire and torches, or using them to start fires, is also pretty useful for causing distractions or giving yourself the visibility advantage.)
Light - Lasts am hour, no concentration. Who needs a torch when you can light your helmet and have your hands free? Or your weapon, so you can sheath it easily. Or on a rock you can drop down a pit, or an arrow you can fire down a hallway. It's no concentration and lets you see super far, so it's the best visibility spell in the game if you lean into its functions.
*Potentially Game Breaking*
Friends - [Disclaimer: Not for making friends.] This spell gives advantage on all Charisma checks for 1 minute. Afterwords, the target knows you used magic and becomes hostile. This spell is useful for two reasons. 1.) It is absolutely perfect for an Intimidate check or interrogation, because you don't care if they become hostile. 2.) If you disguise yourself (such as with Disguise Self) they become hostile to the person you're disguised as. It aids your deception AND is a guaranteed way to make two people hate each other. The applications of this are surprisingly far-reaching, and can absolutely undo a campaign.
I really like this list too!
I've never thought about using disguise self before using friends and now a whole new world of opportunities is open to me!
You know you can just spit to someone feet after being disguised and it will have the same effect right? Becoming "hostile" doesn't mean murder frenzy, it just means the targets knows you did cast a spell and doesn't like it because you messed with their mind. It's basically the same as insulting their mother. So sure, it would work, but it's just a convoluted way to do what the disguise spell can do by itself.
@@Laezar1 true but with friends I don't really have to worry about screwing up my performance check as much. It's gives me a bit more of an edge, I just always thought the friends cantrip was crap because I wasn't really stretching my imagination enough.
I don't think the friends cantrip is in any way game breaking, the fact that they (generally) become hostile towards you because they know you used magic to effect them isn't a problem. The way you are using it is smart but fair and the spell wouldn't be very good if you couldn't come up with creative ways to use it. Game breaking would be if magic hand actually did let you pull someones heart out or something. This is just using a spell you had to give up a cantrip for effectively. Remember a DM can always decide that the relationship between the person you were pretending to be and the person you cast the friends spell on overshadows the effect of it making them hostile. This is all assuming you were not caught as being an impostor and they could always realize it when they talk with that person again. Making a seemingly bad spell good, is not game breaking just fun.
I'm in the process of learning how to play for the first time so I can join my friends. These videos are a massive help, and I'm mad hyped!
My favorite use of Mage Hand + Find Familiar, which I call the Scout
1. Choose one of the forms for your familiar that can fit in the palm of your hand (personally I like spider for this)
2. Dismiss your familiar to its pocket dimension
3. Conjure mage hand inside a room you plan to go into. (get it as high up as you can if you're worried about it being noticed.)
4. Summon your familiar on the palm/top of your mage hand
5. Look through your familiar's eyes.
Congrats! Now you can see inside the room (darkvision with the spider), the mage hand can move around, activate things, unlock doors, prematurely trigger traps, all while keeping your familiar up and out of harm's way. If the trap you want to trigger has the potential to kill your familiar, just get the hand into position, dismiss the familiar again, and then trigger it. Mage hand gets nuked, but your familiar is still alive and well. You can throw in prestidigitation to color your mage hand to match the ceiling too, for camouflage. Spectral hands can be a bit easy to spot, after all.
The "bending" spells. Especially Mold Earth has tons of applications.
Shelter? Got it.
Cover? Granted.
Mounted combatant preparing to charge at you? Hold your action and remove the ground from under their feet so they fall into a 5ft pit.
I've literally buried unconscious enemies up to their necks with this spell in order to gain leverage in interrogation.
There are so many uses.
Shoot! I've always just glossed over that one
You forgot panning for gold.
Dig at five feet per round
foundation for my psychotic criminal genasi who dressed as a plague doctor. He tried to steal money etc from the other PCs. It was a good time.
Shape Water can shape and freeze water in any shape: keys, knives, small boats, etc.
