Prestidigi-Dry-Cleaning
Prestidigitation sucks and I hate it. It’s by far the most obnoxious spell in the book. Here’s why.
When you gift a player with the ability to do anything they can imagine, that power tends to go to their head. Just take a look at its ability to conjure a puff of wind. That ought to represent a dramatically billowing cape or some strewn papers. Used irresponsibly, it instead becomes, “I knock the assassin’s hood over her eyes. Save versus blindness!” Same deal with the ability to slowly lift 1 pound of material. That fun and flavorful parlor trick somehow morphs into a combat maneuver. “I levitate the material components out of the necromancer’s hands! The spell fizzles!”
Note that prestidigitation does not come with any kind of saving throw. If you’re a new player, and if you’re looking at this spell for the first time, it’s natural to assume that it “just happens.” This despite the fact the words harmless and cannot deal damage appear in the spell’s various incarnations. This leads straight to the feels-bad moment where your GM has to tell you, “Your clever idea is against the rules.” Talk about poor design!
That’s not even the worst offense though. As Paladin so rightly points out in today’s comic, prestidigitation has zero opportunity cost. That means laundromats shouldn’t exist in your world. It means that any apprentice mage can combine ray of frost with the “flavor up to 1 cubic foot of nonliving material” option to open up their own Mage-Pop stand. It means writing “kick me” on the back of your rogue, painting a mustache on the evil noblewoman’s face, and suffering through attempts to transform “faint musical notes” into a full-on orchestral performance.
All of which make prestidigitation a “look at me” spell. Prima donna type players love nothing better than spamming this cantrip to keep attention centered on themselves. That’s what’s happening with the conspicuously-clean Sorcerer in that otyugh lair. Every five feet it’s another, “I cast prestidigitation! My clothes are spotless once again.” Meanwhile the rest of the Anti-Party are left to soldier on through the sludge, hoping that Sorcerer succumbs to filth fever soon.
In short, prestidigitation is a terrible spell that no one should ever use under any circumstances. Go on, name one thing that it’s good for. I dare you! >_>
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Well, there was this one time the two goblins in our party tried to steal Tyr’s armor. As they were running away, Quip cast Prestidigitation and turned the armor bright pink with red hearts. I don’t remember what he was trying to do with it. The other goblin decided to cast Stinking Cloud instead.
I guess he thought goblins wouldn’t want silly-looking armor…? Seems pretty legit to me.
Quip is one of the goblins. He was the one that thought he was a dragon and multiclassed into a druid so he could wild shape into one.
I’m sorry to break it to you, Sorcerer, but Oracle is a Charisma-based caster too, and she gets bonus points for being tiny. Face it, you’re redundant.
If you have a problem with a player overusing prestidigitation, might I suggest a bit of public shaming? After all, as far as an average NPC is concerned, the spell is used for cleaning and making the food taste better. And if that’s what most people see the character do all the time… Well, they might just end up getting renamed to “Magic Maid”.
It starts innocently enough, with some snickering from already hostile nobles
-Soon it spreads to the streets, with hecklers laughing and joking every time prestidigitation is cast in public
-Eventually the rumor takes on the life of it’s own and a large portion of the population actually believing it to be true. After all, by that point the party is probably rich and famous, it makes sense that even their Valet would be a spellcaster. “That’s where you’re going? Your masters must pay you mighty well, cause there’s no way I’d ever agree to go somewhere half as dangerous for the pittance I’m getting!”
I actually think that’s the primary reason you seldom see magical laundry services being offered – a Wizard’s apprentice is still a Wizard after all, and their inherent haughtiness would more often than not prevent them from acting as the town’s glorified wash maid.
Head canon accepted.
Technically they’re as represented as the DM wants them to be – and the rules specifically list magic laundry as a service.
https://www.aonprd.com/EquipmentMiscDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Laundry%20(magic)
I can see apprentice mages using the magic laundry business to:
A) Get easy funding for their expensive books, writing materials, ingredients and other wizardly stuff.
