D&D 5E How does [i]animate objects[/i] work?

[Oofta]

Fill a bucket with poison, put a lid on. Uncap it with your item interaction when combat starts. Animate objects. Command them to give themselves a bath in the poison (probably takes all their actions for a turn), then attack x enemy.

That would take a around 3 turns, unless you happen to already have the jar out. Unless you could animate the jar and have it uncap itself?

Cry when literally everything is immune to poison because WOTC hates poison users

Almost as much as they hate casters that focus on fire or necromantic damage.

 

[Nebulous]

As a predetermined trap, the time constraints by round are all avoided. A bucket of appropriate poison and commanding the daggers to dip in and then attack when the target appears sounds like a solid plan. But a bucket of poison is not an easy thing to find! Although now that I think about it, side quests to find appropriate sources of poison just to pull this stunt off would have its own merits.

 

[Frozenstep]

That would take a around 3 turns, unless you happen to already have the jar out. Unless you could animate the jar and have it uncap itself?

Turn 1: Object interaction to take out the jar. Familiar/teammate uses their object interaction to open the jar. Action to cast animate objects, bonus action to command objects to take a dip.

Turn 2: bonus action command objects to attack, action to cry when the thing is immune to poison and resistant to non-magical slashing/bludgeoning/piercing.

Also, I thought necrotic was an okay damage type. Obviously undead are a problem, but other then that I didn't think much really resisted/was immune to necrotic. I'd figure cold is worse.

 

[Oofta]

Turn 1: Object interaction to take out the jar. Familiar/teammate uses their object interaction to open the jar. Action to cast animate objects, bonus action to command objects to take a dip.

Turn 2: bonus action command objects to attack, action to cry when the thing is immune to poison and resistant to non-magical slashing/bludgeoning/piercing.

Also, I thought necrotic was an okay damage type. Obviously undead are a problem, but other then that I didn't think much really resisted/was immune to necrotic. I'd figure cold is worse.

Unless the second PC has a readied action, they're going on their turn not the wizard's turn.

So round 1

turn 1: Bob gets the jar out​

turn 2: Joe opens the jar​

round 2

turn 1: Bob casts and they daggers dip​

round 3

turn 1: Bob commands attack as bonus action​

​

So if there's another PC that is available to open the jar it's still round 3 before the attack. All while not having the jar tip over, assuming the daggers could all dip at the same time which assumes they can take sequential actions, that there's enough poison to simply dip, so on and so forth. I see a lot of issues with the details of the scenario. YMMV.

As far as damage types, I think it depends on the campaign. Maybe I use more undead than other people.

 

[Worrgrendel]

Nothing in the spell states anything at all about initiative or rolling initiative for the objects. They would act on your turn:

Animate Objects
Sources: PHB.213 SRD.116 Tags: bard cleric (forge) sorcerer wizard level5 transmutation
5th-level transmutation
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: 120 feet
Components: V, S
Duration: Concentration, up to 1 minute
Objects come to life at your command. Choose up to ten nonmagical objects within range that are not being worn or carried. Medium targets count as two objects, Large targets count as four objects, Huge targets count as eight objects. You can’t animate any object larger than Huge. Each target animates and becomes a creature under your control until the spell ends or until reduced to 0 hit points.
As a bonus action, you can mentally command any creature you made with this spell if the creature is within 500 feet of you (if you control multiple creatures, you can command any or all of them at the same time, issuing the same command to each one). You decide what action the creature will take and where it will move during its next turn, or you can issue a general command, such as to guard a particular chamber or corridor. If you issue no commands, the creature only defends itself against hostile creatures. Once given an order, the creature continues to follow it until its task is complete.
ANIMATED OBJECTS STATISTICS

Size	HP	AC	Attack	Str	Dex
Tiny	20	18	+8 to hit, 1d4+4 damage	4	18
Small	25	16	+6 to hit, 1d8+2 damage	6	14
Medium	40	13	+5 to hit, 2d6+1 damage	10	12
Large	50	10	+6 to hit, 2d10+2 damage	14	10
Huge	80	10	+8 to hit, 2d12+2 damage	18	6

An animated object is a construct with AC, hit points, attacks, Strength, and Dexterity determined by its size. Its Constitution is 10 and its Intelligence and Wisdom are 3, and its Charisma is 1. Its speed is 30 feet; if the object lacks legs or other appendages it can use for locomotion, it instead has a flying speed of 30 feet and can hover. If the object is securely attached to a surface or a larger object, such as a chain bolted to a wall, its speed is 0. It has blindsight with a radius of 30 feet and is blind beyond that distance. When the animated object drops to 0 hit points, it reverts to its original object form, and any remaining damage carries over to its original object form.
If you command an object to attack, it can make a single melee attack against a creature within 5 feet of it. It makes a slam attack with an attack bonus and bludgeoning damage determined by its size. The DM might rule that a specific object inflicts slashing or piercing damage based on its form.
At Higher Levels. If you cast this spell using a spell slot of 6th level or higher, you can animate two additional objects for each slot level above 5th.

 

[Harzel]

The spell does imply that the objects have their own turn, but since the spell isn't explicit about how initiative is handled for the objects, I'd say you would be justified in handling it any way you choose. That said, I don't see the upside in rolling initiative separately for each object, and it certainly would slow things down.

 

[Harzel]

Sigh. My powergamer wizard, who can't even cast this spell yet (he's planning 4 levels ahead), wants to keep 10 poisoned daggers on him in a bag, then dump them when needed and cast the spell and have them do 10d4 +40 +30d6 poison damage in a round. The price for a vial of serpent poison alone is 200 gold, so that right there would jack the cost to poison ten daggers to 2000gp. Naturally, he wants to find a way around that annoying cost hump.

Frankly, even without the poison, this spell seems to me rather OP in the case of the caster choosing 10 tiny or small objects. Damage for a 5th level spell is supposed to be around 8d10 (44). With 10 tiny or small objects, that would be exceeded in just one round to say nothing of the being able to repeat on subsequent rounds for the cost of only a bonus action.

So, IMO, step 1 is to make the base damage more reasonable. For Tiny, I'd probably just make the damage a flat 4, and for Small, 1d6 + 2. OTOH, Medium, Large, and Huge look like they might need to be buffed a bit.

That done, the whole project might look a bit less attractive.

 

[Arial Black]

OP here: I talked to the DM and laid out the legal choices. He ruled that they all act on my initiative, but immediately after I complete my turn. Fair enough, I think it's the easiest to manage.

As for the poisoned daggers sidetrack, it's good to encourage ideas, but not every idea is a good idea! Each idea should be judged on its merits.

The DM is in control of the availability of each type of poison, can rule that a single hit wipes the poison from the blade such that the poison is only good for one hit, can rule that the poison only stays effective for a few minutes after being applied, is dangerous to apply without assassin training, can rule that sheathing a poisoned dagger wipes off the poison, and carrying unsheathed poisoned daggers is dangerous to the carrier, can rule that the use of poison is evil and illegal and users will be hunted and killed.....but go ahead, make my day! : )

 

[Stormonu]

For my own sanity, I have any summoned/animated/construct/mount belonging to a PC/NPC go on the owner’s turn, I don’t care what the rules say.

The only exception is henchmen/full-blown NPCs - they get their own init.

 

[BluejayJunior]

Unless the second PC has a readied action, they're going on their turn not the wizard's turn.

I don't think it's unreasonable for your free object interaction to be pulling out and opening a jar at the same time.