D&D 5E Conjuration and diagonals

[crashtestdummy]

The box-containing-a-pole is not a single object.

And I think that the objects with more sides are probably disqualified because "on a side" tends to mean "in any dimension" rather than "in each individual flat surface".

Okay, how about a 3' cardboard box with an internal wooden bracing pole across one diagonal? Rip off the cardboard to leave yourself with the desired pole...

As for "on a side", I would generally consider that to mean it would fit into a cube of that size. I certainly wouldn't think of it as "in any dimension".

 

[The Grassy Gnoll]

*piano music stops abruptly*
*silence*
Why'd you want a 5' pole fer anyways?
*clink of spurs*
This here is D&DTown, mister.
*spits into spittoon*
Round these parts, we like our poles 10' long.
*fingers flutter to holsters*
We don't want no goddamn' hipster poles round here.

 

[Lehrbuch]

The conjurer arcane tradition allows you to conjure something "no more than three feet on a side"...
Help.

A five foot pole has a side that is more than three feet. So, technically not allowed.

Having said that I probably wouldn't complain, as DM, about "reasonable" objects that merely fit within a volume of 27 cubic feet, or around 1 cubic metre.

 

[AaronOfBarbaria]

Why limit yourself to boxes, with their ninety-degree angle corners? Why not create something using one-degree angles - with 360 sides - each of which is three feet in length?

The maximum size of an object that could be contained within such a bound grows with the cosine of the angle. By adding additional sides, and shrinking the angles accordingly, you can contain an object of arbitrary size.

Interesting counterpoint: "no larger than 3 feet on a side" is not actually the same as "has no side which measures more than 3 feet." The importance of this distinction can be seen when determining the largest cylinder that can be created; the former statement allowing for a diameter and height of up to 3 feet each, while the later allows a 3 foot height but only a diameter of a little less than 11.5 inches so that the single side (the circumference) not exceed 3 feet.

Also, let's not forget the 10 pound weight limit also prevents making anything too large without also making it from frailer material.

 

[crashtestdummy]

As for making a 10' pole, conjure one that folds twice so that the conjured item is only 2.5 feet in length, but it unfolds and locks into place to become a 10' pole. Or maybe a pole that telescopes out to 10'...

However, I don't believe the original poster was after a 5' pole. He just wanted to show that there's some inconsistency with how the conjuring works.

 

[The Crimson Binome]

For that matter, a "side" of any object is a two-dimensional plane, but the only unit given is "feet". Any literal reading would be flatly unsolvable.

 

[Blue]

3 feet on a side seems pretty straightforward - if it fits in a 3' x 3' x 3' cube, I'm good with it.

Want a coil of rope, which when you stretch out is more than 3' long? Go ahead. (The 10 lbs will stop it from being a ridiculous amount of rope.)

 

[ChrisCarlson]

Want a coil of rope, which when you stretch out is more than 3' long? Go ahead. (The 10 lbs will stop it from being a ridiculous amount of rope.)

Heh. I was just coming into this thread to say the same exact thing. A 50' coil of hempen rope is conveniently 10 pounds. Silk is half the weight. So a DM could allow you to have a 100' coil of silk role one supposes. But yeah.

 

[AaronOfBarbaria]

3 feet on a side seems pretty straightforward - if it fits in a 3' x 3' x 3' cube, I'm good with it.

Want a coil of rope, which when you stretch out is more than 3' long? Go ahead. (The 10 lbs will stop it from being a ridiculous amount of rope.)

That's likely the approach that I'll take should any of my players ever play a conjurer.

 

[ChrisCarlson]

That's likely the approach that I'll take should any of my players ever play a conjurer.

Yeah. Heck, given the spirit of the class feature, I probably wouldn't even take issue with a conjurer asking to make something like a simple 10' pole. In fact, I can't think of anything on the various PHB equipment lists I'd really balk at, as long as it was a single object and was 10 pounds or less.