B) Practice magic via repetitive action. Wax on, wax off, and whatnot.
C) Earn a living/meal in a way that won’t get them horribly maimed by goblins, run out of town, arrested, or their back broken due to sucking at physical tasks.
In other words, apprentice wizards are college freshmen that just moved out of their parents house and are on their own financially.
I am kinda fond of the “look at me, I am better than you” cantrip-type spells, because they are a nice easy way to create intra-party resentment over basically nothing 😀
In first edition WFRP there was a funny cantrip called “protection from rain”, that had no mechanical effect, literally only doing what it said it the title, yet without fail every Wizard took it for that moment when they could lord their dryness over their rain-soaked companions during a lengthy trudge through mountains or marshland (there was even a funny picture next to the spell of a smug wizard standing next to a sodden and very resentful-looking companion).
I consider these spells the early-level means (when the Wizard player is basically a flimsy piece of useless luggage for the party) of getting to feel that little bit superior. Its less a thing now with 5th ed’s combat cantrips, but back when your wizard had one Magic Missile a day, an AC that was basically an auto-hit for anyone (who wasn’t also a Wizard) and d4 hit points, these spells are vital for getting that ‘I am awesome’ feeling. Because otherwise, they are unlikely to get that feeling any other way until they finally get their grubby hands on Fireball.
Part of being a quadratic wizard is starting out in the basement. Where it is smelly. And unpleasant. And no, the drippy pipes over your head don’t count as “rain.”
That’s what makes fireball so satisfying when it finally comes online.
I’m with Glorthindel. When my entire contribution to the day is made in the number of Color Sprays I can memorize, let me have something. Ooh, I can waste crossbow bolts and have a chance of dealing damage in the range of 1d4 without putting myself in mortal danger of death by housecat. At least I get to be clean. Though, honestly any wizard should be able to start rightfully contributing when she gets Flaming Sphere and Invisibility.
But I have to admit that I’m that gal that also took Cleanliness and Contraceptive Protection in Anima, so I may just have a weakness for better living through higher sorcery.
I feel like the phrase “I’m With Glorfindel” ought to be a bumper sticker.
I’ve got a buddy who insists that any “real” fantasy world army would be full of multiclassing. Any soldier out in the field would want to pick up a level in cleric or wizard, if only for the quality of life spells while on the march.
Speaking of which, it’s become a running joke in my Mutants and Masterminds “Hero High” game that one player’s rival has pretty much every useful spell he doesn’t. A player built a combat heavy mage with lots of different damage spells and Afflictions, even a Move object and a Create in there. But he missed Concealment, Illusion, and a few other more minor effects and I’ve had fun with his rival showing him up with 1 point feature “cantrips” and other little tricks. It’s been a real source of laughs in the game.
On the comment of laundromats not existing – they actually do! For the low price of 1gp, any Adventurer can have their clothes cleaned with magic – specifically, an apprentice mage using prestidigitation. The alternative is the slow, mundane process, but it costs 1cp instead, which is far more affordable. It’s listed in the goods and services table.
https://www.aonprd.com/EquipmentMiscDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Laundry%20(magic)
As for legitimate useful uses for the spell, my Ratfolk with cleanliness regularly uses it to clean one’s fur and belongings, as befitting their cleanliness racial.
Other useful uses include the ‘alter the taste/color of something’ part, to make an otherwise unappealing food tasty, to pull pranks, win eating bets (or easen a lost bet), or potentially hide an ingested poison.
I bow to your superior knowledge of the “Hireling or Service” table.
I had a discussion with a buddy on the subject of flavoring. Like… How extensive is the re-flavoring option on prestidigitation? Can I make a small stone taste like a jawbreaker? Or more importantly… Can I completely disguise the taste of poison? Or is “flavor” a minor effect like “the soup tastes mildly better?” You see? It’s a horribly designed spell!
If anything, it’s like having a salt and pepper shaker with you wherever you go. And given salt is highly expensive in ye olde times, that’s actually quite a luxury for yourself.
