D&D 5E [POLL] Best non-combat cantrips

[Merudo]

Prestidigitation is No.1

[...]

Aways having a nice warm tea or cold beer available, even if its just flavored water

Flavoring food is vastly underrated. Descent to Avernus /spoiler/
mentions that food tastes like nothing but ash in hell....but not with magic sriracha.

I never understood this mentality. Eating and drinking are activities that are typically ignored or glossed over in D&D. So odds are, you won't even get to say that you are using the Prestidigitation cantrip to flavor your food.

Even if food & drinks come up, I don't quite see the appeal in saying an imaginary character is eating better tasting food. Beside, Prestidigitation doesn't affect the nutritional value of a meal, so harmful/bad food remains bad food.

Honestly if you really want to pretend your character eats something yummy, just say that for dinner your PC is cooking a delicious stew with the rabbits that the Outlander of the party just caught. It will have effectively the same effect, but you won't have to spend one of your precious cantrips on it.

RP-wise, I would say adventurers care highly about not dying. To most, learning a vain/comfort cantrip like Prestidigitation instead of something that could actually save their life would be an head-scratching decision.

 

[Fenris-77]

So what your saying is "you really like that thing and think it's cool, but I don't get it, so why do you bother?". I don't get why that's a helpful thing to say.

 

[Merudo]

So what your saying is "you really like that thing and think it's cool, but I don't get it, so why do you bother?". I don't get why that's a helpful thing to say.

I did more than that. I raised four points:

• food & drinks are often glossed over in D&D
• flavoring your food has little/no mechanical benefits
• a free workaround exists to get a similar effect
• for most adventurers, it goes against the RP

 

[Fenris-77]

I did more than that. I raised four points:

• food & drinks are often glossed over in D&D
• flavoring your food has little mechanical benefits
• a free workaround exists to get a similar effect
• for most adventurers, it goes against the RP

Your points are part of the issue. Other people really enjoy the thing you're not into and you giving them a list of reasons why they're wrong isn't helpful. Not only are you telling them their fun thing is wrong, but you went on to tell them that they're roleplaying their character wrong by using it. I find that more than a little presumptuous.

 

[Merudo]

Your points are part of the issue. Other people really enjoy the thing you're not into and you giving them a list of reasons why they're wrong isn't helpful. Not only are you telling them their fun thing is wrong, but you went on to tell them that they're roleplaying their character wrong by using it. I find that more than a little presumptuous.

I guess we have a fundamental difference in opinion on how discourse ought to proceed. I personally am a firm proponent of Hegelian Dialectics as a way to reach truth and deeper understanding.

Essentially, I believe that it is healthy for a thesis ("prestidigitation is a great cantrip because it can flavor food") to be denied/contradicted by an antithesis (my 4 points why this is not true), as this can lead to the emergence of a synthesis, in which the conflict between the thesis and antithesis are resolved by a newer, better idea.

You on the other hand seems to think that expressing an antithesis is unhelpful and hurtful. Am I getting it right?

 

[Fenris-77]

Your Hegelian Dialectic is making a category mistake. You're assuming that the people who said they really enjoy the role playing aspects of Prestidigitation don't understand the mechanical usefulness of other cantrips by comparison. I would submit that they do. In addition, the operative category here is 'best' not 'mechanically best'. Best from a role playing perspective is an entirely valid way to index 'best-ness'. Dredging up Hegel doesn't save you from just having told a bunch of people that they shouldn't enjoy something they obviously enjoy because you don't agree with their selection criteria, a criteria you imposed on the conversation in the first place.

 

[Merudo]

Surprised more people didn't pick Mold Earth. I tend to think it's a bit overrated since people seem to think it can do all sorts of things the spell doesn't actually say it can do, but figured it'd be pretty popular.

Me too! I've read people rave about it, and I thought it would be a lot more popular.

I've not sure what you mean by "people seem to think it can do all sorts of things the spell doesn't actually say it can do". My understanding is that it allows you to take your normal adventuring day soil and quickly do all kind of cool things with it: dig trenches & pitfalls, create cover, collapse the edge of a cliff, build a ramp, etc.

But perhaps I am reading the spell wrong?

 

[Esker]

I've not sure what you mean by "people seem to think it can do all sorts of things the spell doesn't actually say it can do". My understanding is that it allows you to take your normal adventuring day soil and quickly do all kind of cool things with it: dig trenches & pitfalls, create cover, collapse the edge of a cliff, build a ramp, etc.

The digging bit being restricted to loose earth is the biggest thing. I've seen people try to use it like it was Stone Shape. The other thing is trying to dig a pit that's deeper than 5'. When you excavate a cube you can only move it along the ground, so if you have a 5' pit you can't make it deeper unless you make it wider first.

I don't think building a ramp works either, unless you're turning a cliff into a ramp from the top. You can't lift the earth with it. And it also doesn't remain a cube once you dig it out; it's loose earth, so it's just a heap of loose dirt.

 

[Leatherhead]

One aspect I always find curious is that people tend to accept the ad hoc stunt rules in the PHB,
but spells must be adjudicated as RAW.

That's because spells are already overpowered.

 

[Tony Vargas]

Feel free to change your vote if you think Control Flames is among the best

Oh, hey, that's were Affect Normal Fires went.