My bard once used Prestidigitation to completely solve an encounter with an assassin during a huge party. First I cast it to cause the spies dress to be completely soiled, as if she had just not made it to the little spies room. Then with all of the fancy people looking at her, I cast it to put the spies faction logo on her forehead. She started panicking and started to leave. With everyone watching while she left, I cast it one last time, as you can have 3 effects active at once, and caused a bit of ice on the floor under her foot. She failed a save and slipped. Everyone was watching her as she had a bowel accident, had the logo of a known enemy appear on her forehead, then slip on her butt on the way out. Guards were on her so fast she didn't have a chance to do anything.
That is genius!
Prestidigitation at its finest
I assume your mission was to stop an assassination while knowing who the assassin was ?
None of those effects are legal for prestidigitation. The soiled lends itself to Thaumaturgy or minor illusion. The mark would maybe be doable via minor illusion but should grant a save at the very least. The patch of ice requiring a save or fall, well beyond the ability of the context of any of the varied special effects cantrips. Prestidigitation only allows you to cool or heat some food or such, not freeze it or cook food completely. .
@@toddwardle4395 This spell is a minor magical trick that novice spellcasters use for practice. You create one of the following magical Effects within range.
• You create an Instantaneous, harmless sensory effect, such as a shower of sparks, a puff of wind, faint musical notes, or an odd odor.
• You instantaneously light or snuff out a Candle, a torch, or a small campfire.
• You instantaneously clean or soil an object no larger than 1 cubic foot.
• You chill, warm, or flavor up to 1 cubic foot of nonliving material for 1 hour.
• You make a color, a small mark, or a Symbol appear on an object or a surface for 1 hour.
• You create a nonmagical trinket or an illusory image that can fit in your hand and that lasts until the end of your next turn.
If you cast this spell multiple times, you can have up to three of its non-instantaneous Effects active at a time, and you can dismiss such an effect as an action.
the ice is the only effect it couldnt really do but its up to the dm to allow it
One of my favorite uses of minor illusion is hiding traps, such as covering a spike pit with an illusion of undisturbed ground or making an illusory sack of beans to hide a spring-loaded crossbow. Another is for use in performance checks; create the sound of a sick beat to accompany you while you shred on your lute!
Minor Illusion + Spider Climb + Ranged Character + Skulker feat
Make your little sniper nest & no one will know where your shots are coming from.
I know it’s a damage dealing cantrip, But I love the versatility of eldritch blast. Especially the ability to push people back into or through stuff. During a campaign, we used the spike growth combination you were talking about in a previous video I watched with the eldritch blast’s ability to push things back into the spikes if they ever got out.
This also worked amazingly with a wall of fire, splitting the enemy party, and then using eldritch blast to push enemies through it, or thorn whip to pull enemies back through it.
Villain: "Hah! I've cut the rope bridge, and you're out of spells! And your Mage Hand can't attack m-- what is it doing?"
Bard: "Oh, just carrying ten-pound bag of scorpions over to you. Hope that Mage Hand doesn't disappear and drop-- oopsie!"
Villain: "AARRRGHHH!! So many unanticipated scorpions!"
The question is who keeps 10 lbs of scorpions on hand as a just in case?!
@@jamesmerkel1932 only someone silly enough not to keep 20
Or use the hand to get the rope, then mending to fix the bridge.
@@jamesmerkel1932 Someone who likes a good time. "Scorpions, the spice of life!"
Would you allow mending for a finger that's cut off?
I made a Warlock/Sorcerer, and no lie, the thing I started to get most excited about was that I had like... 10+ cantrips.
Gosh. Pact of Tome?
My backup character is a Pact of the Tom Warlock and I am liking the 'any three cantrips from any class' feature.