If this were a cartoon, there would definitely be glowing salt and pepper shakers hovering above the cook pot.
Where are these rules for detecting poison by taste you speak of? I believe D&D and Pathfinder say “is it in your mouth? You ingested it, make a save.”
Perception rules in pf1e:
It’s an unknown substance in a bottle. Why wouldn’t you use the “standard potion identification method?” At that point I rule that you get to identify the poison and save against it.
It’s pretty good for making sure you don’t contract Filth Fever, I’ll assure you of THAT! Y’know what’s MORE useful for that though?
An actually-functional con-save.
Just had my buddies wade through a swimming pool of gore in Strange Aeons, trying to find treasure beneath the blood and entrails and such. They were surprised when they found saves vs. filth fever. If one of them had asked if prestidigitation could have helped… I’m honestly not sure if I’d have given it to ’em. Maybe a +1 to the save?
So… wait, they’re casting Prestidigitation while in and under the filthy water and expecting it to help?
I mean, if it was a case of “make rolls every [TIME INCREMENT]” and they got clean before the [TIME INCREMENT] came about, that’s one thing. But if they’re getting the roll because they //spent// 10 minutes in the gore, well…
/me laughs in cruel GM…
We’ve had it used to clean up wounds and provide bonuses to heal checks in pathfinder. Use it to make the party look reasonable for a party after swamp trudging. (The lizardfolk were roasting bullywug.)
Helping test what looks better on formal functions that we’ve been to for other folks in a fancy party.
Sweep away a bbeg that was soul drained to (dust) oblivion for the paladins wall to keep for later in a jar.
Its easy to be a personal vanity spell, but often can be good role play opportunity to bond in the same. Its all with the player, not the spell.
As in cleaning the site of the wound? I can dig it. Was it just an automatic “aid another” bonus?
Nope. No good uses. None of them. *Stuffs fingers in ears*
Nope, we had someone else actually doing the aid another.
But yeah, far too often, its the title, one using to look pretty.
Heck, one player asked for it after being stuck in the angelic t-rexs mouth tonight, throwing down healing potions and being fastballed out vs a lot of clay golems.
But I can’t complain, good players aid, bad players hoard.
I can dig it. In theatrical terms, it’s all about being a good ensemble player rather than a prima donna.
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Well, it does cost an action. I know what you mean, but that does limit it in combat somewhat.
Out of combat I love prestidigitation, because it represents what I would really do if I could cast spells – make little changes so that my life is just that bit easier.
Not sure what happened in my previous comment. I was trying to quote As Paladin so rightly points out in today’s comic, prestidigitation has zero opportunity cost.
I feel like there should be a d1000 table for uses of prestidigitation.
…
And one google later:
https://www.reddit.com/r/d100/comments/d9p86r/lets_build_d100_uses_for_prestidigitation_cantrip/
While I understand your gripe, I feel like there are things that mute its abilities. First, it’s an action, meaning it takes a fair bit of the action economy. Second. It only has a range of 10 feet, and most casters don’t want to get into that kind of range. Finally, the first sentence of its description reads “This spell is a minor magical trick that novice spellcasters use for practice”. A ‘trick’ is something that wouldnt have large effect on the world around it. “I lift the necromancers material components out of his hand” well it’s not happening fast or with much force so he just grabs it as a reaction. “I blow the assassins hood over her head” nah you would need more than just a light gust of air to do that, plus hoods are usually designed not to cover the wearers eyes.
Ultimately, as the DM I think its your job to reign in player behavior when necessary, and one way you can do that is by giving consequences to actions. Got a sorcerer causing a lot of trouble? Have them arrested.
How dare you make reasonable suggestions!
But naw, everyone knows it’s a great spell that offers creative opportunities. Rather than spending a blog saying that, I wanted to bring up the one thing that prestidigitation is bad at. It’s the kind of spell that says “you get to be creative” and then forces a GM to say, “No, not that creative.” It’s not a huge deal, but I have seen it happen often enough that I thought it was worth the discussion.
