Choose One Cantrip You'd Like In Real Life

[pukunui]

The many household and parenting uses of prestidigitation:

Instantaneous, harmless sensory effect

• entertaining / instructing children

Instantaneously light or snuff out small flames

• entertaining / instructing children
• convenience
• fire safety

Instantaneously clean or soil a small object

• laundry
• dishes
• other housework
• entertaining children (mainly the soiling part)

Chill, warm, or flavor non-living material

• convenience

Color, mark, symbol on surface

• entertaining / instructing children

Trinket or illusory image

• entertaining / instructing children

I'm fairly certainly the cleaning objects effect would get the most use in my house, followed closely by the warming/chilling/flavoring objects.

The latter has heaps of applications, and not just in terms of the obvious cooking and serving of food, but also in terms of things like warming up your sheets / pyjamas before getting into bed in winter or keeping your pillow cool in summer and so on and so forth.

When I was running Tomb of Annihilation, the PCs with prestidigitation used it to chill their clothing so they could keep cool in the jungle.

 

[Seramus]

One nice thing about Prestidigitation?
Makes healthy food taste delicious!

 

[Li Shenron]

Your boss would become outright hostile to you one minute later!

Too late

 

[Shiroiken]

Wish there was more than 1 choice allowed.

Prestidigitation was my first choice, because of the auto-clean option (no more laundry!), but realized that Guidance would be far more useful (just like in the game). I can always use some help doing things right the first time

Mage Hand seems great at first as well, as I'd mostly use it to get a beer from the fridge without having to get up from the couch. It's perfect for the lazy!

 

[janosicek]

If Guidance works with gambling, I'd definitely take that

`Pray to god` just before rolling dice -- and you beat the house odds

 

[mortwatcher]

As useful and cool all the presdigitating/mage handing/thaumaturging would be, the good guy in me has to pick spare the dying - having the power to just come to a gravely wounded person and say it's ok, you'll get your fair shot at living is just something I can't pass up.

 

[Blue]

I am not in a position where Spare the Dying is regularly useful - and I'm pretty up on first aid that I could attempt the low DC check. Assuming that real life mirrors the HPs and dying methods of 5e.

Prestidigitation was my first choice but I stopped myself. While it would deal with a lot of things to free up time - cleaning, folding laundry, etc - I had to admit that Guidance would make me better at everything I actively do, from making me competent (average is the same as skill training for the first half of the levels) at something I'm not to even better at the things I excel.

Mending I see as popular, but it's a single break or tear, so it couldn't be used for things like "fixing a coffeemaker" unless I knew the specific break. I could fix cracked windshields though as long as the crack wasn't more then a foot long.

 

[akr71]

Prestidigitation! No more cleaning dishes, sweeping and washing floors, doing laundry or other (never-ending) housework! Oh, and if your kids are picky eaters, make their meals taste like chocolate!

Mending is a close second, but really Prestidigitation is a life changer.

 

[Mr. Wilson]

Spare the Dying by a mile. Being able to help people in serious need would be extremely satisfying, I think.

Taking Spare the Dying off the table, next would be Guidance, then Prestidigitation, then Mending.

 

[janosicek]

Spare the Dying would have me be present at hospitals all the time, thinking about how many lives I am not saving when I'm not on duty. Also sitting next to my elderly parents listening to the heart monitor would just suck the life out of me
...you have to cast it within few seconds...