MarkB
Legend
And I was at no point advocating their use.
D&D 5E Mage Hand and Trap Avoidance
- Thread starter Reynard
- Start date
KYRON45
Hero
But the players are playing imaginary creatures in a made up world.
Sometimes it’s ok to loosen up and just be whimsical.
You know how you prevent mage hand from moving a 10 pound object? You make the object 11 pounds.
My way isn’t better than your way it’s just another way.
It seems that people get awfully annoyed with rules as written. It also seems like those same people get annoyed when other people change those rules to suit their needs.
It’s difficult for casual observers to tell that anyone is having fun.
Micah Sweet
Level Up & OSR Enthusiast
No reason to get mad at other people changing the rules, so long as they're not trying to get you to follow their changes.
MGibster
Legend
There's always verisimilitude, right? Imagine you're going to enter a dungeon to search for the phylactery of a lich. Outside the entrance is a grisly display, mounted on dozens of pikes you see the severed heads of adventurers who attempted and failed at the task you've set out to accomplish. Is this going to keep a stalwart player character such as yourself out of the dungeon? Heck, no. You're made of sterner stuff. But within the setting, it could help explain why people from the nearby town avoid this place instead of trying to plunder any treasures within themselves. It also serves as a warning to the PCs that this is a dangerous place. Though knowing PCs, they probably won't think they're endangered anyway.
My biggest dislike of traps is how they slow the game down. I don't miss the old days of PCs walking around with 10 foot poles probing everything around them. I don't like them taking a lot of time to check for traps at every single door. It's just boring and I'd rather get on to something entertaining. If I'm going to have a trap, I want it to be entertaining. I don't even care if it's harmful, I just want it to be entertaining.
KYRON45
Hero
this is a place where we share our experiences. How could I possibly get anyone to do anything I say? I can’t even get my kids to do that.
Micah Sweet
Level Up & OSR Enthusiast
No reason to get mad then. Advocate about what you like.
KYRON45
Hero
It’s interesting that you think that the person advocating whimsy and using the rules loosely is mad at something.
I’m carving words on the cave wall like everyone else.
MGibster
Legend
At my last game session, Charlaquin (a gnoll villain not our own beloved poster), threw some bricks of unidentified vegetable matter into a flaming brazier causing the room to become obscured in a haze of skunky smelling smoke. As I narrated the fun little trip their characters were on, I had In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida by Iron Butterfly playing in the background and my players got a real kick out of it once they realized what was going on.
We all play the game differently. I like a bit of verisimilitude in my games not in spite of their fantastical nature but because of it. It helps keep things grounded. I like to throw in some whimsy though.
We all play the game differently. I like a bit of verisimilitude in my games not in spite of their fantastical nature but because of it. It helps keep things grounded. I like to throw in some whimsy though.
aco175
Legend
Now, here is a new question. Would mage hand allow the caster to pull out the smelly bricks from the fire? I never thought about it before and the spell does not say anything about being able to damage the hand since it made of force. I'm guessing that it can be used to poke fires or pull vials out of liquid nitrogen vats or dip animal skins into acid and do it all day long. Seems to make it a bit more powerful.
MGibster
Legend
This is particular scenario, no. It was much too late the pull anything out as the damage was already done so to speak. Generally speaking, sure, I'd allow mage hand to pull things out of a fire or under other hazardous conditions.
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