In other words: How do you diplomatically tell a player who just came up with a brilliant idea that, well actually, according to the rules, your ideas are bad and your face is dumb?
I think your problem isn’t with Prestidigitation, it’s with players misusing and overusing Prestidigitation – and players like that would be doing the same thing with a different ability if Prestidigitation didn’t exist, and you would still be just as annoyed.
“This leads straight to the feels-bad moment where your GM has to tell you, “Your clever idea is against the rules.” Talk about poor design!”
When a player is trying to do something that’s against the rules, that’s on them for wanting to break the rules, not the GM for enforcing them. As you said, the rules in Prestidigitation are quite clear that it’s harmless.
“Every five feet it’s another, “I cast prestidigitation! My clothes are spotless once again.” ”
Again, this is on the player for being an ass, not the spell for being used. What they SHOULD be doing is saying ‘I’ll use Prestidigitation as we go to keep myself as clean as I can’, and then they get the character moment of not wanting to be dirty without monopolizing the table. Them NOT doing that is their fault, not the spell’s.
It’s a fair cop, but I don’t think spell is as clear-cut as all that. There are enough corner cases buried in creating objects, for example, that GMs will have to make a judgement call. In that sense, this may be the first spell new players encounter where “I want to do the thing” runs up against a GM’s “I won’t allow it.” The instinct is to bend the rule to allow the cool moment, but that in turn makes prestidigitation a “least wish” spell if it goes unchecked. These are considerations that go beyond the individual player.
Spells cannot affect items worn, held or carried by creatures unless the spell specifies it, as they are protected by the person’s “aura”.
Instant solution for op tricks. Players could still come up with clever stuff (like dropping a 1 pound brick from very high above), but apart from maybe asking for a skill check, it should be awarded for creativity. At least the first time.
Agreed. But like I said right above this comment, the good GMing advice of “allow creativity” risks turning prestidigitation into a “least wish” spell if it goes unchecked. Choosing when and how to reign it in is more art than science, but for my money it’s an interesting thought experiment for GMs.
Is it just me or are all the charisma-based characters of this comic a big bunch of jerks?
What sorcerer doesn’t realize is that being the cute little brother is grounds for getting his head dunked and/or fed sewage by an older and much more physical capable ‘older brother’.
To be fair, most of the non-charisma-based characters in the comic are also jerks.
You take that back! Magus is a total sweetheart!
https://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/base-classes/magus/archetypes/paizo-magus-archetypes/eldritch-scion/\
I mean, she has to be. Girl definitely isn’t Int-based.
No idea what her bloodline would be though….
I was once a player in a group with a “Prestidigitation can do anything” player. (He wasn’t a newbie, he was just a powergamer with a compulsion to push the envelope as far as he could.) Later, he became DM for a 5e campaign and the party unanimously decided NOT to take Prestidigitation (which he was prepared to let do whatever), just to annoy him.
I feel like that group would fit in well in Handbook-World.
Magus is a Cat(folk). Cats are generally known for being jerks as they get older. Cute, but jerks. She is adorable sweetheart for now, sure, but…
As for the bloodline… Sphinx seems logical for a catfolk (sort of). Arcane, Martyr, vestige are ‘generic’. Kyton makes sense, but only with the ‘other’ handbook as context. :3
Sphinx makes sense. I was considering the fey bloodline for “leaping charger” too. That seems pretty cat-like.
I thought Divine Soul Sorcerer was “The cute one”, and Wild Magic Sorcerer was the “Wildcard who is actively detrimental to the group, and there’s no reason to keep them around.”.
I should point out the Prestidigitation can clean clothes, but not flesh.
So despite what High Elves tell you, Prestidigitation is not a substitute for regular bathing. Despite what other Elves will tell you, bathing once a decade is not enough. There’s a reason the term “Smelf” (Or smells as bad as an Elf) exists. Depending on whether or not he was raised in Elven culture WMS might smell reaaaaaaaly bad.