@@tieflingking2920 Guidance, Spare the Dying and... what's the other you're going for? Lolol
@@ashenwuss1651 Well, the three I was thinking of were: Guidance, Druidcraft (now that I've seen this video), and Mending. Druidcraft was Thaumaturgy, but Druidcraft seems better for said back-up character's backstory. I'd take Spare the Dying, but we have a Cleric who does that often enough and two Paladins. We're pretty set against anything that doesn't insant-kill. Then again, I am playing a Sorcerer right now, so I have (by a wide margin) the lowest health and AC of the group. >_>
@@tieflingking2920 Druidcraft is great. I personally like using Thaumaturgy and Minor Illusion in combo with one another. Message and Disguise Self can create interesting dynamic. Say you're in a council meeting or going undercover for a few minutes or longer. You can divert attention and try to threaten someone if you habe great deception/performance when passing yourself off as someone else(Actor feat gives you advantage). Noe, you are tearing the people you invaded apart from the inside. Disguise self, then use friends on an npc, making the npc mad at the person you're guised as. Though, these might not fit your character. Meta gaming and roleplaying become conflicting for me when selecting Cantrips.
Excellent use of the Mending spell in our recent campaign: One of our party members used it to repair damage to our small fishing boat during combat with a large aquatic creature who was trying to kill us.
I used minor illusion 10 feet over a mayor to scare him into letting us in to the town by pretending to be the voice of god lol
Minor Illusion:
1. Lets your Kenku Talk.
2. Mock the BBEG as he Monolouges with his own Voice
3. Gather peoples attention by creating a scream
4. Create cover over yourself
5. Create a Cardboard Cut Out for low intelligent creatures.
6. Whisper a warning to an Allie about someone that they are talking to.
7. Threaten Someone with a Whisper that you don't like
8. Make someone think that they're going insane By whispering things to them
9. For Warlocks with Misty Visions Invocation You can combined them to make unlimited illusions of your choosing.
I mean, Kenku have Mimicry, and can string together different sets of words to make separate sentences and explain ideas, so they dont need minor illusion to talk.
Also, dont think they could be creative enough to do a few of these.
Edit: Just realized these dont all apply to a Kenku, lmao.
@@lockskelington314 Yeah, but that, frankly, would be Fail RP, imo.
@@lockskelington314 Just like how my kobold not obeying a dragon would be fail rp.
Speaking of the goblin cave in Phandelver - my players decided to use a combination of Dancing Lights and Minor Illusion to create a glowing figure of light in order to intimidate the goblins into giving up their captive without a fight. Naturally, the goblins rolled a 1 on insight. Thus began the legend of The Flaming One.
That was a lot smarter then my group. We just barreled in and killed everything in sight (ie got our asses kicked). That was a long and painful session, lol.
...but... we did get a swanky cave for a base right off the bat.
Mickey Mouse glove for me when I think of mage hand.
One of my favorite uses I've done with Druidcraft as a Ranger (magic initiate/variant ranger from Tasha's), is when navigating a catacomb, I looked for roots or other plants near various intersections as we explored and used Druidcraft to twist the roots in just a way of making an arrow showing which way towards the exit was. A small detail a lot of people would overlook, but it helped the party guarantee we would at the least know the way out even if we didn't know the way forward!
Once my wizard had to hike through a blizzard and I used prestidigitation to warm his coat to stave off the cold. You can warm or chill up to one cubic foot of non living material. Clothes and armor pieces are non living. Most clothes can be folded to meet the one cubic foot requirement. That volcano have you roasting in your armor? Cast prestidigitation and you can have up to three cubic feet of clothes or armor cooled for an hour. Cold night but can't have a fire for safety reasons? Prestidigitation can heat your coats and blankets.
I like using the sleeves of many garments in Pathfinder for the same purpose, because it can become any non-magical clothing. I don't know if they have a similar item in 5e, but if they do it would be great for stuff like this.
We're you a lizardfolk? A Lizard Wizard in a Blizzard?
Does the temperature increase last as long as the spell duration, or is it consistent with the natural tendency of heat transference to attain equilibrium?
I looked it up. It lasts one hour.
Just use heat metal
#Suggestion: keep the subject you're speaking about on the lower part of the screen while you are speaking about it (like the Cantrip's name).
That would be a super nice suggest. Occasionally I find myself rewinding to remember exactly what it is they're talking about.
