D&D 5E Take enemy weapon with Mage Hand

[Rya.Reisender]

So our Wizard had the idea to "disarm" an enemy at range by using Mage Hand. The enemy has a shortbow that is not currently drawn. The shortbow weights less than 10 pounds, so it should be possible, but I think it's actually quite unlikely to succeed. What would you roll for such an action? Just use the magic attack modifier, as a higher magic modifier means better at handling spells?

 

[Minigiant]

So our Wizard had the idea to "disarm" an enemy at range by using Mage Hand. The enemy has a shortbow that is not currently drawn. The shortbow weights less than 10 pounds, so it should be possible, but I think it's actually quite unlikely to succeed. What would you roll for such an action? Just use the magic attack modifier, as a higher magic modifier means better at handling spells?

You can already do this as an arcane trickster via Mage Hand Legerdemain. You have to beat the Dexterity (SoH) vs Wisdom (Perception) to do it unnoticed.

Since the mage hand only have 10 pounds of strength, it would be easy for most healthy beings to overpower it with a free hand. It's up to the DM on if they make the enemy use a reaction to outmuscle the mage hand or do it for free.

If it were up to me, I'd let a wizard do it as an action but they automatically roll natural 1 the Sleight of Hand check. So any enemy with a free hand can stop the mage hand if they want.

 

[Imaculata]

Mage Hand isn't very strong. It wouldn't have enough strength to pull a weapon from someone's hands, if he is holding it tightly (which I would assume anyone holding a weapon would be).

For this purpose I designed a new homebrew spell called Disarm, which requires an opposing strength check. The Disarm spell pulls with a strength of 20, so there's a reasonable chance to disarm any creature with average ability scores. If it is successful, I roll on the scatter table to see where the weapon lands on the ground. (having the player immediately acquire the weapon would be a bit too powerful)

 

[ExploderWizard]

A held object that the enemy is paying attention to is unlikely to be disarmed in this way. If the wizard works with the battlemaster fighter buddy who disarms the enemy- THEN the wizard grabs the weapon and moves it out of reach, you have a good combo.

 

[Uchawi]

I would only let mage hand work on objects that are not controlled or secured by another being or fastened. Otherwise, how to do figure out the strength of a grip, or fastener? If a bow or similar object can stay on a person through combat or other strenuous activity then I do not believe a mage hand can pilfer it. Also if the hand can't attack, I would assume it has a very low dexterity and does not allow fine motor control a characters hand would have.

 

[JiffyPopTart]

The smart wizard grabs the arrows from the quiver.

 

[iserith]

So our Wizard had the idea to "disarm" an enemy at range by using Mage Hand. The enemy has a shortbow that is not currently drawn. The shortbow weights less than 10 pounds, so it should be possible, but I think it's actually quite unlikely to succeed. What would you roll for such an action? Just use the magic attack modifier, as a higher magic modifier means better at handling spells?

If the shortbow is not in hand or securely fastened in some way, then I would just say the wizard's attempt to get the shortbow succeeds.

If the shortbow is in hand, then I would call for a spell attack roll at disadvantage opposed by the target's Strength check. If it is not in hand but is securely fastened in some way, then I'll call for a spell attack roll at disadvantage and set an appropriate DC.

 

[Rya.Reisender]

As everybody replied something else, I assume there's no clear consent here.

The reason I wouldn't use SoH roll is that I think no matter how good a character is at SoH, the mage hand will still be equally bad. There's no info on the mage hand's stats (I don't have MM, though).

 

[Cody C. Lewis]

So our Wizard had the idea to "disarm" an enemy at range by using Mage Hand. The enemy has a shortbow that is not currently drawn. The shortbow weights less than 10 pounds, so it should be possible, but I think it's actually quite unlikely to succeed. What would you roll for such an action? Just use the magic attack modifier, as a higher magic modifier means better at handling spells?

Hmmm interesting. I'm tempted to ignore rolls as the DM here. Although I typical believe any opportunity to let a player roll a die is a good thing, in this instance if I don't think it would be plausible as the character he is trying to pull this from is holding it, I would not try and tie myself down just because the player rolls a 20.

Instead consider the following:
Try and reward players for creative thinking, but curb it a bit so they don't overthink everything. The best way to do this IMO would be the 3 DM responses (I first heard these in a Matt Click video, all credit to him or where ever he learned it from):
"No, and..."
"No, but..."
Yes, and..."

So I would probably just rule something like "You are unable to snatch the bow from his hand. But you did catch him off guard and as he quickly grasped at the bow to prevent it from drifting away, he was forced to lunge to stop it and his arrows slide from their quiver and are now scattered about the floor around him."

Or something blah blah

 

[DeathMutant]

Why "take" the bow when you can disable it by cutting the bow strings? Mage Hand + Scissors/Shears = Snip! (Using a single blade, like a dagger, would take too long)