You’re not wrong. But I should point out that that’s exactly the kind of “technically correct” that shuts down new players and stifles creativity.
“I clean myself off.”
“You can’t! You’re not an object.”
“Bite me.”
“You don’t have a bite attack.”
I like the worldbuilding it includes, such as High Elves (Being hipsters, and therefore smelly, which is contrasted by Wood Elves who are hippies and therefore smelly) all innately knowing it because they all know a cantrip, all using it to clean their clothes, but refusing to bathe as a result.
I specifically have a High Elf hobo (Sage/Agent/Psi) who has a magic item that makes him smell better.
What he doesn’t have is a way to magically make him clean, so he is like Pig Pen from the Peanuts, just a ‘fresh and woodsy’ smelling Pig Pen…
How about the Sorcerer using to keep himself clean and then cleaning the party ranger, who he liked, after he fell into a kobold…refuse pit. I instantly made a friend for the entire campaign (Cause really, cleaning all that leather armor, the bow, the arrows off…yeesh). Then the Barbarian fell in (Who my character didn’t like) and my Sorcerer was able to leverage cleaning him to make the Barbarian stop running into situations that would almost kill him. It’s also a great RP spell with the whole “Clean or despoil” tagline so using it to muddy up the pretentious Bad Guy to drive him berserk and not thinking also works.
But mostly I like it for bribery/blackmail “I’ll clean off all that expensive gear so it doesn’t rust, but if you charge in again without thinking you’re gonna be chaffing ALL DAY LONG.”
The group mom.
“Ugh! I just cleaned that barbarian! A sorcerer’s job is never doen….”
I’ve had a single good use of the spell that made sense. A player got swallowed whole by a giant turtle and was just being kept in it’s mouth while grappling with the tongue. They used the flavoring part to make their clothing taste of rot and feces then let the tongue grab them. It made sense and was by all means harmless, nothing really forced the turtle to spit them out but given it’s an animal it wouldn’t want to eat something that tasted like that. So they saved themselves with it.
Nice! That’s the kind of clever play I’m happy to reward, especially if they manage to cast the silly thing through a concentration check.
One of my favorite 5E characters I’ve played was a dignified old professor of magic named Ambrose Hullis who had spent his whole life studying magical theory and was finally getting out into the world to put it into practice (thus explaining why he was level 1.) A consistent part of his characterization was that he had a teacup and saucer he carried around with him and he would put water in it and then use Prestidigitation to make it taste like tea.
That’s adorable and I love it.
Prestidigitation isn’t a counterspell. It can’t be cast in time to lift material components out of a necromancer’s hands, unless the necromancer’s taking more than an action to cast. Likewise, knocking an assassin’s hood over her eyes isn’t a save versus blindness, it’s a distraction that can be countered with an incidental to no net mechanical gain.
As to the utility, not too long ago I was in a short campaign set in a city on a hot day. My sorcerer used it to cool down the clothing of someone the party was trying to impress. It helped. As noted above, it could be considered an auto-successful (in exchange for a creative enough description to amuse the DM) aid another action.
But I specifically readied an action! I said so last turn! Waaaaah!
It’s not counterspell, its better. Within a radius of 10 feet, you can materialize any small non-magical trinket, even without direct line of sight to the target. Of course, good wizards use this to place balls in the assistant’s mouth, or to put scarves in their ears during magic shows. But, nothing prevents you from telling someone who you don’t really like “don’t breathe” and materialize a ball in his throat, or an easily opening box with glass dust in his lungs. If you used the “READY” action and stated that you would do the prestidigitation by responding to the spell casting, you simply deprive the enemy of the opportunity to read the verbal component of the spell.
From the word “trinket,” I’m guessing your talking about the 5e version.
Pathfinder 1e protects against these shenanigans in its conjuration rules:
https://www.d20pfsrd.com/Magic/#Conjuration
Regardless of system though, I’m disinclined to allow a 0-level spell to pour glass dust into an enemy’s lungs. I know my players would cry bloody murder if an enemy caster did the same to them.