@@thatmasochist6318 I did that three times in this video, 'cuz I was multitasking pretty badly at the time.
@@EmptyKingdoms I was in the same boat. had it playing while taking care of some things and lost track too. Had the same happen in the past when they go off on a tangent or something since I typically listen to them in the background
@@tomsienkowski6815 Me too!
On a sidenote, I listened (I really let them in the background while householding and all that jazz) to an earlier video of them, from around 2017, and they let the text onscreen during the whole topic discussion! Surprises me they dropped such a good design over the good-looking fadeout which has no actual practicity/usefulness to it besides looking good.
Unfortunately, they succeeded on that saving roll.
Message is criminally underrated.
It's so much fun being able to have private messages with NPCs even when they are in the middle of other players/NPCs, and being able to keep communication channels open with your rogue when they are sneaking ahead, etc, is worth it every time.
These are the reasons I love High Elves, Forest Gnomes, and Tieflings because they have a free cantrip built into them. I also love Humans ( V) so they could gain a feet to allow them to get free cantrips.
"I cast minor illusion to create an image of a rat!"
"... you can't, a rat is a creature."
"Uh... I cast minor illusion to create a realistic lifelike statue of a rat!"
DM: *LISTEN HERE YOU LITTLE SHIT*
Create a stuffed animal...
I cast minor illusion to create an image of a stuffed rat
conjuring up a life-like version of a creature seems like it'd reasonably be in play casting illusion. I think D&D DMs can reasonably handle a version of Bigmouth Billy Bass
I had the idea to create "An extremely realistic paper-mache rat that is totally indistinguishable from a normal rat."
Force the DM to decide on the weather. Once they're decided on a storm, use call lightning for extra damage.
As a Tempest cleric, I am now very sad we don't have a druid
Shape Water is my favourite, it can used to make shields by freezing water in sheets in front of allies, and the water/ice servants can be extremely useful. It's like a shield cantrip with the utility of mage hand, but better.
I’m legit sewing a blanket for one of my DnD players, and I have smiled through THIS ENTIRE VIDEO.
Thank you for sharing these cantrips. Mending is one of my all time favourite ones, and it makes me delighted to hear the unique ways you two have used these so creatively.
There’s one other cantrip that’s super underrated but extremely powerful in the right hands: Shape Water.
Think about it: if there’s a lock that’s giving you trouble, with a little bit of water, which you could probably provide with spit, you could shape the water into a key to unlock it, or move the water into the lock, freeze it, and just break it. If you don’t have a rogue to do the lockpicking for you, Shape Water is a goddamned godsend. Plus, it has the same range as Mage Hand, so you still wouldn’t be affected by traps, and you basically have a more versatile hand to do any jobs like that.
Why would you ever use magic to pick a lock? Just reduce the door
@@Aedi
Because picking a lock is far less blatantly obvious and is more conducive to stealth than just shrinking the door, which would break it and leave it completely useless as it would no longer even be attached to the hinges.
@@noneofyourbusiness2437 add in mending and no one will ever find out that the lock was broken once you're done
wouldn't a key made of ice break immediately after turning it in a lock?
@@jackdiddles4304 Whoever said anything about making a key? XD I was more thinking put the water in the lock, freeze it so it expands, crack the lock like a Chicago road in January, and open the chest.
Best way to decide if a twist on a spell's abilities should be allowed is to ask your players one simple question:
Would you be okay with your enemies being able to do this?
Even the most rules-abusive player should take pause at the idea that their characters' nemesis might use that same twist of power against them.
otherwise known as "giving the DM ideas"
@@handlebarfox2366 yup
Player: "No way any creature could come up with something this creative!"
Flayer: "Hold my Beer"
"This means the baddies can do it too" most famously used when asking if players want to use Flanking rules.
Me: “Guidance”.
My wife: “Hellish Rebuke!”
She listens to too many of my D&D videos! 😂
Smart girl
would guidance improve the damage hellish rebuke causing you to even more damage?
@@clintonbehrends4659 Knowing my wife, I’m sure!
