D&D 5E Does Prestidigitation Break the Law of Conservation of Energy?

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

Simple question, but the consequences are a bit strange.

If you use Prestidigitation to clean an object . . . what happens to the "dirtiness" on it? Is it just magically destroyed? Is it teleported somewhere else? Is it somehow melded into the object you clean?

 

[Bill Zebub]

Simple question, but the consequences are a bit strange.

If you use Prestidigitation to clean an object . . . what happens to the "dirtiness" on it? Is it just magically destroyed? Is it teleported somewhere else? Is it somehow melded into the object you clean?

Every time you cast a cantrip a puppy dies.

Unless it’s Eldritch Blast. In that case it’s one puppy per ray.

 

[J.Quondam]

Every time you use presidigitation to "clean up," a baby otyugh is born.

 

[ECMO3]

Simple question, but the consequences are a bit strange.

If you use Prestidigitation to clean an object . . . what happens to the "dirtiness" on it? Is it just magically destroyed? Is it teleported somewhere else? Is it somehow melded into the object you clean?

I think you mean conservation of mass?

In any case the dirt goes the same place it would go if you hosed it down with a hose ... not on the object.

 

[Stalker0]

The simple answer is....there is no answer. There is no implicit mention of how magic truly "works" in the grand sense, its completely up to the DM.

I could absolutely see games where perhaps magic has a "total amount", and the more its used over the years, the less there is. So you could have a game towards the end of the multiverse's lifecycle, where magic has been almost used up. You could have magic maintain conservation of mass, perhaps when things are "created" its actually pulled from a specific plane (and again that plane could be used up at some point).

Or....magic is completely infinite, and is completely different than physics. Up to the DM as always.

 

[Shiroiken]

BEWARE!

These questions have been deemed heresy by the Order of Gygax. Science is a myth designed by false prophets to lead the adventurous into accidentally unleashing Chaos. Consider not these fallacies, and accept that magic can solve any problem!

 

[briggart]

Yes.
No.
Maybe.

 

[Yaarel]

Simple question, but the consequences are a bit strange.

If you use Prestidigitation to clean an object . . . what happens to the "dirtiness" on it? Is it just magically destroyed? Is it teleported somewhere else? Is it somehow melded into the object you clean?

Personally, I view "magical energy" to be potential energy inherent within anything exists. (Maybe somewhat like light and atomic energy.) So, effects can materialize from and dematerialize to ambient magical energy.

 

[Yaarel]

Magic can:
• create magical effects that are spells.
• create magical effects that are not spells (such as race/class features).
• magically create effects that are not magical in themselves (such as the Create Water spell and the breath of a dragon).

 

[Yaarel]

My PCs use Prestidigitation to clean, shave, haircut, routinely. (It requires careful interpretation of the spell description and relies on DM discretion.) I cant wait for nanobots to do these for me in reallife!

 

[DEFCON 1]

Magic accesses demiplanes all the time. So there's no reason not to think that magic that brings matter or energy into existence comes from alternate dimensional places and planes. So if the Conservation of Mass and Energy is a scientific thing you actually care about for the physics of your campaign world... shunting or accruing energy and matter from other dimensions via magic is the way to go.