Yes, I thought it was about 5e. I think it really good as for emergency counterspells in a desperate situation. Bloody murder still does not work out, since the trinket is demoterized if you move away from the caster or wait for the end of his next move. In order to really strangle the enemy, the villain will have to spend a lot of time catching up with the victim and recreating the dust again and again at the beginning of each of his turns (it will take much less time to take a similar amount of health with standard damaging cantrips. Unless of course you want to play a sadistic psychopath from King’s books).
All i got from today comic is that Paladin smells like teen spirit, and not in the nirvana way. Surely that is because Nirvana is a NG plane 😀
Good comment. I chuckled.
You are welcome, and thanks for deleting the double comment 🙂
Have you think of using the spell to clean the BBEG clothes so he sees that there is still goodness in the universe and decides to defect from evil? Our DM once propuse us that, we didn’t like the idea 🙂
I might allow it to “aid another” on a Diplomacy/Persuasion roll, but so could saying, “I’d like to aid on this roll.”
Actually, I think its Lawful Neutral
Well, i don’t remember how the plane behaves in D&D, but in pathfinder we got this: https://pathfinderwiki.com/wiki/Nirvana
And i quote:
“Nirvana is a neutral middle ground between the chaos of Elysium and authority of Heaven […]”. Neutral. between chaos and authority, order.
As i said, i don’t remember how the plane behaves in D&D, and i feel too lazy right now to look at, but the lawful neutral plane wasn’t Mechanicus or something like that? You know, if it’s lawful neutral it will be about order and law specifically 🙂
In any case my comment was a joke about that song “Smells like teen spirit” by Nirvana, the band. Yep, i am that old 🙁
IIRC Mechanus was called Nirvana in the early editions of D&D
There’s another perspective on how Prestidigitation should be erasing all sorts of industry from the world: that only works if there are common enough casters, AND said casters aren’t too big of selfish dicks to do it.
As for uses, any campaign with black powder should take note of the following use for Prestidigitation:
“• You instantaneously light or snuff out a candle, a torch, or a small campfire.”
As one player successfully argued, dynamite is just a candle made out of not-wax.
That may be the reason I gave the pirates in my setting ballistae instead of cannons: https://www.handbookofheroes.com/archives/comic/explosives
Related to this, my headcanon for the charisma stat in regard to how it affects appearance is that it doesn’t derermine the actual physical shape or condition of a character’s actual body or face but it does affect how well groomed and well dressed they are
I always thought the “force of personality” thing was on-point for Charisma.
Comeliness on the other hand…. https://rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/105939/where-is-the-info-on-comeliness
you can do a „one hour delay“ Fireball by creating a fragile object to balance one bead of a Necklace of Fireballs over the edge of a table.
That’s very clever.
I’m not sure that the beads work like that (is it a “use activated item” or what?) but I’d certainly allow it.
„end of the trajectory“ sounds like „on impact“ or „when it stops moving after free fall“
but if the object is strong enough to hold or just precariously balance an alchemist fire: that thing exploding should be enough as a distraction or to set other things on fire.
This is the bit that’s tripping me up:
https://www.d20pfsrd.com/Magic-items/#Using_Items
I’m not sure whether the necklace is use-activated or a special case. If it’s use activated, the magic only triggers with intent. That might mean it has to be ‘hurled up to 70 feet’ to do anything rather than simply falling off the nightstand.
But like I said: That’s the kind of ruling that makes players roll their eyes. I’d rather support the creative thing.
it certainly is a special case: you don’t want to use a fireball within tent.
more seriously though: the intent for activation and the standard action are done the moment the bead is removed from the necklace. The bead itself is not a magic item, it’s the means of delivery of the spell effect.