Cackles
"A creature is not willing"
My favorite, is Mold Earth. I concocted what I call the Houdini Suicide escape plan with it.
Setup required: Be a Moon Druid.
1. Cast Mold Earth, to create a hole.
2. Drop flat in said hole.
3. Cast Mold Earth to move the previously excavated earth back into the hole, covering yourself.
4. Wild Shape into a burrowing animal, and tunnel to safety.
This is exactly why I always say: the best spells are utility spells.
Creativity, situational awareness, social intelligence, reasoning skills, etc...
- They just bring out the best in both the players and the dungeon master.🤗
So what I get from this video (as well as your others) is that anyone DMing for Kelly should never put a chandelier in a room unless they explicitly want it to be dropped on the badguys.
I will find any opportunity to blow things up, or drop things on enemies! It’s just so fun! - Kelly
I'd think any of several cantrips could be used to destroy the mounting of a chandelier, though. Acid Splash (could eat through a chain), Fire Bolt (if there is wood you can burn), Control Flames (again, needs wood), Mold Earth (to break its moorings from stone). So yeah, putting one over an enemy is basically asking for it to be dropped on them.
Let's be honest, if a DM explicitly states there's a chandelier, they want it to be dropped on someone
Just use the SHATTER spell on that chandelier and watch the ground for that invisible enemy to crush shards of glass under foot, revealing their location.
My friend's wizard did that in 3e and I have been using that trick ever since.
mending always seems like something that you really want when you dont have it, but when you do have it and you try and use it... ive never seen it work how people want it to. its the kind of spell that a DM will always nerf because its potentially so game breaking.
Great list and examples. I love seeing players use spells like this in creative ways, and am happy as DM to reward that creativity or help it along a little. My #6 useful cantrip might be Mold Earth. I've seen players use it in battle to create barriers or cover, as well as to slow down pursuers in a tight passage. And of course, it's great for quickly burying bodies when your murder hobos need to hide their handiwork.
Adding mold earth to my eldritch knight who started out as a survivalist gave him a BUNCH of flavour ways to do things.
One time, I cleared out a 40x40 wide and 60 deep hole with 10' of dirt on top. It was next to a small river and was strong enough for us to walk on top, but when the 20' tall flaming bear we were hunting walked over it, it CRASHED down the hole taking 6d6 fall damage.
Then during combat, I used another mold earth usage to move the earth holding back the river and caused a BUNCH of damage to the fire based creature as the river poured into the hole. I wasn't told how much damage it did. But it made an obvious difference in the fight and only cost me prep time to dig the hole.
What's your profile pic from?
“It’s going to be difficult for a single character to have all of the cantrips we list...”
*Looks down at my Tome Pact Warlock sheet*
“...unless your a Pact of the Tome Warlock.”
Toss in 1 level of sorc for an extra 4 cantrips (with other perks)
Souds like my "Captain Cantrip" Variant Human (magic initiate) 1 shadow Sorcerer/4 tome celestial with Spell Sniper. 12 Cantrips all Charisma based at lvl 5. I think 1-16 divine sorcerer/3 Hexblade/ 1 bard would make the most viable character. Medium Armor, all weapons, 6 sorcerer/cleric cantrips, 2 Warlock, 2 bard, 3 any, add devils sight and improved tome for ALL ritual casting. With 4 ASIs you can max Charisma and use 2 for feats like Magic Initiate, spell sniper, and if you use variant human somthing like tough might be another to consider. Now I'm gonna have to do a lvl 20 build for this.
I mean, I wasn't even really trying, and I have 3 of the 5 at level 4. As a note, if it matters to you, this is literally my first character ever.
It can also work with a divine soul sorcerer with the Magic Initiate feat for druid
You could also put magic initiate on top of that for more cantrips
Ay first time player here and first like to say- thank yall so much, you guys help me set up the character sheet but this is my second video of yours and i chose two of the five cantrips x3
This was a really great video, thank you for these creative ideas and information.