I largely use Prestidigitation (along with Mending) to keep clothes clean and in good shape. Because how many times have you seen a character sheet on it with several sets of common/traveler’s clothes? Yeah, never. Think about it. Trudging through the wilderness, sewers, fighting monsters and undead all the time. You’re not only keeping your party looking good and smelling fresh, you’re probably saving your fantasy world from all sorts of new diseases! =P
I also use it to flavor food. Especially to circumvent “Create Food & Water”‘s stupid “flavorless” ruling. Because yeah, a cantrip can make food ANY flavor you want but a spell that costs actual spell slots can’t create any flavor at all? Why? Because a few old timers back before any of us were born decided that’s how the spell should work for everyone for all time because that’s what fit with their personal game? Yeah thanks, but no thanks arbitrary anti-fun police of the past.
Also sometimes I just use it to color stuff. Mainly light from torches or lamps. Or hair or eyes. Because…. fun. It’s what the spell is meant to be used for afterall.
I asked this in another part of the thread, but I’d be curious about your take on the subject of flavoring. Like… How extensive is the re-flavoring option on prestidigitation? Can I make a small stone taste like a jawbreaker? Or more importantly… Can I completely disguise the taste of poison? Or is “flavor” a minor effect like “the soup tastes mildly better?”
I think it’d be pretty extensive.
Sure it can make a rock taste like a jawbreaker. Of course it still doesn’t feel like a jawbreaker. (I mean yes, jawbreakers are very hard but they’re also smooth and not gritty the way rocks are. And I mean ok maybe you could trick some idiot in biting down on a rock. On the other hand you could have tricked the same idiot into harming their teeth trying to bite down on an actual jawbreaker to the same effect.)
I don’t see why it wouldn’t be able to disguise the taste of poison. Do you know what poison tastes like? And are alive? How? And how is that any different than disguising it with seasons and other flavors normally?
Of course it somewhat matters on what you’re going for. If you’re suddenly in an iron chef battle, you should probably still need to roll for your Cook’s Utensil’s and/or Performance checks to see how good a job you did. But if you’re just running around adventuring with no stakes, why say no to peppering up that steak? 😉
Hey, if you can identify the powers of a potion through taste (15 + the potion‘s caster level) then I assume you can do the same for poison. I also see no problems with tasting poison.
Well of course you don’t after you tasted that blindness poison. =P
My biggest issue with the big P spell is that people think you are just instantly doing a thing. You aren’t. I don’t think I’ve seen a version that doesn’t require verbal and somatic components. They are always a standard so… That means you are speaking and wiggling fingers for at least a solid two to three seconds. That’s actually a fairly long time. No one is gonna miss that. It’s not a reaction. It’s a whole thing. Same with detect alignment. Players never realize how RUDE it is, and I always have important folks using bodyguards. I have written on a note in my phone to show to players the following text, whenever they try to cast ANYTHING near a noble or some such with guards:
“The guards have been readying an action since the start of this interaction. The trigger is someone attempting to cast a spell, and the action is to attack the caster.”
They always complain, and then I ask “what would you do if you were a bodyguard, and someone very siddenly with no warning reached into their jacket and started very quickly pulling out a metal object with a barrel? Ask a question?”
There’s a reason this comic is a thing: https://www.handbookofheroes.com/archives/comic/detect-insult
I thought I remembered you doing one on the subject! Couldn’t find it easily on mobile though.
For cereal, it’s dead hard remembering where I’ve said everything when I have to link to one of the old ones. I straight up rely on Google for it.
I’ve only ever known one character to use the cleaning effects on himself, and it was for a pretty good reason. He was a super paranoid magus who believed the world was out to get him and never took off his one set of clothes. Now, a good portion of the world was out to get him, but it was mostly because he consistently made awful decisions. He was a lot of fun to have around.
As far as other uses go, the cape billowing thing is always cool. Capes are wizard.
I feel like there’s a “yer a wizard Harry” joke in there somewhere, and it probably involves Dr. Strange’s cape.
The Arcane Trickster in my party frequently tries to abuse the “lights fires” function. She tried to set an enemy’s clothes on fire. She tried to burn through a locked wooden door. She tried to start a forest fire.
I mean… I guess the forest fire might work depending on circumstances. Like… If a cigarette can cause a forest fire, I bet that prestidigitation could over a couple of rounds. In a dry forest. During a drought.
But like… Burning through a locked wooden door? Get out of here with that business.
Fortunately I’ve never had a player abuse prestidigitation, or try to. Usually we tend to use it for cleaning grime, and heating or flavouring food on the road.
At most, it’s been used to slowly clear a room of hazardous mold. And I did make sure to point out as a GM that they’d be stopping and spending like, 20 minutes to make their path safe, and there could be repercussions for that. They decided to go for it anyways, and so got to fight a wandering patrol in straight-up combat rather than try to deal with a hazard. They seemed happy with their decision (in spite of the fact that it was basically a zombified porcupine dragon that nearly ripped them to shreds and forced them to retreat from the dungeon. I suppose, at least, that they didn’t have to face the mold when they came back two days later).
The difference between “slime is a creature” and “slime is an object” is so narrow that I’d probably allow it too.
I also think people hype this spell way too much. The limitations are so severe that the spell is in my mind basically useless. Various other cantrips are much more powerful. Even its lifting ability isn’t enough to pick a weapon off the ground.
That’s the bugger: it’s either useless or “least wish” depending on interpretation. Like so many things in this hobby, I think the key is to take a middle path and allow fun uses while disallowing abuse.
My Party’s Rogue/Wizard used it in a bar to make someone’s rink taste like piss and start a bar fight.
LOL. There are easier ways to start a bar fight, but few funnier.
I feel like a DM should be able to maneuver around cheap tricks that players could come up with as to not “break the game” so to speak. Stuff like that can be fun every once in a while but I know for me it would get real old real quick.
As a rogue, I mostly use it descriptively… e.g. disabling a trap by applying a small flame to the right spot, or cheating at games of chance through subtle illusion or telekinesis, etc. The kind of thing that rarely has any mechanical benefit beyond maybe giving advantage on a roll…
How do you get away with this given the spell’s components?
That’s my problem: You’ve got a cool and flavorful interaction set up, but the rules say ‘nuh-uh.’ And as a result, your GM either has to let one slide or shut down the cool moment. That’s not an easy choice to make.
Hear, hear! After the last time a player presto’d my character’s sodden garb dry I decided that henceforth Prestidigitation is bann’d from games I am running. I was enjoying the RP of being cold, filthy, wet and miserable, FFS! Stop making it so easy to adventure in comfort! Combined with the Tiny Hut it was turning our whole epic journey into an exercise in glamping. Ugh.
So advice: what’s the solution? Just replace the effect with that of the less obnoxious Thaumaturgy?
Yes, I thought it was about 5e. I think it really good as for emergency counterspells in a desperate situation. Bloody murder still does not work out, since the trinket is demoterized if you move away from the caster or wait for the end of his next move. In order to really strangle the enemy, the villain will have to spend a lot of time catching up with the victim and recreating the dust again and again at the beginning of each of his turns (it will take much less time to take a similar amount of health with standard damaging cantrips. Unless of course you want to play a sadistic psychopath from King’s books).
Sorry, I answered the wrong thread. If possible, please remove this take.
Prestidigitation is a ton of fun and you should feel bad for saying it’s bad. Yeah, it can be obnoxious if used obnoxiously, but the same is true of every spell, from fireball to fist.
See scrollover text.
Given that Prestidigitation (5E) can only clean or soil objects that fit within 1 cubic foot, that would mean you’d need to doff your clothing, fold it up, and magically tumble it clean. Sadly, that means cleaning people is out, most non-folding armor is out, any weapon larger than a dagger, small club, or hand crossbow is out. And it doesn’t come with fabric softener. The laundromats of fantasy land are mostly safe for now.
To put it simply, performance. You can use prestidigitation to dazzle a crowd or a noble maybe to make a little cash or maybe some other reason.