I love how they mentioned Gandalf's Intimidation. Re-watching Lord of the Rings since becoming a player/DM for a couple of years really helps you point out those little things: Merry's Nat 1 in Stealth (knocking the bucket/skeleton down the well), Gandalf drawing a blank at the 'Friendship' door (Failed history/knowledge roll), Frodo making Wisdom Saves to resist the Ring's influence or even Aragorn knowing about Kingsfoil and getting Sam to help him find it to help Frodo survive the Morgul Blade (Survival check).
But, does Mage Hand have fingerprints? CSI: Faerun
Why do you think arcane tricksters use it so much? No evidence
Lmfao
If I were a dm I'd rule yes or no on that entirely based on what makes the story more interesting.
I'd at least allow a spellcaster to attempt adding fingerprints to it on some sort of skill roll if they were trying to frame someone. I think probably it doesn't have fingerprints as a standard feature, because fingerprints aren't required for the function it fulfills. It doesn't make the story much more interesting if it's ruled that it's a copy of the caster's hand and therefore has the caster's fingerprints as that would just cause a nefarious caster to make the mage hand wear a glove every time they were committing a crime.
A Warlock having a mage hand that has the fingerprints of a demon (or other horrific entity) or a necromancer with a mage hand that turns out to have the fingerprints of a dead person could be an interesting plot hook.
I know we are talking about magic, but -- if I'm not wrong --, scientifically no, because the mage hand is a magical hand, not a human hand or a similar creature's hand. Unless it is some sort of copy of the casters hand. Or maybe it has arcane text or something that translates to "Mage Hand" or the caster's name, or last name instead of fingerprints. Idk, that would be interesting.
I feel like the investigator just needs a high arcana roll
I have a Druid of the Circle of Wildfire and Control Flames is super handy and versatile.
I use it to minimize the consequences of his pyromanianic impulses. Its useful to clean up bushes, help with Stealth rolls by minimizing the light of the torches, make intimidations more effective by scarring the victim with the image of a skull coming from a flame, and very useful to spread fire on the battlefield.
Control flames is usually an under valued cantrip.
The cleaning and soiling effect, and the reflavouring effect, are my favourite parts of prestidigitation.
My noblewoman has prestidigitation almost entirely to make sure she isn't caught covered in mud and blood, but she is mischievous enough to occasionally soil the clothes of others or make the food they're eating taste like a million Scoville units of spice.
The minor illusion box sounds really fun.
Weather: Choose a location on Earth that represents the appropriate climate.
Pick a "zero date" in the appropriate season 3 or 4 years ago. look up the weather. Now you can predict the weather for months
This is brilliant. Have to steal this.
I don’t get it...must be missing something?
@@kevinlewis675 Pick a real place and a time 4 years back, look up weather at that place and during that time.
WHO ARE YOU WHO ARE SO WISE IN THE WAYS OF SCIENCE?!
I have used Prestidigitation to cause more destruction than any fireball. Yes, it starts a small fire... that I ensure becomes a raging inferno and causes utter chaos. My bard carried tinder bundles for this kind of thing.
I also used it to get a Giant Badger to spit me out by flavoring my pants to taste like skunk arse.
Hands down it's the best spell in the game.
Oh, good idea. I have 5 flasks of oil already, but I did need more things to spend this useless gp on.
By the way, chickens cost 2 cp. *2 cp*. Alright I have 10 spare gold... what to spend it on? How about *500 chickens*?
@@nomdeplume9590 and then sic them on people like it's the legend of Zelda
@@grapefruittango4707 Yeah that's the plan... 200 chickens making attack rolls.
@@nomdeplume9590 When does the fire happen?
put all of your chickens in a bag of holding, then just turn it inside out with Mage hand on top of the enemy?
Guidance is probably my favorite cantrip in 5e, it's such a nice boost to rolls and has so many great roleplaying possibilities for the verbal component and the flavor of how the target gains the bonus
Yea, if I could bring a few DnD spells into reality, I would definitely put Mending and Guidance at the top of my list, along with Prestidigitation and maybe Mage Hand if I had enough cantrip slots or could take the Telekinetic feat froM Tasha's. Never need to replace comfy shoes, never need to do laundry, never need to carry a lighter. Mending would save me lots of money at the mechanic shop. Guidance would make a person an excellent tutor, or improve skills at any craft. Prestidigitation cleans soiled objects, so no more doing dishes or scraping and scrubbing the pet litter boxes. And Mage Hand would get lots of use picking up dropped screws, sweeping out deep under cabinets, and holding a flashlight.
Add to that some low level rituals like Unseen Servant, Speak with Animals, and Leomund's Tiny Hut...
Apparently if I had DnD magic I'd just become a hermit.
I always liked to use casting time as a component. I had to do the cleaning chore in a skull and shackles campaign as a bard. and I used prestidigitation to clean 5 foot squares. and I did the math and was like "how big is this room i'm supposed to clean." "oh cool it only takes me 2 and a half hours to clean it instead of ALL DAY. and the DM was very accepting of me using cantrips like that.
That's a big ass room. Assuming 5 foot squares, you're cleaning 25 square feet every 6 seconds. That's 37,500 square feet in 2.5 hours. The average mansion is about 8,000 square feet so you cleaned the equivalent of 4.5 mansions in 2.5 hours.
@@havok8570, combine Prestidigitation with Mending and you're the ultimate maid, making big money during down time activities.
@@carsonrush3352 basically, prestedigitation is the ultimate money making spell. Who needs wish when you have prestedigitation to make you millions
@@havok8570 actually as per combat rounds you can only cast prestigitation once per round. A six second time period so cleaning 25 feet would take about thrity seconds
@@Desdemona-XI 5 foot squares are 5 foot by 5 foot. That's 25 square feet. To measure square feet, you multiply legth times width. That's why it's called square feet. So prestedigitation cleans 25 square feet every 6 seconds
Omg. Mending and Prestidigitation for cleaning and fixing shoes! Every skateboarders dreams!
Sounds like a guild might be able to use these two together to negate living expenses at a common level...
@@royherb3842 Depending on location and business when you first move there, plus additional gold, you could probably do better than common. At least in Faerun
This & performance is how my bard uses his down time to earn money. Also, since he travels, this is useful combo EVERYWHERE.
@@skelyjack3899 The gracious Bard that repaired the whole world's shoes, on every plane of exisistence and in every multiverse. All are grateful, noble one. Sorry for all the stinky ones.
Just open up a shop that is a combination cleaners & repair shop in a large town or bigger and rake it in!!!
Loved the video. Perhaps a follow-up that outlines the best cantrip choices for each separate caster class would be great to see.
My wife and I are in our first campaign now, she’s a Druid and is constantly handing people flowers and we all love it lol
Every DM who has had a really creative player with presdigitation will really love and absoluetly hate that spell.
Arcane Trickster Rogue that takes Magic Initiate to get Prestidigitation, and uses it solely to make guards undergarments soiled, combined with a minor illusion of a fart sound.
@@44R0Ndin sadly that's not the first time I've heard/had this idea happen.
I love that prestigitation says that you can make a harmless sensory effect, I'm going to use it for my next char to make someone feel a chill up their spine as I try to intimidate them
Mold Earth is one of my favorite cantrips. You can use it to set up your own custom pit traps for ambushes, and then use the Gust cantrip to push enemies into it. I had a Lizardfolk Circle of Spores Druid who would make 40 ft pit traps with javelins harvested from defeated monsters and then would add a small alcove at the bottom he would place a zombie in that had instructions to attack whatever fell in.
The dude just made a self cleaning trap... Give that man some inspiration!
In a homebrew game I'm in, we were in a grand tournament in the central kingdom. One of the challenges was diving underwater and picking up a corresponding stone. My tiefling went under and cast thaumaturgy to produce harmless tremors that raised the sand and silt in the ocean to make it blurry for the other competitors.
With Druidcraft, Prestidigitation, Minor Illusion, and Mage Hand you can become the David Copperfield of D&D.
I personally feel that message is an often underrated cantrip. When you are trying to be sneaky and maintain group communication and coordination it can be invaluable.
One great example is trying to ambush an enemy and your group splits up to approach them from multiple sides in order to flank them. You are going to want to coordinate the attack and shouting is obviously out of the question if you want to remain hidden, relying on physical gestures is questionable at best and makes you more likely to be seen. Use message and you can basically whisper back and forth from up to 120' away. Problem solved.
If you have a group that is big into tactical gameplay or loves being sneaky, message could end up being one of the most important tools in your caster's bag of tricks.
TouchandFeel Yes! This saved my party’s butts constantly in a campaign I was in.
I count the 4 "m's"- Mage Hand, Mending, Message, Minor Illusion... absolutely amazing spells
Also it has public uses too as noone else can hear your message or the reply. Unlike sending which does not actually have that annotation as i remember.
I have a drow rogue and I took the time to teach my party the drow sign language to help exactly this
I was playing a superhero themed campaign, and everyone had message and we just used it as a comms system
I wish I could get my current campaign party to watch you guys and some of the other dungeoneers here on TH-cam. You explain shit really well for newbies and it helps remind me I need to be more patient.
Simultaneously though it'd be awesome if they all learned their spells and abilities lolol
I feel so happy watching this video and reading the comments! So much creativity!
I guess that you could say that he made the orc beer magically delicious
One thing that gets overlooked often is the non-damaging part of Firebolt. Setting any flammable (non-worn/carried) item on fire from 120' away? There are tons of creative uses for that, especially if you prepare ahead of time. Most places have a lot of flammable things around, and 120' is a significant range. (More if you have spell sniper.)
Ships are mostly just big tinderboxes, waiting for an open flame. Canvas sails, wooden everything, lacquer and oil, maybe even barrels of gunpowder.
Fully agree on each and every one of these. Guidance was the first cantrip I picked for my cleric, and I use it pretty much every session.
One of my favourite uses I’ve seen for prestidigitation was when a party member dirtied an enemy’s sword, he specified that their weapon would be covered in feces. It’s a nice way to get them to drop their weapon
I had a warlock who was based heavily around illusions, cause you could pick up Silent Image as a cantrip with the invocations, and a fun loophole /combination that I would often do was to use Silent Image to make a large moving creature or object and reinforce that trick with sound from Minor Illusion (since it doesn't require concentration).
Wow! I love these Dungeons of Drakkenheim episodes! I realize this video isn't one of them. You two are so great at relating every moment of detail in every video. Monty, I relate with your Gming style. Because it my experience that if you don't work with the players, the players will not work with you to tell your/their story. I did 12 years in prison for a stupid thing I did for selfish gain, and it completely turned my perception of humanity within my self and within others around. That was 15 years go. I have not and will not ever make that same mistake twice. But, it was my 2nd year in prison when I discovered dungeons and dragons. 2005. It was 3.5. I told stories every day. For 10 years. Your sessions remind me so much of those days when we would take out our book, roll our homemade dice, and enter into another place and time. I never knew real friends until I learned dungeons and dragons. Thank you so much.
I always used Prestidigitation with my Bard to make little illusionary music notes appear as she played her lute.
Its like being at a concert on hallucinogens.
I'm stealing this
Oh my gosh I did something similar as a arcane trickster! There was a man passed out in the bar, my DM wad trying to tempt me to steal his money but instead I put little music notes floating around his head making little twittering noises, it was hilarious
I used shape water to augment my College of Swords bard's sword dance performance. Kubo was the inspiration for the character so I started the performance with his Kubo's monologue. I couldn't resist.
While Mage Hand visible to most, the Arcane Trickster sub-class can make it invisible and use Sleight of hand so you can try to deactivate traps from a distance.
I've used thaumaturgy several times as a Tiefling to add to my intimidation attempts with the booming voice effect. It saved our skin when I was able to intimidate an Orc chieftain into backing down and getting out of our way.